Murrette Theatre

Omar Murray, Richmond theatrical magnet who once owned and controlled all the legitimate houses in Richmond, IN., opened the Murrette Theatre on August 15, 1912. with the Gaumont France production “Their Lives for Gold” and J. Warren Kerrigan in “The Outlaw Colony” projected on the big screen using its two Powers Number 6A moving picture machines. It was equipped with a theatre pipe organ and also boasted a concert orchestra. The 550-seat Murrette Theatre was the city’s first showplace built “especially for the purpose of displaying the picture dramas”, according to one newspaper. Designed by architectural firm Taylor & DeCamp who were based in Cincinnati, and erected by the Hazen Contruction Company of Cincinnati, the Murrette Theatre cost “$64,000 inclucing $10,000 for the lot - "one of the biggest real estate transfers made recently” on Main Street. It was located adjacent to the Murray Theatre (later Indiana Theatre and today Richmond Civic Theatre) which has its own page on Cinema Treasures.

Omar Murray managed the Murray Theatre and Murrette Theatre until 1918. In June he leased both theatres to the Merchants' and Bankers' Trust Company of Chicago, predecessor to Consolidated Realty and Theatres Corporation, for twenty years. With that move, O.G. Murray retired from showbusiness. On November 5, 1922, Omar Murray died while playing golf.

By November 1923 Consolidated Realty was in financial trouble. and in receivership. In April 1924 Fred Sims and George Dickson court-appointed receivers for Consolidated, sold the Murray Theatre & Murrette Theatre leases to Mahlon E. Remley, a showman from South Bend, IN. for a sum in excess of $30,000. Remley took charge on May 1, 1924. His plans were to program the best-in-class motion pictures at the Murrette Theatre and stage presentations at the Murray Theatre. In August 1924 the Remley Realty Corporation was formed. Its officers were Mahlon Remley, Robert Weichman & Wilfred Jessup.

The Remley firm also encountered headwinds. Receivership for the Remley company was granted in April 1929. On April 24 Harry Gilbert, court-appointed receiver for the Remley company, announced that Remley’s Murray Theatre and Murrette Theatre leases had been forfeited and were to be taken over by Clarrence Jessup and Frank Holland, whose Jessup-Holland Amusement Company had leased the Washington Theatre from Remley in September 1928. Remley, who once operated four Richmond showplaces, was no longer in the theatre business.

In June 1930 the leases on the Murray Theatre and Murrette Theatre held by Holland and Jessup were cancelled. Control of both theatres reverted to Mrs. O.G. Murray and the Murray estate. In an October 18, 1930, article reporting that the Murray Theatre had been leased to a local exhibitor Robert Hudson, it was “stated that the present Murrette Theatre will be abandoned”.

In April 1932 the Richmond Property Corporation announced plans to convert the Murrette Theatre into a merchanising mart, with twenty rooms and booths. The merchandising idea didn’t sell. In March 1933 Richmond Property leased the Murrette Theatre building to a Dayton, OH, concern for use as fruit-an-vegetable stand. Jaffe’s Market opened on April 15, 1933, but didn’t have a very long shelf life. The curtain finally closed in February 1937 when Richmond Property announced plans to raze the Murrette Theatre building and replace it with a modern business building.

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