Rialto Theatre

The Palace Theatre opened October 16, 1924 in downtown Carmen in the Sunderland Building by L.W. Conner with Douglas MacLean starring in “Bell Boy 13”. The Sunderland Building had been built for a retail clothing store in 1904 likely on a 20-year lease. The brick building was one of many that helped bring back downtown Carmen, much of which had been destroyed by a May 23, 1903 tornado.

The 200-seat theatre was the first movie theatre for the town since the Lyric Theatre closed on June 2, 1923. The Palace Theatre was Conner’s second theatre along with his Morrison, Oklahoma location. A projection booth fire during a 9:30p show on December 28, 1923 closed the theatre for building repairs.

Floyd Strate - who operated a May, Oklahoma theatre - took on the operation repairing the fire-damaged venue. Strate changed the theatre’s name to the Rialto Theatre relaunching April 9, 1926, with Larry Semon in “The Girl in the Limousine”. The long-running Rialto Theatre switched to sound and continued operation into the TV age.

However, the impact of television and Carmen’s population decrease of more than 40% from its high-water mark of 904 residents appears to have ended the cinema fun. The Rialto Theatre closed at end of lease on August 26, 1959. Its final film was Angie Dickinson and Jack Klugman in “Cry Terror!”.

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