Saenger Theatre #1

Otto C. Hauber opened the new unnamed Theatre at 120 W. 2nd Avenue on February 26, 1916 in the Theatre District of Pine Bluff at the corner of Second Avenue and Pine Street. The Pine Street entrance was for African American residents and the main Second Avenue entrance was for White audiences.

Advance tickets were sold in Hauber’s A-Muse-U movie theatre. Mitchell Seligman was the architect of the new-build facility. The new unnamed Theatre had 1,000 chairs at launch of mahogany finish. A naming contest drew more than 25,000 submitted names. Losers included “U-Kom”, “A-Muse-U 2” in honor of his “A-Muse-U”, “Jitney Pleasure” and “Hapisho Hauber’s”. Ultimately, “Hauber” was the winner announced for the March 17, 1916 showing.

On June 9, 1920, Saenger Amusement of New Orleans tried to corner the Pine Bluff market. It purchased the John B. Simon-led Orpheo Theatre and Best Theatre both within a block of the Hauber Theatre. Hauber sold his theatre to a syndicate, Bohlinger Amusements, which would soon be purchased by Saenger Amusement just two months later. Market - cornered. Saenger’s Hauber was the new name of the venue beginning August 8, 1920. Saenger was then backed by Paramount Artcraft in the deep background as the Paramount monopoly expanded market by market.

Concerned about the monopoly, F.C. Berbig got 100 folks together to build a local theatre. Called initially the Berbig Theatre at launch in 1922, it was quickly changed to Berbig’s Community Theatre emphasizing the local ownership angle. To counter, Saenger Amusement closed and remodeled its Hauber Theatre with a pipe organ, becoming the Saenger Theatre opening with David Wark “D.W.” Griffith’s “Orphans of the Storm” on July 27, 1922 while it continued to program Saenger’s Best Theatre and Saenger’s Orpheo Theatre as they tried to blunt the Community Theatre.

The Saenger Theatre had a November 11, 1922 show of “Crossroads of New York” supported by shorts including Dorothy Devore’s “Miles-a-Minute Mary” and “Days of Buffalo Bill.” Fire all but destroyed the building that day. Trying to get rental money, Saenger constructed billboards in front of the charred remnants - one announcing the huge and famous Saenger Theatre that would open two years later almost to the date as the new Saenger Theatre. The mayor pro-tem, F.O. McGehee didn’t think much of the billboards and not only ordered the billboards removed but the entire building had to go, as well. The new Saenger Theatre was built in the same spot as the former Hauber/Saenger Theatre opening on November 17, 1924. That building (which has its own page on Cinema Treasures) was still standing in desperate need of repair or demolition 100 years later.

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