Jim Kershner’s this day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

Prominent young members of Spokane “society” were preparing to film their own “photoplay” (movie) on the grounds of a country home on the Little Spokane River.

Miss Virginia Riblet, who “aspires to become a film star,” wrote the scenario and had the leading role. Her co-stars were Edward Carter and Will Paine, “young men prominent in social affairs.”

Miss Riblet was playing a “bashful and unsophisticated country maid,” whose parents had arranged a marriage to a young society idler she does not know. The idea is “repugnant to both.” Then she goes on a fishing trip on the Little Spokane and meets a charming young man and falls in love. It turns out, this is the man she was supposed to marry, and “the story ends as the designing parents planned.”

Miss Riblet recruited several film professionals from local theaters to shoot and direct the movie. They planned to show the finished product at Spokane’s Liberty Theater.

From the swimming beat: A story listed the many reasons that the new concrete pool near Sinto Avenue was superior to the “old swimmin’ hole” of earlier days.

There were no rocks to cut your feet. The depth was uniform. The water was warmer than river water. And finally, the lifeguards were “large, healthy, bronzed young men with abundant muscles,” ready to swim to the rescue.