Tiger Theatre
109 North Fifth Street,
Columbia,
MO
65201
109 North Fifth Street,
Columbia,
MO
65201
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Located in downtown Columbia, this opened as the Frances Theatre in 1948. By 1954, it had become the Tiger Theatre. It later became the Princess Palm Art after some pressure from the University not wanting the name of the theatre being associated with the name of the University mascot. The theatre was playing adult fare at the time and also had an adult video store in the lobby. The theatre closed in the 1970’s and the building was demolished in 1986.
Contributed by
Church Van Bibber
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Recent comments (view all 5 comments)
Should be listed as demolished
The 1954 opening of this theater must have been a reopening. Boxoffice of April 17, 1954, had this item, datelined Columbia:[quote]“Insufficient patronage has caused the closing of the Tiger Theatre here. The Columbia Committee on Racial Equality and another group offered to sell subscriptions so that cultural pictures might be brought to Columbia and the theatre continue. The management was unable to secure the desired films.
“At one time the Tiger was known as the Frances Theatre. It was built in 1948 by A.B. Coleman at a cost of $40,000 as a Negro patronage theatre, with a seating capacity of 400. In May 1951 it became known as the Tiger, with a reserved section for Negroes.”[/quote]
Hmm…I don’t know how the Tiger had a video store in the lobby in the ‘70s when video tape and VCRs as a general rule, were not sold much in this country before the mid-1980s!!!
Good point Sam.lol.
If anyone has any stories about going to/ working at this threatre in its adult days, I would love to hear them. I am chronicling the histories of adult theatres in the US. Please contact me at Thanks!