Crystal Theatre

The Jollo Electric Theatre Company was a very early circuit of theatres in Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas and Iowa from 1907 to the 1910’s. R.H. Mouser & Co. ran the Alliance franchise of the Jollo Moving Picture Theatre in the F.H. Pardey Building’s second floor. The theatre opened September 9, 1907 with “clean, amusing (and) refined” moving pictures and illustrated songs.

The Jollo Moving Picture Theatre used Kinodrome projection and films in its presentations which were around 40 minutes in total length. The Alliance Jollo ended operations in the summer of 1909. It was replaced by the Crystal Theatre which had operated both an airdome and an indoor theatre. The Crystal launched there on October 4, 1909.

The theatre’s neighbor was the Alliance Hotel. Local showman legend Harry A. Dubuque had come to Alliance in 1912 and purchased the competing Majestic Theatre changing it to the Empress Theatre. He then bought the Crystal Theatre to have two theatres in town. The last bookings for the Crystal Theatre appear to be a July 31, 1914 show that included live acts. However, the local paper said that Dubuque took on the competing Imperial Theatre in 1916 and at that time closed the Crystal Theatre which moved Alliance from a three movie theatre town to two.

The Crystal Theatre was repurposed for other retail purposes. Both it and the historic Alliance Hotel building were razed as well as the remainder of the city retail block.

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