Cawlfield Theatre
112 W. Main Street,
Ash Grove,
MO
65604
112 W. Main Street,
Ash Grove,
MO
65604
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A Facebook page for Ash Grove has a thread mentioning the Gaiety Theatre on this post. I also came across an item in the January 11, 1930 issue of The Billboard saying that the Gaiety Theatre at Ash Grove had been remodeled and reopened. The Gaiety doesn’t appear in the FDY until the 1932 edition, when it had 250 seats. The 200-seat Grand was also still listed that year.
The March 16, 1959 issue of Boxoffice said that John Cawlfield had recently had wide screen equipment installed in his theater at Ash Grove and would present his first CinemaScope feature that week. The May 23, 1960 issue of the same journal said that Cawlfield was discontinuing unprofitable operations on Tuesday and Friday nights, and would henceforth open the theater only on Wednesday and Saturday.
Both the Grand and the Gaiety are two separate theaters. The Grand operated as early as 1912, while the Gaiety opened its doors on November 6, 1929 with Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in “Fast Life” along with an unnamed comedy short and an unnamed scenic film. The Gaiety was renamed the Cawlfield Theatre in 1957, and most likely closed on January 7, 1962 with Walt Disney’s “Sleeping Beauty”.
Given that this stayed open longer, it’s probably the derelict at 112 W. Main. No marquee, stuccoed conversion of a turn of the century storefront. Not sure how to add a streetview.