Silver Theater
Deepwater,
MO
64740
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Though I can’t remember which towns they were in, I do recall a couple of small towns where school auditoriums were shared with movie theater operations. A small school district with limited revenues might be happy to collect some rent from a movie operator for a facility that would otherwise have sat empty most nights and weekends.
I’ve also come across a number of instances of the opposite situation, where a school that had no auditorium had an arrangement with a movie theater owner to use the theater for school functions. And a candy counter doesn’t need much space. One theater I used to attend, the Capri, in Alhambra, California, had its concession stand tucked into a semi-circular alcove that must have been no more than eight or nine feet across.
I just got rid of an old record set of hers that I bought for no good reason, not even having a record player.
But to the point, I suppose there might have been space in the entry of this building for those things, but it’s still very strange. The school must have been open, likely until the ‘70s or maybe later. I thought he might have had some arrangement with the school board, but actually modifying the structure?
Boxoffice of February 28, 1948, said that Al Cox had installed a candy counter and fountain in the foyer of his Silver Theatre at Deepwater, Missouri.
Deepwater, by the way, was the birthplace of the noted opera singer Gladys Swarthout. Between 1936 and 1939 she also appeared in five movies.
If this really was in the high school auditorium, the address must be 608 C St. I’m a little dubious, because the auditorium was the newest building of the complex before the rest of it was demolished, and has sort of a WPA look to it. The ‘newest’ Sanborn map, from 1918, shows only a smaller old school nearer the corner of 6th and D. There was then no gym or auditorium. The older building was later cut down to one story, and is still visible on the satellite view and the 2013 streetview. As I said, today’s visit revealed that everything has been torn down but the auditorium, which is now in really awful shape. I’ll provide a picture, and maybe someone will have more definite information.
John Travis, who owned the Plaza Theatre in Crane, launched the Tile Theatre on December 6, 1938. The theatre was the first to feature sound and was housed in a former high school used auditorium venue. In 1939, J. B. Horosko took over the theatre renaming it. Mr. and Mrs. Kaiser took on the venue renaming it the Silver Theatre who sold it to Alvah “Al” Cox on December 27, 1945. It likely closed in 1951. The local paper has no mention or ad as the Silva Theatre.
Boxoffice magazine reported in January 1946 that A.M. Cox had purchased the Silva from E.B. Kaiser. No other information was provided.