Calmar Theatre

dallasmovietheaters on October 4, 2022 at 4:20 am

The new-build Frana Opera House launched March 23, 1916 by L.J. Frana with “As Years Roll On,” a live show starring Al Wilson. The building also housed a drug store. The town already had a movie theater in the Palm Theater’s Movies at Calmar and Frana quickly learned that the townspeople liked movies more than live shows. Frana would briskly reposition the opera house within two months as the movie-centered Olympic Theatre after installing a $3,500 Wurlitzer pipe organ and getting the coveted Paramount Studios exclusive film contract. That would be enough to unseat the Palm Theater.

In 1930, he equipped the Olympic Theatre venue with sound and played his first talkie in “Rio Rita.” Frasna sold the theatre after 29 years of operation to John Ladue in November 1944. After a refresh that included a new sound system and new seating to the count of 280, the venue was rebooted as the Calmar Theatre. It appears that the Calmar Theatre closed June 1, 1957 with Esther Williams in “Unguarded Moment.” So while it was the Calmar Theatre also known as the Olympic Theatre, it was never the Olympia Theatre though it started as the (also known as) Frana Opera House.