Electric Theatre

Joe Vogel on May 28, 2010 at 4:50 am

Could the Electric Theatre have become the Palace?

A Palace Theatre at Quapaw was purchased by C.E. Barber in 1927, according to a line in a “Twenty Years Ago” feature in Boxoffice of February 15, 1947. Boxoffice of November 27, 1948, reported that an entire block of the business district of Quapaw had been destroyed by a fire that began in the Palace Theatre.

I’ve found Quapaw mentioned in Boxoffice only six times. Three mention the Palace, two others mention only C.E. Barber, and the May 10, 1947, issue mentions neither, but says that the Ryan Theatre at Quapaw was scheduled to open that day. The Ryan had previously operated as a 16mm house, but the item didn’t say what its name had been. The house had been converted into a 35mm theater by Alex Rowls, and it had 260 seats. That’s the sole mention of it in the magazine. Perhaps the Ryan was the Palace, and Mr. Rowls decided not to rename it after all? As far as I’ve been able to discover, Quapaw is never mentioned in Boxoffice after the 1948 item about the fire.

raybradley on September 5, 2009 at 12:28 pm

This interting site has 1920s street views of Quapa;
http://schehrer2.homestead.com/Quapaw4.html