Ritz Theatre

Quanah’s third theatre was opened July 4, 1938, by Garner Jones in the Jones Building, which dated back to 1895 and was once home to the Quanah Tribune. The opening movie was a six-year-old Joan Blondell movie, “Three Broadway Girls”.

The Quanah Tribune-Chief reported fire broke out in the projection room at four in the afternoon on July 13, 1938, but fortunately attendance was light and everyone headed for the exits. Mr. Garner noted the $2,500 (about $45,000 in 2020) loss was covered by insurance.

On August 12, 1938, it was reported Mr. Jones was selling the unopened Ritz Theatre to Oskar Korn’s OK Theatres, who ran the local Palace Theatre and Texan Theatre and 15 other locations in Texas.

Except for civic events, by 1940 the Ritz Theatre was out of the local listings and Film Daily Year Book 1940 and beyond listed the 397 seat theatre as closed.

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