Alps Theatre
4124 Dr. Martin Luther King Drive,
St. Louis,
MO
63113
4124 Dr. Martin Luther King Drive,
St. Louis,
MO
63113
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Lou Wagner launched the Alps Theatre on August 8, 1905 at 4124 Easton Avenue with a film played there during the St Louis World’s Fair when that location was a chapel. The film was “The Passion Play of Oberammergau.” The Alps had talent shows, vaudeville, and moving pictures until closure in 1915. Likely it served a ten-year lease and moved on following a classified selling its seats. They did tent shows and airdrome shows in warmer weather. Wagner was fined for awarding talent show prize money to minors which was viewed as violating child labor laws.
I’ve noticed it too, but I’ve noticed how often Chuck’s descriptions could use a little clarification. I think they’re probably both right, in a way: Many of these theaters were probably independently run before Fanchon (not Franchon) & Marco came into the picture. The City Directories can be trusted, to a point: Sometimes a theater would exist for a couple years or more before making it into the Directory, and sometimes the Directory would continue to list it for a few years after it had gone out of business.
Am I the only one who has noticed the frequency in which JAlex corrects St. Louis area theater information posted by Chuck?
The years of operation long predate the circuits mentioned in the introduction.
Appeared in the City Directory from 1911 to 1916.