The tag on this theatre says it was demolished, yet a Google search had a November 2001 photo of this address. A “Letter to the Editor” of a 1939 issue of LIFE Magazine caught my eye. Roy T. Hill, the manager of the 246 seat theatre, wrote a small bit regarding Warner Bros selecting his STATE THEATRE and State Center (population 1,012) for the “world’s premiere” of their film “Pride of the Bluegrass”.
jordanlage is correct. The above photo is not the Rialto. The Idle Hour (above) later became the “Garden”, and closed out its days as the “Harrison”. The Rialto was a few to the left of the Idle Hour in the photo.
I saw Jack in the lot about 1970, give or take. He said he would not be able to heat the building without the steam heat and was throwing in the towel. I doubt the Harrison had much life left in it, regardless. I still patronized it, but there were maybe five or six people there for a show. It was only a matter of time until the carbon arcs burnt out for good.
The Harrison closed in the late 60s or early 70s. West Chester closed the “steam plant” which provided heat to a lot of downtown buildings, including the Harrison. I last saw Jack in the parking lot behind the Harrison; he recognized me as a theatre “regular” and told me the sad news.
The tag on this theatre says it was demolished, yet a Google search had a November 2001 photo of this address. A “Letter to the Editor” of a 1939 issue of LIFE Magazine caught my eye. Roy T. Hill, the manager of the 246 seat theatre, wrote a small bit regarding Warner Bros selecting his STATE THEATRE and State Center (population 1,012) for the “world’s premiere” of their film “Pride of the Bluegrass”.
I found newspaper advertising through December 0f 1957. It was running 4 nights a week (Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon)
jordanlage is correct. The above photo is not the Rialto. The Idle Hour (above) later became the “Garden”, and closed out its days as the “Harrison”. The Rialto was a few to the left of the Idle Hour in the photo.
I saw Jack in the lot about 1970, give or take. He said he would not be able to heat the building without the steam heat and was throwing in the towel. I doubt the Harrison had much life left in it, regardless. I still patronized it, but there were maybe five or six people there for a show. It was only a matter of time until the carbon arcs burnt out for good.
The Harrison closed in the late 60s or early 70s. West Chester closed the “steam plant” which provided heat to a lot of downtown buildings, including the Harrison. I last saw Jack in the parking lot behind the Harrison; he recognized me as a theatre “regular” and told me the sad news.