Elite Theatre
W. Mt. Vernon Street,
Nixa,
MO
65714
W. Mt. Vernon Street,
Nixa,
MO
65714
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Harve T. Nokes' original Elite Theatre in Nixa, Missouri operated from 1923 until April 19, 1930. The theatre was packed when a nitrate film fire sent flames into the theater. Somehow everyone got out uninjured prior to the theater burning to the ground. The film playing that night appropriately enough was Reginald Denny in “One Hysterical Night.”
Nokes wrote a plea into the letters column of a leading trade publication asking for blueprints for a 300-seat sound film house. He must have received a response as he rebuilt the theater relaunching it as the “new” Elite Theatre on May 28, 1931 with Clive Brook in “East Lynne.” Nearby Ozark, Missouri folks drove to the Elite for sound films as they didn’t have a sound film theater until October of 1936. On January 28, 1938, the new operator of the Elite was Lynn Martin.
Regular features stopped at the Elite on December 4, 1939 with John Garfield in “Dust Be My Destiny.” The venue was used for sporadic live events from 1939 to 1941. In 1942, the seats and everything else of value from inside the Elite was sold off. The folks from Nixa now had to drive to Ozark, Missouri for films which they could do all the way until the 1970s.