A picket line went up in front of the Holly Theater in Medford, Ore., on a Saturday afternoon in late March 1946.
Police kept the sidewalks clear in front of the building, but the pickets agreed to leave at 8 p.m. after the theater manager, Eino Hemmila, promised to meet with them.
The pickets, including junior and senior high school students Jim Collins, Dean Coverstone, Fitz Brewer, Richard Riggs, Ted Rubenstein and Bill Perl, carried signs protesting student movie prices. They wanted to pay 35 cents instead of the adult price of 65 cents.
On Sunday afternoon, manager Hemmila met with them and made an offer. The students left to discuss the deal. Two weeks later, three senior high students, Bill Rose, Jerry Clark and Richard Riggs, joined junior high representatives Jerry Sherman and Fitz Brewer in a meeting with theater owner Walter Leverette and Hemmila.
The theater agreed to charge just 45 cents, and the students agreed to do what they could to stop vandalism and rowdiness in the theater.
Sources: "Kid Picket Line at Holly Quits for Conference." Medford Mail Tribune 24 Mar. 1946: 1. Web. 23 Oct. 2015.
