Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 73, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 March 1914 — MOVIES BEAT THE CHURCHES [ARTICLE]

MOVIES BEAT THE CHURCHES

One Town Foi|nd In Oklahoma Giving "Former $50,000 to $9,000 for Latter.

Chickasha, Okla.—That the people of Chickasha, a city of 12,000, now pays out over $50,000 per year to support its four motion picture playhouses where it supports the ministers to the extent only of $9,000 per year, is the statement of a citizen who took the trouble on a record Sunday to find the exact attendance at the 11 o’clock morning services of the nine churches and of the four playhouses of the city from 7 until 11 o’clock on the same Sunday night. The count on this particular day showed that there were 1,245 persons from a membership of 2,700 who heard the special holiday sermons. The popularity of the motion picture has grown to such proportions in the last ten years that between 1,600 and 1,700 persons attended the “movie” theater between 7 and 11 o’clock that night The revenue of the four houses for this three hours was approximately $l7O. The estimated total of maintaining the four playhouses is $61,000 a year. The total salaries of the nine ministers is slightly less than $9,000 a year.

According to the figures obtained on this particular day, the total attendance, both morning and night, at the nine preaching services of the city for the entire year is slightly more than 129,000. The total attendance at the playhouses is estimated, according to the figures obtained on this particular day, at 750,000. Each year there is some $5 spent at the picture show for each one of the 12,320 persons in this central city of Oklahoma.