Ray Theatre

The Electric Theatre was Cambridge, Nebraska’s second full-time movie theater opening in 1917. It replaced the former De Luxe Theatre which burned down in May of 1917 not long after P.N. LeDou purchased it from O.E. Wicklund. The new Electric Theatre ran from 1917 in the silent era to operation by E.J. Sherburne who ran the Electric Theatre for 12 years before converting it to sound under the name of the Fair Theatre.

Like its predecessor, the Fair Theatre burned down on December 9, 1931. Sherburne re-equipped a converted downtown Cambridge venue as the Cozy Theatre. Sherburne sold the Cozy Theatre to A.H. Cumming who gave the theatre a major refresh in 1940. The theatre competed with the Ritz Theatre which had opened in 1940 likely forcing the Cozy Theatre to upgrade to stay competitive.

An accident forced Cumming to close the Cozy Theatre during World II. However, Sherburne re-acquired the Cozy Theatre in 1944 but appears to have closed it. It was renamed Ray Theatre on January 21, 1951 reopening with Bob Hope in Fancy Pants" But like its two predecessors, it was destroyed by fire on April 22, 1951.

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