Cinema St. James
212 N. Jefferson Street,
St. James,
MO
65559
212 N. Jefferson Street,
St. James,
MO
65559
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The 600-seat Rowe Theatre was opened on June 29, 1949. In May 1956 it suffered damage from a fire. Following a remodel it reopened on April 26, 1957. It was renamed St. James Theatre in the late-1970’s. It was last operated as the Cinema St. James.
The building is a blond brick with red brick trim building, has a small V shaped marquee with a small vertical with theatre listed on it. Seating is listed at 425 and in 2006 was still in operation showing first run attractions. It has since closed and has been demolished. A bank now operates on the site.
Contributed by
Chuck
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Recent comments (view all 5 comments)
This theatre was built as the Lyric in 1947. It closed and was demolished in the past ten years. A bank sits on the site. I saw “Beverly Hills Cop” there! The theare could have been cute, but the management wasn’t interested in cleaning it up or selling it. It had an apartment behind the projection booth, so I tried a few times to buy it. My favorite memory was the Pepsi sign in the concession stand that said “Welcome to the Cinema Theater”.
Theater is closed and demolished. A new bank has been built on the site.
My father owned this theater for years. It was a wonderful place when he remoldeled it. He took great pride in presenting a nice place for that community. He worked for Pepsi Cola full time and had worked in a movie house as a kid and developed a love for owning his own. My mother sold the theater upon my father’s passing. I have so many great memories in that place. We were not residents of the community but my father was a long time business man in St. James. He loved the area and choose to be buried there.
After remodeling the seats it only had 325 seats. He generally ran 2nd run movies but every so often he would have a first run. In the beginning our family ran the theater together. It was a family establishment and we did take pride in the appearance and it was lovely right down to the walls lined with curtains.
Same theater? Film Daily, July 2, 1948: “R. E. Carney Theaters of Rolla, Mo., is erecting a new quonset-type theater in St. James, Mo., where the circuit now operates the 300-seat Lyric.”
The 1950 Film Daily Year Book listed three theaters in St. James: the Lyric (seating 384), the Rowe (600), and the St. James (no figure).
That’s an error, which happens a lot on Film Daily Yearbooks. I officially realized that this is the Rowe Theatre, because an article from May 1956 say that the Rowe is the only movie house in St. James.
The Rowe Theatre, which opened on June 29, 1949 by Carney himself with an original capacity of 600 seats, replaced the older 384-seat Lyric Theatre nearby which closed the previous day. This came a few days before Carney officially planned to build a drive-in theater in Rolla with a very expensive cost. The Rowe Theatre suffered fire destruction with an estimate $40,000 loss in May 1956, leaving St. James without a movie theater for 11 months until officially reopening after a long remodel on April 26, 1957. It was renamed the St. James Cinema in the late-1970s.