Idle Hour Theatre
Tama,
IA
52339
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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.