Imperial Dinner Theatre
302 N. Marr Street,
Pocahontas,
AR
72455
302 N. Marr Street,
Pocahontas,
AR
72455
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The Streamline Moderne Imperial Theatre opened in 1941, just prior to the US entry into WW II. The first movie to play there was “Blues in the Night”. The Imperial was the first public building in Pocahontas to be air-conditioned, the first building to use glazed brick (on the facade) and the first with neon lights (on its marquee). The Imperial closed in the mid-70s and was afterward used as an indoor archery range.
In 1994, the Studio for the Arts, a non-profit group, purchased the long-vacant former theater and gutted it, and it was renovated as the Imperial Dinner Theatre.
Currently, the Studio for the Arts is raising funds to build a larger arts venue and dinner theater in town and will vacate the Imperial once the new building opens.
Contributed by
Bryan
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Recent comments (view all 9 comments)
I’m not going to figure out which theater this was, but it’s a funny little story from May 1961:
POCAHONTAS. Ark. (AP)â€"“It was black and it was coming at me, so I jumped in that pickup truck and took off.” Ed Tyler, an employee of a drive-in theater here, literally took off Sunday. A windstormâ€"or tornado, as he called it, picked up the truck and spun it around several times before setting it down. “I was hanging onto the steering wheel with my feet out the doorâ€, Tyler said "I thought I was a gonerâ€. He wasn’t hurt. The storm damaged the theater but apparently hit nothing else.
Shouldn’t the name of the town be Pocahontas? The drive-in theater mentioned in that story might have been the Skylark Drive-In in Pocahontas, AR.
I figured the town, just not the name of the theater. You may have answered the question.
I think you’re pointing out the misspelling at the top of the page. I concur.
The spelling is exactly what I was referring to. Also, I don’t think the Skylark Drive-In is listed on CT.
No, the Imperial is the only theater listed in Pocahontas, AR. I try not to add too many drive-ins as management prefers an emphasis on indoor theaters.
No kidding. If I can find an address or some other info for the Skylark Drive-In, I’ll add it. I also found a Cinema City Twin Cinema, 5259 Highway 67 S, Pocahontas, AR 72455.
1985 photo of the Imperial Theatre.
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The Imperial Theater is listed in 1955 with 600 seats.