Community Theatre

The town of Battle Creek saw its first motion pictures at its former opera house on E. Main Street in 1903. Poorly patronized, the town relied on its Airdome Theatre for movies in the silent era. A short-lived theatre, the Iris Theatre, failed within six months in downtown in 1934/5. Used informally after the Iris Theatre’s demise, the Community Theatre had sporadic screening.

The Community Theatre was in back of the Airdome Theatre (and the address above is logical based on descriptions though may be off by a bit). The idea for regular screenings there was came from the local merchants to build community support and have advertisements in the form of a curtain to advertise their businesses. The Community Theatre operated in the winter months and the Airdome Theatre in the summer.

The Community Theatre had a 160-seat auditorium on the main floor and a recreation center above on the second floor with a pool hall. Launched with permanent projection and both on December 21, 1940 with Cesar Romero in “The Gay Caballero”. The merchant screenings were reduced from three times a week to two when attendance lagged. H.L. Sanderson decided that the city could support more screenings and created a co-op deal to extend the schedule past just merchant screenings. Sanderson then took on the operation with the city’s blessings in 1947 changing the operation’s name to the privately-run Gem Theatre.

The Gem Theatre operated for two months before lack of patronage closed the operation. But the merchants salvage the operation renaming it the Community Theatre resuming on April 2, 1948 with “Blaze at Noon” supported by “Popeye and the Pirates”. After trading one final season with the Airdome, the Community Theatre and the merchants gave up following a January 8, 1949 showing of Irene Dunne in “I Remember Mama”. The Airdome, however, continued summer showing all the way until the end of the season in 1956. Both buildings appear to have been torn down.

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