Mooresville's Movie Mogul

Did you know Mooresville, Indiana had its own movie mogul?  Longtime Mooresville business owner Leon Adler (1906-1986) produced and distributed educational motion pictures for nearly a quarter century.

Adler purchased the National Motion Pictures Company in 1931, producing and distributing industrial and educational films until he sold the business in 1954 to Institutional Cinema Services of New York.  Adler maintained offices in the Holliday Building in Indianapolis but probably also corresponded from his Mooresville residence or business addresses.

Figure 1:  Leon Adler wrote this letter to the DuPont Company offering film distribution services from the National Motion Pictures Company, Adler's film production/distribution business.  Letter courtesy of the Hagley Museum & Library (Wilmington, Delaware) and Martin Louis Johnson, Assistant Professor of English & Comparative Literature, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The National Motion Pictures Company specialized in educational and industrial films.  One offering was the 1939 short film, Told By a Tooth, which promoted dental hygiene.  The movie is available to watch from the Prelinger Archives, although the digitized copy was derived from somewhat degraded film stock.  There were splices and edits made to the original copy (for example, the end credits have been removed), and the recording is darker than it would have been when originally made and shown.

Told By a Tooth (1939)

Produced by Leon Adler's National Motion Pictures Company

Adler used Mooresville and Morgan County talent and locations to appear in his movies.  Longtime Mooresville resident Barbara Ann Nevins (Barlow) was about seven years old when she appeared in Told By a Tooth (1939), as well as in Why Willy Was Willing to Wash (ca. 1940) and another Adler film (sorry--don't know the title).  She was paid, as were the other actors and actresses appearing in the features, in free merchandise from Adler's Mooresville department store.  In Told By a Tooth, the scene in which a girl purchases a toothbrush was shot in Adler's Department store at 10 West Main Street in downtown Mooresville.  Barbara Barlow mentioned that, many years later, her children saw the films when they were attending school and were "mortified" that their mother appeared in the movies.  Apparently, she had never mentioned to them that she was a "movie star."  Parents embarrass their kids in so many ways.

 

Barbara Ann Nevins (about age 7) in Told by a Tooth (1939) and Barbara in 2024

Adler also used famous Hollywood personnel to produce his movies, such as Academy Award-winning cinematographer Floyd Crosby (father of musician David Crosby), as mentioned in an Indianapolis Star article.

Figure 2:  Floyd Crosby came from Hollywood to Mooresville to film two health and education movies for Leon Adler in 1935.  (The Indianapolis Star, Wednesday, May 1, 1935, page 11.)

Figure 3:  Leon Adler presented an NMPC film about George Washington at Noblesville High School in 1932.  The movie was sponsored by the National Bicentennial Commission.  (The Noblesville [Indiana] Ledger, Wednesday, March 9, 1932, page 3.)

Figure 4:  Mr. and Mrs. Leon Adler entertained friends with a preview of a new NMPC movie filmed in the Martinsville area.  (Martinsville [Indiana] Reporter-Times, Thursday, October 27, 1938, page 5.)

Besides producing and distributing movies, Adler was a successful Morgan County business owner.  In 1933, Adler purchased Ad Sellars' dry goods store and operated Adler's Department Store at 10 West Main Street in downtown Mooresville until 1967, when he closed both his Mooresville and Martinsville stores.

Figure 5:  Leon Adler's department store was featured by the Mooresville Chamber of Commerce, which he helped establish in the 1950s, in an article appearing in the June 10, 1965 edition of the Mooresville Times (clipping courtesy of Mooresville Public Library).

Figure 6.  An advertisement for Adler's Department Store in the September 1964 issues of the Mooresville Times (clipping courtesy of Mooresville Public Library).

The Adler family lived in Mooresville from 1933-1955, but they also had a residence in Indianapolis and were active in several charities and organizations.  Adler served as president of the Mooresville Chamber of Commerce and the Mooresville Lions Club, and he served on the board of Mooresville's Citizens Bank.  He helped establish the Mooresville Development Commission and was instrumental in constructing new homes west of Newby Elementary School in Mooresville, which were vital in easing a housing shortage as the town's population steadily grew during the 1960s and 1970s.

Adler's pursuits often had a national, even international, reach.  He was a member of the Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation and Labor Zionists of America and served as chairman of the Southeastern Indiana Jewish Welfare Federation.  In 1963 the State of Israel issued Adler a prestigious award for meritorious service.  He supported organized labor, civil rights, and Zionism, speaking and writing about these and other subjects.  He also promoted oratorical contests to encourage improvement in public speaking skills.

In January, 1959, Adler was selected Mooresvillian of the Year for 1958, an honor bestowed annually by the Mooresville Chamber of Commerce in recognition of local civic leaders whose efforts enhanced the Mooresville community.  Adler was extremely popular with townspeople.  "If Leon Adler said he would do something, it was as good as done," reflected longtime Mooresville resident Beth Hensley, who owned and operated a "Jack and Jill" children's clothing store near Adler's department store in downtown Mooresville during the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Figure 7.  Leon Adler was selected the 1958 Mooresvillian of the Year (Mooresville Times, January 15, 1959) (image courtesy of Mooresville Public Library).  Several of Adler's obituaries incorrectly stated that he received this award in 1954.

Figure 8.  Leon Adler's senior picture from The Arsenal Cannon, 1923 Indianapolis Arsenal Technical High School Yearbook (courtesy of Ancestry Library Edition).

Born in Shelbyville, Indiana in 1906, Adler graduated from Indianapolis Arsenal Technical High School in 1923.  Adler passed away at St. Vincent Hospital in 1986 at the age of 80 years.  Learn more about him from Mooresville Public Library's digitized vertical files, as well as from these obituaries below.

 Figures 9 & 10.  Leon Adler's obituaries from the Jewish Post, July 16 & 23, 1986.

We've prepared a local history video featuring Leon Adler (click below to watch).  We also have this slideshow.
 

James Whitcomb Riley's Mooresville Connections

James Whitcomb Riley, sign painter (ca. 1872)

(Photo courtesy of Indianapolis Public Library Riley Collection)

Although famous Hoosier poet James Whitcomb Riley (1849-1916) grew up in Greenfield, Indiana, in Spring 1874 he moved to Mooresville to live with his aunt and uncle, Jim and Ann Marine, while he worked as a sign painter in a shop located at 25 South Indiana Street downtown.  The building is known as the Perce Building (for owner Dr. B. H. Perce, who had it constructed around 1865).  Our video (below), this slideshow, and this blog post, elaborate.

In addition to sign painting, Riley wrote articles and humorous quips for the local newspaper, the Mooresville Enterprise, as well as for other Morgan County newspapers.  When trade was slack, Riley would slip around the block to hang out with local photographer and Civil War veteran Jarvis P. Calvert at his art and photographer studio on East Harrison Street.

James Whitcomb Riley (ca. 1874)

(Photo possibly taken by J. P. Calvert)

(Image courtesy of James Whitcomb Riley Old Home Society)

Arthur C. Newby (Famous Mooresvillian)

Arthur C. Newby (1865-1933) was born and raised near Monrovia, Indiana, but owned land in Mooresville that became an important part of local education here (see below).  Newby was an early bicycle and automobile manufacturer and co-founded the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  He moved to Indianapolis in 1881 seeking employment and was a middle manager for the firm of Nordyke & Marmon.  In the 1890s, Newby co-founded the Zig-Zag Cycling Club, and, along with Charles E. Test and Edward Fletcher, he established the Indianapolis Chain & Stamping Company, which later became the Diamond Chain Company.  By the end of the 1890s, Newby’s business was supplying roughly 60 percent of American-made bicycle chains.  From 1894 to 1899, Newby was also associated with Hay & Willits Manufacturing Company, which made Outing bicycles, a popular brand.

Arthur C. Newby (1865-1933) (see obituaries here)

In 1898 Newby teamed with James A. Allison and Carl G. Fisher to construct the Newby Oval, a bicycle racing track near 30th Street and Central Avenue in Indianapolis.  This trio later founded the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1909. By the turn of the 20th century, Newby focused upon automobile manufacture, co-founding the National Motor Vehicle Company, which built electric and gasoline-powered automobiles.

 

 Newby Elementary School under construction (April, 1936)

(Photo courtesy of the Mooresville High School Alumni Association)

Dedication Program for William & Milton Newby Memorial Elementary School

(March 30, 1937)

 

“In 1920, Arthur C. Newby gave a 140 acre farm (located west of Mooresville near Bingham and Greencastle Roads), together with considerable other property, to the Mooresville School Association. His wishes were that they be sold and proceeds used toward the creation of a new school with the stipulation that it be named in memory of his uncles, William and Milton Newby. Mooresville’s existing elementary school, the Academy Building which originally housed MHS [Mooresville High School], was filling more and more each year. The William and Milton Newby Memorial Elementary School was decided upon and plans were drawn in 1935. Construction began in January 1936. The cost was approximately $93,000. The architectural style was Georgian Colonial. The new building included ten classrooms, a recreation room, cafeteria and kitchen, four dressing rooms, the principal’s office, a suite for first aid, music and art supervisor’s office, teachers’ rest rooms, a workshop for the custodians and a large storage room were also included in the plan. The school grounds covered about eight acres of picturesque rolling and wooded lot.” [Quoted from Susan Haynes (2016).  William and Milton Newby Memorial Elementary School. Mooresville, Indiana: Mooresville Consolidated School Corporation.]

There's also a video about Arthur Newby (below).

Arthur C. Newby, Mooresville's Quiet Philanthropist

(Mooresville Moments #19)

Ruth Ellen Comer (Famous Mooresvillian)

  

Ruth Ellen Comer

Ruth Ellen Comer (1909-1995) was the daughter of Charles Benton Comer and Mary Aldrich Comer.  She graduated from Mooresville High School and Butler University School of Music and further studied music at the University of Southern California.  She was a professional musician, playing piano, pipe organ, and accordion.  She was best known as a member of the musical group, Maria Karson & Her Musicales (1940s), who appeared on national radio and played a variety of clubs and hotels across the country.  Click here to learn more about this gifted lady, or watch our video (below).

Sammy Lee Davis (Famous Mooresvillian)

Sammy Lee Davis moved to Waverly, Indiana from California following his junior year to attend Mooresville High School (graduated MHS Class of 1966). After enlisting in the U.S. Army, he distinguished himself in combat service in Vietnam and, on November 19, 1968, was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor by President Lyndon B. Johnson (see the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, Monday, November 25, 1968, pp. 1611-12, 1614). Davis has an autobiography available to checkout from our Evergreen Indiana catalog.

Click book cover (above) to go to our online catalog

Sergeant Sammy L. Davis, Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient (1968)

President Lyndon Baines Johnson  (far right) awards the Congressional Medal of Honor to (L to R): Gary G. Wetzel, Dwight H. Johnson, Sammy L. Davis, James Allen Taylor, and Angelo J. Liteky (November 19, 1968)

Amos Rusie (Famous Mooresvillian)

Mooresville native Amos Wilson Rusie (1871-1942), “the Hoosier Thunderbolt,” pitched for the New York Giants between 1890-1900 and the Cincinnati Reds in 1901.  He held many major league pitching records and was considered the fastest pitcher in professional baseball. For more about Rusie, watch the videos below; read this article from Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History (1989); take a look at our “flash from your past” flashcard; or visit the MPL Indiana Room, to learn more about this all-star pitcher.

Amos Rusie N.Y. Giants Baseball Card (1890’s)

Amos Wilson Rusie:  The Hoosier Thunderbolt
(Mooresville Moments #20)
by Mooresville Public Library

Amos Rusie:  The Hoosier Thunderbolt, by Pete Cava

(MPL Program Video, April 2, 2016)

Clifford C. Furnas: Olympic Athlete, Prominent Academic, and Famous Mooresvillian

Clifford C. Furnas (1900-1969) graduated from Mooresville High School in 1918. He earned his bachelor degree from Purdue University (1922), at which he excelled in track and field. He secured a position on the U.S. Olympic team and competed in the 5,000 meters event at the 1920 Olympic Games in Belgium.  He earned his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of Michigan (1926). From 1926-31 he worked as a physical chemist with the U.S. Bureau of Mines in Minneapolis.  Thereafter, he became a professor of chemical engineering at Yale University.

Clifford C. Furnas (1900-1969)

Clifford C. Furnas as a Mooresville High School junior

(Class Photo from the ’17 Packet [MHS yearbook, 1917)

(Click Image Above to Enlarge)

In 1941, at a meeting of the American Chemical Society, Furnas caused a sensation when he recommended the development of solar power as an alternative energy resource to fossil fuels.  During World War II, he directed the Curtiss-Wright airplane division.  In 1954 Furnas became chancellor of the University of Buffalo.  He served as an assistant secretary of defense in the Eisenhower administration (1955-57).  In 1962, he guided the University of Buffalo’s transition into the State University of New York at Buffalo (SUNY-Buffalo), serving as its first president until his retirement in 1966.  He published many noteworthy scholarly books and articles throughout his distinguished academic and professional career.

Checkout a book describing his lifetime achievements from our Indiana Room collections. Visit our Famous Mooresvillians web page to learn more about famous folks from around these parts.