Owl Theater

Lebanon, KS 66952

Unfavorite No one has favorited this theater yet

Map

View address on Google Maps

Additional Info

Nearby Theaters

No theaters found within 30 miles

Owl Theater

This theater was in tiny town of Lebanon, Kansas at least from 1921 and during the mid-1930’s. It’s chief attraction for me was that its manager (owner?) Gladys E. McArdle regularly provided terrific little movie reviews to the Motion Picture Herald’s "WHAT THE PICTURE DID FOR ME" column during much of the later 1930’s.

It was still operating in 1950, but a closing date is not known at the moment.

Contributed by G.D. Hamann

Recent comments (view all 2 comments)

DrunkOnLight
DrunkOnLight on June 15, 2011 at 1:30 pm

In the summer of 2009 I didn’t have this list. I searched around and didn’t find anything that looked like it might be a theater, but I found something else of interest. In the middle of the intersection, as often done in small Kansas towns, there was a community bulletin board with a hand-drawn poster advertising “Movie tonight behind Bob’s Barber Shop.” Behind Bob’s was a building with a white wall which is where the movie was projected. The movie was free and you could purchase concessions. An old-timer told me these summer open-air screenings had been going on for a long time. He said at one time farmers would come into town and the few stores would stay open till midnight.

robboehm
robboehm on February 13, 2021 at 1:19 pm

In addition to her terse reviews of films Gladys E. McArdle was not adverse to resorting to stunt advertising. When Granny Get Your Gun played she encouraged women to show up with guns, toy or real. More details on this appear in the excerpt from the biography of Laird Cregar: A Hollywood Tragedy (page 41) which I have uploaded.

Also uploaded an image of an ad for the Owl which appeared in the May 31, 1921 Lebanon Times.

You must login before making a comment.

New Comment

Subscribe Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater.