Gentry Cinema

Not listed in the Film Daily Yearbook, but it is shown as operating in the 1943 edition as having a seating capacity of 400 seats. The 1950 edition has a seating capacity given as 340.

During 1969/1970 while I was attending Connors State College at the neighboring town of Warner, the Gentry was still open on a weekends only basis.

This is a modern photo of the former Gentry Theater building.

I am the owner of the Gentry. It reopened 12/12/2008 after not showing film for about 12 years. Part of the building had been used for other purposes, such as a tailor shop, but enough was intact to bring it back to life after a lengthy renovation. It took us over a year to remodel and repair the place. We did as much of the work ourselves as we could, which certainly slowed down the process, but makes it a more viable business.

The seating figure of 400 is long outdated. I removed about 215 seats (all of them) from the building, many of which were piled on top of one another, and replaced them with 132 modern lumbar supported seats in Theater 1 and 32 more just like them in Theater 2.

Even though the building has 2 screens, I prefer not to call it a twin because of the difference in size of the theaters. The term twin seems to bring visions of two long narrow rooms. Rather, we kept the original 23 foot width for the larger of the two screens, and added a smaller screen for the other room. The "twinning" was front and back, not side by side.

We are not part of a chain. We are independent.

If you are interested to read more details about our building or the renovation, please visit http://gentrycinema.com/2008_11_01_archive.html#7277211304459271990

The photo posted by Lost Memory is now also just a memory. We now sport a totally new facade with chocolate brown stucco and white marquee and lettering across the front. The facade is also no longer rectangular, but has stepped down corners.

1985 photo of the Gentry Theatre.
http://americanclassicimages.com/Default.aspx?tabid=141&txtSearch=CATAdvancedSearch1%2c36%2c3%2c-1&ProductID=32478

Here is another 1985 photo.

This theater is now for sale. The owners are undercapitalized and need to sell to meet pressing family needs. For more information please email me.

Checotah had a population of a little over 2000 when the Gentry Theatre opened as the town's second house in the spring of 1941, according to the May 31 issue of Boxoffice Magazine that year.

Johnny Jones, operator since the early 1930s of what had been Checotah's only theater, the Cozy, then hastily remodeled an existing building into yet another theater. Called the State, this 300-seat house lasted only a few months before being destroyed in a fire that also claimed five other businesses, according to the August 16, 1941, issue of Boxoffice.

The Cozy had been offered for sale in the January 7, 1930, issue of Motion Picture Times, so it dated from the 1920s or earlier. The ad claimed 600 seats for the Cozy. I've been unable to find an address for the house, which continued to operate until at least 1954.

In 1950, Jones partnered in the construction of the 69 Drive-In with Dick and David Crumpler, then operators of the Gentry. The Crumplers took over operation of all three theaters in 1952 when Jones moved to Arkansas.

Was this showman the same Johnny Jones who operated a theatre chain in Shawnee, OK?

It was a different Johnny Jones. The Johnny Jones of Checotah was also referred to as J.P. Jones in some Boxoffice items. J.P. operated his theaters through WWII according to various items in Boxoffice, while according to an item in Boxoffice of November 17, 1945, the Johnny Jones of Shawnee was about to be discharged from the service and resume operations of his theaters there.

The Checotah Johnny Jones must have been the older of the two. When his business partner, Jack LeMasters, retired in 1952, J.P. sold his interests in Checotah and bought the Beverly Theatre in Prairie Grove, Arkansas. He and his wife were still operating the Beverly in 1959, when Boxoffice mentioned that the house was operating five days a week with two changes. After that I find no mentions of J.P. Jones, but Johnny Jones of Shawnee was mentioned in Boxoffice as late as 1974.

Sad story on the Gentry being up for sale, but nice video view of the theater behinds the scene here.

Here's a story about the theater's reopening last December

Here is another "video"/slideshow about the Gentry being for sale. Lots of pictures.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhAjrYFVEFo