Rialto Theatre

Joe Vogel on April 9, 2023 at 12:52 am

This item from the February 5, 1916 issue of Moving Picture World gives another aka for the Empress/Rialto. Unfortunately the aka is Temple, which was the name of yet another Ironwood theater of the period, so we might have some conflation going on somewhere. I’ve posted the item to our Temple Theatre page as well:

“W. T. Kelly, who has leased the Empress theater property at Ironwood, Mich., from O'Donnell & Nolan has made a number of changes. The building has been remodeled and hereafter will be known as the Temple theater. Triangle service will be used on Mondays and Thursdays, Paramount service on Wednesday and Saturday and other high class features the rest of the time. Admission will be ten and twenty cents. A twelve-piece orchestra will be used in connection with the Triangle films. Manager Kelly has renamed the former Temple theater of Ironwood the Strand and will operate a five and ten cent show there.”

Kelly’s management of the house lasted for only a little over a year. Here is an item from the April 6, 1917 issue of Variety confirming the end of Kelly’s operation of the house, though it doesn’t mention the brief name change to Grand Theatre: “The Temple, Ironwood, Mich., has changed hands, owner Kelly withdrawing from its management. Under the new regime the Temple returns to the W. V. M. A. fold and will have a five-act show booked in by Paul Goudron, starting Apr. 28. The house has been offering films of late.”

robboehm on May 16, 2021 at 12:58 pm

For a short period of time it was operated by the Thomas Theatre Group along with more than a dozen other Michigan theatres.