From http://www.ameshistoricalsociety.org/stories/lawlor.htm

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		JOSEPH P. LAWLOR RECALLS JOE GERBRACHT
		     AND THE AMES THEATRE COMPANY

Joe Gerbracht gave me my first job in 1941 when I turned 16 and got my
Social Security number.  I worked first as an usher (in blue and
yellow formal uniform) at the plush, fabulous Collegian Theater.
Later I became their projectionist.  It was great!  I recall that Gone
With the Wind came on 13 reels compared to the usual three or four per
movie.

I played the trombone in the high school band, and recall when the
beautiful actress, Gene Tierney (Hollywood’s Mona Lisa), came to Ames
to join Joe in a parade down Main Street.  We marched ahead of Joe’s
red convertible with Joe and Miss Tierney seated aloft, and looked
back as we were able to increase the rapture of it all.

A group of Ames Cub Scouts are shown in the projection booth of the
Collegian Theater.

Later I was assigned to the New Ames projection booth.  There I
especially remember showing Captain January with Shirley Temple and
Guy Kibbee.  I used to study my high school assignments between reel
changes.  My last position was as projectionist at the neighboring
Varsity Theater.  Before my father, Joseph P. Lawlor (senior), left to
serve in the Marine Corps in World War II, our family had Joe over for
dinner.

We moved to Laguna Beach for a year where I finished high school.
Then I worked in a defense plant for B24 bombers before returning to
Ames.  In 1981 I retired to central Florida where my father had
retired in 1960.  With my Finnish wife, Pirkko, we started Ballet
Conservatory, Dance Centre of Winter Haven.  As I look back, Ames gave
me a fine start from 1932 to 1944, and I give it my sincere
appreciation.