Iuka Theatre
220 W. 3rd Street,
Tama,
IA
52339
220 W. 3rd Street,
Tama,
IA
52339
No one has favorited this theater yet
Additional Info
Nearby Theaters
The Iuka Theatre was built in 1932 and replaced the Idle Hour Theatre which had been destroyed by fire in 1931. The Iuka Theatre was destroyed by a fire on December 21, 1944.
Contributed by
Ken Roe
Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater.
Recent comments (view all 3 comments)
The Iuka Theatre was destroyed by a fire in December, 1944. Boxoffice of August 28, 1948 reported that the ruins of the building had not yet been removed. Movies had been shown at the Mills Theatre since the fire.
This was at 220 W 3rd St. Now replaced by a cinderblock newspaper office, which could well date to about 1950.
The theatre was (re)built by Wesley W. Mansfield purportedly in 1932 yet opening as the New Theater on October 7, 1931 in a strange time/space continuum. Opening film was Buster Keaton in “The Sidewalks of New York” and accompanied by a naming contest. (The ?????? Theater replaced the Idle Hour whose projection booth exploded in flames July 7, 1931 but leaving part of the building intact.)
Contest entrants were only allowed to enter names of six characters or fewer. For the rebooted version, 55 contest entrants went with “Iuka” - which was the original name of the town when it was platted in 1862. Like its predecessor, the Iuka Theatre similarly exploded on December 21, 1944 making “Hail the Conquering Hero” its last film in the booth. Because of war material shortages and the likelihood that no insurance company on the planet would have provided affordable coverage, Mansfield and the town got by with the 19th-Century built Mills Theatre.