The Theater Manager Who Married a Rainey Girl

This week will mark the 128th birthday of William John Buckley, the husband of Emma Maryann Rainey Buckley. Ironically, next Sunday will be 70 years since his untimely death. My mother retains vivid, cherished memories of the five years of her childhood when she had her Uncle Bill in her life.

William John Buckley

William John Buckley was born in Montgomery, Alabama, on March 23, 1887. By the age of 13, "Willie" was at Sapulpa in the Creek Nation, Indian Territory, as recorded in the 1900 census.

“Bill” Buckley was the son of Sarah and John M. Buckley, a prominent family in early day Pawhuska. Bill’s father was the city engineer of Pawhuska, Oklahoma, in the early 1900s. In the publication, The Contractor published in Chicago, in the issue dated September 15, 1916, tells of Mr. Buckley’s plan to construct the 510-foot bridge over the creek in City Park in Pawhuska at the cost of $350,000. I recall going over a bridge in Pawhuska as Mother made the comment, “Mr. Buckley constructed this bridge.”
              William J. Buckley was discharged as a private serving in the Coastal Artillery Company based in Fort DuPont, Delaware, on November 29, 1918. He had enlisted on July 31, 1918. At the time of his enlistment, he listed his occupation as a moving picture operator. 

Bill had no interest in civil engineering as his father did. Instead, he was fascinated with the new technology of the moving picture. This catapulted him into managing theaters for the Griffith Brothers*.  While in Fairfax, Oklahoma, when he was the manager of the Tall Chief Theater, he met my maternal grandmother’s sister, Emma Maryann Rainey. Aunt Emma was always the sophisticated sister. Bill Buckley was quite “taken” immediately with Emma.. (A photograph of Emma as a child appears in the blog post entitled Alice Rainey- The Valentine Baby that published on February 9, 2014. To see her in a stately pose, access The Bittersweet Shared Birthday that posted on August 10, 2014.) 

William John Buckley married Emma Maryann Rainey on January 20, 1929, when he was 41 years old and Aunt Emma, my grandma’s youngest sister, was 25 years old. As my mother says, “Uncle Bill doted on Aunt Emma.” He provided for her anything she wanted. As some would say, while she was married to him she led a charmed life.

They lived in Fairfax during the time he managed the Tall Chief Theater. Aunt Emma and her new husband enjoyed being a part of the social life of the early 1930s, being a part of a group of couples who relished playing bridge.

My grandmother, Gladys Vivian Rainey Smith, preserved a newspaper article praising the creative side of her brother-in-law. Bill’s hobby of constructing an eight-tube radio receiver set. The article lauded his success of being able to hear stations from both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts with clarity on the “bear cat” machine he had built. The newspaper reporter marveled that Uncle Bill’s “knock-out” set was small enough to fit into a suitcase!

Within a couple of years, Bill Buckley was promoted to manage The Lyric Theater in Vinita, Oklahoma. Bill and Emma moved and continued to live their dream life full of love, laughter, and friends. Mother has a copy of a letter dated January 22, 1934, that was addressed to "Bill" from J. H. Griffin concerning negotiations on another theater in Vinita.
              This time of happiness and success was cut short by his brief illness and subsequent death. Bill contracted pneumonia and being a heavy smoker could not overcome the disease. Within a week, he was dead on March 29, 1934. Mother recalls, to this day at age 90, the location of his burial in the Pawhuska Cemetery. He was only 47 years old. Mother was nine years old when one of her favorite uncles died suddenly.

            After being married for only five years to the love of her life, Aunt Emma suffered an emotional collapse, my mother recalls. She lost all desire to go on and for approximately a year, she mourned his death, seeing no future for herself, as she battled severe depression. I recall my grandmother telling me  that one morning Aunt Emma got out of bed and ran out into the field. It was as if she had gained a new lease on life. She moved into a new chapter of her life, but without the man who had provided comfortably for her with his rock-solid stability motivated by adoring love.

*Deborah A. Carmichael's dissertation written in 1969 to fulfill her doctorial requirements at Oklahoma State University entitled The Griffith Brothers Circuits of Oklahoma: Film Exhibition Success Outside the Hollywood Studio System can be read online at:  https://shareok.org/bitstream/handle/11244/7058/English%20Department_09.pdf?sequence=1

"Bill" Buckley with his beloved dog, Bing.

Additional note: I have never seen a photograph of Bill and Aunt Emma together. However, as I grew up, Bill Buckley's World War I photograph was on display in our home. When I was in college, my grandmother offered the photograph to Aunt Emma again and much to Grandma's surprise, she took it. Evidently, after around 40 years, Aunt Emma was able to deal with his death and the memories of their five years of marriage. His photograph on display once more reminded her of those few years with the man whose strength and love loomed so large that she would never remarry.