Liberty Theater
1333 Walnut Street,
Murphysboro,
IL
62966
1333 Walnut Street,
Murphysboro,
IL
62966
4 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 29 comments
Fact is if you lived in Murphysboro the theater was closed for several years. And was reopenrd in 1968 with true grit. And it was called the Tilford after the owner before he sold it to Jean Dagel who sold it in 1921 to Marlow.
Funny all this and not one word of Jean Dagle. Who owned the Tilford- Liberty theater for many years.
Improvements to the Liberty Theatre were planned in 1918, according to this item from the May 18 issue of The Moving Picture World: “MURPHYSBORO, ILL. — Extensive improvements will be made to Liberty theater, costing about $15,000.”
The Liberty was sold to the Kerasotes chain in August 1969.
Thanks very much! The Liberty is a hard one to shoot, with the jet blacks and the bright whites together!
I shot a few photos of the Liberty Theater when I passed through Murphysboro last summer. Here’s a link to the first one of the set. The others are there on my Flickr photostream as well.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stormdog42/9492871186/
A fairly recent Murphysboro American article on the Liberty. There are some exterior and interior pictures from 1950. Notice the interior looks completely different than it currently appears. The reason is the theater suffered a major fire in 1954 and reopened the following year, hence the remodel.
http://www.murphysboroamerican.com/entertainment/x1797084383/James-Marlow-The-Impresario-of-Murphysboro
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Here’s a recent picture of the interior, taken during the Big Muddy Film Festival in 2010:
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I suspect Kerasotes installed a platter to reduce operating costs. Previously, it was a two-projector, change-over booth.
The Liberty had a single channel, optical sound system under Kerasotes ownership. I don’t know what type of sound system is used at the Liberty today.
I’m not aware of any motion picture sound system that reproduces only two channels. “Fantasound” which was used in only a handful of theaters for the film “Fantasia” (1940) was a four-channel optical system on a separate 35mm reel; Cinerama (1952) employed a seven-channel magnetic system on a separate reel; CinemaScope (1953) used a four-channel magnetic sound-on-film system; Dolby Stereo (1975) employed a four-channel optical sound-on-film system matrixed into two tracks; and Dolby Digital and DTS employs a sound-on-film digital system.
Most every commercial theater uses an acoustically transparent material for a screen surface so loudspeakers can be placed directly behind the screen.
I’ve been unable to find any mention of the Tilford Theatre later than the 1915 item I cited above, and the only mention of the Liberty I’ve found in the trade publications is the Boxoffice item from 1955. Local newspaper archives would probably be the best source of information about the Tilford’s change of ownership.
A fire on October 20, 1954, caused extensive damage to the Liberty auditorium. The theater was reopened the following year after repairs and the installation of CinemaScope without it accompanying stereo sound. At that time the theater may still have been owned by the Marlow Brothers, James of M’boro and John of Herrin, Illinois. Later, the partnership was dissolved and James Marlow became the sole owner of the Liberty and M’boro’s grand, 1200-seat Marlow’s Hippodrome Theater, which opened on January 1, 1919.
The Liberty initially was known as the Tilford. I know nothing of the Star Theater, although reports indicate M’boro has five theaters in 1913; some, I’m certain, the storefront variety, which could hardly be called theaters in the full sense of the word.
Do you happen to know when the Liberty was sold to the Marlows? I’m guessing prior to 1918.
I’ve found Murphysboro mentioned only once in Boxoffice, in the issue of November 19, 1955. The item said that John Marlow had reopened the Liberty Theatre, which had been closed since October, 1954.
The Tilford Theatre is mentioned in The Moving Picture World, issue of July 19, 1913. An advertisement in the August 17, 1915, issue of the same publication published a letter from Tilford Theatre operator W.F. Tilford to Chicago film distributor F.O. Nielsen, praising a movie called “The Spoilers” which had enjoyed great success at his house.
A Star Theatre at Murphysboro is also mentioned in various 1913 issues of The Moving Picture World.
War bonds were sold from the stage of Marlow’s Hippodrome Theater in M'boro and liberty stamps were available at the box office. Liberty stamps also may have been sold at the Liberty box office but since the Liberty originally had no stage (the theater was among the first in the country built exclusively for film exhibition), I doubt if war bonds were sold there. When I sold popcorn at the Liberty as a high school student my paychecks were drawn on a “Murphysboro Opera Company” account. The Hippodrome was later operated under the name “Murphysboro Amusement Company.” The M'boro Daily Independent newspaper and the Southern Illinoisan archives at SIU’s Morris Library are good sources for limited info.
does anyone know about selling war bonds at the liberty? and do you know where the records for the marlow amusement corp can be found?
Normally, the exhibition of classic films is not considered to be in competition with local commercial theaters and, therefore, probably would not be in violation of any agreements with the owners of local commercial theaters. The exhibition of recently released motions pictures generally is considered to be in violation of such agreements.
Installation of extremely expensive and antiquated film projectors, lamphouses, platters, etc. at the Liberty would be unnecessary, ill advised and impractical. A small digital light projector (DLP) with sufficient lumens and contrast ratio would provide an extremely large, brilliant, high resolution screen image from video tapes, DVD and Blu-ray video disks, the Internet and cable television. Such projectors are now being installed in commercial theaters throughout the nation to replace conventional film projection systems. At least one theater in Carbondale has already installed DLP projection. Such projectors also can accommodate anamorphic lenses which are required to exhibit films in their original widescreen (CinemaScope, Panavision) formats. Most DVDs and Blu-ray disks now include the anamorphic wide screen version of motion pictures.
For an authentic theater experience the Liberty also should be equipped with a digital surround sound system (Dolby, DTS), now frequently found in private homes.
Keep in mind it’s a crime to exhibit copyrighted motion pictures commercially, with or without admission being charged, via film, video tape, DVD or otherwise, without prior arrangements with copyright owners or their agents. Such arrangements generally specify that the exhibition of films in venues such as the Liberty cannot be promoted or advertised except to members of local film clubs and organizations.
Now that Kerasotes has been taken over by AMC, can they show movies on film yet again? Would need a fundraiser drive or use proceeds from donations to buy a projector, lamphouse, platter and other necessary equipment.
Some neon here:
http://tinyurl.com/ybm3684
Here is a May 1948 ad from the Murphysboro Daily Independent:
http://tinyurl.com/r5kmj3
Picture from June 1984:
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Picture from February 1982:
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(Ah-ha there’s your picture of the old marquee!)
If there is anybody who has a better picture of the old marquee, please post it. My memory of the old one is pretty fuzzy…
Wonder if there’s any way we can contact any former employees of the Liberty by any chance?
Trying to find a picture of the Liberty’s old marquee is pretty rare, but I did find one in the September 22, 1982 issue of the Southern Illinoisan. If you look just behind the speed limit sign and “No Parking” sign there it is. Notice it bears no resemblance to the current one. It also appears to have the big black letters. And it has “LIBERTY” on the top.
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