Electric Theatre
712 Edmond Street,
St. Joseph,
MO
64501
712 Edmond Street,
St. Joseph,
MO
64501
2 people
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The Majestic theatre opened on October 13th, 1910. Grand opening ad posted.
Grand opening ad:
Electric theater opening Thu, Sep 23, 1915 – 9 · St. Joseph Gazette (St. Joseph, Missouri) · Newspapers.com
The Electric Theatre launched September 23, 1915 with “Trilby”. The previous Majestic Theatre had been razed on May 14, 1915. A $225,000 new Electric Theatre was built using elements of the original in an expansion project culminating with its relaunch on October 21, 1926 with “Subway Sadie.” The new-look Moorish design included a $35,000 Wurlitzer organ and another $200,000 plus in improvements.
The theatre was closed on October 28, 1961 with a double-feature of “"The Snake Woman” and “Doctor Blood’s Coffin.” The theatre was stripped with the auditorium razed in 1962. The facade, lobby and other elements remained after being retrofitted for retail use. The remainder of the building was subsequently demolished on November 19, 1977.
If that’s the case then the 1915 rebuilding project as a two-story theater must not have been carried out. I checked David and Noelle Soren’s list of Boller theaters and they list it as “Electric (Majestic) Theatre – 1915, 1926, 1946-47” so it’s still a Boller design, but they worked on it three times; probably a scaled down remodeling of the original 1910 Majestic in 1915, a rebuilding in 1926, and another remodeling or renovation in 1946-47. I wonder if they kept the lower parts of the original walls in the 1926 project?
Joe, I just found the picture in question on the St. Joseph Memory Lane page, and he says the smaller theater was demolished in 1926, which, if correct, puts those cars back in the correct era.
SethG: Good catch. The Majestic was expended to become the Electric in 1915, and those cars parked in front of the smaller theater are from considerably later than 1915, so it can’t be the old Majestic.
The photo of the smaller theater cannot be correct. It’s obviously a different building.
That explains the two American Contractor items from 1915. The Electric was the Majestic, both remodeled and expanded.
This theatre should have an aka Majestic Theatre. The Majestic Theater Grand Opening: Thurs Oct 13,1910, renamed to the Electric Theater, Grand Opening: Thurs September 23,1915 showing silent movies. The Grand Opening show was Wilton Lackaye and Clara Kimball Young in “TRILBY”. Admission was 10 cents Last date open was Saturday, October 28, 1961 The building was demolished in 1977 The last movies shown: Susan Travers in “The Snake Woman” and Kieron Moore in “Doctor Blood’s Coffin”.
I came across two items in the July 17, 1915, issue of The American Contractor. Both mention the Electric Theatre in St. Joseph, but they describe two different projects. One is a theater remodeling and the other a theater addition. The first is in the block the Electric Theatre was on, but the second item gives no location. I really don’t know what to make of them. I’ve had the impression that the Electric Theatre was newly built in 1915, but perhaps it was in a remodeled building. Here is the first item:
Here is the second item:so many dead links on this site, makes me tear my hair out
The photos on the page ken mc linked to above (and most prticularly this photo) show that the architectural style of the Electric Theatre was Italian Renaissance, at least on the exterior. I haven’t been able to find any interior photos, but that facade usd many elements suggestive of Brunelleschi’s Ospedale degli Innocenti in Florence.
It was a DURWOOD-DUBINSKY BROS.Theatre.Played a movie there in"SIN-A-SCOPE called “HAPPY ANNIVERSARY”.
There are a few photos on this website:
http://tinyurl.com/ypuuoo
If I remember the Electric was still open up to 1959, my uncle worked at the Electric, Missouri and I think the Regal he ran the heat and air cond. I was always at the movies in one or the other theaters, I know it was still open in 1957 I was going to CB High School and it was still open. When I left St.Joe and returned to Calif. in 1959 it was still open. The last time I was in St.Joe the Missouri was open and being used for stage plays.
The Electric Theatre could not have been demolished in 1957, because Sen. Lyndon Johnson appeared at a rally there during the 1960 presidential campaign.