Jefferson County Online A part of the IAGenWeb and USGenWeb Projects The 'Madegood Family' Tesse Patterson

"The Fairfield Daily Ledger"
Fairfield, Iowa
Monday, May 11, 1925
Front Page and Page 3

NO. 11--MRS. TESSE PATTERSON.

Hats off, men! We want to present to you Mrs. Tesse Patterson--she of the Victory theatre.

Just every-day politeness will cause you to take off your hat to any woman, of course, but when you find a woman who is doing a job of work which a lotta men have been unable to do you feel like not only taking your sombreros off but in keeping them off. As a conspicuous example of making good we hereby nominate Mrs. Tesse Patterson to membership in the Madegood family.

'Twas a little over five years ago Mrs. Patterson came here and took the management of the Victory theatre for another owner. There'd been so many owners of this particular white elephant that Fairfield folks had given up the idea of meeting an acquaintance in the box office or taking tickets at the door. But Mrs. Tesse wasn't here long until she got a hunch she could make the place pay. She had some mighty good ideas about the business but she was a bit shp on capital (sic). Although she had never engaged in any high financing she did know that banks had money and that they sometimes loaned this money if a proposition looked good.

Well, the proposition looked good to her and she knew it was up to her to make it look good to the bank chaps. So she visited a Fairfield bank and presented her case. Banker was hard-boiled. So was Mrs. Tesse.

"Place never has paid," said the banker.

"No reason why it won't," argued Mrs. Tesse.

She talked cold turkey to the banker until he began to catch some of her enthusiasm, and finally got him so warmed up he led her to the vault and told her to reach in and help herself. But she didn't dig any deeper than was necessary--went slowly and carefully. Now she--well, she can look the banker straight in the eye. And his hat comes off to her too. For Mrs. Patterson has put the thing across. Not that she is making extensive investments in real estate, or spending her summers at her country house on the sea shore or in European travel. No, not yet, but you never can tell.

How come? Well may you ask how this woman picked up this unfinished man's size job and went through with it. This bit of a close-up of her may make the picture clearer to you. As a girl around her father's store up in Marshalltown Mrs. Patterson had noticed how he made friends--and gained trade--by the practice of a bit of liberality toward his customers. An extra pork chop to a customer maybe, or a stick of candy to a child. 'Twasn't hard for Mrs. Tesse to practice liberality herself, probably due to her Irish parentage. Anyway, she made it a point to give her patrons something more in the way of entertainment than was promised in the advertising. Wasn't afraid to buy big pictures and give folks the best there was to be had.

Didn't know a great deal about the different brand of pictures, but by keeping her ear to the ground she soon learned what kind of pictures people liked. That was all that was necessary and it didn't make any difference to her who produced them. Then she added a little personal touch of courtesy. Seldom you'll fail to find her about the theatre, isn't it, when you're going in or out, and having a pleasant word for you. Maybe 'tis a touch from the old Blarney stone cropping out, but it doesn't matter if it is, it wins.

If there is one thing that Mrs. Patterson likes better than crowds of pleased patrons at her theatre it is music, and piano music particularly. For she is a skilled musician--was musical director for a big eastern theatrical company for several years and traveled extensively with it. Her idea now of having a real good time is to go to Minneapolis and other of the big towns and hear a symphony orchestra. And she does it. These musical debauches and an insistence on clean pictures at her theatre are two very bad habits Mrs. Tesse admits having.

Now, conceding that it has been a man's job to make that old show place pay out, and without meaning in the least to detract from the credit which belongs to her for it, yet most of you will agree that when Mrs. Tesse Patterson called on that banker on his own home grounds and convinced him that he ought to loan her money on what looked like a Lost Cause she did a very fair day's work which there are few men in town would tackle--and certainly none of them get away with.

Just keep your hats off, men!