Chieftain Theatre
601 W. Main Street,
Sac City,
IA
50583
601 W. Main Street,
Sac City,
IA
50583
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Some more info on the history of this theatre…
The Engles (see my previous comment) however never got to operate the Lyric. According to an item in the October 19, 1911 issue of the local weekly newspaper, The Sac Sun. While Mr. Engle was moving in and getting settled, he learned that two men had rented the former Lyric Theatre just down the street with the intention of opening their own picture show, after doing a remodel. According to the Sun, “Mr. Engle decided to sell to them rather than conduct a business with little or no profit.” Another small item on the page announced the Lyric would open on October 23. The admission was free that night.
There was a 2 year break in the archive of the Sun that I had access to, from November, 1920 thru September, 1922. In that time the Lyric went dark. I doubt the closure happened in 1920 as its last mention in October was about the forthcoming installation of a fotoplayer. The next mention was in July, 1923 when the local post office was trying to rent the Lyric and move there, they had been working on a deal with the Odd Fellows (who owned the building) since at least July 1922, so the Lyric went dark sometime in 1921 or no later than mid-1922.
The post office deal fell through and the theatre stood dark until 1931 when a July article in the Sun announced that the Lyric had been rented after being “vacant for a “good many years.” The Odd Fellows agreed to remodel the theatre and the new management would install upholstered seats and a sound system. A contest was held to name the restored venue and the name Chieftain was chosen from the 99 entries received. The Chieftain opened on September 19, 1931 with the comedy team of Wheeler and Woolsy starring in “Caught Plastered", a Charlie Chase comedy, and a MGM newsreel.
The Chieftain was listed as the Chiefton in the Film Daily Yearbook from 1934 thru 1951, seating was at first 300, by 1951 it was 306. The Chieftain closed in either late 11951 or early 1952, the August 21, 1952 edition of the Sun reported that the Chieftain, which had been closed for several months, had started to be converted into professional office space.
A follow-up on the Variety item appeared in the November, 1911 issue of Motography:
”The Lyric theater recently opened its new home at Sac City, which is one of the finest in that part of the state. Mr. and Mrs. Engle are in charge of same.”
As this building was built in 1911, I’m Guessing this was the new Lyric. Engle purchased the original Lyric from its previous owner, H. L. Arney, in late 1909 or very early 1910, the sale was mentioned in the January 22, 1910 issue of The Film Index. The original Lyric was most likely located at 517 W. Main Street.
I wonder if this item published by Variety in September, 1911 could have been about this theater?“
I’ve been unable to find any follow-up items, either about the theater or about Abner Engle, so can’t be positive the project even got built.The only theater other than the Opera House listed at Sac City in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory was called the Lyric and was on Main Street. This seems a likely location for it, but there is a hitch. A Lyric Theatre at Sac City was mentioned in The Film Index in January, 1910. It could be that the Lyric opened in another location and moved to this building when the Odd Fellows built it in 1911.
Here is something probably irrelevant to this page, but I don’t know where else to put it: The January 15, 1916 Moving Picture World noted that “[t]he Pastime Theatre at Sac City was destroyed by fire.” That’s the only other Sac City theater name I’ve found from the time around 1915.
Despite driving right past this on my way out of town, I did not take a picture.