Star Theatre

The Star Theatre was the first new-build movie theatre in Carrollton and one of its first five places to see films in town. The Star Theatre actually started as a tent theatre by Tip-Top Theatre operator S. Waterson and his wife along with their partner G.N. Kelly. (The Watersons had moved to town from Kansas City in 1909 to open the Tip-Top Theatre) The Star Tent Show opened on April 24, 1911 as the permanent theatre was being built nearby.

The hardtop Star Theatre launched September 30, 1911 ending the Star Tent. It had a slanted floor, permanent seats and better site lines - all on the ground level. It was the best venue in town for movies. The first Star Theatre film was Emmett Dalton in “The Last Raid of the Dalton Gang” supported by glass lantern slides of the Lansing Penitentiary. Educational and entertaining.

The Star Theatre was taken over by Charles Woodlan. Jarboe & Minnis took over the Tip-Top Theatre. Woodlan’s Star merged with the Tip-Top with both venues in the Star Building but using the Tip-Top (“#2”) moniker briefly. It was marketed as Tip-Top Theatre in the Star Building to alleviate confusion. And their distance apart was not insignificant at almost four blocks.

In 1913, a new operator came in ending the arrangement. The Star Building returned to the Star Theatre brandname and the Tip-Top Theatre moved back to North Folger Street but in a different, existing building. The Tip-Top Theatre tapped out within a year.

Better theatres came along after World War I squeezing the Star Theatre. The most obvious was the vastly superior Royal Theatre opening right next door in on November 19, 1918. The Star Theatre played full-time silent film programs through to December of 1925. But it then was converted to a gymnasium for basketball and for square dances (and, presumably, other dances) - although using the Star Theatre name into 1931.

The building was sold and renamed the Bultman Building. Its loss with locals was not about the loss of a theatre but about the loss of basketball that season. It became a garage and its proximity to the Johnson Theatre proved nearly disastrous early on when a March 11, 1931 fire damaged the garage and cancelled the Johnson Theatre’s in progress movie show. The building was sold to the neighboring theatre at year’s end and was slated for demolition - which is believed to have taken place.

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