Indiana Theatre
1112 Broadway,
Gary,
IN
46408
1112 Broadway,
Gary,
IN
46408
1 person
favorited this theater
This was a neighborhood movie palace on Broadway and Eleventh Avenue in Gary. The Indiana Theatre opened May 28, 1938 with Jeanette MacDonald in “The Firefly”.
It showed second run films and I remember seeing a Grand Old Opry show that was broadcast from there in the 1950’s.
Contributed by
jase
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The May 28, 1938 edition of the Gary Post Tribune ran the following article: “Indiana Theater, new movie, opens at 1112 Broadway. This is the day of the grand opening of the Indiana Theater, Gary’s newest motion picture palace. Located at 1112 Broadway in the old Central Trust Bank building, the new movie theater opens it doors for the first time at 3:30 p.m. For its first premier it’s patrons will see and hear Jeanette MacDonald in ‘The Firefly’. Nick Bikos, head of the Bikos theater chain, said the theater will accommodate more than 1,400 persons. The two floors are equipped with the finest in motion picture seats and in sound devices including the new RCA photophone, he said. The building is 100 per cent fire proof according to Bikos, who believes the public will be particularly appreciative of the cooling system called the ‘Deep Well Cooling System, which gets its cool air for the summer months from pipessunk 600 feet in the ground.
Construction on the theater was begun in October of 1936. The Bikos management, in business for 30 years, also operates the Broadway, the Roosevelt, and the Roxy theaters. Cost of the Indiana Theater was not disclosed by the management, but it is believed the remodeling reached the $100,000 figure.”
There’s an extremely quick shot of the vintage marquee in the recent Undercover Boss set in Gary, at about the six minute mark.
There was another Indiana Theater in Gary. According to Film Daily, it closed in June 1934.
The Indiana was carved out of the former Central Trust and Savings Bank building, which was appraised for $125,000 in 1930. The Bikos brothers bought it in October 1936 for $18,000 and back taxes of $15,000. Their outlay of $133,000 yielded a fully functioning 1000-seat movie house.