Ritz Theatre

The Cinema Section of Roadside Oklahome is closed, they no longer have theatre photos according to the site. Go to their home page for further details.

Looks like the signboards are missing from the marquee.Cosmic Ray.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTFCjbBa_H0

Here is a link on YouTube. This is just short video from one of our monthly shows. We try to bring one event to the Ritz each month and are looking for more things to do. We have just about got the old popcorn machine fixed and we’re pretty darn excited about that!

2008 photo of the Ritz Theatre, Click to enlarge.
View link

Roadside Oklahoma pages show off vintage and modern photos of the Ritz Theatre, Shawnee,
http://www.roadsideoklahoma.com/node/638

An article about Johnny and Ruby Jones in the June 29, 1957, issue of Boxoffice Magazine attributes the design of the marquee of the Ritz Theatre to Jake Jones, with architect A.C. Davis working from a pasteboard model made by Jones.

The firm of Davis & Sons was based in Shawnee, and Davis is known to have designed a theater as early as 1926 (the H&S Theatre in Chandler) so it would be surprising if the Ritz had not been designed by Davis, Shawnee’s leading architect for many years. The question is whether or not he did the original 1899 building. Davis was definitely practicing architecture in Shawnee at least as early as 1908, according to a book published that year.

Also, commentors above are correct that the style of this theater is Federal Revival, not Art Deco. Unfortunately, Cinema Treasures doesn’t provide Federal Revival as an option among its choice of styles. The closest would probably be Adam, as the original Federal style in the United States was a variant of the British Adam style, and is frequently referred to by architectural historians as Adamesque-Federal.

This is another 1985 photo.

My father is from Shawnee, I spent alot of time there as a kid. For many years, my grandfather, J.W. “Bill” Poole, ran the theaters in Shawnee, including the Ritz, the Hornbeck, the Bison, and back in that day there was the Starlight drive in theater. I saw many movies at these theaters as a kid, and have many fond memories of them. The employees of the theaters always treated me like a VIP when I told them I was Bill Poole’s grandson

I lived in Shawnee from 1981-1984 and have fond memories of going to the Ritz to see movies. It was great going to a movie theater that reminded me of going to the movies in the days when I was growing up. The Ritz had an awesome screen and sound for the relatively small size of the theater. The inside decoration was excellent also. Loved the marquee and the outside ticket booth.

Is the Ritz haunted? Read this to find out.

A 1983 view of the Ritz Theater with lights and neon on in Shawnee.

A Hillgreen-Lane theater organ opus 783 size 2/10 was installed in the Cozy Theater in 1924 at a cost of $5,765.

This is a 2007 photo of the Ritz Theater.