Indian Theatre

50sSNIPES on July 15, 2026 at 10:35 pm

The Antlers Theatre in the Elks building opened its doors on October 4, 1913 with a live presentation of “Officer 666”. As of 1913, the theater originally housed 776 solid mahogany heavily upholstered seats with black and gold striped iron frames to the lower floor of each seat, with 500 seats in the main pit, 144 seats in the balcony (100 normal seats and 44 box seats), and 132 seats in the gallery.

A lot of information about the theater as of 1913 goes as follows: Outside the theater featured a marquee with 140 electric lights with an electric sign spelling out the theater’s name, and going inside contains a grand total of 1,200 lights. The ticket booth is located at the right of the inside foyer, and the main floor is directly at the back of the foyer. The aisles and stairways are covered in a 36-inch heavy velvet carpet. There is a ladies dressing room with patent coat racks, a dressing table, and chairs located off of the boxes on each side. On the lower floor features another dressing room for the ladies which is larger ad bigger than the one near the balcony (damn the misandry gets hotter here). At the left of the outside foyer is the entrance to the balcony, which consists of a flight of stairs that approaches an inclined walk that goes across the front of the building and turns upward again to the balcony. The main decorations featured a light cream ceiling which gradually blends into darker shades till the bottom of the wall is reached when the shade is faded to a darker tan.

The original scenery curtain features a street scene, a garden scene and a combination of landscape and nature with a 12-piece interior drawing and dining room scene, in addition to the grand borders, tormenters, wings, interior and foliage borders. There is also a 12-piece kitchen scene which is home-like and attractive in the scenery, which the entire scenery curtain measures 44ft high in total. The stage opening measures 28 feet wide, 20 feet high, and 26 feet deep. The dressing rooms are also situated under the club rooms of the Elks temple. Up in the fireproof projection room contains Motiograph projectors, and lastly back down contains a 6-piece orchestra pit, which is low enough so that those in the orchestra will not interfere with the view of any of the audience.

The Antlers Theatre was renamed the Hunt’s Indian Theatre on October 15, 1930 after extensive remodeling, reopening with Spencer Tracy in “Up The River” along with a few unnamed shorts. It was managed by George Hunt, who partially named the theater after himself.

Here are the differences about the 1930 remodel: Walking through an archway hung with red silk plush curtains on wrought iron rods, one enters the foyer that is carpentered with a specially designed carpet laid over a 75-inch carpeting, and the walls have a special touch of Indian architecture, which fits the name of the theater. The foyer is furnished with luxurious upholstered furniture done in jacquard velour which harmonizes with the general color scheme. The motif for the wall and ceiling decoration through the building features touching designs of early Indian patterns. At one end of the mezzanine lounge is a ladies restroom which is done in a style radically different, with an art modern style.

The marquee was also updated in both size and design, measuring 33ft long and 5ft high at the center, with a green border and the red lettering, and flashes on and off. It was equipped with the same design of sign with a double line attraction board at each end and raised opalite glass letters illuminating to herald the attraction’s title. Four flood lights are mounted upon the marquee, which will throw a flood of colored light upon the facade of the building. The box office is an island type and decorated, retaining with the general decorative scheme. A small neon sign was added above the ticket window.

The capacity of seats was also upgraded and updated in the 1930 remodel, with 975 jacquard velour seats with bright red taupes, birch mahogany woodwork, and grey leather cushioning over heavy springing replacing the solid mahogany heavily upholstered seats with black and gold striped iron frames prior to the remodeling. The drape was also replaced with an Indian red silk plush with a 6-foot border of friar’s cloth and side drapes of the same material. Back of this is another set of side drapes of decorated friar cloth that matches the front stage drapes, and all were done by hand in oil. The theater’s original organ was also reinstalled in the pit, and lights were installed at the aisles to avoid a frontman using a flashlight. The screen was also updated with a firepoof asbestos one. Lastly, Western Electric sound was also added with an estimate $15,000, with 16-foot sized screen mounted directly behind the screen.