Center Theatre
La Center,
KY
42056
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The La Center Theatre opened on February 17, 1927 with Harry Earles in “That’s My Baby” supported by a Harold Lloyd short. It closed August 24, 1928 with Greta Garbo in “The Mysterious Lady.” D.B. Stout of Stout Theatre Circuit of Cairo, Illinois decided to relight the theatre as the Center Theatre (losing “La”) with the same projection booth but different seating and adding sound. It had its second grand opening on April 6, 1941 with “The Thief of Bagdad.”
Stout added air conditioning to the venue and it had a nice run through to August 13, 1952. But the town had fewer than 600 people in it and with television arriving, it was over for the Center. However, the AutoScope Drive-In Theatre was built in 1955 by Clark Smith bringing films back to LaCenter’s non-center in 1956.
The Center was mentioned in the January 19, 1946 issue of Showmen’s Trade Review as one of five houses operated by Earl Stout and his son D. B. Stout. The other four houses in the Stout circuit were the newly-opened Arly at Arlington, Kentucky; the Wick, at Wickliffe, Kentucky; the Uptown, Cairo, Illinois; and the recently opened City Theatre at Mound City, Illinois.