Bonifay Theatre
Main Street,
Bonifay,
FL
32425
Main Street,
Bonifay,
FL
32425
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The Bonifay Theatre was opened in 1948 on the site of an earlier Bonifay Theatre which had been destroyed by fir in 1945 (it has its own page on Cinema Treasures).
In 1956 it was operated by Sheffield & Saunders. It was closed in August 1963.
Contributed by
Larry Bearden
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Recent comments (view all 2 comments)
Either the 1941 listing or the Sarasota Herald-Tribune of December 20, 1942, had the seating capacity of the Bonifay Theatre wrong. The newspaper reported that 500 patrons had escaped unharmed when the Bonifay Theatre was destroyed by a fire (Google News.)
The theater in the photo apparently dates from 1948, when the April 24 issue of Boxoffice reported that “A. C. Saunders is planning a June opening for the Bonifay Theatre, currently under construction as a replacement for the theater destroyed by fire in 1945.” Since the fire Saunders had been operating a temporary theater in a store building adjacent to the construction site. The new house was to seat 550.
The August 19, 1963 issue of Boxoffice said that “Dewey Brannon has closed his indoor Bonifay Theatre in Bonifay concurrent with the opening of a new walk-in addition to his Al’s Drive-In, also located in Bonifay.” Brannon was the son-in-law of theater owner Al Saunders.
A Bonifay Theatre was listed in a 1918 Polk directory of Florida, but I don’t know if it was the same house that burned in 1945.