Joy could still dress in her outfits, and perform tricks for patrons under the outdoor marquee during theater hours. The Bleekers took Joy's case to the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals, and a compromise was reached. "Now we had other people upset because Joy wasn't at the theater," said Dawn. That person complained to the health inspector, hinting that the Bleekers were using a pig as a kind of vacuum cleaner for spilled popcorn (They weren't). Dawn, delighted, outfitted the pig in a little usher's uniform and pillbox hat.
#Newton movie movie
Film-goers flocked to the Capitol II Theatre instead of newer, flashier movie houses in Ames or Des Moines, just to see Joy. The pig quickly became a local celebrity. "What do you do with a pig that is emotionally attached to you?" Dawn asked, feeling it would be cruel to leave Joy, who was still very young, home and alone. So the Bleeker family - Dawn, her husband, and her three daughters - bought it. Dawn, who had worked at the theater part-time, felt it was wrong for her town not to have one. Then, six months later, Newton's downtown theater - open since 1927 - unexpectedly went bankrupt. Joy performs with owner/mom Dawn Bleeker between shows. Her arguments finally swayed the Council, and Joy became part of the Bleeker family. Dawn explained that what she wanted was a miniature pig (Joy weighs 80 pounds) bred to be people-friendly. Unfortunately, the Council's idea of a typical pig was "livestock," which can each weigh up to half a ton. The Council members knew about pigs, they said Iowa has an estimated 22 million of them. "We don't want Newton to become a hog lot," was how Dawn recalled the Council's initial reaction to her proposal. When Dawn approached the City Council to change the law, she was told no.
Newton, however, prohibited pigs within the town's limits. Joy's owner, Dawn Bleeker, had loved pigs every since she was little - "They're so darned cute," she told us - and eventually decided she wanted one as a pet.
The theater had a special screening of "Charlotte's Web" in her honor.
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