Ritz Theatre
312 W. Main Street,
Stroud,
OK
74079
312 W. Main Street,
Stroud,
OK
74079
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Additional Info
Functions: Art Gallery
Styles: Neo-Classical
Previous Names: Barton Theatre
Nearby Theaters
The Barton Theatre was opened in September 1926. By July 1931 it had been renamed Ritz Theatre. It was still open in 1952, but had closed by 1955. Following comes courtesy of roadsideoklahoma link, "This theater, though now gone, still displays its name in the building’s capstone. The building’s rather plain façade is broken by Purple Cow’s very lavender sign. Otherwise the building appears to be in excellent condition."
Contributed by
Jeff
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Recent comments (view all 5 comments)
Hey raybradley I don’t know any other way to ask you but how much information do you have on the Griffith Bros.
To accompany the silent movies, R. Lewis Barton bought a Reproduco organ for the Barton Theatre sometime between 1920 and 1926.
Was renamed the Ritz Theatre by circa 1940.
Photo added credit Steve Rider courtesy Route 66 Postcards.
Street view confirms it is the same theatre and nearby buildings.
This bit of information about the Barton building is from the City of Stroud’s web site: “Built in 1920, it was the Ritz Theater in the 1930’s and 40’s. The Bartons owned both the Ritz and the Cozy Theater, which building was at 407 W. Main.”
The 200-seat Barton Theatre first appears in the 1928 FDY. The 1926 and 1927 editions both list the 200-seat Cozy and a New, with no seating capacity given. The New might have been the Barton, not yet named. Both the Cozy and the Barton are mentioned in the February, 1928 issue of Theatre Management, which says the houses, previously booked by Griffith Brothers, had been purchased by W. S. Spearman.
The Ritz was closed for a time in the summer of 1939, according to this item from Boxoffice, August 12, 1939: “Lewis Barton, the mayor of Stroud, is all set to reopen his Ritz Theatre there…”
Local memory of the opening date of this house is apparently wrong. Not only does the Barton Theatre make its first appearance in the 1928 FDY, but this item is from the October 16, 1926 issue of The Billboard: “STROUD, Okla. -The Barton Theater, Stroud’s most modern movie house, constructed at a cost of $50,000, has been opened for business.”
I’ve found the house referred to as the Ritz as early as the July, 1931 issue of Theatre Engineering.