Apollo Theatre
3229 Troost Avenue,
Kansas City,
MO
64109
3229 Troost Avenue,
Kansas City,
MO
64109
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The Woodlin Theatre opened in February of 1912. On June 1, 1912, it got new operators and a new name, the Apollo Theatre. The theatre equipped for sound to stay relevant. Fox Midwest would close the Apollo July 30, 1958 at the end of its lease with “Around the World in 80 Days.”
Although I was a Fox employee working at the Plaza and a friend of the manager, Jack Scharfenburg, he still had a hard time getting me by the watch dog that Paramount had hired to make sure everybody had a ticket to see “The 10 Commandments “.
The Apollo was part of the FOX Midwest chain until it closed. I remember going to see “The 10 Commandments” there when it was a roadshow engagement.
Image of the exterior of the Apollo Theater before facade change.
http://digital.library.umsystem.edu/cgi/i/image/image-idx?sid=738293e1c6fb79905fb58dcaf947adc1;med=1;c=umkcredic;q1=umkcredic;rgn1=umkcredic_all;size=20;lasttype=boolean;view=entry;lastview=thumbnail;subview=detail;cc=umkcredic;entryid=x-001.tif;viewid=001.TIF;start=1;resnum=1
Interesting Viragon ad, Joe.
Here is a fresh link to the Viragon ad with the pictures of the Apollo in Boxoffice, August 17, 1946.
If I remember correctly, there was another Apollo theater in Kansas City, located within the Union Station building, circa 1960’s.
Though not identified as the Kansas City Apollo, a few small photos of this house appeared in an ad for Viragon germicidal equipment that was published in Boxoffice of August 17, 1946. There is a photo of the facade before its modern remodeling, and a rare interior photo showing a section of seating in the balcony. Viragon was a Kansas City based company.
This site has vintage photos of the Apollo, along with other KC theatres -
View link
Re: Here is a thread on the possible renovation of this theatre along with pictures; old, new, and proposed:
View link
posted by Claydoh77 on Dec 26, 2006 at 6:48am
Here is the more specific link:
http://forum.kcrag.com/index.php?topic=10835.0
The 1950 edition of Film Daily Yearbook gives a seating capacity of 1,064.
Here is a thread on the possible renovation of this theatre along with pictures; old, new, and proposed:
View link
Tour of Missouri, Oklahoma and Kansas Theatres in 2004
From June 26 through July 1, 2004 the Theatre Historical Society of America will tour a number of theatres in Kansas City Missouri and surrounding areas, including theatres in Lamar, Joplin, Richmond, St. Joseph and Springfield, MO, as well as Miami, OK, and these cities in Kansas: Leavenworth, Kansas City, Emporia, El Dorado, Augusta, Wichita, Hutchinson, McPherson, Salina, Concordia, and Topeka. More information is contained on their web site: http://www.HistoricTheatres.org and special photos and information concerning the Kansas City theatres: UPTOWN and the MIDLAND is available on this temporary page of their site at: http://www2.hawaii.edu/~angell/thsa/fromarch.html A glossy brochure about this “Heart of America” Conclave is available from the Society’s headquarters listed on their homepage, via E-mail to the Ex. Director, or via snail mail. Membership in the Society is not required to attend the Conclave and tour the theatres, but fees do apply as detailed on their site. Bring your camera and lots of film, for it is usually difficult or impossible to enter these theatres for photos, and some of them will surely not be with us in the years to come.