Royal Theatre
113 NE 2nd Street,
Bentonville,
AR
72712
113 NE 2nd Street,
Bentonville,
AR
72712
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Boxoffice of October 1, 1938 had news about the Royal: “Extensive remodeling recently was made at the Royal, Bentonville, by M. J. Kilbourn and his son, Payne, and plans are being made to reopen the house soon. New sound equipment will be installed.”
A history of Bentonville quoted on this web page says about the old Opera House that “[a]bout 1922 the building was bought by M. J. Kilburn [sic] who had it rebuilt into a movie picture house. The entrance was again moved to the front of the building. The inside had a stage downstairs and seats down, as well as up in the balcony. There were two small rooms in the front that opened onto the street in front of the building. These were rented for small cafes or real estate offices. The big outside balcony was taken down and a marquee was put up. The building was used as a theater until a few years before it was taken down. The last few years before the building was razed, it was used only for storage.”
This history also noted that the Opera House was built after the winter of 1880-81 when most of the north side of the town square had been razed in a fire, but the exact year of construction is unknown. The original Opera House was upstairs and had served as a movie theater for a while (perhaps it had been the original Royal) but was closed in 1914, after which it was used as an armory for some time. The building was finally demolished in 1962.
I would bet that the airdome was the nicer of the two unidentified ones. That crummy little place in the alley doesn’t seem like a professional operation.
This item from Moving Picture World of March 11, 1922 suggests that the Royal moved into this location that year: “M. J. Kilbourn has opened his new Royal Theatre at Bentonville, Ark. It seats 400.”
The Royal might have either began as an airdome or added one in 1913, judging from this item in the August 9 issue of Motography that year: “The New Royal airdome at Bentonville, Leister & Blake, owners, has opened up for business.” The capitalized “New” in front of the name suggests there could have been an even earlier Royal somewhere in town.