Rialto Theatre
1000 Delta Avenue,
Gladstone,
MI
49837
1000 Delta Avenue,
Gladstone,
MI
49837
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The Community Theatre opened as early as 1924.
The Community Theatre became the Rialto Theatre on September 2, 1927 with Billy Dove and Huntley Gordon in “Sensation Seekers” along with a novelty “The Elegy”, and a comedy short “Buster’s Prize Winner”.
The Rialto installed a Vitaphone sound system, and reopened on July 14, 1929 with Richard Barthelmess in “Weary River” along with 2 Vitaphone Vaudeville Acts, a musical performance by Waring’s Pennsylvanians, a movietone comedy, and Escanaba’s premiere of one of the most popular cartoons in America, Mickey Mouse in “Steamboat Willie”.
The September 2, 1927, issue of The Escanaba Daily Press said that the Community Theatre in Gladstone had been purchased by Fischer-Paramount Theatres of Milwaukee, the company that had been operating it under a lease. The house would be renamed the Rialto Theatre, and extensive improvements were planned, including the installation of a Barton Organ.
The building had been built several years earlier by the Northwestern Cooperage and Lumber Company as a community center for its workers.
July 14, 1929, issue of the paper featured several pages of ads placed by various businesses offering congratulations to the Rialto Theatre on its opening.
Correct address is 1000 Delta Avenue. The Google Street View has been corrected.