Pike Theatre
E. Railroad Avenue and E. Bay Street,
Magnolia,
MS
39652
E. Railroad Avenue and E. Bay Street,
Magnolia,
MS
39652
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Additional Info
Previous Names: Dixie Theatre, Magnolia Theatre
Nearby Theaters
On July 8, 1937, W.E. Edwins of Lumberton and Frank Bishop of Ellisville leased the Reid-Terrell building on between E. Bay Street and E. Railroad Avenue (built in 1908) in downtown Magnolia which was formerly once housed as the Dixie Theatre but was closed long beforehand. At the time, it was formerly occupied by the Pike County agents who had moved their offices to a federal building.
The Magnolia Theatre opened its doors on September 7, 1937 with Bing Crosby in “Pennies From Heaven”. It was unclear if any short subjects, cartoons or newsreels were added on opening due to the grand opening advertisement did not demonstrate on McComb’s Enterprise-Journal at all. For now, it remains uncertain.
When the theatre opened, it was almost completed, until around 20 days after opening when the owner, Frank Bishop, established wall lights, soft blue shades, improving the sound equipment, and circulating air.
Closing later that November comes Eddie Delaney of New Orleans, which reopened on December 2, 1937 under the ownership of E.J. himself, with Shirley Temple in “Wee Willie Winkle” along with an unnamed comedy and a newsreel. Eddie himself who had been part of the theatre business since 1928 and having been associated with United Artists and Fox Film which later became 20th Century Fox.
However, the theatre had a major incident at one point, and the answer is a fire, on February 11, 1939. The fire injured 2 firefighters, one man simply named as Wright Guy with a broken arm with a severed leader, and Ellzey Simmons with a collapse when the marquee on which they were standing with several others. It received minor damaged with the building but the projection room was completely destroyed, but the lobby was not even scorched, neither the seats at the main 23ft stage which were not damaged. The theatre fire was likely caused by the projector jam due to the damage of the interior.
However, Eddie himself on March 20, 1939 has announced that a new name will be presented. As for the Magnolia Theatre name, people simply liked to call it the “Nolia Theatre” or simply just its full name and a remodel. The remodel contains a new 42x100x18ft frontage and contains the latest on model, air conditioner, lighting, marquee, modernized restrooms for both genders, and chromium trimmed as well. The seating capacity of the theatre also has an upgrade to 600, and was built under the careful supervision of Eddie himself. The new name of the theatre’s marquee contains a huge crazy cursive design on top between a small window which housed projection. Named after the county, the theatre was renamed the “Pike Theatre”.
The Pike Theatre would then opened its doors on May 11, 1939 with Wayne Morris in “Brother Rat” along with a few short subjects and a newsreel. Prior to showing, a big dedication program was planned 4 hours and 30 minutes prior to the grand opening with performances by the city’s high school band and a special contest was held including test screenings. 3 hours prior to the grand opening considers of a merchant’s appreciation day fund being awarded in front under the marquee. The mayor of the town, W.W. Leggett, would open its doors to the public with a key on grand opening, supported with master Donald P. Dunn.
However, almost a year into its first anniversary has a reinstallment on the sound system, replacing it with Simplex’s 4-Star Sound in November 1939. There were a lot of upgrades throughout 1940 as well including a box office enlargement and a new coat of paint before its' showing of Cary Grant’s “My Favorite Wife” along with a “March Of Time” and a “Fox Movietone Newsreel” on July 31, 1940, and many changes to the hour lengthens and sometimes changing weeks in programming.
The theatre continued operations right after World War II and into the Korean War era. CinemaScope was added in mid-1954 and had a few changeups from here to there. The concept of films were dying when the mid-1960’s came along and special events were also held at the Pike Theatre.
The theatre closed during the 1970’s and sat vacant for a long time. However, on October 26, 1988, a brick wall from a nearby building collapsed next to the Pike Theatre which caused a death of a 53-year-old man. The Pike County Coroner Ben Hunter was unloading a bit of stuff out of his vehicle until realizing the collapse. The collapse cause damage to 5 vehicles surrounded by shone flashlights, bricks, and debris originally from various members of a family, whose one of the family’s sons is an officer from the Magnolia Police Department.
Contributed by
50sSNIPES
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Recent comments (view all 3 comments)
I cannot find at least information back when the building was known as the Dixie. But my best guess is that since the building was built in 1908, it may had a chance that it may had opened in 1908. It continued into World War I and died before the talking era rolled along.
The Dixie Theatre first appears in the Film Daily Yearbook in 1927. No seating capacity is noted, but the house was open four days a week. The Dixie continues to be listed through 1929. Magnolia does not appear in the 1930 Yearbook, but in 1931 a house called the Strand is listed, with an asterisk, denoting that it is not wired for sound. The Strand is listed again in 1932 and 1933, but with the notation that it is closed.
In the 1926 Yearbook, Magnolia has two theaters listed, called the Magnolia and the Palace. It could be that one or the other became the Dixie the next year. Earlier mentions of Magnolia in the trade journals are sparse. In 1916, the October 7 issue of Moving Picture World says that Xavier A. Kramer of Magnolia had plans to build a theater called the Dixie, but the house was to be in McComb, not Magnolia. Perhaps of interest, in the late 1920s Xavier Kramer became the operator of Jacob’s Theatre in McComb.
In 1920, a Miss Bella Harris of the Liberty Theatre in Magnolia submitted two capsule movie reviews to the October 2 issue of Exhibitors Herald. I’ve found no other mentions of either Miss Harris or a Liberty Theatre at Magnolia. It could be that the Liberty became either the Magnolia Theatre or the Palace Theatre listed in 1926. Magnolia does not appear in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. Maybe it had no theaters then, or perhaps it was just overlooked when the directory was compiled.
The answer may have to be the Magnolia if any history was correct, since the Strand in McComb opened its doors on March 21, 1921 which would later become the Palace Theatre on October 20, 1939. Otherwise it was definitely overlooked. Besides, McComb had another silent picture house called the Lomo Theatre which closed in the late 1910s as latest (but the Lomo Theatre may had operated until about 1920 since it was not listed at the time the Strand opened).
The 1926 Yearbook was published right before the State Theatre had opened in McComb. The Jacob’s Theatre did not wired for sound right after dropping two-thirds of its pie pieces in 1929, and the Strand remains as the city’s movie house, still in operation in both 1932 and 1933, with that, yes the Strand was wired with sound. Maybe the yearbook was listed as “wrong info” but if you look in Page 1 of the October 19, 1939 edition of the McComb Enterprise-Journal, you get the bet on what came after the Strand.