Kozy Theatre
E. Main Street,
Healdton,
OK
73438
E. Main Street,
Healdton,
OK
73438
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The Kozy Theatre was opened in 1917. It is listed in a display advertisement in the advertising section of the Healdton High School Yearbook.
It was closed in 1927 as a silent movie theatre. It was equipped for sound films and reopened in 1931. It was destroyed by fire in the fall of 1948.
Contributed by
Jeff Chapman
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Recent comments (view all 4 comments)
The Kozy Theatre opened in 1917 for Fred Perry on East Main Street in downtown Healdton. After an ownership change, the Kozy became part of the Thompson Theatres Circuit in 1921 owned by Glen D. and Ferris C. Thompson. They also would open the Lyric Airdome there in 1921 and, after it burned that year, would replace it with the Thompson Theatre.
The Kozy was closed in 1927 and initially not converted by sound by the Thompsons. The town continued with the Thompson which did convert to sound. The Circuit revisited the Kozy in 1931 equipping it for sound. The Kozy burned down in the Fall of 1948. It was then demolished.
Uploaded a joint ad with the Thompson in “Healdton, OK 1924”. This was a publication compiled and printed by local businessmen to tout the merits of Healdton.
The Kozy Theatre was first owned by Jack Fornester for only a short period of time, who is a former defunct Western League Baseball player, who played on various other associations including Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, and the Dakotas.
Exactly sometime right after the theater opened its doors (possibly a few weeks afterwards), Jack and his wife were walking back to their house in their neighboring town of Ringling at 11:00 PM on May 28, 1917, until 2 men started attacking the owner, fired bullets with a gun at him, killing him, and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Fornester has an old friend of mine who was part of the Jefferson County Sheriff who also played part of the Western League Baseball. He determined that the owner of the Kozy, Fornester, was shot somewhere in the body.