Rialto Theatre

1000 Delta Avenue,
Gladstone, MI 49837

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50sSNIPES
50sSNIPES on June 4, 2021 at 3:40 pm

The Community Theatre opened as early as 1924.

The Community Theatre became the Rialto Theatre on September 2, 1927 with Billy Dove and Huntley Gordon in “Sensation Seekers” along with a novelty “The Elegy”, and a comedy short “Buster’s Prize Winner”.

The Rialto installed a Vitaphone sound system, and reopened on July 14, 1929 with Richard Barthelmess in “Weary River” along with 2 Vitaphone Vaudeville Acts, a musical performance by Waring’s Pennsylvanians, a movietone comedy, and Escanaba’s premiere of one of the most popular cartoons in America, Mickey Mouse in “Steamboat Willie”.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on September 22, 2014 at 8:23 pm

The September 2, 1927, issue of The Escanaba Daily Press said that the Community Theatre in Gladstone had been purchased by Fischer-Paramount Theatres of Milwaukee, the company that had been operating it under a lease. The house would be renamed the Rialto Theatre, and extensive improvements were planned, including the installation of a Barton Organ.

The building had been built several years earlier by the Northwestern Cooperage and Lumber Company as a community center for its workers.

July 14, 1929, issue of the paper featured several pages of ads placed by various businesses offering congratulations to the Rialto Theatre on its opening.

Trolleyguy
Trolleyguy on August 20, 2013 at 11:48 am

Correct address is 1000 Delta Avenue. The Google Street View has been corrected.