Jesse “Jess” Ruble opened the new-build Ruble’s Drive-In Theatre on May 1, 1964. The Rubles had purchased the Rollers Airway Drive-In equipment which was further demolished for the 1-44 onramp. Mother nature had taken care of the screen tower that closed that operation on May 26, 1963. The Ruble’s operation lasted to the end of its 30-year leasing agreement.
The New Strand opened on December 3, 1926 with “Perch of the Devil.” It was equipped with sound to remain viable. It was renamed the St. Charles Cinema on November 23, 1968 and closed on June 30, 1971 with “The Lickerish Quartette” and “Magic Machine.”
Paul Golterman equipped the former storeroom of the Gillis Jones Rice Mill and made a 480-seat capable but 400-seat total venue called the Ritz Theatre. (He said he would add the 80 seats when business warranted such.) The Ritz opened with a soft launch on September 4, 1935 with Bill Cody in “The Cyclone Ranger” followed by a grand opening the next night with “Midnight Alarm.” It was equipped with a Jewell Ultra-Phone Sound System.
The Ritz made it to the end of its 15-year leasing opt out in early 1950. The Moose Club took it over staging shows and sporadic informational film screenings. The building was damaged in a June 1956 fire and sold to the City of St. Charles for parking for $21,500. The building appears to date back to the 1860s as the Lafayette Mills originally selling wheat, rye and buckwheat flour all the way to 1931 under names that included: Kremer & Marten, Kremer’s (adding livestock feed), St. Charles Roller (adding oats), Werner-Liebrock, and Gillis Jones (adding rice at the onset of the Depression). The storeroom’s second floor also held a 19th Century tavern, the Spring Brewery Saloon. The entire structure was demolished and is the contemporary home of Kister Park.
Cecil W. Cannon & L. W. Trescott opened the Orpheum in the former E.S. Metts Cash Store in December of 1919 with Cannon’s wife playing the piano to accompany the films. Ed Huckstep, known for the Huckstep Theatre in Bowling Green, had a gasoline powered popcorn stand in front of the theatre. Cannon and Gladney updated to sound to remain viable. The opening date is believed to be December 12, 1919. (Disregard the 1911 dates and its name as the “Senate” at that time above as the records are pretty clear about the theater taking over the Metts retail store.)
Cannon died entering the building which had a projection booth fire on September 7, 1937 just a half hour into the show featuring “Married Before Breakfast.” His wife, Margaret Cannon (later Gladney) carried on the show from October 1, 1937 to January of 1953. The members of the Cannon family stayed active in the theatre selling popcorn balls after Huckstep passed. They made enough money to create a concession stand with electric popper in the Orpheuem.
In January of 1953, Gladney sold the Orpheum to State Senator and future U.S. Senator Edward Vaughn Long of Long Theatres Inc. He gave the venue a brand new projection room and more. Believe it or not, after the theatre was closed for a month, Senator Long is the one who renamed it as the Senate Theatre on April 2, 1953 with “Road to Bali.” The venue closed in 1973 at the expiry of its 20-year leasing. agreement. It was offered for sale in 1974.
Robert and Sandra Sinnett took on the venue in 1974 reopening it along with Virgial and Lucy Weeks over a 25 year period until Sandra got ill in 1999. The City of Elsberry took over the operation purportedly. The Sinnett family came back into the operation converting it to digital in the process. The venue made it to its 100th Anniversary on December 12, 2020; but COVID-19 closed the venue for a full year from March 2020 to March 13, 2021 when the “Croods New Age” reopened the Senate. It was still in session in the mid-2020s.
Note: The Orpheum entry in the database is a duplicate but could contain basically all of this information.
Cecil Middleton opens the Middleton Theatre in the Yenat Building on November 23, 1940 with “Buck Benny Rides Again.” On Aug. 1, 1941, new operators changed its name to the Forsyth Theatre. Regular operation ceased in December of 1977.
Glenn Caldwell of the Princess Theatre opened the Caldwell Theatre on October 4, 1936 with “Broadway Melody of 1936.” By 1940, it was downgraded to part-year, seasonal operation and one to twice a week. It closed following the December 10, 1943 showing of “Someone to Remember.”
Pathé’s “Les Glaces Merveilleuses” (“The Wonderful Mirrors”), Gaumont’s “L'orpheline”, Lubin’s “If Wm. Penn Came to Life,” Selig’s “The Financial Scare,” Hepworth’s “Burglars at the Ball,” and the Harry Von Tilzer / Andrew B. Sterling song, “Sacramento” with illustrated lantern singalong slide set by Scott & Van Altena are the diverse titles at the opening of the Star Theatre in downtown Coffeyville circa 1908. Well with a nickel.
This was the Drexel Theatre in the Savage Building. It opened on October 8, 1910 with alive vaudeville preso of “Sallie’s Visit.“ Operated by Earl Van Huyning and - later - Jay Perry, the Drexel mixed vaudeville and movies closing after 10 years at end of lease on May 31, 1920 with Jack Hoxie in "Smothering Tides” and Kathleen O'Connor in “The Lion Man” supported by Fay Tincher in “Marry Movies In,” and two serials" “In the Lion’s Den: The Lion Man (episode 5)” and “Lightning Bryce (Episode 14)”. Yep, there were 15 episodes so that must have been depressing.
The Barndollar Building was built in 1884 and was home to the Princess Theatre from 1909 to 1911. Its distinction is that it was the first movie house operated by a female in Mrs. Monroe. In 1910, the ventilation challenged location was closed for the summer as programming moved to the newly-create Princess Airdome. The venue closed May 21, 1911 with Monroe opening a photographic operation, Studio Grande, elsewhere in downtown.
The former Princess became the Stradford Theatre from June 9, 1911 to July 15, 1911 showing movies. Levy & Isley were next to the plate reopening it as The Red Moon Theatre in December of 1911 to March 30, 1912 programming live and cinematic offerings. McEvoy’s Boston Lunch Room moved there in June of 1912 ending the Barndollar Building’s brief theatrical run.
The F.S. Toland Theatorium opened in the newly-built Turby Building on December 24, 1906 competing against Thackett’s Auditorium Theatre. W.T. Stockton took on the venue The “Royal” Moving Picture Show opening as November 11, 1908 in the existing Truby Building with Robert W. Paul’s “Magic Garden,” Frank Wilson as “The Pneumatic Policeman,” and likely “The Thieving Hand.” It shortened its name to the Royal Theatre and its last films were on August 18, 1910. It was used for a variety of purposes for the next year, including a short-term art gallery, a poultry show, and a lecture series. The theatre remained in use for non-theatrical purposes into 1911. It was converted to a Billiards Hall / Barber Shop / Cigar Store with the awesome name of The Mission in 1912
The Odeon Theatre opened with movies on February 22, 1908. It made it to the half-way point of a 30-year lease closing on Jan. 31, 1923 with Charles Richman in “My Friend the Devil.” It was used for some public speeches and live events into 1924.
The Jefferson Theatre closed on June 18, 1924 disappointing the Jefferson Sweet Shoppe next door - the venue’s de facto concessionaire. It had a ragtag programatic approach by that point - some films, some live events, and a lot of down time. The building was gutted by fire on September 5, 1924. The Sweet Shoppe - which conducted business under different operators - reopened at 405 West 8th Street. The walls of the Jefferson Building held on as best they could.
On November 5, 1924, a strong windstorm knocked over some of the remains of the Jefferson Building causing it to be razed two days later. As for the veracity of it resuming operations of a movie theater in 1929, call me incredibly dubious.
The New Columbia Theatre opened April 29, 1912 with films including Mildred Weston in “A Record Romance” and Lottie Briscoe in “A College Girl,” along with multiple vaudeville acts including a tight rope perf outside from the Columbia Building to the Pfiester Building. It was wired for sound to remain commercially viable.
In April of 1936, Moran & Isley’s Southwest Theatres Inc. took on the operation renaming it as the ISMO Theatre. Midwest Amusement took over the house from Southwest on March 5, 1939. They gave the venue a shocking streamline moderne makeover soon thereafter. Still listed as open in the trades in 1955, it is assumed it closed at the end of a 20-year lease in 1956 because, why not?
John Tackett’s Airdome “#2” opened June 1, 1910 with free films followed by a paid show the next night. The original Tackett’s Airdome “#1” was used for three summers in 1907, 1908, and 1909. It was the warm weather spot for Tackett’s Auditorium Theatre. The original was torn down in October of 1909. A new building was built in virtually the same spot - both at 8th and Maple. Tackett’s Airdome #2 was torn down and “carted away” after being used by non-profit organizations in the Summer of 1917 to make way for the New Tackett Theatre that opened February 27, 1919.
Polley & Cottrell of the Princess Theatre opened the Airdrome here at the corner of Seventh and Walnut for the staggering cost of $400 thanks in part to a brick veneer and metal fencing. Because Tackett’s Airdome finished first, this one went by the name of Princess Airdome to alleviate confusion. After some church services, it opened on June 23, 1910 with live acts including Great McGrath: The Upsidedown Man.
SethG is correct - the phone directory and the local newspaper has the Luxor next door to the Kentucky Building at 121 N. Maple and that building was definitely demolished - looking at the aerials - in the 1970s.
Just a minor note. This venue was always the “Rainbo” and never the Rainbow Theatre. And, in fact, Chester V. Fleming who opened the Rainbo on a 20-year leasing agreement, as well as the Luxor and the Park-Vu, opened a restaurant in town called the Rainbo Café after he left movie exhibition in 1956.
It was the Sky-Vu Drive-In - not the Sky Vue (and the competing ozoner was the Park-Vu - kind of a cheeky competitive situation in Nowata cinema exhibition history).
These things are very minor, but the two drive-ins that operated were named the Park-Vu and the Sky-Vu and they were competing with each other (both are slightly incorrect in the database but these inaccuracies are trivially semi-significant). Chester V. Fleming - who had operated theaters in Sand Springs and Tulsa - moved to Nowata in 1936 and operated the Luxor and the Rainbo theaters. C.D. Hicks and J.J. Bowden operated the competing and superior New Rex Theatre.
Fleming announced the building of the Nowata Drive-Inn Theatre in 1952 across from Nowata City Park (aka “Southside Park,” informally to locals) on Highway 169. Hicks and Bowden countered fast-tracking the Sky-Vu Drive-In to the East of the City on Highway 60. Cheekily, Fleming renamed his project as the Park-Vu Drive-In. So heading into the TV age, the town of Nowata - a football team roster short of 4,000 residents - would have three hard top and two very similarly-named ozoner theaters. Something had to give.
Hicks and Bowden’s Sky-Vu won the race launching August 11, 1952. Weeks later, Chester launched his Park-Vu Drive-In on September 1, 1952 with “Macao” and “Skirts Ahoy!” Reading some of the stories is fairly amusing. One very cold April night, 8 cars showed up to the Sky-Vu and just 5 to the Park-Vu so Chester had the Park-Vu closed directing the 5 to the competition.
I know the database claims a 1954 closure - but that also is slightly incorrect and yet semi-significantly germane. Fleming’s Rainbo was Nowata’s first TV-era movie house casualty closing for the Summer of 1953 with the reopening of the Park-Vu on March 30, 1953. That closure came with a promise of a remodeling in time for the Fall of 1953 reboot. That wisely never happened.
Fast forward to 1956 and there are still four theaters operational in town (!). And operational costs generally included upgrades to CinemaScope in the mid-1950s coupled with a marketplace comprised of many fewer paying patrons. In other words, there were two theaters too many in a town the size of Nowata. For the 1955 season, Hicks and Bowden’s Sky-Vu had made the conversion to a widescreen tower to present CinemaScope titles staking its claim as the superior operation with the Park-Vu not making the switch.
Effective July 1, 1956, Fleming exited the cinema exhibition market altogether with all of the leases - the Park-Vu, the Luxor (1940-1960), and the expiring former Rainbo (1936-1956) transferred to Hicks and Bowden. The last film for Fleming’s career was at the Park-Vu - Debra Paget as the “Princess of the Nile” late on June 30, 1956. Hicks and Bowden didn’t reopen the Park-Vu the next night… or ever. It was dismantled with the lease apparently transferred back to Fleming (undoubtedly with a non-compete understanding). Fleming sublet it becoming a trailer park that was still going in the 2020s and across from the re-named Jack Gordon Park.
Meanwhile, the Luxor would close on the last day of its lease on February 28, 1960 with the town finally at closer to its fighting weight of one hard top and one ozoner in the Sky-Vu and the Rex. Both venues ultimately closed and both demolished.
The entry suggests that the Handy was built hoping “vaudeville might return” which isn’t really accurate. The venue was built as a post-War movie house that could support a resurgence of the Chitlin' Circuit and what became its final wave. The Handy Theatre was more steeped in the postwar rise of African American nightclubs and extending the circuit into R&B and early rock ’n’ roll. That’s a different animal than building an 1,100 seat venue hoping for a return to the past of vaudeville; thus, the Handy is much more in the vein of the Regal Theater in Chicago, the Royal Theatre in St. Petersburg, or the Morton Theatre in Athens, Georgia among a whole lot of others. They were playing to an existing and - for a brief period of about ten years - a growing programmatic mission.
At the Handy, right from the jump, its May 11, 1947 grand opening featured the self-proclaimed Father of the Blues William Christopher W.C. Handy, in person… and Jean Rogers in the film, “Backlash” on the big screen (ad in photos). Later ads show this same programmatic mission where you could see on the same ticket Count Basie… and the film “The Big Frame”; Ray Charles… and the film, “Cavalry Scout”; and Moms Mabley… with the movie, “The Story of Seabiscuit.” Kind of strange looking back as the live acts could easily support the entire show. And that programming died off in the television era in almost every city. But the Handy was fairly unique in that it had the first African American exclusive music show live from its stage on WMCT hosted by Rufus Thomas.
At the 15 year opt out mark of its leasing agreement, the Handy closed in 1962. A new operator relit it in 1964 but the magic and the live music vibe was gone. The movies just couldn’t fill that big of a hall in 1964. So it closed quickly. The venue became the Showcase Lounge, a nightclub reducing cap to 500 patrons and the floor leveled. It had some disco mixed in during that run just past its 30th Anniversary.
Its final shot was when it became the short-lived Tri-Sport Club. When it sat vacant for years in the 1980s, the marquee had almost tragic-comically became a mishmash of all the previous names as the coats of paint became weatherbeaten almost reading like “W.C. Tri-Sporcase” or somesuch. The attempts to rekindle the venue were mired in too much time passing, too many substandard renovations, needed asbestos abatement, and undoubtedly a laundry list of below-code issues. It was mercy demolished in December of 2012 likely to rid it from taxing liabilities and further unsavory activity.
No reason to celebrate - October 4, 2026 is the last day for Studio C! as the venue declines a leasing renewal after 40 total years.
Jesse “Jess” Ruble opened the new-build Ruble’s Drive-In Theatre on May 1, 1964. The Rubles had purchased the Rollers Airway Drive-In equipment which was further demolished for the 1-44 onramp. Mother nature had taken care of the screen tower that closed that operation on May 26, 1963. The Ruble’s operation lasted to the end of its 30-year leasing agreement.
The New Strand opened on December 3, 1926 with “Perch of the Devil.” It was equipped with sound to remain viable. It was renamed the St. Charles Cinema on November 23, 1968 and closed on June 30, 1971 with “The Lickerish Quartette” and “Magic Machine.”
The Roxy closed May 7, 1952 with “Silver City” and “Hon Kong.”
Paul Golterman equipped the former storeroom of the Gillis Jones Rice Mill and made a 480-seat capable but 400-seat total venue called the Ritz Theatre. (He said he would add the 80 seats when business warranted such.) The Ritz opened with a soft launch on September 4, 1935 with Bill Cody in “The Cyclone Ranger” followed by a grand opening the next night with “Midnight Alarm.” It was equipped with a Jewell Ultra-Phone Sound System.
The Ritz made it to the end of its 15-year leasing opt out in early 1950. The Moose Club took it over staging shows and sporadic informational film screenings. The building was damaged in a June 1956 fire and sold to the City of St. Charles for parking for $21,500. The building appears to date back to the 1860s as the Lafayette Mills originally selling wheat, rye and buckwheat flour all the way to 1931 under names that included: Kremer & Marten, Kremer’s (adding livestock feed), St. Charles Roller (adding oats), Werner-Liebrock, and Gillis Jones (adding rice at the onset of the Depression). The storeroom’s second floor also held a 19th Century tavern, the Spring Brewery Saloon. The entire structure was demolished and is the contemporary home of Kister Park.
I would suggest “demolished” and formerly “Mill.”
Cecil W. Cannon & L. W. Trescott opened the Orpheum in the former E.S. Metts Cash Store in December of 1919 with Cannon’s wife playing the piano to accompany the films. Ed Huckstep, known for the Huckstep Theatre in Bowling Green, had a gasoline powered popcorn stand in front of the theatre. Cannon and Gladney updated to sound to remain viable. The opening date is believed to be December 12, 1919. (Disregard the 1911 dates and its name as the “Senate” at that time above as the records are pretty clear about the theater taking over the Metts retail store.)
Cannon died entering the building which had a projection booth fire on September 7, 1937 just a half hour into the show featuring “Married Before Breakfast.” His wife, Margaret Cannon (later Gladney) carried on the show from October 1, 1937 to January of 1953. The members of the Cannon family stayed active in the theatre selling popcorn balls after Huckstep passed. They made enough money to create a concession stand with electric popper in the Orpheuem.
In January of 1953, Gladney sold the Orpheum to State Senator and future U.S. Senator Edward Vaughn Long of Long Theatres Inc. He gave the venue a brand new projection room and more. Believe it or not, after the theatre was closed for a month, Senator Long is the one who renamed it as the Senate Theatre on April 2, 1953 with “Road to Bali.” The venue closed in 1973 at the expiry of its 20-year leasing. agreement. It was offered for sale in 1974.
Robert and Sandra Sinnett took on the venue in 1974 reopening it along with Virgial and Lucy Weeks over a 25 year period until Sandra got ill in 1999. The City of Elsberry took over the operation purportedly. The Sinnett family came back into the operation converting it to digital in the process. The venue made it to its 100th Anniversary on December 12, 2020; but COVID-19 closed the venue for a full year from March 2020 to March 13, 2021 when the “Croods New Age” reopened the Senate. It was still in session in the mid-2020s.
Note: The Orpheum entry in the database is a duplicate but could contain basically all of this information.
The theater in town gets an upgraded sound system becoming the Mansfield Theatre on October 26, 1933 with Janet Gaynor in “Paddy.”
Cecil Middleton opens the Middleton Theatre in the Yenat Building on November 23, 1940 with “Buck Benny Rides Again.” On Aug. 1, 1941, new operators changed its name to the Forsyth Theatre. Regular operation ceased in December of 1977.
Glenn Caldwell of the Princess Theatre opened the Caldwell Theatre on October 4, 1936 with “Broadway Melody of 1936.” By 1940, it was downgraded to part-year, seasonal operation and one to twice a week. It closed following the December 10, 1943 showing of “Someone to Remember.”
Pathé’s “Les Glaces Merveilleuses” (“The Wonderful Mirrors”), Gaumont’s “L'orpheline”, Lubin’s “If Wm. Penn Came to Life,” Selig’s “The Financial Scare,” Hepworth’s “Burglars at the Ball,” and the Harry Von Tilzer / Andrew B. Sterling song, “Sacramento” with illustrated lantern singalong slide set by Scott & Van Altena are the diverse titles at the opening of the Star Theatre in downtown Coffeyville circa 1908. Well with a nickel.
The Princess Theatre converted to sound on December 6, 1929 with “On With the Show.“ (ad in photos).
This was the Drexel Theatre in the Savage Building. It opened on October 8, 1910 with alive vaudeville preso of “Sallie’s Visit.“ Operated by Earl Van Huyning and - later - Jay Perry, the Drexel mixed vaudeville and movies closing after 10 years at end of lease on May 31, 1920 with Jack Hoxie in "Smothering Tides” and Kathleen O'Connor in “The Lion Man” supported by Fay Tincher in “Marry Movies In,” and two serials" “In the Lion’s Den: The Lion Man (episode 5)” and “Lightning Bryce (Episode 14)”. Yep, there were 15 episodes so that must have been depressing.
Princess #1. Princess #2 was by different folks on 9th Street.
The Barndollar Building was built in 1884 and was home to the Princess Theatre from 1909 to 1911. Its distinction is that it was the first movie house operated by a female in Mrs. Monroe. In 1910, the ventilation challenged location was closed for the summer as programming moved to the newly-create Princess Airdome. The venue closed May 21, 1911 with Monroe opening a photographic operation, Studio Grande, elsewhere in downtown.
The former Princess became the Stradford Theatre from June 9, 1911 to July 15, 1911 showing movies. Levy & Isley were next to the plate reopening it as The Red Moon Theatre in December of 1911 to March 30, 1912 programming live and cinematic offerings. McEvoy’s Boston Lunch Room moved there in June of 1912 ending the Barndollar Building’s brief theatrical run.
The F.S. Toland Theatorium opened in the newly-built Turby Building on December 24, 1906 competing against Thackett’s Auditorium Theatre. W.T. Stockton took on the venue The “Royal” Moving Picture Show opening as November 11, 1908 in the existing Truby Building with Robert W. Paul’s “Magic Garden,” Frank Wilson as “The Pneumatic Policeman,” and likely “The Thieving Hand.” It shortened its name to the Royal Theatre and its last films were on August 18, 1910. It was used for a variety of purposes for the next year, including a short-term art gallery, a poultry show, and a lecture series. The theatre remained in use for non-theatrical purposes into 1911. It was converted to a Billiards Hall / Barber Shop / Cigar Store with the awesome name of The Mission in 1912
The Odeon Theatre opened with movies on February 22, 1908. It made it to the half-way point of a 30-year lease closing on Jan. 31, 1923 with Charles Richman in “My Friend the Devil.” It was used for some public speeches and live events into 1924.
The Jefferson Theatre closed on June 18, 1924 disappointing the Jefferson Sweet Shoppe next door - the venue’s de facto concessionaire. It had a ragtag programatic approach by that point - some films, some live events, and a lot of down time. The building was gutted by fire on September 5, 1924. The Sweet Shoppe - which conducted business under different operators - reopened at 405 West 8th Street. The walls of the Jefferson Building held on as best they could.
On November 5, 1924, a strong windstorm knocked over some of the remains of the Jefferson Building causing it to be razed two days later. As for the veracity of it resuming operations of a movie theater in 1929, call me incredibly dubious.
The New Columbia Theatre opened April 29, 1912 with films including Mildred Weston in “A Record Romance” and Lottie Briscoe in “A College Girl,” along with multiple vaudeville acts including a tight rope perf outside from the Columbia Building to the Pfiester Building. It was wired for sound to remain commercially viable.
In April of 1936, Moran & Isley’s Southwest Theatres Inc. took on the operation renaming it as the ISMO Theatre. Midwest Amusement took over the house from Southwest on March 5, 1939. They gave the venue a shocking streamline moderne makeover soon thereafter. Still listed as open in the trades in 1955, it is assumed it closed at the end of a 20-year lease in 1956 because, why not?
John Tackett’s Airdome “#2” opened June 1, 1910 with free films followed by a paid show the next night. The original Tackett’s Airdome “#1” was used for three summers in 1907, 1908, and 1909. It was the warm weather spot for Tackett’s Auditorium Theatre. The original was torn down in October of 1909. A new building was built in virtually the same spot - both at 8th and Maple. Tackett’s Airdome #2 was torn down and “carted away” after being used by non-profit organizations in the Summer of 1917 to make way for the New Tackett Theatre that opened February 27, 1919.
Polley & Cottrell of the Princess Theatre opened the Airdrome here at the corner of Seventh and Walnut for the staggering cost of $400 thanks in part to a brick veneer and metal fencing. Because Tackett’s Airdome finished first, this one went by the name of Princess Airdome to alleviate confusion. After some church services, it opened on June 23, 1910 with live acts including Great McGrath: The Upsidedown Man.
SethG is correct - the phone directory and the local newspaper has the Luxor next door to the Kentucky Building at 121 N. Maple and that building was definitely demolished - looking at the aerials - in the 1970s.
Just a minor note. This venue was always the “Rainbo” and never the Rainbow Theatre. And, in fact, Chester V. Fleming who opened the Rainbo on a 20-year leasing agreement, as well as the Luxor and the Park-Vu, opened a restaurant in town called the Rainbo Café after he left movie exhibition in 1956.
It was the Sky-Vu Drive-In - not the Sky Vue (and the competing ozoner was the Park-Vu - kind of a cheeky competitive situation in Nowata cinema exhibition history).
These things are very minor, but the two drive-ins that operated were named the Park-Vu and the Sky-Vu and they were competing with each other (both are slightly incorrect in the database but these inaccuracies are trivially semi-significant). Chester V. Fleming - who had operated theaters in Sand Springs and Tulsa - moved to Nowata in 1936 and operated the Luxor and the Rainbo theaters. C.D. Hicks and J.J. Bowden operated the competing and superior New Rex Theatre.
Fleming announced the building of the Nowata Drive-Inn Theatre in 1952 across from Nowata City Park (aka “Southside Park,” informally to locals) on Highway 169. Hicks and Bowden countered fast-tracking the Sky-Vu Drive-In to the East of the City on Highway 60. Cheekily, Fleming renamed his project as the Park-Vu Drive-In. So heading into the TV age, the town of Nowata - a football team roster short of 4,000 residents - would have three hard top and two very similarly-named ozoner theaters. Something had to give.
Hicks and Bowden’s Sky-Vu won the race launching August 11, 1952. Weeks later, Chester launched his Park-Vu Drive-In on September 1, 1952 with “Macao” and “Skirts Ahoy!” Reading some of the stories is fairly amusing. One very cold April night, 8 cars showed up to the Sky-Vu and just 5 to the Park-Vu so Chester had the Park-Vu closed directing the 5 to the competition.
I know the database claims a 1954 closure - but that also is slightly incorrect and yet semi-significantly germane. Fleming’s Rainbo was Nowata’s first TV-era movie house casualty closing for the Summer of 1953 with the reopening of the Park-Vu on March 30, 1953. That closure came with a promise of a remodeling in time for the Fall of 1953 reboot. That wisely never happened.
Fast forward to 1956 and there are still four theaters operational in town (!). And operational costs generally included upgrades to CinemaScope in the mid-1950s coupled with a marketplace comprised of many fewer paying patrons. In other words, there were two theaters too many in a town the size of Nowata. For the 1955 season, Hicks and Bowden’s Sky-Vu had made the conversion to a widescreen tower to present CinemaScope titles staking its claim as the superior operation with the Park-Vu not making the switch.
Effective July 1, 1956, Fleming exited the cinema exhibition market altogether with all of the leases - the Park-Vu, the Luxor (1940-1960), and the expiring former Rainbo (1936-1956) transferred to Hicks and Bowden. The last film for Fleming’s career was at the Park-Vu - Debra Paget as the “Princess of the Nile” late on June 30, 1956. Hicks and Bowden didn’t reopen the Park-Vu the next night… or ever. It was dismantled with the lease apparently transferred back to Fleming (undoubtedly with a non-compete understanding). Fleming sublet it becoming a trailer park that was still going in the 2020s and across from the re-named Jack Gordon Park.
Meanwhile, the Luxor would close on the last day of its lease on February 28, 1960 with the town finally at closer to its fighting weight of one hard top and one ozoner in the Sky-Vu and the Rex. Both venues ultimately closed and both demolished.
The entry suggests that the Handy was built hoping “vaudeville might return” which isn’t really accurate. The venue was built as a post-War movie house that could support a resurgence of the Chitlin' Circuit and what became its final wave. The Handy Theatre was more steeped in the postwar rise of African American nightclubs and extending the circuit into R&B and early rock ’n’ roll. That’s a different animal than building an 1,100 seat venue hoping for a return to the past of vaudeville; thus, the Handy is much more in the vein of the Regal Theater in Chicago, the Royal Theatre in St. Petersburg, or the Morton Theatre in Athens, Georgia among a whole lot of others. They were playing to an existing and - for a brief period of about ten years - a growing programmatic mission.
At the Handy, right from the jump, its May 11, 1947 grand opening featured the self-proclaimed Father of the Blues William Christopher W.C. Handy, in person… and Jean Rogers in the film, “Backlash” on the big screen (ad in photos). Later ads show this same programmatic mission where you could see on the same ticket Count Basie… and the film “The Big Frame”; Ray Charles… and the film, “Cavalry Scout”; and Moms Mabley… with the movie, “The Story of Seabiscuit.” Kind of strange looking back as the live acts could easily support the entire show. And that programming died off in the television era in almost every city. But the Handy was fairly unique in that it had the first African American exclusive music show live from its stage on WMCT hosted by Rufus Thomas.
At the 15 year opt out mark of its leasing agreement, the Handy closed in 1962. A new operator relit it in 1964 but the magic and the live music vibe was gone. The movies just couldn’t fill that big of a hall in 1964. So it closed quickly. The venue became the Showcase Lounge, a nightclub reducing cap to 500 patrons and the floor leveled. It had some disco mixed in during that run just past its 30th Anniversary.
Its final shot was when it became the short-lived Tri-Sport Club. When it sat vacant for years in the 1980s, the marquee had almost tragic-comically became a mishmash of all the previous names as the coats of paint became weatherbeaten almost reading like “W.C. Tri-Sporcase” or somesuch. The attempts to rekindle the venue were mired in too much time passing, too many substandard renovations, needed asbestos abatement, and undoubtedly a laundry list of below-code issues. It was mercy demolished in December of 2012 likely to rid it from taxing liabilities and further unsavory activity.