Dreamland Theater

Bernard “Bernie” Mulligan was Vickburg’s first multi-cinema operator opening the Lyric Theatre, the Theatorium, and the NuSho nickelodeons. The NuSho Theatre opened in a converted retail space once the home of Tucker & Menger Furniture. Appointed with leather cushioned seating and Roman architectural style, the NuSho Theatre opened February 6, 1911. The projection booth featured both Edison Kinetoscope and Vitagraph projectors. The opening films were an episode of “Vitagraph Life Portrayals”, “Cast up the Deep”, and Fatty Arbuckle in “The Robust Patient”.

Two New Orleans exhibitors came into Vicksburg soon thereafter trying to control the market. Henry Fichtenburg of New Orleans opened the Alamo Theatre that same year. Josiah Pearce and Sons Syndicate came in November of 1911 buying Mulligan out of the Lyric Theatre and NuSho Theatre rebranding here as Perce’s NuSho Theatre. Films were accompanied by a Cremona electric piano.

That lasted one month as Pearce rebranded the NuSho as Pearce’s Dreamland Theater at a grand re-opening on January 1, 1912. On the opening bill was “A Rural Conqueror”, “The Long Road” and Edison’s “An Island Comedy”. Fichtenburg would take over both the Dreamland Theatre and the Lyric Theatre. The circuit closed the Dreamland Theater in early-1918. The space was converted as a W.T. Farley retail store - part of a chain - successfully completing a 15-year leasing agreement. The building was still in use as of the 2020’s now a bar.

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