Sterling Theater
629 W. Saline Street,
Blue Hill,
NE
68930
629 W. Saline Street,
Blue Hill,
NE
68930
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The Elite Theatre was created in an existing retail building launching February 8, 1913 with an hour of films for a dime. Sheilds, Duncan and Hoil gave the theatre a refresh and a new front relaunching the venue as the Sterling Theatre on August 20, 1915. The Elite converted to sound to stay current on April 22, 1929 with the Super Mellaphone Talking Picture equipment which synchronized a record to the film.
The Sterling moved to new digs beginning on September 20, 1944 in the former Barcus Clothing Company retail location. It relaunched as the New Sterling Theatre with “Buffalo Bill” in Technicolor. The theatre would be equipped with widescreen projection to present CinemaScope films. The Sterling closed on September 26, 1956.
A city council meeting took up the matter of finding a new operator in December of 1956 to success. The theatre reopened one last time on March 30, 1957 when the Blue Hill Improvement Association took on the operation. But the impact of television was too great and the Sterling closed for the final time on July 24, 1957 with Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire in “Funny Face.” The Association promised to reopen after the hot summer months passed but a classified ad offering all of the equipment told a different story.
Duane Barnason bought the building converting it into a location for Barnason’s Independent Grocers Alliance (IGA) Supermarket early in 1958.
The Sterling Theatre dates back to at least the mid-1920’s.