Margie Grand Theatre

Joe Vogel on October 31, 2023 at 12:11 pm

My surmise that the Margie Grand might have been the old Cumberland Theatre renamed turned out to be wrong. I came across a book published in 1922 that revealed that Harlan’s Cumberland Theatre was located on Main Street. A 1925 Sanborn map shows the site of the Margie Grand vacant, so it now seems likely that the Margie Grand probably did open in 1929, but after that year’s FDY was compiled. The rather old fashioned look of the building can probably be attributed to the aesthetic conservatism of the region.

A building at 108 (modern 107) S. Main Street is labeled “Movies” on the 1925 Sanborn map, and must have been the location of the Cumberland Theatre. It still stands, occupied by an attorney’s offices. The considerably larger Harlan Theatre is named on the map at 107-109 (modern 108-110) S. Main Street. The site is now part of a parking lot.

Joe Vogel on October 30, 2023 at 8:10 pm

The Margie Grand Theater first appears in the FDY’s 1930 edition. Prior to that, there was a house called the Cumberland Theatre. No seating capacities were given for either house, so we can’t be sure if Margie Grand was a new name for the Cumberland, but it is a possibility. The Cumberland was listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory.

The town also had a house called the New Harlan Theatre, which several sources indicate was the town’s “A” house, but it appears to have been closed following a severe flood that struck the town in 1963, and it’s building was destroyed by a fire in 1970. The Margie Grand was still in operation at least as late as 1977. The New Harlan was built in 1922, and was listed in FDY editions from 1926 on.