Missouri Theatre
203 South Ninth Street,
Columbia,
MO
65201
203 South Ninth Street,
Columbia,
MO
65201
6 people
favorited this theater
The Missouri Theatre in Columbia is elegance at its best. Bob Hope appeared here and the Missouri Rocket girls, later to become the famed Rockettes, also got their start here. The Baroque style house is a true movie palace. A survivor of an era of fantasy and anachronism of true beauty.
The Missouri Theatre was designed by the Boller Brothers and is the only movie palace in Central Missouri. The magic of this theatre took its patrons back to the days of eighteen-century France. Past the outer foyer into the grand, red carpeted lobby with gold leaf on the walls are the grand staircase, the inner foyer and the entrance to the auditorium.
The auditorium mingles romance and adventure in its decor. The central chandelier weighs 1800lbs, and has over 200 light bulbs and its sparkling crystal.
The orchestra seats 800 and the balcony 436. The theatre is adjacent to the Missouri University campus and some classes are held on a regular basis at the theatre.
The proscenium arch features a stationary red waterfall curtain over silver velvet on travellers, which open to reveal the cinemascope screen. The theatre still shows first run movies unlike many of its peers.
The Missouri Theatre opened on October 5, 1928 and celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1978. The theatre was first a vaudeville house with top acts and names. In 1953, Commonwealth Theatres took over the palace and has kept it in a top-run movie house since. The theatre has kept much of its original furnishings and features. But it has also been remodelled and up-to-date. One remodeling was completed in 1960.
The Missouri Theatre still crowns Columbia as an architectual gem. It remains special in its lavish surroundings and unique in that it’s one of the few palaces to still show first-run movies and remain intact not divided into several theaters. This theater remains an elegant movie palace.
The Missouri Theatre was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
Contributed by
Chuck Van Bibber
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Recent comments (view all 20 comments)
This is an August 2008 photo. It doesn’t look like the same building.
The original theatre organ from the Missouri Theatre is up for sale! It is a 3/7 Robert-Morton built in 1928 and is apparently mostly complete.
They only want about $4,750.00 which is really cheap!
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It would be REALLY nice if someone in MO could buy the organ, restore it, and re-install it back in the theatre!
1985 photo of the Missouri Theatre.
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1985 Day Photo
1985 Night Photo
1985 Interior
Exterior Photo
Interior Photo
An article with photos can be seen in this Boxoffice link from Oct. 1955 about ther remodel of the Missouri Theatre.
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An article with photos can be seen in this Boxoffice link from Oct. 1955 about the remodel of the Missouri Theatre.
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Keeping up with movie theatres is difficult. Here’s an article about Columbia’s theatres, including the Missouri Theatre – no longer primarily showing movies, but live performances. By the way, the Missouri Theatre was not the only “movie palace.” At one time, Columbia had three movie palaces on one street, all with roughly 1,000 seats. Two are still used for entertainment, the third is a restaurant. Here are the details on movie theatres in Columbia. http://columbiabusinesstimes.com/8240/2010/06/25/capturing-columbia%E2%80%99s-cinema-century/
Introduction says the Missouri Rockets/Rockettes started here. No, it was the Missouri Theatre in St. Louis where they originated.