A Peek into Summers County’s Past: Fairyland

HINTON W.Va. (Hinton News) - I found this photo years ago from the WVU Archives. I have always found this photo very intriguing. The name of the theater was “Fairyland,” it is hard to believe at that time you could go to a movie for only 5 cents.

The name of the movie being shown when this film was being viewed at Fairyland is the most interesting part, it was “Frolics of Satan.” The name of this film alone probably stirred up quite a controversy in the small town of Hinton. But we must remember Hinton was not the same then as it is now. It had a large influx of businessmen from larger cities and many railroad workers. Hence the construction of The McCreery Hotel.

In all of my research, I have never been able to verify when Fairyland closed. My grandfather Bernard Thompson told me this story several times about when he was a child and the movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs came out in 1937.

His mother, Gladys Thompson, and Aunt, Nora Wallace, loaded up a Model A Ford, a 1930 model I believe, that Granddad's father O.D. Thompson had built a wooden box on the back for hauling the children in; they placed Granddad and his cousins Calvin, Gene and Bill Wallace who lived in Talcott. They then traveled to the city of Hinton one night to watch the movie.

This was the first time granddad had ever seen a movie, much less a cartoon in his 10 years of life at that time. He never said which theater, it had to be the Ritz Theater or Fairyland for it to have been shown in Hinton.

Either way, it is at least a little side-storytelling about the way of life for children in Summers County in the 1930s. Life was simple and everything was appreciated then. So much so that granddad was still talking about it nearly 80 years after this memory was made.

In writing this piece I found an article from the Hinton Daily News dated October 13, 1913, that tells about having purchased the $600 electric piano from Rose Drug Store. Then talks about how they are “in position to give a good Musical Programme each night.”

Life was so much simpler then! Imagine being excited about the local theater purchasing a $600 electric piano to be played during performances. Remember this was prior to movies with sound coming out on October 6, 1927. These were referred to at the time as “the talkies.”

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