Beyer Theatre

208 S. Thompson Avenue,
Excelsior Springs, MO 64024

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Beyer Theatre movie poster

The Beyer Theatre opened in 1924 seating 1,000. It was the typical small town theatre located along the main business district. By 1941 it was operated by Fox Midwest Amusement Corp. It has been closed since 1956. It was one of three theatres located in town. The other two were the Siloam Theatre and the Wood Theatre.

Contributed by Chuck Van Bibber

Recent comments (view all 5 comments)

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on November 23, 2011 at 12:53 am

An Excelsior Springs house called the Beyer Theatre was mentioned in the February 2, 1924, issue of The Reel Journal. Its new manager, John Judd, had previously been associated with the Orpheum Theatre, also in Excelsior Springs.

This web page has three ads from the theater’s early days, and says that in 1924 it was called Byer’s Casino Theater.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on November 23, 2011 at 1:15 am

The Casino was apparently a different theater from the Beyer. An NRHP form has a paragraph about an Excelsior Springs businessman named R. B. Christian, who was “…the owner/operator of the Casino and the Beyer Theaters.”

Here’s a web page with ads for the Casino Theatre.

The “Orpheum” mentioned in the 1924 Reel Journal item was probably the Orpheus Theatre in this ad.

Will Dunklin
Will Dunklin on February 2, 2013 at 10:25 am

The Wurlitzer factory records show a pipe organ Style B “Special” (meaning a customized design) 2 manuals, 6 ranks sold to the Beyer Theatre, Excelsior Springs MO in May 1926.

Joe, that fits nicely with the 1926 ad you posted that says “always the best music” especially since the price of a Wurlitzer was often double the cost of some of the other organ builders, and therefor something of an extravagance for a small theatre, feasible only because of the cache of the Wurlitzer name.

Chuck – on your description at the head of the page it says the Beyer opened in 1942. Is that correct or should it read 1924?

Chris1982
Chris1982 on August 11, 2014 at 1:30 am

I’m not Chuck but it should be 1924. I think he transposed the numbers.

SethG
SethG on March 18, 2019 at 10:55 am

He’s also misspelled Siloam. Anyhow, this theater must have been at 208 S Thompson. It’s now a parking lot.

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