Harvard Theatre
Harvard,
NE
68944
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Additional Info
Previous Names: Roach Theatre
Nearby Theaters
No theaters found within 30 miles
This Harvard theatre first started life as the Roach Theatre months after he sold off the neighboring town of Humphreys' Paramount Theatre in September 1926, but its opening date hasn’t been found yet. Harvard had another theatre called the Star Theatre during World War I.
On March 25, 1927, J.V. Franklin of Elm Creek, purchased the theatre along with its fixtures and took possession. Shortly after becoming the Harvard Theatre less than a month later, the single bad deed came by……
On September 19, 1927 (8:20 PM local time), Herbert French (a local restaurant owner) had managed Bert Pembrook at the entrance of the Harvard Theatre to account for alleged remarks on his wife which Pembrook denied. Pembrook slapped French in the face, knocking his hat down to the sidewalk. Pembrook immediately crawled to grab his hat, when suddenly at the same time Pembrook reached inside his pocket and began securing his penknife who warned French to keep away from him.
Pembrook stabbed French with his penknife eight times, with seven of them being superficial. French ran back to his own restaurant next to the theatre, and yelled that he needs a doctor and told everyone that “he” has been stabbed before falling to the floor feeling unconscious for a few minutes before dying on scene. Dr. Gibbon reported that his fatal stab was at his right upper groin and said that he has too much blood loss. The sidewalk next to the theatre is covered with blood and then Pembrook was seen hurrying south on the opposite side of the street and disappeared in his unknown model car. After ten minutes driving on the DLD Highway, Clay County Sheriff officer John Harr arrived on scene an hour-and-a-half later, along with the Clay County Attorney with them being accompanied by Art Hitch and the editor Jay Plant. They looked at the body, described the penknife, and reported that Pembrook was traveling east out of town. Grand Island radio station KMMJ among other stations also broadcasted the bulletin of the stabbing of the restaurant owner. Pembrook was later captured and was sent at the Clay County Jail in Clay Center. He was later sentenced to 20 years behind bars for second-degree murder and manslaughter that December.
Back to the Harvard Theatre…
The theatre continued to run into the World War II and Korean War era. After closing for a little while in 1954, the theatre reopened on June 2, 1955. But it was a big flop. The theatre closed by the end of the decade.
Contributed by
50sSNIPES
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Recent comments (view all 1 comments)
The only theater name connected with Harvard that I’ve found in the trade journals from the 1920s is the Lyric, mentioned in Moving Picture World in February and March, 1924, when it was renamed Paramount. The Paramount is listed in the 1926, 1927 and 1928 editions of Film Daily Year Book, and the Harvard Theatre first appears in the 1928 edition, after which it is the only house listed. It might be that the Lyric was the proposed house mentioned in the September 8, 1923 MPW item datelined Harvard which said “E. M. Fetterman plans to erect moving picture theatre here.”