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Show 1 STARTING AS HOOSIER NEWSBOY I HE BECOMES HEAD OF THEATRE H. E. Skinner of Ogden Gets Into Business Early and Keeps At It; Poetry Is Hobby Of Alhambra Manager . The power of a lesson learnt 1 early In life is attributed by H. K j 'Skinner, who ironi a newsboy has be-lOOme be-lOOme the principal owner, at the age lof ss. of the Aihamhrn Theatrical , company, to bis success In life. He learned the lesson while still ' hoy n studying under the direction of hi brother. Dr. If. M Skinner, historian and author, who one day j :isked hihl in the course of his studies ' which he would prefer, five dollars 'in cash or five dollars in credit. "01 course." suld Mr. Skinner in Ispealctns of the incident, "likr most' children and especially so at that line. I immediately answered 'five dollars in cash, for I had vislom ot the-many things that I could buy vvi;u i he flv e dollars. Mv brother. Dr. Skinner he 1 wasn't a physician, bu had received the degree of doctor of philosophy, pointed out to me that if I had five dollars in cash it would be but a rery short time when 1 would have spent it whi!e if I had the five dollars! in credt; it in the financial world was (forth many times more than the'i llf dollars in cash. IIo explained hv. He also pointed out to me the I necessity of always guarding my i ''idlt It was a lesson that remained with nr throughout my life to date ;tod It Is to that lesson that I attribute at-tribute my success such as It is." IJOUN IN INDIANA Mr. Skinner was born at Valpa raiso, lnd . September J J, uib son of John M. Skinner, for 14 consecutive con-secutive years mayor of Valparaiso, twice the Dempcratic nominee for congress from the tenth district of Indiana, and the man who built and donated the first building to the i -iiralso Normal school which inter le- anie the University of Valparaiso, the university in which, in all probability, proba-bility, has been attended by more students stu-dents In straightened circumstances than any other institution of Its klnl in the world. There were five boys in the family and five girls and "Ed," famillarli ailed by his friends, was educated In the public schools of Valparaiso, his studies being supervised by Ills widest brother, Dr. Bkinner. Later on lie studied law In the offices of Hose & Skinner of Valparaiso. But he longed to Ret into the ac-tlvo ac-tlvo commercial world and for some time had been leaninp toward a literary lit-erary career, true native of Tndiun i which has turned out so many famous fa-mous authors and poets. YOUXGKST It. M. S CLERK. Offerings in that line, however, be-j lng few and far between at that time he entered the Hallway Mull service at the age of 15 years, beins appointed appoint-ed by President Cleveland and the youngest clerk that ever, entered the service. Valparaiso lies 44 miles from Chicago, Chi-cago, and 15 miles south of the foot of lake Michigan. His run wis from Chicago to Cleveland, Ohio, on the Lake shore Fast Mail and he remained remain-ed in the service continuously for 21 yean. Prior to his entering the mall service serv-ice ho became what is known as a "news butcher on the Pennsylvania road selling papers on the suburban trains, also at the old Canal Street station in Chicago. He was also employed for five yean with the American Express company Perhaps the fact that h'.s father died when he was I- years f ap had a great deal to do with his surrv At least he tninks so, for he said i'i ' early in life he was thrown In a gr it measure upon his own resources, thai Ik. he began to think seriously of making mak-ing his own living. In iusln. It might bo interesting to note that his mother, 88 years of age. still r sM is nt the old home in Valparaiso. ENTERS THEATRE BI KINI SS. Mr. Skinner came to ugd.m in 1910 and entered the employ of the Alha;- j bra Theatre company, was made man- I afer three years later and In 1915 opetteu the present Alhambra the- i tre Then came three years of struggle. The. street, Hudson avenue, was a new street. Strange as it may seem ii present when the Alhambra theatre the-atre is known to practically every itizen in Ogden. despite the adver-. rising that was done, it was a lon.rl time before it had attained Its present pres-ent popularity. Each year, how showed a slight Improvement despite the fact that the venture was a heavy investment for a town the size of Mgden and that the street was not well known Mr. Skinner had succeeded in gaining gain-ing the confidence of such men fuj Albert Scowcroft, who died In 191:, and of tht IVe Fred J. Kiesel, th..-.support th..-.support of whom made the venture, possible from a financial point of lew. Following the death of Mr. Scowcroft. Scow-croft. the Scowcroft interests w ne anxious to have Mr. Skinner continue with the venture. He was Influenci in si great measure by the past efforts and fidelity to the venture of Albert. Si owcroft. Aided by the late F. J- Kiesel, who W T &, .. k.'IW " ' II- E. SKINNER. had also bestowed great confidence In i Mr. Skinner' judgment, Mr. Bkinner bought out the Scowcroft Interests ii n,l then Mici ilrJ in Catherine around him some of the most Infill- I ential business men in Ogden. POLK Y BRINGS SI CESS The fixed policy of making every j j effort to give to his patrons the best , that the1 market affords in pictures ' has resulted In a continued success land his many benevolent acts, one! I of which has been the entertaining lof the inmates of the state' Industrial 'school with suitable pictures, have endeared en-deared him to the hearts of the public. pub-lic. One. of the most important posts In the theatre, according to the Ideas of Mr. Skinner Is th-- reception of the public as they enter the lioue. In which Mrs. Skinner has been a groat help. I Mr. Skinner Is nothing if not cos-j cos-j mopolitan He numbers his friends among all classes of people, ranging I from leaders in many lines to labor-ersr. labor-ersr. He belong to the KlkS lodge and is n member of the Weber club. POET OF SOME Mi l r Despite his success In tho amuse-i amuse-i ment world, he has found time to do I considerable writing, being the author au-thor of a number of poems, prominent among which are a war poem wril-Iten wril-Iten after the declaration of the nrmls-Ittce. nrmls-Ittce. entitled, "They All Look Alike ! to Me," "An Eulogy on Hoosevelt," another war poem entitled "Come i On!" and a song entitled 'Sorrow Dwells Where Golden Stars Are Shin- mg " The life of a man in the .show business busi-ness is enlivened every now and then by peculiar Incidents. 1 Imagine the surprise of Mr. Skinner Skin-ner to discover one day that Clarence O, Droun. a heavy stockholder In the I Oriiheuru Ir.-ult. and on- of the prin cipal advisers of Martin Beck, was the same "Clarence" with whom he i acted as usher When 12 years of ago In the opera house at Valparaiso. It struck Mr. Skinner as odd that they should be in the same business after a lapse of more than 4 0 years Though n great armirer of the principles prin-ciples Of Roosevelt, Mr. Skinner is independent politically. In his own I line of work he has been twice elected elect-ed president of the Utah t heatre Exhibitors Ex-hibitors association and has done considerable con-siderable work along the line of getting get-ting bettor pictures, being opposed '.o films that do not tend to raise the standard of the general public. His hobby. If such It might be called. Is to take drives into the mountains moun-tains and to commune with nature In thot form at which time hv gathers material for his literary efforts He Is known as a man that ls always al-ways ready to give his time to any worthy cause that will make for tho betterment of the community. Mr. and Mrs. Skluner have two daughters. Mrs. Albert Erlekson, I Whose husband is the v iolinist and leader of the Orpheum orchestra, and Mrs. Hyrum Hammers, whose husband is a musician in the Orpheum orchestra and who recently filled in engagement as trombone soloist with Sousa's band |