Kearse Theatre
161-167 Summers Street,
Charleston,
WV
25301
161-167 Summers Street,
Charleston,
WV
25301
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Here’s a link to a nice photo https://wvhistoryonview.org/image/052406.jpg
I have one of the original Kearse Theater Movie Marquis. I am willing to sell if anyone is interested. It has the original shipping label in the back.
Wheres the photo
November 29, 1922 grand opening with the great “Blood and Sand” ad posted in photos.
The official NRHP listings from the State of West Virginia Division of Culture & History website (http://www.wvculture.org/shpo/nr/kanawha.html) state that this theater was demolished in 1982.
Is this theater still around? I am in the process of buying and rehabbing the Philippi Grand and if it proves profitable I want to work on reopening other theaters in WV, KY, OH, PA, MD, and VA. There are so many wonderful old theaters with more character than any modern cookie cutter places.
The theater for which construction contracts had just been let, according to an item in the January 14, 1922, issue of The American Contractor, must have been the Kearse:
Awesome! Thanks for the info!
November 1922 grand opening ads is at http://en.calameo.com/read/000247928e122e03ac73d
Does anyone else have any photos or info on the Kearse thester?
Does anyone have any good photos of the Kearse?
Here is a June 1950 ad from the Charlesto Gazette:
http://tinyurl.com/2c5rgw
Here is a 1949 ad from the Charleston Daily Mail:
http://tinyurl.com/2nvbut
Other theaters in town circa August 1960 were the Rialto, Virginian and Warner Fairmont:
THEATER WON’T DIE – “Closed” Rialto Reopens Friday
The last film at the Rialto was “13 Ghosts.” But the 43-year-old
theater in the Morrison Building on Quarrier Street is not one
of them. After a shutdown of four days, the Rialto will reopen tomorrow with “The Apartment,” the picture being shifted from the Virginian, also a unit of Stanley Warner Corp.
Newspaper ads last week announced that the Rialto would be closed last Sunday night, ending the four-decade life of the theater. John Cox, the Rialto’s manager, was transferred to the Warner Fairmont theater. William Wyatt, manager of the Virginian, was ordered by the Pittsburgh region office to take over the closing of
the Rialto.
Last Monday, Wyatt moved dozens of large cartons into the theater
for packing of the seats. A filing case was removed from the Rialto office to the Virginian. “All I can say now is that the lease for the Rialto has been renewed with the Stanley Warner Corp.” said John Morrison, an owner of the Morrison building. He declined to discuss prospective remodeling of the building, which at its birth in 1917 was the pride of Charleston for its elegance.
“The Light that Failed” starring Ronald Colman was playing at the Kearse in February 1940:
http://tinyurl.com/yxq84p
Hi I have one of the original marquis fron the Kearse theater. It has the original shipping label on it, if you have any other pics id love to see them.
Marcy