Arkansas Theatre
516 S. Louisiana Street,
Little Rock,
AR
72201
516 S. Louisiana Street,
Little Rock,
AR
72201
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According to the local paper, architect Theo Sanders of Sanders & Ginocchio did the first remodeling architectural plans of the Kempner.
This reopened as the Arkansas theatre in September 27th, 1929. Grand opening ad in the photo section.
This opened as the Kempner theatre on September 20th, 1910. Grand opening ad in the photo section.
My sister worked the ticket booth there in the 60’s. Since I worked at the larger Capitol Theater nearby, we would borrow ice when we ran out on busy nights. The Arkansas Theater was much more classy than the others. The lobby had a double entrance balcony that led to the balcony in the house. Very nice.
The last time I passed by the site in May 2009, it was still a parking lot. I didn’t see many pictures here during the 60’s as they mostly played dramas. One interesting fact about this theatre: because it was built as an opera house, it was fairly easy to turn into a movie theater in the 20’s, a true palace! However, in the 50’s with the advent of Cinemascope, they were not able to widen the proscenium (possibly due to the way the opera house was built). Any Cinemascope,Panavision,etc. feature was shown letterboxed on the flat screen much like some movies shown on HDTV and cable TV are today! Saw In Harm’s Way like this in early June 1965.