Gregg Theatre

Joe Vogel on January 28, 2014 at 8:31 pm

This item is from the “Theater Changes” column of the July 17, 1940, issue of Motion Picture Daily:

“Open Kansas House Soon

“Kansas City, July 16. — The new theatre at Caney, Kan., practically rebuilt from the old Liberty by Larry Larsen, architect and builder, will be opened shortly by C. R. Gregg. The new house, renamed the Gregg, has been closed for two months.”

The Liberty Theatre at Caney, Kansas, was mentioned in the June 7, 1919, issue of The Moving Picture World. Earlier than that I’ve found a Strand Theatre (new front to be installed, MPW April 6, 1918) and an Iris Theatre (recently opened, MPW August 28, 1915) in Caney. Possibly earlier names for the same theater?

Joe Vogel on May 21, 2021 at 6:44 pm

I’ve found another aka for the Gregg Theatre. The September 27, 1912 issue of the Caney News said that the new, 452-seat Hobson Theatre on 4th Avenue had opened the previous Monday (September 23.) The Hobson then advertised in the paper for several years. The house presented movies, vaudeville, frequent live theater productions, public meetings, and occasionally even wrestling matches, so it to have had a stage. In its early years, the Hobson’s competition was the Cozy Theatre, which appears to have been exclusively a movie house and which closed at the end of 1913. In 1917, ads for a new rival, the Strand Theatre, began to appear.

The last mention of the Hobson I’ve found is in the issue of September 27, 1918, six years after the house opened, and the article said that the Hobson was reopening that night under new management. The first mention of the Liberty Theatre I’ve found is from December 20, 1918, in an ad which includes the line “Formerly the Hobson.” Then the January 24, 1919 issue of the News had this item:

“H. R. Bisby, manager of the Liberty Theatre, has moved his pipe organ from the Strand Theatre to the big show house and will soon be in position to again give the patrons of his place the pipe organ music. He also plans to re-open the Strand about the second week in next month.”

It is likely that the original operators of the Hobson were either unwilling or unable to renew their lease and the house fell into the hands of their competitor, Mr. Bisby.