LIVING HISTORY
14
VERO AT 100
Merritt and his deputy appeared unannounced,
turned off the lights, and ordered
everyone to leave. The sheriff then arrested
theater manager and owner William
Atkin, theater operator Henry Metz
and ticket seller William Frick, taking
them to Fort Pierce to appear before Judge
Angus Sumner, who was summoned to
the courthouse. No formal charges were
placed against Metz and Frick. The people
of Vero expressed indignation at the harsh
and arrogant way the arrests at the new
Vero Theatre were handled by the officers.
Disregard for Sunday laws had been common.
Restaurants, for instance, were open
all day and night on Sunday in both Vero
Beach and Fort Pierce. The Vero Theatre
frequently had ads in the newspaper
announcing new shows without mentioning
Sunday performances, but the public
somehow knew they were on.
Attorneys Paul H. Nisle and James T.
Vocelle, who represented the Vero Theatre
Corporation, obtained an injunction from
a circuit judge which restrained the sheriff
from interfering with the operation of the
theater until the cases were heard.
A letter to the editor in the newspaper
from the Rev. Albert Brown Cannady of
the First Baptist Church of Vero stated the
“… operation of Sunday movies in Florida
is a violation of the law.” In another letter
to the editor, Nellie M. Babb, the park
commissioner, pointed out the hypocrisy
of Cannady in that the reverend made
someone work in his yard on Sunday. In
his letter to the editor, J. M. Hatfield of Alabama
said, “… I do not believe that people
can be forced into the churches by closing
everything else to them.”
And so the disputes continued, as did
the raids. In the third Vero Theatre raid by >>
VERO BEACH PRESS
Paul H. Nisle, attorney and editor of the
Vero (Beach) Press newspaper from 1919
until 1922.
FLORIDA STATE ARCHIVES MEMORY PROJECT
Attorneys James T. Vocelle, above, and his partner
Paul H. Nisle, right photo, represented the Vero Theatre
Corporation when the sheriff of St Lucie County
shut down the theater four Sundays in a row. They
were able to obtain an injunction. Vocelle is shown
at his desk in 1953.
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