Dream Theater

This is a fine historical theater for this region in Kansas. As a former employee to the original owners, Dale and Katie Danielson for six years, I listened to many stories that Dale used to tell about this theater. As soon as the public can begin to submit photos to this site again, I have a few to share with you.
I was also the manager for 5 years to this theater under B&B Theaters.

This is a great story about a theatre being saved. I love the marquee, what is the interior like?

The address for the Drean theatre is 629 Main Street, Russell, Ks.

As stated above, the old Dream Theater was gutted by fire in 1947. It was in November of that year and a very massive ice storm was beginning to settle upon the city of Russell. The fire department was called to check out smoke coming from the ceiling of the theater at around 6:45 pm. A blower motor had overheated and had started to smolder some of the insulation in the theater. In those days, E.B. Danielson and sons had insulated the buildings with old wadded up newspaper, cheap but yet adequate. The firemen quickly extingushed the problem and were beginning to wrap up the problem, when several of them went to the roof to cut a hole to vent out the smoke. Only problem was that some of the smoldering material was not all gone and with the added extra draft, soon became the biggest fire in Russell KS history, at that time. The theater could not be saved, as the fire raced through the building. Due to the falling temperatures, the water hoses were freezing, and making one big mess out front, making it more impossible to extingush the fire.
Luckily there was no fatalities, or other buildings involved in the fire. Oh by the way, the movie that night, "Smoke Eaters" a story about firemen.
This is one of the many stories told to me by the late Dale Danielson, former owner of the Dream Theater.

There is a Dream Theater that can be seen clearly in the film "Paper Moon" which is set in Kansas during the Depression. However, it could be a set facade. The marquee reads Will Rogers in "Steamboat 'Round the Bend"

Yes, that is correct about the Dream being in "Paper Moon". But it is another building dressed up as the old Dream Theater. "Paper Moon" was filmed almost entirely in Kansas, mostly around Russell, Hays, Gorham, and Wilson KS, and many of the smaller towns in the area still had older 1930's looking buildings still standing.

I am curious, the marquess and the name listed for this theate says Dream Cinemas, It shows single screen above but I show that B&B made it a multi screen. Can anyone clear this up?

Robert R: In the 1980s as I was traveling to Colorado, I stopped in Russell and was lucky enough to get a tour of the Dream one Sunday morning. What I remember most about the inside were the floral murals on the walls. I remember them as stripes of gray and green and maroon flowers (almost wallpaper like in quality) but hand painted. The man giving me the impromtu tour told me that they were painted shortly after the theatre reopened in 47 and they did look late art-moderne in theme. The photo above does not show that the word "Dream" is scripted in the sidewalk area underneath the marquee.

When the Dream was rebuilt in 1947 after the fire Robert O. Boller of the Boller Bros was again the architect for the new theatre. It showed seating capacity after being rebuilt at 750. For as large as the theatre is it seems that the seating would be more than 220 as listed above.

This theatre has a very cool story.

As a youngster in the early 50s, I was a regular visitor at the Dream. It was the era of great Westerns with Roy Rogers and the rest. Roy was one of my childhood heros. We used to sit in the back and eat sunflower seeds. By the time the movie ended there would be sunflower seed shells all around the seats. I was too young to appreciate the beauty of the Dream.

Here is a website for the Dream Theater.

A 1999 view of the Dream Theater in Russell.

What a coincidence. This is another 1999 photo.

The given on this theaters website is Dream Theater .

Here is a 2008 photo.

Renew Link.

Two 1984 photos of the Dream Theatre.
http://americanclassicimages.com/Default.aspx?tabid=141&txtSearch=CATAdvancedSearch1%2c16%2c3%2c-1&catpageindex=27&ProductID=27588

http://americanclassicimages.com/Default.aspx?tabid=141&txtSearch=CATAdvancedSearch1%2c16%2c3%2c-1&catpageindex=27&ProductID=27589

There was another theatre in Russell, the Mecca Theatre, does anyone have infromation on the Mecca?

Chuck....The address given for the Mecca Theater is 837 Main Street.

Here is a 2009 close-up photo of the Dream.

LM, thanks so much, I was getting frustrated on that one, I submitted it today. It was another Boller Bros. theatre just down the street from the Dream. So the Bollers did both of that towns theatres.

This is another 2009 photo.