Lyric Theatre
622 Main Street,
Kansas City,
MO
64105
622 Main Street,
Kansas City,
MO
64105
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The 250-seat nickelodeon theatre opened in 1907. In 1911 it was named Lyric Theatre and had expanded to 350-seats. By 1921 it was operating as an African-American theatre. The Lyric Theatre was closed following a police raid on March 6, 1933. It was listed in the 1935 Film Daily Yearbook as (Closed) with 350 seats.
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Ridgewood Ken
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The Lyric Theatre is listed at 622 Main Street in the 1914-1915 edition of The American Motion Picture Directory.
Orlando P. Rose opened a “continuous show” movie theater with a projector in 1907. This occurred not long after his company made news with a 700 pound coin deposit in 1907. That was likely what triggered his decision to move from nickelodeon presentation to a 250-seat theater at this address. It was advertised as the Lyric beginning in 1911 expanding to 350 seats.
As new theaters challenged the Lyric, Rose and his son sold the operation in 1920 to get into neighborhood theaters including the Warwick and Apollo. The Lyric soldiered on and at least three times was fined for indecent attractions.
On March 6, 1933, a midnight show led to a police raid in which police shook down operator Joe P. Deo and all of the attendees. Each of the 34 attendees who didn’t flee was fined $5 on the spot and each performer was ordered to pay $100 to avoid a trip to jail. None of the performers paid and were all placed in jail denying the charges along with the patrons who couldn’t raise the $5. Deo was fined $250. This was likely the end of the venue’s run.