Chief Theater
4650 S. 24th Street,
Omaha,
NE
68107
4650 S. 24th Street,
Omaha,
NE
68107
1 person
favorited this theater
This theater stood on the west side of the street in the middle of the 4600 block (between K and L Streets) on South 24th Street in Omaha. It’s marquee was the profile of an Indian Chief in a large head dress. I believe orange and maroon were the dominate colors of the facade and marquee, but I could be mistaken.
It had murals painted on the auditorium walls that shimmered and glowed when the lights were down, and depicted a water fall scene with Native-American figures, canoes, and campfires to the best of my recollection. In the 1960s this theater showed beach party pictures, cheaply-made horror films, and biker flicks.
Currently the site is a branch of the Wells Fargo Bank.
Contributed by
James Ratay
Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater
Recent comments (view all 20 comments)
Updated memory…..I believe the movie was “Rock Around the Clock” ( Bill Haley and the Comets ). June Wilkinson was in the movie and she was there live signing autographs. I got a 8x10 glossy black & white signed by her and kept it for many years. It finally vanished. What a hot babe she was in my pre teen years. It was early 60’s I think. Someone correct me if this info is wrong…..“J"st Gang
Some really good stories on this theatre.thanks for posting them.
J Street: “Rock Around the Clock” was released in 1956, but June Wilkinson wasn’t in it. If the movie you saw was in the early 1960s, it might have been “The Continental Twist” (1961) in which June co-starred with Louis Prima and Sam Butera. It’s even possible that “Twist” was double-billed with a re-release of “Rock,” and that’s why you associate June Wilkinson with the Bill Haley movie. In the days of double features, new movies that distributors feared might be weak at the box office were often paired with older movies that had been very successful.
Wilkinson was also the female lead in a 1962 comedy (and early example of soft-core near-porn) called “The Bellboy and the Playgirls,” which was co-directed by the young Francis Ford Coppola. Coppola also got a writing credit for some extra scenes. Apparently he couldn’t leave a script alone even in his early twenties.
As for the Chief, I still can’t reconcile the reported seating capacity of 328 with the reports and photos (which I can no longer find) in Boxoffice, or with the various comments above by people who actually attended this theater. It had to be way bigger than that.
Well Joe…I couldnt remember for sure. I do remember see “The Continental Twist” there also, now that you said that. So that must have been the flick. The years have fogged my mind some. I do know that I saw her there in person…
I tried to look at that link Ken,(http://tinyurl.com/yaoxd8j) and there was nothing there that I could find of the “ Chief” theater.
I remember the guy that was like an off duty cop that used to patroll the place…The name Cadwell comes to mind ( old man Cadwell we called him ).Maybe that was the managers name.
Even though this was after racial segregation. I remember there were three sections. Usually blacks sat on the left section and the other sections were open for the rest, only cause thats the way everyone accepted it.
Im pretty sure that the first girl I ever kissed was in the Chief Thater…..lol
J Street: Yes, the photos ken mc linked to are gone. Boxoffice Magazine no longer has its archive online at issuu.com, which is where the link to the pictures went. Boxoffice has moved the archive to their own web site. I looked there for the article with the photos and couldn’t find it. Boxoffice published nine different regional editions of each its issues, as well as a national edition, and the edition now on their web site is apparently one of the regional editions, while the one that used to be at issuu.com and had the photos in it was probably the national edition.
This opened on April 5th, 1947. An grand opening ad with an small picture has been posted.
I like the pic…Would be great to have t-shirts made…lol….I first attended movies at the Chief about 1960. I saw all the Beach Party movies ( Annette Funichello n Frankie Avalon ) all the James Bond Movies,and many more. It was our regular entertainment. I think it was 35 cents admission ( under 12 y/o ) .for a double feature and a cartoon…Those were the best days.