Rex Theatre

Joe Vogel on October 10, 2024 at 1:27 am

The first year the Rexy is listed in the FDY is 1930, but the seating capacity isn’t given until the 1933 edition. There is actually a Rex Theatre listed in 1929, but again with no seating capacity. It might be that the house opened in (probably) 1928 as the Rex, or FDY might have been thrown by the unusual name Rexy and didn’t correct it until the 1931 edition. Another likely mistake is the 1934-only appearance of a 100-seat house called the Roxy.

Another possibility is that the Rexy started out at a different location, and then moved into the Family Theatre’s building, possibly in 1932. The Family is listed in the 1927 and 1929 FDYs, the capacity given only in 1929, when it had 300 seats, then vanishes until 1931 when it reappears listed with 498 seats but still a silent house. It is listed again in 1932, still not wired for sound, and also listed as closed. This was its final appearance. The Rexy was listed in both of those years, and was wired, but as I said no seating capacity given. In 1933 the Rexy is listed with a capacity for the first time, that being 448 seats.

The July 13, 1939 issue of Film Daily mentions Glenn Floyd, whose name (minus one surplus n) appears in the 1915 ad for the Family Theatre recently uploaded by robboehm. The item says: “Pittsburgh—Oaks Floyd, brother and partner of Glenn Floyd who operates theaters in Follansbee, W. Va., and Monaca, died of a heart attack.” Glen Floyd is also mentioned in the November 10, 1948 issue of The Exhibitor as co-owner of both theaters in Follansbee. Mr. Floyd’s long tenure in Follansbee, and his early connection to the Family Theatre, does, I think, make it more likely that the Rexy moved into the Family Theatre’s former location in 1932.

Joe Vogel on August 11, 2021 at 12:11 am

The Rexy Theatre was in operation by 1931, when the March 28 issue of the Follansbee Review reported that a labor meeting would be held at the Rexy that night. It was owned by the Floyd brothers, who also had the Strand Theatre.

Earlier, around 1916-1918, the Floyds ran a Follansbee house called the Family Theatre, which had opened in 1913 as the Star Theatre. There is a possibility, though it’s not a certainty, that the Family later became the Rexy or the Strand. A local source says that the Family Theatre building is now occupied by the American Legion Hall, which is at 998 Main Street.