Comments about Burley Theatre in Burley, ID

Trolleyguy on July 17, 2024 at 3:35 pm

No longer showing movies. Being restored as a performing arts venue. Information on this website here

Joe Vogel on July 17, 2024 at 7:06 am

The only theaters listed at Burley in Polk’s 1914 Idaho gazetteer are a 400-seat house called the Diamond Theatre and a 200-seat house called the Good Luck Theatre. To provide a bit more confusion, the only theaters listed in Burley in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory are called the Elysium Theatre and the Modern Theatre, which was at Main and Oak streets.

Chris1982 on November 20, 2014 at 4:00 pm

The Burley Theatre is operated by the same owners of the Century Stadium 5. website The Burley is at the bottom of the site. It is a discount second run house.

Chris1982 on November 20, 2014 at 3:54 pm

Short youtube on the Burley Theatre

Joe Vogel on December 22, 2011 at 1:08 am

Here is the biography of Stanley J. Osika from volume 4 of “History of Idaho: Gem of the Mountains” by James H. Hawley, which was published in 1920:

“Stanley J. Osika is the proprietor and manager of the Burley Theatre and is numbered among the most alert and energetic young business men of the town of Burley. The width of the continent separates him from his birthplace, for he is a native son of Brooklyn, New York. He was born February 8, 1886, his parents, Peter and Plagnar Osika. The first twelve years of his life were spent in his native city and he then accompanied his parents on their removal westward, their destination being Park City, Utah. He there attended school and also continued his studies in Salt Lake. He took up the study of music under Antone Peterson, specializing in harmony and the trombone, and he has figured prominently in musical circles at Salt Air resorts and in the Liberty and American theatres organized and maintained at various places throughout the country. In October, 1914, he came to Burley, Idaho, where he established a moving picture house where the Blue Bird is now located. In December, 1917, he removed to the Burley Theatre, securing larger and more commodious and modern quarters. He today has one of the finest moving picture houses of Idaho and maintains a six-piece orchestra. He presents the finest attractions of the film world and has a liberal patronage, the business having long since reached profitable proportions.”

It’s not clear if Osika owned the theater building itself or only leased it, but as the book refers to him as the proprietor of the theater he must have owned the business. Stanley J. Osika was listed as a resident of Cassia County, Idaho, in the 1920 U.S. census, but the 1930 census lists him as a resident of Erie, New York.

LFOP on October 30, 2008 at 4:13 pm

Here’s a 2008 view of the BURLEY: http://www.boxsetgallery.com/stein/index.html

Mark Gulbrandsen on October 14, 2007 at 10:23 pm

The Burley Theater is still operated by the Harris family.

Burley Theatre

135 W. Main Street, Burley, ID 83318

135 W. Main Street,
Burley, ID 83318