Things back then, you see, were a bit slower in Fly Creek. The hamlet, though prospering, was still a world to itself, largely cut off from the outside by distance and, in winter, by weather. In 1907, Fly Creek houses were mostly lit by kerosene; lots of time went to cleaning oily soot out of the glass shades. Bathrooms were still in the back yards. Most homes kept chickens out there, too, and many had a cow.

Back then, what news filtered into the hamlet came from the weeklies published in Cooperstown, from the pulpits in the three churches, or from teachers in the district school. Another source of news, not always reliable, was the drummers who stayed overnight at the Fly Creek Hotel and, in the hotel bar, regaled locals with tales of the larger world.

So, when a picture show came to town, everybody turned out. Cook and Harris had first visited Fly Creek in 1905 as part of their "Third Annual Tour" in Central New York. They last showed up in 1911, with three other visits in between, including the 1907 performance you attended in last week's column.

Last week I also told you about Professor Kathy Fuller-Seeley of Georgia State University, who is writing a book-length study of Bert and Fannie's traveling show. She sees it as a classic example of shows then touring all over the country. (Again, if you have artifacts or family memories about local movie shows, Professor Kathy would love to talk with you. Contact her through me, or through Kfuller@aol.com.)

Kathy says that Bert and Fannie hauled their show around from 1903 to 1911; then, perhaps worn out by life on the road, they settled down to run a Richfield Springs movie theater from 1911-1914. But as America entered WWI, they came back to Cooperstown.

Kathy has discovered that Bert and Fannie operated "the Star Theater in the third floor Bowne Opera House for Freeman's Journal publisher George Carley." That opera house-cum-movie-theater was on the third floor of Main Street's "cast-iron building." (The first floor now houses Danny's Market and Riverwood Gifts.)

With a monopoly on showing movies in Cooperstown, the Cooks must have felt they were set for a long run. In fact, they bought the Star Theater in 1915. But then, as in the melodramas they screened, a villain skulked onto the scene. William Smalley, a bearded man with big dreams, showed up in the village in 1916 and, according to Kathy, he "set up a rival movie show in the Coopoerstown Village Hall."

Bert and Fannie "waged a year-long battle of nightly rival movie shows, but they were just outgunned by Smalley, who was already forming his chain of theaters. Finally, "in February 1917, Bert and Fannie had to admit defeat and close." Smalley continued his empire-building with "a large chain of theaters and of course the Smalley's Theater in Cooperstown (seating over 700) in 1922."

And what of Bert and Fannie? Wiped out as entrepreneurs, they gamely stuck with the movie business. But they never recaptured success. Kathy says that they worked as projectionist and piano player in downstate movie theaters until the 1940's.

That's a sad ending for those two movie pioneers who introduced so many country folk, including Fly Creekers, to a larger world, I like to picture them first rattling into the hamlet in June of 1905, unloading the heavy projector, fending off the local barefoot boys who all wanted to help carry it up the Grange's two dozen steps.

Then, imagine Bert upstairs, working with Mr. Davidson, the Grange manager, to cover the tall windows and darken the hall, while Fannie checked to see if summer humidity had left the upright piano anywhere near in tune. Then imagine them, husband and wife, sitting in the upstairs dimness, waiting to see how much of a crowd would gather, and hence how much of a profit they'd make over the hall's $4 rental fee...

There's a fine coda to the Bert and Fannie story, again supplied by Professor Kathy Fuller-Seeley. In 1994 she published her first research on the Cooks in "New York State History," George and June Wyckoff, then of Fly Creek, read that article, as well as a letter that Kathy had written to the Freeman's Journal's editor, asking readers for data about the Cooks.

The name "Bert Cook" immediately caught June's attention. Could this be her long-lost grandfather Bertram Cook, who was in the movie business? Well, it was; and June found her grandfather when she herself was in her eighties. Here's Kathy's story:

Bert Cook had an early, brief marriage to Mabel Colburn Cook at age 19. They divorced in their mid-20's when Bert wanted to travel with his brand-new movie show and Mabel wanted to stay at home. Their daughter Edith (June Wyckoff's mother) last saw her wandering dad in 1911, but then no more. Getting grandpa back was a great joy to June - if, as Kathy says, also a huge surprise for the descendants of Bert's second wife, Fannie. Bert had never gotten around to mentioning a first wife and a daughter.

Anyway, we Fly Creekers owe thanks to The Cook and Harris High Class Moving Picture Company. Their shows got us started towards being the cultural hub we are today. In a way, Bert and Fannie laid out the path that, ninety years later, led to our own Philharmonic and world renown!

Jim Atwell lives in and views life from Fly Creek. He can be found on the web at JimAtwell.com.