Auburn Theatre
1120 J Street,
Auburn,
NE
68305
1120 J Street,
Auburn,
NE
68305
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Booth Brothers, Griffith Amusement Company
Previous Names: Ideal Theatre
Nearby Theaters
Downtown Auburn was home to several theatres in the silent era including the Bennett Theatre (formerly the Lyric Theatre), the long-running Booth Theatre turned State Theatre, briefly the town’s Maclay Opera House turned Rex Theatre, and this entry for the Auburn Theatre which was opened as the Ideal Theatre.
H.L. Workman and A.W. Bennett started Ideal Theatre, said to be the first theatre in Auburn, in 1908. Auburn citizens showed up for movies to the point that even after three sold out shows on its opening day, people were turned away. In January of 1911, W. Eustice and H. Bousfield took over the venue. The pair did something unthinkable at the time changing the motion picture policy to a change of programming every single day instead of two three-day programs a week. It was hard work for the projectionist but apparently it was successful.
In May of 1915, Ole R. Bennett took on the location. Bennet sold the theatre in 1931 to the Jack Winberg & Stern Circuit of Omaha who closed it for a refresh. It re-emerged as the “New” Auburn Theatre on September 16, 1931 with Will Rogers in “Young as You Feel.” The theatre now had RCA sound. On June 20, 1932, Ole Bennett’s Bennett Theatre suffered a projector booth fire and reacquired the Auburn Theatre.( If the paper is correct, the Bennett Theatre continued as the Auburn Theatre and the Auburn Theatre may have reopened as the Bennett Theatre.)
Bennett operated both the Auburn Theatre and the Bennett Theatre but the Bennett Theatre was demoted to only sporadic use. In June of 1938, the Booth Brothers sold three of their venues (Booth Theatres in Auburn and Nebraska City and Paramount in Nebraska City) to the Griffith Theatre Circuit took over the location. Then the Auburn Theatre was sold in July of 1939 was also in the Griffith, nearly 300-theatre strong circuit. Griffith would change the name of the Booth Theatre to the State Theatre and continued both in operation into the 1950’s.
The Auburn Theatre appears to have continued 20 more years to its 50th anniversary of operation in 1958 though continuing thereafter for sporadic local events. The State Theatre ( former Booth Theatre) would continue 90-plus years in its current location into the 2020’s and over 100 years to become the longest running theatre in Auburn.
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dallasmovietheaters
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Recent comments (view all 1 comments)
Actually, according to the Nemaha County Herald, the theater not just caught the projection booth on fire, but the booth also exploded as well. The fire occurred on June 20, 1932 during a first showing of a not-named film. 12 reels of film were destroyed and the projectors were severely damaged that they discarded the broken one and later on received a new projector. The booth is mostly fireproof.