I cannot find any more information about this theater rather than just its opening year and ownership, but any additional information on the twin-screener would be greatly appreciated, and will be updated as soon as we get information.
Also opened with Charlie Chase in “Count Takes A Count” along with a Musical Fashions short and a “local” newsreel.
Exactly one year before the Tiger Theater opened, the entire interior of the building known as the Center Building was heavily destroyed in a large fire on the late night hours of February 4, 1936. Only the facade, exterior walls, and business signs survive the fire. Judging by the photo, I’m very sure the Tiger Theater was located at the former Motor Supply Company store that previously housed Wallace’s Drug Store (also formerly the Carthage L.H. & P. Company), which sits left to Milton’s Men’s Store and right next to Milton’s is the Leon’s Shoe Store.
Shortly after the fire, the Leon’s Shoe Store and Milton’s Men’s Store relocated, with Leon’s being relocated to the west side of the square and Milton’s being relocated to the Boyd building. The following year on March 1, 1937, Milton’s Men’s was purchased by Ross Rinehart, a Carthage resident and the department manager for the downtown 622 Main Street Sears in Joplin (which operated from June 22, 1929 until November 1956) who was also the former employee for a local Carthage clothing establishments company.
When another fire broke at the Center building on September 15, 1954, the Center Building suffered moderate damage, but the Tiger Theater was destroyed after a gas explosion blew out its rear doors and collapsed the roof, causing over $200,000 in damages to surrounding buildings.
The Victory Theatre opened in 1942 and closed in 1953. Rowley United was its last operator, and housed 350 seats. After its closure, the Victory was left abandoned for 70 years.
According to KARK-TV, the old abandoned Victory building became a local landmark following a “time capsule” rediscovered by several men, who discovered old popcorn containers and scattered 35mm film (including a trailer or two).
This opened as the Gene Boggs Twin Cinema, operated by Gene Boggs Enterprises, who also operated theaters in Benton, Hot Springs, Little Rock, Osceola, Stuttgart, and West Helena.
The Imp Theatre was renamed the Benton Theatre on February 22, 1949 following extensive remodeling that also expanded its seating capacity from 590 to 800, and was twinned in 1978 when a second smaller screen was added above the former balcony.
The Royal Theatre closed as a movie theater in 1996 after the Wallace Kauffman’s sons Warren and Randy sold the Royal to Jerry Van Dyke who renovated the Royal, with United Artists being its last operator as a movie theater. It was reverted back as a single-screener and its original capacity of 597 seats, housing performing arts ever since.
The Palace Theatre is the oldest building of its kind in Saline County, erecting in 1919 and measuring 110x150ft by a cost of $60,000, and opening on March 5, 1920 with June Caprice in “In Walked Mary”, and originally housed 1,000 seats when it first opened, and was first owned by Charley Womack.
Both the Imp and the Palace theaters were bitter rivals in the early-1920s. Just a few months after the Palace Theatre opened, a fire broke out at the Imp on May 12, 1920. The Benton Courier reported that then-fire chief Louis Wolchansky’s men found out that the Imp had been set on fire intentionally, ruling it as arson. Womack was rumored to have been involved in the arson. The fire had a total loss of $3,000 in damages to the Imp, and on June 10, 1920, The Benton Courier reported that Womack had sold his Palace to the Hefley-Skinner Amusement Company of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
By the winter of 1920, the Palace’s new owners fell on hard times and leased the building to former Imp owner Alice Wooten. Wooten intended to show movies at the Imp when the Palace was hosting live theater while showing live theater at the IMP when the Palace was playing films. However, in 1921, both were temporarily closed due to financial troubles. The second Imp Theatre opened on January 14, 1922 at its current location that was renamed the Royal Theatre in February 1949.
The Palace never managed to recover and eventually shut its doors before being purchased by the City of Benton in 1929. The neighboring office building was then used as City Hall. By July 1930, the Sanborn Fire Insurance map of Benton listed the Palace Theatre building as the city’s “Municipal Auditorium.” The Palace Theatre was abandoned in the years of the Great Depression and into the first half of World War II. During the second half of the war in 1944, the Palace reopened as a recreational center for Benton’s youth and was renamed the Play Palace. Inside, it had ping-pong tables, pool tables, books, a jukebox, and a snack bar. The Palace’s opera-style seating was replaced by a large basketball, volleyball, and shuffleboard court, and the old stage was replaced by a dance floor.
The Play Palace closed in 1953 due to lack of interest, and in 1960, the building was renamed and reopened as a youth recreation center. The Panther Den, named after Benton High School’s mascot, became a more successful hangout spot for Benton’s teenagers. In 1964, the City of Benton remodeled the Palace’s entrance by adding an archway and filling in all windows with brick. A corrugated metal façade was added to mask the front of the building, with the façade lasted over forty years. In 1967, the Panther Den closed when the Saline County Library purchased the building, and the Palace Theatre building became the Saline County Library until 2003, when the library was moved from the building into then-recently completed new facilities. A millage increase had been approved on August 24, 1998, to build two new library facilities in Saline County.
In 2005, Benton’s then-Mayor Rick Holland had the Palace’s front façade removed. And after that, the building was used by the Royal Players to store props and costumes alongside by the city government for county food drives; around Christmas, as the Palace is used to store toys for needy children in Saline County. In 2012, the Historic Preservation Alliance of Arkansas listed the Palace Theatre as one of the state’s “Most Endangered Buildings” due to its years of neglect, resulting in—among other problems—water damage from a leaking roof. On August 6, 2014, the Palace was listed on the Arkansas Register of Historic Places due to its significance to the people of Saline County, marking one of a handful of movie theaters to be registered despite not making it to the talkies era. Because of its various renovations, the building was ineligible for entry on the National Register of Historic Places.
In August 2015, then-Mayor David Mattingly and the Benton City Council met to discuss the future of the Palace Theatre, among other issues. Mattingly and the City Council had been considering demolishing the Palace, but a resolution allowed six months for “review of the overall stability of the structure” before a decision was made about its fate. In response, a local group of citizens formed a nonprofit called Friends of the Palace Theatre, Inc., in 2015. On November 20, 2015, the Benton Courier wrote that the group planned to save and repurpose the Palace Theatre building as a center for history and the arts, including exhibits on Native American artifacts, the aluminum industry, Niloak pottery, and other facets of Saline County’s history. In May 2019, the city council approved the sale of the Palace Theatre to Shawn Hipskind, a local developer. By August 2020, the site was home to two restaurants.
There are two Imp Theatres in Benton. This is the second Imp Theatre that was the replacement of an earlier first Imp Theatre that was reportedly short-lived.
After World War I, movie theaters in Benton immediately grew to three theaters, which were the (first) Imp, the Palace, and the Victory. The first Imp was very short-lived since the original location’s opening in 1919, and got burned down in a May 12, 1920 fire that was reported as arson. The first Imp Theatre did reopen later that year but closed the following year in 1921 because of financial troubles, but also cause the short closure to the nearby Palace. The second Imp Theatre opened nearby at the current location on January 14, 1922 as a movie theater.
There could be an earlier Ken Theatre but I cannot confirm it at this time. Kenneth and Marilyn Sanders were their original operators who also built and open the Kenda Drive-In in 1966. Unfortunately the Ken Theatre did suffer severe damage from a 1968 fire.
Right after the Ken Theatre closed as a movie theater, Kenneth and Marilyn continued to operate the Kenda Drive-In until 2003 when they passed that theater’s ownership to their daughter and son-in law, Kenda and Todd Dearing.
The Imp Theatre opened its doors on January 14, 1922, with Wallace Kauffman of nearby Princeton being its original projectionist, who had lived in Benton since 1917 and previously worked at a similar establishment in Fordyce, started working for Alice Wooten, owner of the Independent Motion Pictures company, which is where the name of the theater came from. It originally housed 590 seats.
Kauffman ran the business alone until early-1949, when a new deal with Rowley United to handle all bookings and record keeping. Alongside his theater business in Benton, Kauffman also operate theaters in Malvern, Arkadelphia, and Magnolia, who also signed similar deals with Rowley United. After a brief closure following extensive remodeling that also expanded the seating amount to 800 seats, the Imp Theatre was renamed the Royal Theatre on February 22, 1949, reopening with James Stewart in “You Gotta Stay Happy” (unknown if extras added).
Despite being operated by United Artists throughout the rest of time as a movie theater, the Kauffman family ran the theater for many generations. Wallace unfortunately died in 1974 and the work was shift to his son Warren. Four years later in 1978, it was twinned when a second screen was added upstairs on the former enclosed balcony. Warren retired in 1986, and was followed by another son Randy Kauffman to take the job.
Randy managed the family business for ten years before he sold it in 1996 to Jerry Van Dyke, the brother of the legendary Dick, who at the time had played Luther Van Dam on the ABC series ‘Coach’. Jerry also purchased a couple of shops around the theater, creating a candy shop on one side of the Royal and a restaurant called Jerry Van Dyke’s Soda Shop on the other.
In 2000, Van Dyke turned control of the Royal Theatre over to a local group of thespians known then as the Central Arkansas Community Players, which changed its name to the Royal Players. The Royal Players began running and maintaining the Royal Theatre, repurposing it for live theater. The Royal was added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 27, 2003. Jerry died on January 5, 2018 in his Malvern home.
The actual opening date is December 8, 1938, and yes it opened with “The Mad Miss Manton” (unknown if extras added). Its original projectionist is Farrell Richards.
A 1980 aerial view shows the drive-in with its screen and glory, but a 1988 aerial view shows a large tree on a few traces, meaning that it most likely closed during the 1980s.
Edited from my November 3, 2022 (8:34 AM) comment:
Opened on December 13, 1991, closed in December 2004.
Demolished.
It’s been all those years! Happy 25 Years CT!
I cannot find any more information about this theater rather than just its opening year and ownership, but any additional information on the twin-screener would be greatly appreciated, and will be updated as soon as we get information.
Also opened with Charlie Chase in “Count Takes A Count” along with a Musical Fashions short and a “local” newsreel.
Exactly one year before the Tiger Theater opened, the entire interior of the building known as the Center Building was heavily destroyed in a large fire on the late night hours of February 4, 1936. Only the facade, exterior walls, and business signs survive the fire. Judging by the photo, I’m very sure the Tiger Theater was located at the former Motor Supply Company store that previously housed Wallace’s Drug Store (also formerly the Carthage L.H. & P. Company), which sits left to Milton’s Men’s Store and right next to Milton’s is the Leon’s Shoe Store.
Shortly after the fire, the Leon’s Shoe Store and Milton’s Men’s Store relocated, with Leon’s being relocated to the west side of the square and Milton’s being relocated to the Boyd building. The following year on March 1, 1937, Milton’s Men’s was purchased by Ross Rinehart, a Carthage resident and the department manager for the downtown 622 Main Street Sears in Joplin (which operated from June 22, 1929 until November 1956) who was also the former employee for a local Carthage clothing establishments company.
When another fire broke at the Center building on September 15, 1954, the Center Building suffered moderate damage, but the Tiger Theater was destroyed after a gas explosion blew out its rear doors and collapsed the roof, causing over $200,000 in damages to surrounding buildings.
Closed after the 1985 season.
The Victory Theatre opened in 1942 and closed in 1953. Rowley United was its last operator, and housed 350 seats. After its closure, the Victory was left abandoned for 70 years.
According to KARK-TV, the old abandoned Victory building became a local landmark following a “time capsule” rediscovered by several men, who discovered old popcorn containers and scattered 35mm film (including a trailer or two).
This opened as the Gene Boggs Twin Cinema, operated by Gene Boggs Enterprises, who also operated theaters in Benton, Hot Springs, Little Rock, Osceola, Stuttgart, and West Helena.
The Imp Theatre was renamed the Benton Theatre on February 22, 1949 following extensive remodeling that also expanded its seating capacity from 590 to 800, and was twinned in 1978 when a second smaller screen was added above the former balcony.
The Royal Theatre closed as a movie theater in 1996 after the Wallace Kauffman’s sons Warren and Randy sold the Royal to Jerry Van Dyke who renovated the Royal, with United Artists being its last operator as a movie theater. It was reverted back as a single-screener and its original capacity of 597 seats, housing performing arts ever since.
The Palace Theatre is the oldest building of its kind in Saline County, erecting in 1919 and measuring 110x150ft by a cost of $60,000, and opening on March 5, 1920 with June Caprice in “In Walked Mary”, and originally housed 1,000 seats when it first opened, and was first owned by Charley Womack.
Both the Imp and the Palace theaters were bitter rivals in the early-1920s. Just a few months after the Palace Theatre opened, a fire broke out at the Imp on May 12, 1920. The Benton Courier reported that then-fire chief Louis Wolchansky’s men found out that the Imp had been set on fire intentionally, ruling it as arson. Womack was rumored to have been involved in the arson. The fire had a total loss of $3,000 in damages to the Imp, and on June 10, 1920, The Benton Courier reported that Womack had sold his Palace to the Hefley-Skinner Amusement Company of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
By the winter of 1920, the Palace’s new owners fell on hard times and leased the building to former Imp owner Alice Wooten. Wooten intended to show movies at the Imp when the Palace was hosting live theater while showing live theater at the IMP when the Palace was playing films. However, in 1921, both were temporarily closed due to financial troubles. The second Imp Theatre opened on January 14, 1922 at its current location that was renamed the Royal Theatre in February 1949.
The Palace never managed to recover and eventually shut its doors before being purchased by the City of Benton in 1929. The neighboring office building was then used as City Hall. By July 1930, the Sanborn Fire Insurance map of Benton listed the Palace Theatre building as the city’s “Municipal Auditorium.” The Palace Theatre was abandoned in the years of the Great Depression and into the first half of World War II. During the second half of the war in 1944, the Palace reopened as a recreational center for Benton’s youth and was renamed the Play Palace. Inside, it had ping-pong tables, pool tables, books, a jukebox, and a snack bar. The Palace’s opera-style seating was replaced by a large basketball, volleyball, and shuffleboard court, and the old stage was replaced by a dance floor.
The Play Palace closed in 1953 due to lack of interest, and in 1960, the building was renamed and reopened as a youth recreation center. The Panther Den, named after Benton High School’s mascot, became a more successful hangout spot for Benton’s teenagers. In 1964, the City of Benton remodeled the Palace’s entrance by adding an archway and filling in all windows with brick. A corrugated metal façade was added to mask the front of the building, with the façade lasted over forty years. In 1967, the Panther Den closed when the Saline County Library purchased the building, and the Palace Theatre building became the Saline County Library until 2003, when the library was moved from the building into then-recently completed new facilities. A millage increase had been approved on August 24, 1998, to build two new library facilities in Saline County.
In 2005, Benton’s then-Mayor Rick Holland had the Palace’s front façade removed. And after that, the building was used by the Royal Players to store props and costumes alongside by the city government for county food drives; around Christmas, as the Palace is used to store toys for needy children in Saline County. In 2012, the Historic Preservation Alliance of Arkansas listed the Palace Theatre as one of the state’s “Most Endangered Buildings” due to its years of neglect, resulting in—among other problems—water damage from a leaking roof. On August 6, 2014, the Palace was listed on the Arkansas Register of Historic Places due to its significance to the people of Saline County, marking one of a handful of movie theaters to be registered despite not making it to the talkies era. Because of its various renovations, the building was ineligible for entry on the National Register of Historic Places.
In August 2015, then-Mayor David Mattingly and the Benton City Council met to discuss the future of the Palace Theatre, among other issues. Mattingly and the City Council had been considering demolishing the Palace, but a resolution allowed six months for “review of the overall stability of the structure” before a decision was made about its fate. In response, a local group of citizens formed a nonprofit called Friends of the Palace Theatre, Inc., in 2015. On November 20, 2015, the Benton Courier wrote that the group planned to save and repurpose the Palace Theatre building as a center for history and the arts, including exhibits on Native American artifacts, the aluminum industry, Niloak pottery, and other facets of Saline County’s history. In May 2019, the city council approved the sale of the Palace Theatre to Shawn Hipskind, a local developer. By August 2020, the site was home to two restaurants.
There are two Imp Theatres in Benton. This is the second Imp Theatre that was the replacement of an earlier first Imp Theatre that was reportedly short-lived.
After World War I, movie theaters in Benton immediately grew to three theaters, which were the (first) Imp, the Palace, and the Victory. The first Imp was very short-lived since the original location’s opening in 1919, and got burned down in a May 12, 1920 fire that was reported as arson. The first Imp Theatre did reopen later that year but closed the following year in 1921 because of financial troubles, but also cause the short closure to the nearby Palace. The second Imp Theatre opened nearby at the current location on January 14, 1922 as a movie theater.
There could be an earlier Ken Theatre but I cannot confirm it at this time. Kenneth and Marilyn Sanders were their original operators who also built and open the Kenda Drive-In in 1966. Unfortunately the Ken Theatre did suffer severe damage from a 1968 fire.
Right after the Ken Theatre closed as a movie theater, Kenneth and Marilyn continued to operate the Kenda Drive-In until 2003 when they passed that theater’s ownership to their daughter and son-in law, Kenda and Todd Dearing.
Opened in April 1966.
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 21, 1986.
The Imp Theatre opened its doors on January 14, 1922, with Wallace Kauffman of nearby Princeton being its original projectionist, who had lived in Benton since 1917 and previously worked at a similar establishment in Fordyce, started working for Alice Wooten, owner of the Independent Motion Pictures company, which is where the name of the theater came from. It originally housed 590 seats.
Kauffman ran the business alone until early-1949, when a new deal with Rowley United to handle all bookings and record keeping. Alongside his theater business in Benton, Kauffman also operate theaters in Malvern, Arkadelphia, and Magnolia, who also signed similar deals with Rowley United. After a brief closure following extensive remodeling that also expanded the seating amount to 800 seats, the Imp Theatre was renamed the Royal Theatre on February 22, 1949, reopening with James Stewart in “You Gotta Stay Happy” (unknown if extras added).
Despite being operated by United Artists throughout the rest of time as a movie theater, the Kauffman family ran the theater for many generations. Wallace unfortunately died in 1974 and the work was shift to his son Warren. Four years later in 1978, it was twinned when a second screen was added upstairs on the former enclosed balcony. Warren retired in 1986, and was followed by another son Randy Kauffman to take the job.
Randy managed the family business for ten years before he sold it in 1996 to Jerry Van Dyke, the brother of the legendary Dick, who at the time had played Luther Van Dam on the ABC series ‘Coach’. Jerry also purchased a couple of shops around the theater, creating a candy shop on one side of the Royal and a restaurant called Jerry Van Dyke’s Soda Shop on the other.
In 2000, Van Dyke turned control of the Royal Theatre over to a local group of thespians known then as the Central Arkansas Community Players, which changed its name to the Royal Players. The Royal Players began running and maintaining the Royal Theatre, repurposing it for live theater. The Royal was added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 27, 2003. Jerry died on January 5, 2018 in his Malvern home.
The actual opening date is December 8, 1938, and yes it opened with “The Mad Miss Manton” (unknown if extras added). Its original projectionist is Farrell Richards.
Immediately demolished right after closure.
A 1981 aerial view shows the theater but the screen appears to be gone.
Gone in the early-1960s.
Still visible in the 1981 aerial view, but some of the traces started to fade.
After its 1980 closure, the screen and projection/concession booth remained standing into the early-2010s. Both of them were removed by 2013.
I thought I saw a shadow for a moment, but now I do see that the screen disappeared. Thanks for the update!
Opened around March 1999.
Already demolished in the late-1960s.
A 1980 aerial view shows the drive-in with its screen and glory, but a 1988 aerial view shows a large tree on a few traces, meaning that it most likely closed during the 1980s.