Gem Theatre

Here are old playbills for the Gem Theater in Cairo.

This is a photo of the Gem Theater.

My name is Bill Johnson and I live in Las Vegas. I spent my youth working at the Gem Theater in Cairo, Illinois. The Gem Theater’s name was never changed to the Lincoln. The Rodgers Theater, across the street from the Gem, was changed to the Lincoln Theater after the Opera House on Commercial burnt down. The Opera House was the theater for the blacks. The Rodgers family decided to give the blacks the Lincoln Theater. The Cairo Elks Club now occupies that building. The Gem Theater is still across the street, vacant and going to ruin. Just to keep the record straight.

Here is a view of Cairo's Eighth Street, with the vertical signs of the Gem Theatre and the former Lincoln Theatre (now an Elks Club) visible.

In the mid 1980's, the Gem Theatre's lobby was briefly opened as a video store, and one of the workers there let me take a look in at the auditorium. The seats had all been removed, but the huge screen was still intact. After the video store closed, the building has remained empty. The city of Cairo purchased the theater in 1995 with the intent to renovate it, but about all they have managed to do to this point is to restore the marquee.

Here is another photo of the Gem Theater.

Another recent photo of the Gem Theater can be seen here.

The year given for this photo is 1997, before the marquee was restored.

This is a 2008 b/w photo of the Gem Theater.

Here is a 2004 photo of the Gem.

A photo of the Gem Theatre block.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/marcus76/3370855333/

1977 Photo

1986 Photo

This is a nice close-up view of the Gem.

Photos of the Gem: overall, marquee, name sign.