Sac Theater
117 N. Fifth Street,
Sac City,
IA
50583
117 N. Fifth Street,
Sac City,
IA
50583
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Pioneer Theater Corp.
Previous Names: Casino Theater
Nearby Theaters
Originally opened as the Casino Theater on December 24, 1920 with Tom Santschi in “The North Wind’s Malice”. In February 1948 it was taken over by Pioneer Theater Corp. renamed Sac Theater which operated into at least 1957.
Contributed by
Ken McIntyre
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Recent comments (view all 15 comments)
Great “GOLDFINGER"ad what a find.thanks Ken.mc.
I spent my summers in Lake View, eight miles to the south, in the 1980s. We would receive weekly advertising circulars which would feature movie theater ads for the region (Carroll, Ida Grove, Lake City, Sac City). Sac City always had strange movies, like “Snow White and the Three Stooges”. Either they couldn’t afford the rental of newer movies, or the screen and projector was a remnant of Cinemascope.
If memory serves, the theater did replace the screen sometime in the late 1980s. I believe the old screen had vertical metallic louvers which had to be calibrated anytime something was thrown at the screen.
Owner’s (?) obituary is here: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=20277829
The Casino Theater opened its doors on Christmas Eve 1912 with a photoplay presentation of “The North Wind’s Malice”, with an estimate $50,000 on the building. It was first operated by Walford W. Watt and J.J. Harter.
As of 1912, the theater originally housed 750 seats featuring two loges between the lobby. The stage was elevated featuring equipment of scenery, which had four drop curtains. The original projectors as of 1912 are Simplex models, and on the top floor of the building featured a dance hall measured 37x100ft with cloak rooms and restrooms (that which opened one week later).
The 489-seat Casino Theater was renamed the Sac Theater during the first week of February 1948. It was still open in the 1980s.
NOTE: The theater did not returned back to its original Casino Theatre name. The Sac Theatre name was used for around three-to-four decades, although I cannot find its closing date at all.
The history cannot be right, given the address. The 1915 map shows the ugly building containing the bar (uses a 112 address) as the city hall and fire station. There was a building to the north, but it was gone before 2009, and did not contain a theater in 1915. There is a large building across the street, which could perhaps have been a theater, but it does not appear on that map. I wish the American Classic Images website wasn’t dead, since that would make the ID very easy.
I suspect the address is wrong as well.
I suggest the Casino opening in 1912 may have been in the Odd Fellows building on W Main. That was constructed in 1911, and the 1915 map shows a theater there. I’m creating a listing for that one. The only problem is that 750 seems very large for such a narrow structure. I wonder if we haven’t been confused by what is obviously a bogus address. There is also a mystery listing for a ‘Chiefton’ which I suspect is a misspelling of Chieftain. Perhaps that belongs to the large building at 117 N 5th (NOT 118)? The last possibility for the Casino of 750 seats is the old opera house, but that burned in 1939, and can’t have been around to rename in 1948.
All I can say at this point is that the address is definitely wrong, no matter what, and nothing on N 5th could have been a theater in 1912.
The 800-seat Casino was the only theater listed at Sac City in the 1926 FDY, but it was probably the proposed theater noted in this item from the September 11, 1920 issue of Moving Picture World: “SAC CITY, lA.—Walford W. Watt will erect new theatre on North Fifth street, with seating capacity of 1,000.” This was probably the house the opening of which was noted in the March 5, 1921 issue of The Billboard, though that item didn’t give the house a name, saying only that it had cost $50,000.
The 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory lists only two movie houses at Sac City, those being the Lyric Theatre on Main Street and the Opera House. There might have been an earlier Casino Theatre at Sac City, but if so I’ve been unable to find any mentions of it in the trade journals. I wonder if Casino might have been a briefly used aka for the Opera House?
That means the Casino is almost certainly the building at 117 N 5th. It’s certainly big enough, and does not appear on the 1915 map.
I’m guessing the Casino opened in December, 1920 rather than December, 1912. Here’s an item from the January 22, 1921 issue of the Exhibitors Herald talking about its recent opening:
“SAC CITY, IA. — The new Casino theatre opened its doors to the public recently. The proprietors, W. W. Watt and J. J. Harter, erected it at a cost of S50,000. The house has accommodation for 750 patrons.”
Also, the movie listed as the feature at its 1912 opening, “The North Wind’s Malice”, was actually released in August, 1920, according to Turner Classic Movies, who currently owns the film.