Scoop Theatre
416 W. Muhammad Ali Boulevard,
Louisville,
KY
40202
416 W. Muhammad Ali Boulevard,
Louisville,
KY
40202
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Trade journal The Moving Picture World for August 2, 1913, had this to say about the conversion of the Walnut Theatre into a movie house:
A few more photos are here.
Here are some photos on a real estate site. I think the renovations are finished.
http://tinyurl.com/6l7kkz
Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978
Walnut Street Theater (added 1978 – Building – #78001370)
416 W. Walnut St., Louisville
Historic Significance: Event, Architecture/Engineering
Architect, builder, or engineer: Unknown
Architectural Style: Late Victorian
Area of Significance: Architecture, Entertainment/Recreation
Period of Significance: 1900-1924
Owner: Private
Historic Function: Recreation And Culture
Historic Sub-function: Theater
Current Function: Commerce/Trade, Social
Current Sub-function: Civic
The year given for this photo of the Drury Lane is 1936.
According to a Courier-Journal story, the Scoop was closed in the late 1940s and converted to convention space for the nearby Brown Hotel.
My father, Lloyd M. Mills, was the Scoop Theater manager from 1949 to 1953. During this time the theater was plagued by an ongoing strike. The Scoop was the scene of frequent vandalism during this period including the release of several stench bombings. By 1953 the cumulative effect of these attacks lead to a drop off in attendance and the Scoop closed. During this time the Scoop was an “Art” theater playing many foreign films plus a few older American movies. I have many fond memories of this period and the many films that I saw there as a grade school and high school (Flaget) student.
My mother’s step sister/mother was a singer in vaudeville in Louisville in the 20’s. Are there any records for entertainers that appeared there? She was Galena Wade/Piemontesse/other. She was very young and I do have a picture of her on stage of some theater. My grandfather and grandmother also might have been in the theater as musicians: Oreste Natiello and Pauline (Winscott) Hamlin.
The Walnut Street Theatre was renovated and re-named the Drury Lane Theatre in 1933. In use as a live theatre, the opening production was “Candle Light” by P.G.Woodhouse performed by a new stock company.
Incidently, in editions of Film Daily Yearbook’s that I have the seating capacity of the Drury Lane is given as 500 (closed) in both 1941 & 1943. As the Scoop Theatre in 1950 the F.D.Y. lists a seating capacity of 700.