If real life were a science fiction movie about, say, a person from the 1930s traveling through time to 2005 and landing in downtown Exeter, it’s a good bet the heroic chrono-naut would find familiar comfort at the Ioka Theater. One of the few remaining private, independent theaters in the country, the Ioka of 2005 still bears a striking resemblance to the Ioka of 1915, the year in which it was built. There’s still an expansive stage used for live performances (back in 1915, it was vaudeville; today, it’s musicians like Dar Williams), a balcony where lovers can surreptitiously neck, and an authentic silver screen. And though the Ioka is a nostalgia trip for film buffs, it’s not a museum—it’s a working business, one that’s celebrating its 90th anniversary this month.

Because of the physical similarities, says owner Roger Detzler, “People have the notion that the Ioka doesn’t change over time. But the Ioka has survived for 90 years by changing and trying to remain relevant to the community.”

For the 90th anniversary, Detzler says he wanted to do something that served as a retrospective of both the films and the live entertainment the Ioka has offered. Folk musician Jesse Winchester is on the schedule, as is the Bruce Marshall Group. Film offerings include classics like “The Wizard of Oz,” Universal Studios monster films (“Frankenstein,” “Dracula,” “The Wolfman” and “The Mummy”), “Casablanca” and an original 35-millimeter print of “Gone With the Wind.”

“I felt for the 90th anniversary, it was important to do something that befitted the place,” Detzler said.
The theater is a living landmark of Hollywood’s early years. Edward Mayer, a Rockingham County judge who was also the nephew of Louis B. Mayer (of MGM Studios), built the theater to capitalize on the newest entertainment fad: film. The Ioka opened its doors on Nov. 1, 1915, and its inaugural film was D.W. Griffith’s notorious epic “The Birth of a Nation.” Shortly after opening, the theater held a contest in which customers could pick a name for the theater; legend has it a local girl “steeped in Girl Scouting and Indian lore” offered the name “Ioka,” which she said was the Squamscott word for “playground.” During its early days, the Ioka was also a destination for vaudeville performers like Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle. In the basement of the theater was a public swimming pool for the local YMCA.

The Ioka “remained a motion picture icon for decades,” Detzler says. But after the collapse of the Hollywood studio system in the 1950s, it fell on hard times and in 1965 closed for six months. During the next few decades it became a second-run theater and fell into disrepair. But the Ioka found new life when Jim Blanco took over in the late 1980s, and by the time he left in 2004, the basement was converted from an unused swimming pool to a stylish nightclub that also contained a second movie screen.

Blanco has spent much of his life at the Ioka. He started working there when he was in the fifth grade, helping clean the theater with a group of friends after school in exchange for candy and free tickets. He came back to work at the theater when he was in high school in the early 1970s and again in 1982. In 1987, Blanco took over as manager of the Ioka, eventually buying the building in 1995.

“It’s always been film for me,” he says. “The Ioka was the first place that I could (work) with film.” In the intervening years, when he wasn’t running the theater, Blanco worked as a cinematographer and learned about film restoration, two skills he still uses today when working on various film restoration projects and serving as a consultant for other classic movie-houses undergoing renovation. He hasn’t left the Ioka entirely, though—he still books all the films.

During his tenure as owner, Blanco returned it to a first-run theater. He also converted the basement into a nightclub, modeled after a 1920s speakeasy, complete with a mahogany Art Deco bar, VIP lounge and a swank smoking room.

Detzler moved to Exeter five years ago and “spent a considerable amount of time (at the Ioka) watching movies,” he says. Once Club Ioka opened up downstairs, he began going there, too, because it was “a completely unique, secret place.”

Detzler became friends with Blanco, and when the property went up for sale in 2002, Blanco asked Detzler to buy the building. 

“I had been there for upwards of 20 years and I wanted to move on,” Blanco says. “I’m much more of a technician and a designer and a commercial builder than I am the guy that rips the tickets.”

Detzler was reluctant to buy the theater at first. “At the time I said no, but it kept nagging away at me,” he says. After a couple of other offers on the building—including one plan to convert it into a cinema pub—fell through, Detzler decided to buy the theater with partners. “It seemed like an interesting challenge to take on,” he says.

As he talks about the importance of the Ioka to downtown Exeter and the local entertainment scene in general, he says, “If (the Ioka) ever goes away, it will never come back.”

Is it in danger of ever closing? “Every day,” he says, only half joking. “We depend on every weekend to keep going. We’re not a deep-pocket organization. We don’t have rich donors, we don’t receive government grants.”

That means that despite all the effort to preserve the theater’s old-style charm and classic movie-house feel, at the end of the day, it comes down to ticket and popcorn sales. The nightclub is no longer open to the public—it was too difficult to show movies in the basement, clean up and have the club ready to open at 9 p.m. sharp, Detzler says—though it’s still available for private functions.

For a while, the Ioka was still using a two-reel projection system, complete with a carbon-arc projector that dates back to the theater’s early days. Though Detzler says it was a source of pride to be using technology most people now in the film industry have never used, the equipment was expensive and difficult to maintain. And so the Ioka switched over to a platter projection system, in which the reels of a film are spliced together and spooled off a large metal platter.

“A greater source of pride comes from being open another day,” Detzler adds.

But for all the changes, the Ioka still feels like an old movie house, a remarkable feat, considering that the theater is open to customers 363 days a year.

“You can walk through any town in New England and there’s history everywhere,” Detzler says. “But I think there’s something unique about a historical business. We’re not a museum here. We’re a living, breathing, working business.”

Blanco says the Ioka still has “another good 90 years left in it.”

“The Ioka is over the hump. It’s built like a tank. It’s very well preserved, and it’s very well built and all the additions I made to it and Roger has made to it are built to go the distance,” he says. “It’s a great place to see a film. It’s a treasure.”

the Ioka 90th anniversary gala
The Ioka celebrates almost a century of entertainment with seven days of live music and classic films, Nov. 10-17.

Folk legend Jesse Winchester kicks off the gala with a performance on Thursday, Nov. 10. A poignant singer-songwriter, Winchester has been a folk staple for more than 30 years. The 21-plus show starts at 7 p.m.; tickets are $21 in advance and $25 at the door.

“The Wizard of Oz” returns to the big screen on Nov. 11 at 2 and 7 p.m. and Nov. 12 at 2 p.m. A costume contest will be held at the 7 p.m. show. Tickets are $5.

Also on Nov. 12, the Bruce Marshall Group will take the Ioka’s stage at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for the 21-plus show are $12 in advance and $15 at the door.

Get ready for a good fright on Sunday, Nov. 13. The Ioka presents Universal Studios classic monster movies: “Frankenstein,” “Dracula,” “The Wolfman,” and “The Mummy.” The movies start at 2 p.m. Tickets are $5 for each movie or $10 for all four.

There’s more classic films on Monday, Nov. 14, with a screening of “Casablanca” at 7 p.m. and “The Thin Man” at 8:45 p.m. Tickets are $5 each or $8 for both.

On Tuesday, Nov. 15, explore modern black and white films with screenings of “Young Frankenstein,” “Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid,” and “Zelig,” starting at 7 p.m., $5 each or $10 for all.

Frankly my dear, you should give a damn when the Ioka presents an original 35mm screening of “Gone With the Wind” on Wednesday, Nov. 16 at 2 and 7 p.m., $5.

The gala wraps up with a midnight showing of “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” on Thursday, Nov. 17. There will be a trivia contest and costume contest before the movie. Doors open at 9:30 p.m. and the fun starts at 10 p.m. Tickets are $10.