Lyric Theater
365 N. Franklin Avenue,
Colby,
KS
67701
365 N. Franklin Avenue,
Colby,
KS
67701
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This theater had opened by 1926. It does not appear on the 1918 map. The theater was a simple white plaster building of two stories. Decorative tile surrounds the upper windows, and rather than a vertical sign, ‘Lyric’ is rendered in small tiles surrounded by a decorative border of larger tiles.
The original capacity was 300, but from 1934 through 1937 it is listed as 550. This was likely an error, as it it thereafter listed at 350. The theater was still open in 1951, now with 370 seats, but was closed by 1956.
Sometime after closure, this building was one of many in the unattractive downtown to suffer cladding. Luckily, the metal front has now been removed, and the upper facade is visible again. The front is in need of some TLC, and the ground floor is a cheap and ugly brick veneer, but it looks much better. The building is home to a barbershop.
Contributed by
Seth Gaines
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Recent comments (view all 3 comments)
The Lyric might not have appeared on the 1918 map, but an earlier Lyric Theatre operated in Colby. The April 29, 1916 Moving Picture World said that J. P. Phillips, manager of the Lyric Theatre at Colby, would soon open another house, also to be called the Lyric, at Selden, Kansas.
Interestingly, the name Phillips is still associated with the later Lyric in this item from the January 4, 1941 Motion Picture Herald: “DON PHILLIPS who operates the Lyric at Colby, Kan., is building a new house there.”
Don Phillips was mentioned in the July 17, 1948 issue of Boxoffice as operator of the Lyric and Colby theaters in Colby, Kansas. As late as 1972 he was still being mentioned in Boxoffice as the owner of the Colby Theatre.
I bet the original Lyric was the old ‘Electric’. It’s possible that the new Lyric was extensively remodeled or replaced (although the capacity is consistent both before and after 1941). There’s a 1928 map, but of course it’s not available online. The newer building does have those steel frame windows, which are about right for 1941. It is odd that the Lyric and Colby were right next to each other for so many years.
That does seem plausible. Colby’s historical population was only 1,130 in 1910 and went down to 1,114 in 1920, so certainly not a two-theater town in that decade. It grew rapidly in the 1920s, though, almost doubling to 2,153 by 1930, so that’s likely when the new Lyric was built.
The Lyric and Colby appear to have both been under the Phillips family’s ownership, so having them adjacent would have been a great convenience for ease of operation.