Royal Theatre

dallasmovietheaters on May 23, 2022 at 11:37 am

The Criterion, Empress and the Royal theaters operated simultaneously. The El Reno Opera House turned El Reno Theatre was destroyed by fire on December 26, 1918 and rebuilt. It relaunched here in its new building on May 12, 1919 with Harold Lockwood in “Shadows of Suspicion.“ Its final booking is Emory Johnson’s “The Mail Man” on March 22, 1924. New operator, Alice Hamly, took over the venue starting in August of 1924 marketed first as the Hamly’s Theatre at launch followed by the Hamly Theatre (and also advertised with the likely incorrect monikers of Hamlys' Theatre and Hamlys Theatre variably over its one year of operation).

Under new operator W.H. Wood, the former El Reno turned Hamly(s) then became the Woods Theatre on October 21, 1925 with Harry Carey in “Soft Shoes.” The silent Woods Theatre was re-equipped with sound films in 1930 formally opening as the Royal Theatre on February 17, 1930 with Vitaphone equipment and “The Devil May Care.” The Royal closed for the summer on “South of St. Louis” on April 30, 1951 but never reopened. The venue was retrofitted for other retail purposes.

raybradley on July 13, 2010 at 6:42 pm

This site illustrates (with vintage photos) that the Royal was quite a fancy name for just an “Old West” styled showplace …
http://www.roadsideoklahoma.com/node/350