Bright Beginnings
In the small town of Klamath Falls, Oregon were three motion picture theaters. One of which was the Iris theater. The first mention of the theater appeared in The Evening Herald on July 31, 1911. The Evening Herald was Klamath Falls' first newspaper that started in 1908. It can be assumed that the Iris existed before 1908 but there are no sources, when researched, that could prove otherwise. At the time of the first existing printed record of the Iris, the small theater was owned by J.B. Gammon. Mr. Gammon (as referred to in research(Evening Herald, August 18, 1909)), was incredibly involved in the community, providing numerous occasions for citizens to see shows while other community events occurred. One of the most talked about occasions, aside from the Community Event (Bargain Week), was a giveaway of $5! Tickets for adults were 10 cents and 5 for children during the short time the Iris was in business. While the CPI Inflation Calculator can't go back to 1908, the adjusted inflation for $5 in 1913 would be $131.98 as of February 2020.
Changing Hands
On May 8, 1911, it was reported in The Evening Herald would be taken over by new ownership. This was not the first time that the Iris changed ownership however, but because of spotty coverage from The Evening Herald, it is currently up in the air in terms of whom the second owner was. It is also unclear when exactly the new owners, A.V. and L.C. Wishard took over the Iris because of unclear regards to timing. In the article, the author writes, "The new owners will take charge of the theater the first of next week" (May 8, 1911). With all the excitement of the Iris having new ownership, the Iris was never mentioned again after May 25, 1911 (Evening Herald, May 25, 1911), which means it probably shut down. The irony of this excitement is all of the boasting that the ads did after being acquired by the Wishard brothers about how incredible the theater and programs were.
