Royal Theatre
111 S. Market Street,
Benton,
AR
72015
111 S. Market Street,
Benton,
AR
72015
1 person
favorited this theater
Related Websites
Royal Theatre, Benton (Official)
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Rowley United Theatres Inc., United Artists Theater Circuit Inc.
Architects: Edwin B. Cromwell, Frank Ginocchio
Functions: Performing Arts
Styles: Art Deco
Previous Names: Imp Theatre, Benton Theatre
Phone Numbers:
Box Office:
501.315.5483
Nearby Theaters
This downtown theatre has been in constant operation since the 1920’s. It opened on January 14, 1922 as the Imp Theatre, on Market Street. (The first Imp Theatre was opened in 1919 at another address and was destroyed by fire in 1920). On February 22, 1949 it was renamed Benton Theatre and a remodel had expanded the theatre from 590-seats to 800-seats. In the 1950’s the owners, Rowley United Theatres Inc., acquired the neon sign from the Royal Theatre in Little Rock and remodeled the entrance.
In the 1990’s the family owned building was sold to Jerry Van Dyke (Dick’s brother and Luther on ‘Coach’). Jerry opened a soda shop next door and operated the theatre as a joint movie house/live venue. When Jerry moved to Mexico, he gave the theatre to a local community theatre, who assumed the name the Royal Players.
The Royal Theatre no longer shows films as the screens were removed and projectors sold before the transfer to its current owners. The Royal Players have completed several projects to preserve the theatre. Most of the original fixtures are still in place and an old doorless safe labeled ‘Imp’ is in the upstairs office.
An interesting note, the Royal Theatre was originally one screen with a balcony. At some point in time the balcony was enclosed and small screen installed. The original projection booth was used to show films there and a second booth was constructed downstairs for the big screen.
Contributed by
Cole Wakefield
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Recent comments (view all 13 comments)
To follow up on ken mc, Rowley United Theatres became a wholly owned subsidiary of United Artists Theatre Circuit, Inc., and it was then known as the ‘Rowley United Division.“ He is correct, Rowley operated many theatres in Texas, but also had properties in Oklahoma and Arkansas. Rowley operated many theatres in Little Rock, plus what became know as "The Big 8,” which included theatre operations in Fort Smith, Clarksville, Morrilton, Conway, Benton, Malvern, Arkadelphia and Magnolia. Both Benton and Magnolia were “partnership towns.” United Artists owned 50% and Magnolia owned 50%. The Kauffman family in Benton (Warren Lee Kauffman was the last one to manage the theatre under this arrangement) and W.P. Florence of Magnolia were the “partners.” Clarence L. Hobbs was the District Manager for several years, and managed theatres in Morrilton and Conway before that. He was based out of Conway, prior to moving to Tulsa. I worked as a manager of the 65 Drive-In for Mr. Hobbs, the old Conway Theatre, and the UA Cinema 1 & 2 in Conway. I also was interim manager for the theatres in Morrilton for a short period, and ran the UA Cinema 1 & 2 in Arkadelphia for several years.
Question: Does anyone know what happened to Warren Lee Kauffman of Benton? Is he still alive? The other partner, W.P. Florence of Magnolia, died a few years back. Thanks, Richard Robinson
To answer R. Robinson’s question….Sadly Warren Lee passed away in 1999. He was my beloved grandfather! I miss him and the old days at the theatre more and more. I am the daughter of Randy Kauffman who also owned the theatre in its later years.
Here is another photo of the Royal:
http://tinyurl.com/nwws53
Nice old school looking theatre.
Greetings all, I see there haven’t been many comments left on this page in quite some time. I’d like to introduce myself. My name is Timothy A Samuelson. I am taking over as the Facilities Director at the Royal. This building has been important throughout my life and it is truly an honor to be contributing to its history and lineage by adding my mark. I would like to ask that anyone that has pictures or stories about this space please contact me via my email: . These past few weeks have been very hectic for our organization. We began the initial phases of the renovation and restoration of this magnificent space beginning with the upstairs office. I can confirm the stories that the safe is still in the room and is, in fact missing the door (I was really hoping to find it, but my hunt has yielded no fruit) On top of locating the safe, we uncovered the original wall paneling that had been hidden away behind layers of cover-ups. We also located the bell system that was used to page between downstairs and upstairs. I’m having a small display case for the bell made and it will be proudly displayed on the desk. The desk in the office is also the original desk. (signed and dated by the builder in 1919) All items uncovered including the carpet that was installed in the 1949 remodel will be kept in the closest condition to original as possible. As we complete the office in the next few days, we will begin to reach out into the rest of the upstairs space which has been closed to patrons for as long as I can remember. Our plans for the upstairs space are a small black-box theatre space that can be used for smaller performances, recitals, movies, lectures, and many more events. This upstairs will become the brain of our youth theatre program, the Young Players. My plans are to establish a sanctuary for the youth of the community to take place in after school programs geared towards education and the arts. Any help that anybody could offer us in this time of progress would be greatly appreciated as we would like to have all work on the building and a second space we are attempting to acquire complete for the 100th anniversaries of the spaces. If you would like to get involved in our project, whether it be in the form of donations or the contribution of a story, please feel free to contact me. My email again is . Thank you all
United Artists operated the Royal during its later years. Benton also had a separate twin-screener nearby called the Boggs Twin Cinema that was first operated by Gene Boggs Enterprises. I cannot find as much information about it rather than the Boggs opened sometime in the 1970s.
The Imp Theatre opened its doors on January 14, 1922, with Wallace Kauffman of nearby Princeton being its original projectionist, who had lived in Benton since 1917 and previously worked at a similar establishment in Fordyce, started working for Alice Wooten, owner of the Independent Motion Pictures company, which is where the name of the theater came from. It originally housed 590 seats.
Kauffman ran the business alone until early-1949, when a new deal with Rowley United to handle all bookings and record keeping. Alongside his theater business in Benton, Kauffman also operate theaters in Malvern, Arkadelphia, and Magnolia, who also signed similar deals with Rowley United. After a brief closure following extensive remodeling that also expanded the seating amount to 800 seats, the Imp Theatre was renamed the Royal Theatre on February 22, 1949, reopening with James Stewart in “You Gotta Stay Happy” (unknown if extras added).
Despite being operated by United Artists throughout the rest of time as a movie theater, the Kauffman family ran the theater for many generations. Wallace unfortunately died in 1974 and the work was shift to his son Warren. Four years later in 1978, it was twinned when a second screen was added upstairs on the former enclosed balcony. Warren retired in 1986, and was followed by another son Randy Kauffman to take the job.
Randy managed the family business for ten years before he sold it in 1996 to Jerry Van Dyke, the brother of the legendary Dick, who at the time had played Luther Van Dam on the ABC series ‘Coach’. Jerry also purchased a couple of shops around the theater, creating a candy shop on one side of the Royal and a restaurant called Jerry Van Dyke’s Soda Shop on the other.
In 2000, Van Dyke turned control of the Royal Theatre over to a local group of thespians known then as the Central Arkansas Community Players, which changed its name to the Royal Players. The Royal Players began running and maintaining the Royal Theatre, repurposing it for live theater. The Royal was added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 27, 2003. Jerry died on January 5, 2018 in his Malvern home.
There are two Imp Theatres in Benton. This is the second Imp Theatre that was the replacement of an earlier first Imp Theatre that was reportedly short-lived.
After World War I, movie theaters in Benton immediately grew to three theaters, which were the (first) Imp, the Palace, and the Victory. The first Imp was very short-lived since the original location’s opening in 1919, and got burned down in a May 12, 1920 fire that was reported as arson. The first Imp Theatre did reopen later that year but closed the following year in 1921 because of financial troubles, but also cause the short closure to the nearby Palace. The second Imp Theatre opened nearby at the current location on January 14, 1922 as a movie theater.
The Imp Theatre was renamed the Benton Theatre on February 22, 1949 following extensive remodeling that also expanded its seating capacity from 590 to 800, and was twinned in 1978 when a second smaller screen was added above the former balcony.
The Royal Theatre closed as a movie theater in 1996 after the Wallace Kauffman’s sons Warren and Randy sold the Royal to Jerry Van Dyke who renovated the Royal, with United Artists being its last operator as a movie theater. It was reverted back as a single-screener and its original capacity of 597 seats, housing performing arts ever since.
Now housed 597 seats.