Idle Hour Theatre
220 W. 3rd Street,
Tama,
IA
52339
220 W. 3rd Street,
Tama,
IA
52339
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Henry Soleman built his pharmacy building in 1896 and 1897. He had also built Tama’s Opera House in 1882. The retail spot occupied by The Hub clothing store was vacated becoming the Electric Theatre on March 26, 1908 with Edison’s Kinetoscope providing one reel films. The venue was renamed the Idle Hour Theatre a year later on April 7, 1909.
The Idle Hour converted to sound to remain viable. Not long after - on July 7, 1931 - during the late show of “Men Call Love” the film caught fire and projectionist Lester Pospichal lost the battle with flames engulfing the booth.
This was at about 220 W 3rd St. That whole side of the block is ugly newer buildings, but matching footprints on the lots puts it about there. The building was a low and wide one story brick building with a concrete block front. It does not appear on the 1906 map, so it was likely built to house the theater. I’ve added a 1915 map view.
The Idle Hour was the only theater listed at Tama in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. The December 27, 1913 issue of Moving Picture World mentioned a house in Tama called the Star Theatre which had opened the previous April, so the Idle Hour had competition at that time. An item in the February 1, 1910 issue of The Nickelodeon said that a John Hedrick planned to open a moving picture theater at Tama. That could have been the origin of the Idle Hour.