State Theatre
201 W. Main Street,
Pawhuska,
OK
74056
201 W. Main Street,
Pawhuska,
OK
74056
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Opened on June 7, 1910.
Closed In 1958, Demolished In March 1963.
First rate detective work Joe!
A list of movie theaters in the July 28, 1917, issue of The Billboard has only the Constantine Theatre listed for Pawhuska, with Albert Jackson as the manager of the 715-seat house. A list in the February 22, 1919, issue of The Billboard has only the Jackson Theatre in Pawhuska, and gives its seating capacity as 715. Again, Albert Jackson is the manager. I’m wondering if the identical seating capacities were a coincidence, or if the magazine conflated one theater with another one year, or if the names of theaters in Pawhuska did actually get shifted about during this period.
This house was called the Jackson theater for many years before being remodeled and renamed the State in 1928. Here is an item about the reopening from the July 21, 1928, issue of Motion Picture News:
Albert Jackson had sold the Jackson Theatre to A. B. Momand and his partners in 1926. Albert Jackson of Pawhuska is listed in the November 8, 1913, issue of The Moving Picture World as one of the movie exhibitors who had attended a recent convention in Oklahoma City. Given that the fire insurance map cited in an earlier comment by Lauren Durbin showed that there was a theater at the State’s location at least as early as 1912, it seems pretty likely that it was this house that Albert Jackson was operating in 1913.The house probably goes back even farther. The December 24, 1910, issue of The Moving Picture World has an ad for movies of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, and it says that the Oklahoma and Kansas rights to the films had been sold to Albert Jackson, Jackson Theatre, Pawhuska.
Will, the theater in which Mr. Pickrell (or Pickrel, as Motion Picture News spelled it) installed the organ in 1926 was probably the Constantine. See my comment of today on that page for more details.
I’ve been following the trail of Reproduco organs (photoplayer) mentioned in an ad from 1926. There are two references to Pawhuska OK in that ad. One is for the Jackson Theatre and there is a suggestion that the Jackson might have been owned by one Albert Jackson. The other reference in the ad is the sale of photoplayer to F.B. Pickrell also of Pawhuska. Any thoughts which hall Mr. Pickrell owned? If the State was around in 1924, it would be a candidate. (Of course, Reproducos other market was funeral homes, so for all we know Mr. Pickrell might have been a mortician!)
Joe you were right about the location of the State theater…NW corner of Main and Grandview. It was still there when I moved to Oklahoma City after PHS graduation in class of 39. I have never seen a box office line as shown in a pic above. Gone with the Wind opened at the Kihekah with a “Whopping 25 cent ticket price.
The last paragraph of this weblog post by Stevie Joe Payne says that the State Theatre was south of the courthouse, so it must have been on or near the northwest corner of Main and Grandview. As the Constantine Theatre is at 110 W. Main and is across the street and a bit farther east, 121 W. Main sounds about right for the State Theatre’s address.
109 W. Main must have been the lot between Kihekah Avenue and Grandview Avenue. As the building was listed as vacant on the 1927 insurance map, I’m thinking that it might have housed the Jackson Theatre.
My apologies – upon looking at the various years again, it appears that 201 was an older address and there seems to be some flip-flopping of the official/posted address. Here is what I found –
June 1912 – 201 W. Main – Motion Pictures/School 2nd/Elks Club 3rd July 1916 – 113 W. Main – Picture Theater/Lodging 2nd/Elks Club 3rd Jan 1920 – 201 W. Main – Picture Theater/Lodging 2nd/Elks Club 3rd July 1927 – 109 W. Main – Movies/Rooming 2nd & 3rd July 1927 (update) – 109 W. Main – Vacant (but has a dotted line outline of a v-shaped marquee protruding from the building)
Joe – Nice resource with the phone books. The 1945 phone book shows the State Theatre at 121 W. Main. http://files.usgwarchives.net/ok/osage/misc/pwhsk445.txt
Also, I’ve found two theaters listed at Pawhuska in the July 25, 1908, issue of The Billboard:
These appear to all have been live acts. The Dubinsky Brothers were an act made up of Edward, Maurice, and Barney Dubinsky. Edward later changed his surname to Durwood and went into the theater business. His his son Stanley Durwood went on to found the AMC circuit of multiplex theaters.A July, 1936 Pawhuska telephone directory here lists a Skelly Filling Station at 201 W. Main. The State Theatre is also listed in the directory as being on West Main Street, but the street number is not given. The State and the Kihekah (also listed only as being on West Main) are the only theaters listed.
Lauren, what year was the latest insurance map showing the theater building published? If it was from 1922 or earlier, the theater at 201 W. Main might have been the Jackson Theatre, which is known to have advertised as late as 1922 but no later. It could have been demolished about that time.
Fire insurance maps show a three story building housing a theater at 201 W Main (NW corner of Main & Grandview). The building is listed as a theater (with other uses of the third floor) as early as 1912. I believe this building most likely housed the State Theater. The building is now demolished.
This house was operated by Video Independent Theatres for at least part of its history. The July 25, 2000, obituary of lifelong Pawhuska resident Betty Jean Moore said: “Betty worked 38 years for The Video Theatres, beginning at The State Theater and becoming Manager over The Kihekah, The State and The Circle A Theaters and Corral Drive-In Theater in Pawhuska.”
These vintage photos are photos of the State Theatre, Pawhuska, OK,
http://www.roadsideoklahoma.com/node/589
These vintage photos from OHS are not of the Pawhuska State Theatre. Anyone know the actual location of this movie house?
http://www.tulsalibrary.org/JPG/C1494.jpg
and
http://www.tulsalibrary.org/JPG/C1493.jpg
View period exterior photos of this ugly little cinema by typing in word “pawhuska” -
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