Royal Theatre

Chuck1231 on November 14, 2010 at 3:05 am

2001 photo of the Royal Theatre, click to enlarge.
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Chuck1231 on September 3, 2009 at 11:34 pm

The Royal Theatre/Royal Players hasa a new web site

www.RoyalPlayers.com

lostmemory on April 11, 2009 at 4:48 pm

Here is a January 2008 article.

lostmemory on February 19, 2009 at 4:29 pm

The architects Frank Ginocchio and Edwin Cromwell need to be added. This site has two more photos.

lostmemory on November 25, 2008 at 8:03 pm

Here is a September 2008 photo.

ekauffm on July 9, 2008 at 10:52 am

To answer R. Robinson’s question….Sadly Warren Lee passed away in 1999. He was my beloved grandfather! I miss him and the old days at the theatre more and more. I am the daughter of Randy Kauffman who also owned the theatre in its later years.

rickradio on December 12, 2007 at 5:26 am

To follow up on ken mc, Rowley United Theatres became a wholly owned subsidiary of United Artists Theatre Circuit, Inc., and it was then known as the ‘Rowley United Division.“ He is correct, Rowley operated many theatres in Texas, but also had properties in Oklahoma and Arkansas. Rowley operated many theatres in Little Rock, plus what became know as "The Big 8,” which included theatre operations in Fort Smith, Clarksville, Morrilton, Conway, Benton, Malvern, Arkadelphia and Magnolia. Both Benton and Magnolia were “partnership towns.” United Artists owned 50% and Magnolia owned 50%. The Kauffman family in Benton (Warren Lee Kauffman was the last one to manage the theatre under this arrangement) and W.P. Florence of Magnolia were the “partners.” Clarence L. Hobbs was the District Manager for several years, and managed theatres in Morrilton and Conway before that. He was based out of Conway, prior to moving to Tulsa. I worked as a manager of the 65 Drive-In for Mr. Hobbs, the old Conway Theatre, and the UA Cinema 1 & 2 in Conway. I also was interim manager for the theatres in Morrilton for a short period, and ran the UA Cinema 1 & 2 in Arkadelphia for several years.

Question: Does anyone know what happened to Warren Lee Kauffman of Benton? Is he still alive? The other partner, W.P. Florence of Magnolia, died a few years back. Thanks, Richard Robinson

lostmemory on January 10, 2007 at 9:33 am

Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2003

Royal Theatre (added 2003 – Building – #03000955)
Also known as SA0129
111 S. Market St., Benton
Historic Significance: Architecture/Engineering
Architect, builder, or engineer: Ginocchio, Frank, Cromwell, Edwin B.
Architectural Style: Moderne
Area of Significance: Architecture
Period of Significance: 1925-1949
Owner: Private
Historic Function: Recreation And Culture
Historic Sub-function: Theater
Current Function: Recreation And Culture
Current Sub-function: Theater

debatecole on January 7, 2004 at 7:59 am

Some more info on the history from an article about the theatre and it being placed to the National Register

Cheryl Nichols, a private contractor in historic preservation, prepared the nomination for the Royal Players. Assisting her with her research for the nomination presentation was Shannon Moss, a Royal Players board member, who was an employee of the Royal Theatre for many years; and Steve Perdue, curator of the Arkansas Room at the Saline County Public Library.

“Cheryl made the presentation to the board,” Webb said. “The board members were pleased to see the relationship between the Royal and the Center Theater in Little Rock. The same architects designed both theaters.”

The State Review Board is comprised of “about a dozen people, made up of historic preservationists from around the state,” Webb said.

In Nichols' presentation, she noted that Alice Wooten was the original owner of the IMP Theatre (which later became the Royal) and sold it to Wallace Kauffman in 1922. Generations of the Kauffman family continued to own the Royal Theatre until 1996. Wallace and Lena Kauffman passed ownership to their son, Warren Lee Kauffman, and the last of the family to own it, Randy Kauffman, sold it to entertainer Jerry Van Dyke. Van Dyke gave the theater to the Royal Players less than three years ago.

The original section of the Royal Theatre was built in 1920 when it was known as the IMP, with IMP being an acronym for Independent Motion Pictures, Nichols' presentation noted.

The following summary about the theater’s history was considered by the board:

“Occupying one lot near the center of the west side of the 100 block of Market Street in downtown Benton, the Royal Theatre is a free-standing, two-story brick building with a partial basement. The theater was remodeled and enlarged in 1948-49 when the existing facade was created and a flat-roofed addition was built at the rear of the original 1920 gable-roofed section of the building.

“The remodeling was the work of the Little Rock architectural firm of Ginocchio and Cromwell, who incorporated into their design for the Royal some of the same materials they used in a contemporaneous project, the Center Theater in Little rock. The Royal Theatre’s most striking features – the neon-trimmed marquee and the vertical Royal sign – came from the theater in Little Rock that was remodeled as the Center Theater.”

Nichols explained that since 1949 the only major change to the exterior of the Royal Theatre has been a new color scheme: The buff brick and much of the maroon tile were painted dark green in the late 1990s. Otherwise, the facade is almost exactly as it was designed in the late 1940s.

The Royal Theatre’s main (east) facade originally derived much of its modern, streamlined look from bricks laid in patterns that created two vertical lines running up each side of the facade and traced a large square in the center of the facade, over the marquee, Nichols noted.

Movies were continued to be shown at the Royal until 2000. The lobby is largely unchanged since 1949, she noted, except for the addition in 1959 of a new concession stand. The original concession stand, which opens to the outside as well as into the lobby, still exists and is used as an office. The basic configuration of the theater auditorium in intact, although the balcony was enclosed in 1978 when it became the location of a second movie screen.

When Jerry Van Dyke bought the theater in 1996, he covered the walls in the main auditorium with velvet and installed newer seating. Original wall light fixtures are intact and the original decorative motifs are thought to remain on the walls under the velvet. The main auditorium also retains its 1949 acoustical tile ceiling and original seating is intact in the balcony.