Howells Theatre

The Bohemian National Hall was an early building built in 1894 in the village of what was Howell, Nebraska. The town incorporated in 1887 as Howell but the name was officially changed later to Howells. Czech settlers were responsible for the National Hall which served as a dance and gymnastics hall. Early silent movies came to town at its movie house, the Royal Theatre.

Anton Janata, operator of Janata’s Amusement Place - Pool and Billiards, took over the Royal Theatre on April 1, 1922. In October of 1926, the theatre experimented with sound film. But it was the building and not the technology that had shortcomings. Janata moved to a new location for the Royal Theatre in 1927 still not satisfied with his sound film experiments. Janata decided to discontinue the Royal Theatre altogether and move the operation to the Bohemian National Hall in 1929. He teamed with Frank Marik to launch a new sound movie operation there using the BesTone Sound System from Omaha. The theatre was called the Howells Theatre.

Janata and Marik advertised their operation as 100% talking pictures to get a leg up on some of the area theatres which were either silent or still booking silent films in a mix with talkies. Ventilation was improved with a Blizzard fan in 1930 so the theatre could operate year round. However, another business operator decided to open a competing theatre on the city’s Main Street. Janata and Marik closed the Bohemian National Hall location for their new theatre in Palik Building launching unnamed on July 5, 1930.

Returning to a dance hall under the name of Parish Hall, Howells Theatre was famous for booking some of the most famous big bands of the 1940’s and 1950’s. But the days of big band faded in the TV age and Francis Sellhorst covered the space into a bowling alley in 1955 operated as Sellhorst Lanes until 1963. The National Hall was demolished in favor of a new Hall that was built in 1964 and was still in operation in the 2020’s.

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