. . . Majestic Ceremonies Mark Early Englert Theatre History
The original commercial Englert Theatre was opened September 26, 1912, with majestic ceremonies featuring a popular local eight-piece orchestra whose leader Punch (Albert C.) Dunkel and his brother Charles co-owned another local movie house, Pastime Theatre (later called Capitol Theatre) at 205 College Street, next door to their bar/cigar store, and two blocks east of another family member's Dunkel Hotel. The locally popular orchestra often played dances next door to the Englert in the Varsity Ballroom on the third floor of the Paul-Helen Building to the piano accompaniment of Dunkel's wife Emma, who was deaf.
As the initial Englert opening approached, a local newspaper offered a laudatory opinion of the new venue. “The theatrical world has seen beauty knocking at its doors, and received a royal welcome. W.H. Englert has evidenced his wideawake uptodateness, by erecting a 20th century playhouse bearing his name, to be dedicated during the current week. Iowa has nothing finer, size considered." (Iowa City Daily Press. Sept. 23, 1912).
At its commercial opening the Englert seated 1,079 in cramped seats accessed along narrow isles, and without a center isle. College students and faculty alike joined the impressive array of townspeople who flocked to the only theater of its kind in Iowa City, and even touted at least locally as the grandest in Iowa.
A local newspaper termed the opening "a unique social event" for Iowa City. An opening night audience packed by local and university notables saw the staging of a Thomas W. Ross & Co. play production of The Only Son, which less than two years later was filmed under the same name The Only Son (1914 film), co-directed by Cecil B. DeMille.
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