By William “Skip” Deegans
Residents of western Greenbrier County received a special Christmas holiday treat in 1924 when R. O. Raine and H.L. Gray, Meadow River Lumber Company executives, opened the Pioneer Movie Theatre in Rainelle. Built at a cost of $50,000 (about $900,000 in today’s dollars), the 500-seat theatre had the most modern projection equipment and a Gardner screen that eliminated eye-strain and glare. The theatre was advertised as “Southern West Virginia’s Finest.” In addition to a theatre, the building included a hotel “of very elaborate appointments” on the upper floor, a cafe, and barber shop.
The theatre opened on Christmas Day with three showings of the silent film, The Covered Wagon, a western film that was described by the New York Tribune as the “first real American epic of the screen.” Produced by Paramount and directed by James Cruze, it was filmed on location in Nevada, Utah, California, and Arizona and, at a budget of $750,000, was the most expensive film to date. The film had a cast of 3,000, including 1,000 Native Americans from five tribes in Wyoming and Arizona. Wagons were borrowed from homesteaders, and 150 steers were secured and trained to be attached to yokes. One-thousand horses, 200 mules, 100 cow ponies, and 500 buffalo were used in the film. The whole studio crew and cast were camped in tents for three months, 80 miles from the nearest railroad. Temperatures ranged from 90s during to the day to freezing at night.
Based on a novel by Emerson Hough and described when it opened by the New York Commercial newspaper as “American’s greatest motion picture,” the film is available on some streaming services.
Photo: Courtesy of the Greenbrier Historical Society.
Sources: The West Virginia News, The Silent Film Still Archive, Brigham Young University.
