LaRoy Theater
E. Gallia Street and Gay Street,
Portsmouth,
OH
45662
E. Gallia Street and Gay Street,
Portsmouth,
OH
45662
No one has favorited this theater yet
The largest and finest vaudeville theater in south-central Ohio, the LaRoy Theater in Portsmouth, Ohio, was a joint venture of two local businessmen: Simon Labold and Thoms Conroy.
The LaRoy Theater opened in 1926 with “high-class vaudeville” and silent films. The theater was the entertainment showplace of the region until it closed in 1973 for a street-widening program. The final film was “Gone With the Wind”.
Contributed by
Robert Craycraft
Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater
Recent comments (view all 5 comments)
On 1/18/43, “Rise and Shine” with Jack Oakie and Linda Darnell was playing at the LaRoy. The other theaters in the Portsmouth area at the time were the Eastland, Westland, Strand, Lyric, Warner’s Columbia, Garden and Stanley.
1933 was not a good year for this theater.
The Portsmouth Times:
February 26, 1933 – Bandit took $300 from cashier at LaRoy theater in daring holdup during business hours.
September 15, 1933 – Robbers tried to force the safe of the LaRoy theater, but foiled.
A Bennett theater organ opus 952 was installed in the LaRoy Theater in 1925.
This is a postcard view of the LaRoy Theater.
Thank goodness for street widening (he said sarcastically)! Portsmouth may have lost a viable downtown business, but now people can drive down the block 4 tenths of a second faster!