Riada Theatre

The town of Adair, Iowa never hit 1,000 people but it did have a long-running movie theater in the silent and into the sound era. Its first entertainment venue of note, however, was the Adair Opera House built by the Odd Fellows in 1904. It had an early electric theater followed by the Lyric Theater. R.C. Brownlee and W.E. “Don” Crooks were the theatre operators in March of 1914. The Palace Theatre had opened and - as the Lyric Theatre had fire damage - became the town’s sole movie theatre. Max Maxwell and Dana Brownlee took over the Palace Theatre in January of 1924.

William T. Briggs took over the venue in 1927 with a redesign. In 1930, Briggs equipped the venue for sound giving it is “Sound Era” name of the Adair Theatre. Briggs was a contributor to the trade publication, “The Exhibitor’s World” and reported on all films that did either very well or very poorly at the Adair Theatre for many years. Of his March 11, 1932 showing of “The Big Broadcast,” he wrote that the “only objection was that the song by Kate Smith should have been the "Moon” song… (but) the last song made a good ending which sent them out laughing. A 100 percent picture, I would say.“ The venue got a big lift when the Blue Laws were lifted during the Depression allowing for Sunday operations.

However, he left the industry in the late 1930’s. A.O. Ludwig and his wife - and infant Janet Kay - took on the venue reopening it after a Streamline Moderne style makeover in April of 1939. For reasons quite unclear, its reopening name was the Riada Theatre - or the backwards spelling of “Adair”. Photos of the venue show that the marquee letters were simply installed in reverse order. Odd - especially since the venue was advertised as the Adair Theatre in nearby Casey and as the Riada, locally. Merchant screenings beginning in 1941 offered sporadic nickel shows.

The Riada Theatre was refitted with upholstered and more comfortable seating by Ludwig in 1947. Next door, Ludwig also offered tax service during taxing season. Like many small town theaters, the Riada Theatre struggled mightily in the 1950’s almost closing in 1952. Local merchants, The Commercial Club of Adair, picked up the slack even offering free shows on light weekdays and were overseeing the venue by the mid-1950’s. The Commercial Club finally voted to closed down the Riada Theatre in mid-1955. The building was eventually used for other retail purposes. It was still looking pretty much the same though without marquee and vacant in the 2020’s.

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