Ritz Theatre

The Ritz Theatre is an extremely short-lived movie house that lasted thirteen days in operation between March 5 and March 18, 1934, operated by the John W. Peck Inc. company and owned by Martin Theatres (previously known at the time as Roy Martin Enterprises).

The reason of its closure is catastrophic and shocking. On March 18, 1934, the Ritz Theatre was tortured and burned down in an arson attack led by four men, all part of the John W. Peck Inc. company, including its owner John W. Peck Jr. of Sylacauga, Alabama, and projectionist Ralph “Sparky” Dominy. Cecil Sapp and former boxer Edward Underwood were also operators of the theatre. The loss of the fire was estimated by company officials at $50,000, which was the exact amount of cash as the construction of the Ritz Theatre.

Peck was the only man arrested in Dublin. The three remaining men escaped Dublin before being taken into custody in both Macon and Atlanta. The trials were attended by Roy L. Martin himself at around the same time the four men agreed to plead guilty that May and were sentenced to five-to-ten years in state prison.

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