Roosevelt Theater
118 East Broadway,
Hobbs,
NM
88240
118 East Broadway,
Hobbs,
NM
88240
1 person
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previous Names: Ritz Theater
Nearby Theaters
In June 1926 the Ritz Theater was the first motion picture theater to open in Hobbs. It was managed by George S. Gafford and showed silent films. In the mid-1930’s, it was renamed the Roosevelt Theater and operated at least into the mid 1940’s. The 1945 Film Daily Yearbook shows the Roosevelt Theater being closed.
With thanks to the Hobbs Public Library.
Contributed by
Don Lewis
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Recent comments (view all 4 comments)
Hello Cinema Treasures. This is my posting, however the wording is not all mine. I do not have and have never seen any Film Dailey Year books and never make reference to them.
I submitted this as the RITZ after having researched information from the Hobbs library. I found reference from two separate authors saying the RITZ was the first Hobbs theater. Neither author called the Roosevelt a theater.
One article made mention of the Roosevelt as having burned down, but did not call it a theater.
I did not see any information saying the RITZ name was changed to the Roosevelt.
Would it be possible to change the wording and name back to the RITZ unless someone can present more reliabe info?
Thanks
-Don
According to the 1935 Hobbs city directory, the Roosevelt was located at 118 East Broadway.
The opening of G. S. Goffard’s Ritz Theatre was noted in the June 2, 1920, issue of The Film Daily. No details were given.
The Clovis New Mexico Evening News Journal of November 28, 1934, said that the Roosevelt Theatre at Hobbs had been destroyed by fire. Presumably it was rebuilt, or the name was moved to a different theater, as the Roosevelt Theatre suffered another fire in 1951, according to the caption of a photo that no longer appears on a broken web site called HobbsHistory.com.
Hobbs Daily News-Sun, Sept. 30, 1951: “The first motion picture house (in Hobbs) … was called the Ritz, and it was built on the site of the Roosevelt theater which was destroyed by fire several months ago. Manager of the independently-operated Ritz was George S. Gufford … While the present Rig theater (which opened late in 1935) was under construction, Judge T. A. Whelan of Lovington bought the old Ritz theater. He changed its name to the Roosevelt and opened up for business.”