Dream Theater
629 N. Main Street,
Russell,
KS
67665
629 N. Main Street,
Russell,
KS
67665
3 people
favorited this theater
Showing 14 comments
Should we give the older theater a separate listing? The NRHP nomination says that the three remaining walls of the old Dream were incorporated into the new structure, so you could say they are at least partly the same building.
The Wallis Brothers launched the MainStreet Theatre on August 4, 1924 With Rex Beach’s “Flowing Gold.” Audiences were impressed with the pipe organ, the special orchestra concert and the projection that had a new Gardiner screen and Simplex projectors.
The new theatre replaced their Isis Theatre that had launched elsewhere on Main Street in a new-build structure on May 5, 1911 by Edward Elza Smith and Earnest Maag. The Isis closed prior to the opening of the MainStreet.
Visited the Dream recently – looks like they have a new electronic marquee since the previous photos (from 2011). New pictures uploaded to the Photo section.
Dream Theater..Russell Kansas..1999.
As I understand it, Danielson shot local newsreel films and projected those along with the theater’s regular showings. Does anyone have any information about that?
Scott Williams
Very nice I like the DREAM in the sidewalk in front of the boxoffice.
Renew Link.
As a youngster in the early 50s, I was a regular visitor at the Dream. It was the era of great Westerns with Roy Rogers and the rest. Roy was one of my childhood heros. We used to sit in the back and eat sunflower seeds. By the time the movie ended there would be sunflower seed shells all around the seats. I was too young to appreciate the beauty of the Dream.
This theatre has a very cool story.
Robert R: In the 1980s as I was traveling to Colorado, I stopped in Russell and was lucky enough to get a tour of the Dream one Sunday morning. What I remember most about the inside were the floral murals on the walls. I remember them as stripes of gray and green and maroon flowers (almost wallpaper like in quality) but hand painted. The man giving me the impromtu tour told me that they were painted shortly after the theatre reopened in 47 and they did look late art-moderne in theme. The photo above does not show that the word “Dream” is scripted in the sidewalk area underneath the marquee.
Yes, that is correct about the Dream being in “Paper Moon”. But it is another building dressed up as the old Dream Theater. “Paper Moon” was filmed almost entirely in Kansas, mostly around Russell, Hays, Gorham, and Wilson KS, and many of the smaller towns in the area still had older 1930’s looking buildings still standing.
As stated above, the old Dream Theater was gutted by fire in 1947. It was in November of that year and a very massive ice storm was beginning to settle upon the city of Russell. The fire department was called to check out smoke coming from the ceiling of the theater at around 6:45 pm. A blower motor had overheated and had started to smolder some of the insulation in the theater. In those days, E.B. Danielson and sons had insulated the buildings with old wadded up newspaper, cheap but yet adequate. The firemen quickly extingushed the problem and were beginning to wrap up the problem, when several of them went to the roof to cut a hole to vent out the smoke. Only problem was that some of the smoldering material was not all gone and with the added extra draft, soon became the biggest fire in Russell KS history, at that time. The theater could not be saved, as the fire raced through the building. Due to the falling temperatures, the water hoses were freezing, and making one big mess out front, making it more impossible to extingush the fire.
Luckily there was no fatalities, or other buildings involved in the fire. Oh by the way, the movie that night, “Smoke Eaters” a story about firemen.
This is one of the many stories told to me by the late Dale Danielson, former owner of the Dream Theater.
This is a great story about a theatre being saved. I love the marquee, what is the interior like?
This is a fine historical theater for this region in Kansas. As a former employee to the original owners, Dale and Katie Danielson for six years, I listened to many stories that Dale used to tell about this theater. As soon as the public can begin to submit photos to this site again, I have a few to share with you.
I was also the manager for 5 years to this theater under B&B Theaters.