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debatecole
debatecole commented about Royal Theatre on Jan 7, 2004 at 7:59 am

Some more info on the history from an article about the theatre and it being placed to the National Register

Cheryl Nichols, a private contractor in historic preservation, prepared the nomination for the Royal Players. Assisting her with her research for the nomination presentation was Shannon Moss, a Royal Players board member, who was an employee of the Royal Theatre for many years; and Steve Perdue, curator of the Arkansas Room at the Saline County Public Library.

“Cheryl made the presentation to the board,” Webb said. “The board members were pleased to see the relationship between the Royal and the Center Theater in Little Rock. The same architects designed both theaters.”

The State Review Board is comprised of “about a dozen people, made up of historic preservationists from around the state,” Webb said.

In Nichols' presentation, she noted that Alice Wooten was the original owner of the IMP Theatre (which later became the Royal) and sold it to Wallace Kauffman in 1922. Generations of the Kauffman family continued to own the Royal Theatre until 1996. Wallace and Lena Kauffman passed ownership to their son, Warren Lee Kauffman, and the last of the family to own it, Randy Kauffman, sold it to entertainer Jerry Van Dyke. Van Dyke gave the theater to the Royal Players less than three years ago.

The original section of the Royal Theatre was built in 1920 when it was known as the IMP, with IMP being an acronym for Independent Motion Pictures, Nichols' presentation noted.

The following summary about the theater’s history was considered by the board:

“Occupying one lot near the center of the west side of the 100 block of Market Street in downtown Benton, the Royal Theatre is a free-standing, two-story brick building with a partial basement. The theater was remodeled and enlarged in 1948-49 when the existing facade was created and a flat-roofed addition was built at the rear of the original 1920 gable-roofed section of the building.

“The remodeling was the work of the Little Rock architectural firm of Ginocchio and Cromwell, who incorporated into their design for the Royal some of the same materials they used in a contemporaneous project, the Center Theater in Little rock. The Royal Theatre’s most striking features – the neon-trimmed marquee and the vertical Royal sign – came from the theater in Little Rock that was remodeled as the Center Theater.”

Nichols explained that since 1949 the only major change to the exterior of the Royal Theatre has been a new color scheme: The buff brick and much of the maroon tile were painted dark green in the late 1990s. Otherwise, the facade is almost exactly as it was designed in the late 1940s.

The Royal Theatre’s main (east) facade originally derived much of its modern, streamlined look from bricks laid in patterns that created two vertical lines running up each side of the facade and traced a large square in the center of the facade, over the marquee, Nichols noted.

Movies were continued to be shown at the Royal until 2000. The lobby is largely unchanged since 1949, she noted, except for the addition in 1959 of a new concession stand. The original concession stand, which opens to the outside as well as into the lobby, still exists and is used as an office. The basic configuration of the theater auditorium in intact, although the balcony was enclosed in 1978 when it became the location of a second movie screen.

When Jerry Van Dyke bought the theater in 1996, he covered the walls in the main auditorium with velvet and installed newer seating. Original wall light fixtures are intact and the original decorative motifs are thought to remain on the walls under the velvet. The main auditorium also retains its 1949 acoustical tile ceiling and original seating is intact in the balcony.