Gem Theatre
217 American Legion Drive,
Rayne,
LA
70578
217 American Legion Drive,
Rayne,
LA
70578
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Additional Info
Previous Names: Moulin Rouge Theatre, Evangeline Theatre
Nearby Theaters
The Moulin Rouge Theatre was a classic movie theatre in downtown Rayne, LA which began in the silent era likely in 1915. (Though the local paper suggests that the Opera House was the Moulin Rogue, the trade press shows otherwise.) Ten years later, it appears to have become the Evangeline Theatre. The Evangeline Theatre merged with the Opera House in December of 1927 as the town struggled to support both movie houses.
On October 13, 1929, the Evangeline Theatre was put back into operation and equipped for sound relaunching as the new home of the Opera House on October 4, 1929. It ultimately retained the Evangeline name likely because the signage remained in place. In January of 1933, the equipment was moved to the Opera House and the Evangline Theatre was discontinued for a second time.
Late in 1934, it was remodeled coming back into business briefly before being discontinued a third time. In 1941, articles suggest that it was home to the Gem Theatre running as a discount house. It appears that the plan was to use the Gem Theatre while a new replacement for the Joy Theatre could be built. But when the War occurred, a shortage of materials delayed the new Joy Theatre in Rayne. The Joy Theatre continued but the former Evangeline Theatre/Gem Theatre closed for almost all of World War II reopening May 25, 1945 for a brief period.
Articles suggest that the structure was removed but the information is sketchy. The address given here is approximate.
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dallasmovietheaters
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Recent comments (view all 5 comments)
An article on page 12 of the July 28, 2016 issue of The Rayne Arcadian-Tribune (PDF here) citing events in April, 1946, had this to say about the plans then in the works for the new Acadia Theatre:
If the article is correct then the Gem must have been demolished to make way for the Acadia Theatre. Or, since the building might have been only about thirty years old, perhaps it was at least partly incorporated into the new structure. The July 22, 1916 issue of Moving Picture World mentions E. Weil of the Moulin Rouge Theatre in Rayne as a recent visitor to film row in New Orleans. Edmund Weil was the brother of Jacques Weil, head of the J & E Weil Operating Company, owners of a number of businesses in Rayne including this theater.The house at West Texas and Second, operating as the Joy Theatre in 1946, was probably the theater listed in the 1926 FDY as the Craig Theatre. That house was being built for James L. Craig in 1915, as noted in Motography of March 27 that year in an item calling it “…the new opera house….” An earlier Opera House had been listed in the Cahn guide as early as 1907, and was listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory as the “Opera House M. P. Show, Adams Ave and 2nd St.”
The FDY listings for Rayne are not very enlightening. I’m listing theater names and (seating capacities, or lack thereof) for each year:
1926: Craig (500); Lemoulin Rouge (370) 1927: Evangeline (….); Craig (500) 1928: Frank’s (….); Craig (500) 1929: Frank’s (….) 1930: Frank’s (….); Craig (500) 1931: Franks (500) (Note: for some reason the FDY started spelling the town’s name as Rane in 1931.) 1932: Franks (500) 1933: Franks (500) 1934: Opera (500) 1935: Opera (500); Roosevelt (….) 1936: Opera (500); Joy’s (350) 1937: New (….); Opera House (400); Joy (300) 1938: Opera House (400); Joy (300) 1939: Joy (400) 1940: Joy (400) 1941: Joy (400) (Note: in 1942 FDY goes back to the town’s correct spelling, Rayne.) 1942: Gem (350); Joy (400) 1943: Gem (350 Cl); Joy (400) 1944: Gem (350 Cl); Joy (400) 1945: Gem (350 Cl); Joy (400) 1946: Gem (350 Cl); Joy (400) 1947: Arcadia [sic] (1,000): Gem (350 Cl); Joy (400)
In 1948 theaters are listed only under chains, and the Arcadia [sic] is listed under L. C. Montgomery’s Film Service Corp., New Orleans. In 1949 city listings are back, and the Arcadia [sic] is the only house listed at Rayne, but is listed under Joy’s Theatres in the circuits section, along with a house called the Bruce. The Acadia (always misspelled as Arcadia) and the Bruce are then both listed at Rayne in the by-cities section of FDY from 1950 through 1955, when the Bruce had 350 seats, and in 1956 and 1957 the name Bruce vanishes and a 356-seat Joy Theatre appears. After 1957 FDY lists only by circuits, and I don’t see the Bruce or Joy at Rayne, but the Acadia (misspelled, of course) is still listed under Joy’s Theatres.
Frankly (or Frank'sly) this has left me more confused than ever. FDY’s penchant for double-listing theaters after a name change doesn’t help, nor does its penchant for sometimes continuing to list theaters that had been dismantled or demolished.
Given the consistency in seating capacity it seems likely the Craig, Frank’s/Franks and Opera were all the same house, possibly the one at West Texas Avenue (American Legion Road) and Second Street. The shift in seating capacity of the Joy from 1938 to 1939 suggests that it might have moved into the former Opera House at that time, most likely from the Moulin Rouge-Evangeline’s building, which was probably the house that had briefly been the Roosevelt and would later reopen as the Gem.
But if the Craig/Franks/Opera/second Joy burned down in 1946, and if, as the 2016 article I cited in my previous comment said, the Gem was replaced by the Acadia, where the hell did the Bruce, which was probably also the third (or fourth?) Joy Theatre, come from? And what became of the New Theatre that appeared in the FDY only in 1937? It’s quite puzzling.
CT failed to format my list as a list, but I suppose it’s still readable. Just not as easily.
I’ve got this one. I left out on this key part of the Gem entry:
In 1936, the New Orleans Circuit that was headed by Joy Houck took on the former Evangeline calling it the Joy Theatre. On January 1, 1937, Houck bought out the Opera House and moved the Joy Theatre to the Opera House location. That became the “A” house and was called the Joy Theatre. In 1941, the local manager of the Joy bought the former Evangline/Joy renaming it the Gem Theatre running as a discount house.
Bruce Theatre will get an entirely new entry which I had already researched. It had a opened in the Valverde Hotel building which had been gutted by a fire decades earlier. It was bought out by the Joy Circuit and retired.
I also have the Opera House entry ready as well. It’s a bit confusing but well documented by the local paper.
Frank’s Theatre was in Abbeville.
dallasmovietheaters: The FDY can be very confusing. I’m glad you’ve got access to the local newspaper to clear up the confusion. The Frog Capital of the World deserves an accurate history of its theaters.