Gem Theater
712 W. 9th Street,
Little Rock,
AR
72201
712 W. 9th Street,
Little Rock,
AR
72201
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The Gem Theater was opened September 5, 1910. This was a segregated theater and in the late-1930’s thru 1950’s it operated as an African-American theater. The Gem Theater was closed on January 5, 1958 with Charlton Heston in “The Ten Commandments”.
Contributed by
Ken McIntyre
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Recent comments (view all 5 comments)
Here is another 1940 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/96nnu
This opened on September 5th, 1910. Grand opening ad in the photo section.
I’ve been doing some research on a different Gem Theatre in Little Rock for a project and the one you are speaking of opened in 1944. https://www.arktimes.com/arkansas/templars-back-in-business/Content?oid=1013053 There was another Gem Theatre which rivest266 is referring to. It was at 113 W. 3rd Street. It burned in December of 1928. I don’t know if the two had a connection. There was a Gem Attractions business that owned the first Gem and another theater. Maybe it continued into the ‘40s and they used the name again. The link I provided above gives a little more history of the building you are covering here. I would be glad to provide a photo of the first Gem Theatre if you like. Thanks to rivest266 for providing me with the opening date of my theater! And, thanks to the admins of this website for providing info about other buildings for my research!
Appears to have gone out of business January 5, 1958 with “The Ten Commandments”
Two different theaters are currently conflated on this page. The house at 712 W. Ninth Street was an African-American house opened in 1922 as the Nesbitt Theatre. In 1923 it became the Plaza Theater, and in 1934 it was renamed the Metropolitan. It finally became the Gem in 1936, and operated under that name until closing in 1968.
We need another page for the earlier Gem Theatre, which opened on September 5, 1910, at 113 W. Third Street. It was a ten cent silent movie house that burned down in February, 1929.