Iowa City’s Movie Moguls – Buster Brown & Willie-Billie Englert.

Most people recognize the names of the great movie moguls of Hollywood – men like Samuel Goldwyn & Louis B. Mayer (MGM), Jack, Sam and Harry Warner (Warner Brothers), and Darryl F. Zanuck (20th Century Fox). But, it’s important to remember that in nearly every city across America – at the turn-of-the-century, there were local entrepreneurs who were responsible for bringing all those big Hollywood films to their town.

In two other posts on this website, we covered the epic tale of Iowa City’s Earliest Movie Houses – (1907-1908) & (1911-1916), and on those pages, we introduced you to both of these brilliant businessmen. But here, we’d like to go a bit deeper into their personal stories and give you a bit more of the story of how these two entrepreneurs changed the face of Iowa City during the first twenty years of the 20th century.

As we discuss in another post, Iowa Citians – at the turn-of-the-century – had limited options for public entertainment. Keep in mind that there was no television or radio, so folks had to go out of their homes for an evening of entertainment.

In 1904 – live entertainment centers such as Ham’s Hall on Dubuque Street or The Coldren Opera House on Clinton were highly popular. Read more here. On truly special occasions – usually in the summer or early fall – a traveling circus such as P.T. Barnum’s Greatest Show On Earth would roll into town – causing a week’s worth of excitement!

According to local newspapers, on Sunday, July 24, 1904, two trains came rolling into Iowa City – 32 freight & passenger cars carrying The Parker Amusement Company’s King Carnival. Fresh off a highly-successful week’s run in Oskaloosa, King Carnival took over downtown Iowa City, setting up a huge selection of entertainment options…

One of the most popular attractions of King Carnival’s week-long stay here in Iowa City was the highly-successful movie presentation of Thomas Edison’s The Great Train Robbery. According to The Iowa City Republican (see above right), there was much worry amongst city planners that the movie reel had been incorrectly shipped, but apparently, Mr. Kennedy – the carnival’s manager – got it all straightened out.

So, on Monday, July 25, 1904 – at the price of 10-cents per seat – King Carnival patrons sat in folding chairs set up in The Electric Theatre – located at the corner of Dubuque & College Streets – and, for the very first time, Iowa Citians experienced a movie!

Watch the full 13-minute silent movie – The Great Train Robbery.

Both William H. (Billie/Willie) Englert & Thomas A. (Buster) Brown were both born in Iowa in 1874. Englert – on July 13, 1874 in Iowa City, and Brown – just a little over one month later, on August 19, 1874 in Renwick, Iowa (Humboldt County). Brown served as a private in the U.S. First Cavalry before relocating – at age 29 – to Iowa City (1903), while Englert grew up in Iowa City, attended Iowa City High School, and graduated from Iowa City Business College.

Englert was a third generation businessman, with his grandfather – Louis Englert – starting Iowa City’s first brewery – The Englert City Brewery (1853), and his father – John J. Englert – continuing the family brewery while also serving – for a short time – as Iowa City’s sheriff. Near the end of the 19th century, William’s father – John J. – began transitioning from the brewery business to selling two even more lucrative products – firewood and ice, and together, with his brothers, William (Willie or Billie, as he was often called) found great success in a variety of popular Iowa City businesses. Which brings us now to 1907…

Thomas A. (Buster) Brown opened a Smoke House – a store specializing in cigars – on South Clinton Street, and from everything we can find, became a very successful businessman, having his caricature and story listed in the 1906 business directory – Our Live Ones – Iowa City – produced by the Iowa City Commercial Club. Read more here.

In 1905, The Daily Press ran a lengthy article (above) about Buster Brown and his Clinton Street Smoke House. So now, taken from Browns’ own memoirs, here’s the fun 1907 story (below right) of how Brown became Iowa City’s first movie house manager … opening his own movie house (1907) – Brown’s Nickeldom at 128 E. Washington Street.

Here’s what those early days in the movie business looked like (below)…

Just as it is with many successful business people, there always seems to be a break-through moment when their new venture finally connects with the public. For Buster Brown, it was the new movie – The Passion Play (below) – when it hit the streets of Iowa City in October of 1907…

You can read the full story here, but in 1907, two other movie houses opened in Iowa City – Dreamland Nickelodeon (111 South Dubuque Street) and The Bijou Dream (119 E. Washington Street). It’s at this point, Buster’s recollection is off by four years. While he states here (below) that in 1910, he opened Brown’s American Theatre, our research finds that he didn’t purchase this second theater until 1914, buying The American from Prof. R.D. (Duffy) Raymond and local cigar merchant Fred Racine – who had purchased Dreamland in 1909, changing its name at that point in time. Yet, despite the date discrepancy, it’s a fact that Buster Brown – in 1914 – became one of the “kings” of Iowa City Movie Houses by owning two of the most popular theaters in town.

In 1916 (again, Brown’s memory is off by one year), Buster added to his movie empire by opening the state-of-the-art Strand Theatre on the southwest corner of College and Dubuque Street – 129 E. College Street – just across the street from The Pastime. Read more here.

Thomas A. (Buster) Brown retired in 1943, selling his movie house interests to the Central States Theater Corporation. According to his family records, Buster died peacefully (age 73) at his home at 141 Grand Avenue Court on February 18, 1948, and is buried in Oakland Cemetery in Iowa City.

William H. (Willie/Billie) Englert.

You can read the full account of the Englert family of Iowa City here, but suffice to say that the third generation William H. (who went by both Willie & Billie) Englert was a go-getter in business from day one. As we said earlier, Billie Englert was born in Iowa City in 1874, and sadly, died at a very young age (45) in 1920. Below, we offer some life highlights taken from excerpts from his obituaries in the Iowa City newspapers…

(Above) Willie and his wife, Etta Chopek Englert, pose with her sister Emma (left) in 1909.

Willie (Billie) Englert got into the Iowa City Movie House business in 1911 by buying out The Bijou Theatre at 120 S. Dubuque Street. His idea was that the Bijou would be a complimentary piece to his new theater being built on East Washington Street. But, as things turned out, in September of 1912, when his magnificent Englert Theatre opened, The Bijou Theatre had already closed its doors.

**The Englert Theatre** opened on **September 26, 1912** with seating for 1,079 patrons. With its opening, this grand theater immediately put Iowa City’s long-time live entertainment center – **The Coldren Opera House** – out of business. The Englert was constructed at a cost of about $60,000 and was located just around the corner from the Bon Ton Cafe – 24-26 South Dubuque Street – which Etta Englert operated, while William kept his role as owner of the Englert Ice Company.

Directly across Washington Street from his Englert Theatre, Billie broadened his enterprise by purchasing the Maresh & Holubar Building (212-214 E. Washington Street), and in 1915, the young entrepreneur – T.A. (Buck) Hanlon – rented space from Englert, opening The Garden Theatre. Over the next five years, Englert increased his influence in downtown and by 1920, one of his business deals – with his own theater manager – W.M. McKenzie – was making all the news…

As the article in The Daily Press states (above), with all this tension from his business dealings taking such a big toll on his health, William H. Englert (age 45) suddenly died on June 22, 1920, leaving his wife, Etta, with many unresolved business issues. Read more details here. Englert is buried in the older section of St. Joseph’s Cemetery in Iowa City.

So, there you have it. Two amazing businessmen who shaped the first few decades of movie entertainment here in Iowa City. Godspeed – ‘Willie-Billie’ Englert & ‘Buster’ Brown!