100 Years Ago: Alton Newsboys Enjoy New Year's Day Off with Free Movie Tickets

ALTON - Princess Theater manager James Reilley invited the newspaper carriers for the Alton Evening Telegraph to see the film Old Clothes at the Princess Theater as a special treat on January 1, 1925. Reilley thought seeing child actor Jackie Coogan (the first major Hollywood child star) would make “a fine New Year’s present for the carriers and kindly made the offer.” The carriers were all children themselves (and all boys, as far as I can tell), and there wasn’t a January 1 edition of the Telegraph, so it was a free day for all of them and the perfect opportunity to go to the movies.

Reilley provided seventy tickets to be distributed to the carriers on New Year’s Eve for matinees the next day, and the Alton Evening Telegraph’s circulation manager handed them out. The children didn’t go in a group, and instead went to whichever showing was most convenient for them, and “were shown the regular complete matinee performance, as guests of Manager Reilley.”

Old Clothes was a 1925 American silent drama film directed by Edward F. Cline and starring Jackie Coogan and Joan Crawford. It was the first film in which Crawford, who was born Lucille LeSuer and whose first stage name was Billie Cassin, was listed under the name Joan Crawford. She didn’t pick the stage name herself – it was the result of a movie fan magazine contest launched by the head of MGM – and she claimed to never really like it. (She thought “Crawford” sounded too much like "Crawfish.")

Jackie Coogan had many major film successes as a child, but ended up in dire financial straits as a young adult when he discovered that his mother and step-father (his former business manager), had spent virtually all of his earnings. The California legislature enacted the Child Actors Bill, popularly called the “Coogan Law,” to protect other child actors from suffering a similar fate. Later in life, Coogan played Uncle Fester in the television series The Addams Family (1964–66).

Special thanks to George Fuller for research help with this week’s article.

Sources

Britannica Editors. "Jackie Coogan." Encyclopedia Britannica, 2025. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jackie-Coogan.

“Carrier Boys to See Coogan as Reilley Guests.” Alton Evening Telegraph (Alton, IL), December 31, 1925.

LoBianco, Lorraine. “Joan Crawford Profile.” Turner Classic Movies, 2012. https://www.tcm.com/articles/31270/joan-crawford-profile

Norden, Martin F. “The Life and Legacy of Joan Crawford: Hollywood’s Iconic Actress.” Texas State Historical Association, 2022. https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/leseur-lucille-fay-joan-crawford

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