Sugg Theatre

This item is from the July 6, 1935, issue of Motion Picture Herald:

“Consolidated Opens New Oklahoma House

“Consolidated Theatres, Inc., subsidiary of the Griffith Amusement Company, recently opened the new Washita theatre, at Chickasha, Okla., containing the most modern equipment throughout, including air conditioning apparatus. George Limerick is manager of the house, which was constructed virtually within the old walls of the Sugg theatre, one of the oldest theatres in southwestern Oklahoma.”

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10202239107632108&set=p.10202239107632108&type=1&theater

Here is the location as it appears today. Mr. raybradley, the building across the street now known as Chickasha Mall was originally S.H. Kress store.

The McDonald’s that occupies one side of the Sugg Theatre’s site is at 2027 S. 4th Street, so the Sugg’s address was probably 2027 or 2029.

The January 2, 1940, issue of The Film Daily ran this brief item about the destruction of the theater:

“Chichasha Theater Burns

“Chickasha, Okla. — This city’s largest theater, the Washita, owned by Consolidated Theaters, Inc., Griffith subsidiary, was destroyed by a $50,000 fire.”

Check out 390 Chickasha Ave in Chickasha on Google maps Street view.

When J.D. Sugg died in 1925, the Waurika News-Democrat published an article noting some of the bequests made in his will. Among them was a bequest “…to MRS. BELL MCCOWN of Fort Worth, a niece and her children, the Sugg Theatre building in Chickasha and $5,000 each….”

There was also a reference to another theater in Chickasha that Mr. Sugg owned: “The Kozy Theatre building in Chickasha goes to J. D. LINDSAY of that city for life, reverting to the estate on his death.”

Either the Kozy is not yet listed at Cinema Treasures, or is listed under another name and is missing the aka. The Kozy was mentioned in the July 29, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World, so it was at least that old.

I think it’s possible that the building currently on the site of the Sugg Theatre incorporates the lower portions of the theater’s side and back walls. Brick is pretty good at surviving fires. But as the theater had both a balcony and a gallery, and the current building is a single floor structure, the upper parts of the walls at least have clearly been demolished. The front is obviously post-fire construction, as it is mostly glass show windows.

I studied much of the history of chickasha while conducting research for my senior seminar class at USAO. I believe the suggs theater was built by a man named suggs who also built the what is now called the petroleum building. It was original a bank before it housed the offices for the petroleum building. That is more then likely the building you are seeing in front of the suggs theater. The theater burned down and was relocated to the site of the washita theater. I beliee the building that has the mc donalsd sign was rebuilt after the theater burned. The oper a house was located catycorner from the petroleum building and has recently been renovated. This is what I have understood the history of the theater to have been

… plus, across the street, I strongly suspect that the Chickasha Mall was once a large theatre. It has a windowless sidewall, theatre back exits, and what looks like a stage door and dressing room windows. That sheet metal false front prevents positive identification.
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Thanks, Ray, and thanks to Google Books for making all those old magazines available. I actually found the Sugg Theatre photo while looking for something else.

But after comparing the various photos, and the bird’s eye view at Bing Maps, and the Google Street View, I’m sure the Sugg/first Washita and the second Washita were at different locations. The first of the pre-fire photos at Oklahoma History, and the 1913 postcard I linked to above, show a tall building next door to the Sugg, and there’s no trace of it in this circa 1950 photo of the second Washita, even though the buildings next door to it and down the block look quite old. The Sugg was free-standing, too, while the second Washita butted against other buildings on both sides.

The only five story building in Chickasha today that could be the one in the old photos of the Sugg is the one at the southwest corner of Chickasha and 4th. The lot just south of it on 4th has a one-story building that occupies a footprint that matches up with the old photos of the Sugg Theatre (see the bird’s eye view at Bing Maps.) In Google Street View, it’s clear that the building at the corner of Chickasha and 4th is the same one you can see a corner of in the 1913 postcard I linked to. The detailing around the street floor windows is identical. The Sugg/first Washita had to have been on that lot just south of it, on South 4th Street.

In Google Street View, the building on the Sugg’s site is only one story, but is faced with the same type of brick as the Sugg. Street View shows a bit of the northern side wall, and it looks like it drops down from the street, as a theater building would. Bing’s birds eye shows part of the back wall, and there appears to be a theater-type exit door on it. I think there’s a good chance that this building could be the remains of the Sugg Theatre, chopped down to one floor.

The name currently given for this house might be wrong. There is a photograph of a Sugg Theatre in Chickasha, published in The Moving Picture World, issue of December 6, 1913. The recently opened house seated 923, and included two balconies, the upper one a segregated section for black patrons. It was named for one of its original owners, a cattle rancher.

I found two other mentions of the Sugg Theatre on the Internet, including this postcard, postmarked 1913.

This 2003 memoriam for Lois Ruth Badgley says that her first job was playing piano to accompany silent movies at the Sugg Theatre. As she was born in 1913, the time period must have been the 1920s (unless young Lois was uncommonly precocious.)

The name Soggs Theatre is on the Internet only here and at Roadside Oklahoma, which I have not found to be the most reliable source of information. CinemaTour doesn’t have the house listed under either name. I’ve not found the theater mentioned under either name in the Boxoffice archive.