Palace Theatre

Joe Vogel on January 21, 2021 at 11:47 pm

The only movie house listed at Skiatook in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory was called the Lyric. The Palace was mentioned in the July 3, 1920 issue of Moving Picture World, along with a house called the Electric Theatre.

At least two sources (Film Daily of March 28, 1923 and Gary D. Rhodes' book The Perils of Moviegoing in America: 1896-1950) mention a theater fire at Skiatook in 1923 in which the projectionist was killed. Rhodes gives the cost of damages as $125,000. Three months later, the June 16 issue of Exhibitors Trade Review ran a brief item saying “[t]he New Palace Theatre, Skiatook, Okla., will be ready for opening shortly.” The name New Palace leads me to me suspect that it was the Palace that burned and had to be rebuilt.

The “Oklahoma City” column of Boxoffice for June 22, 1959 mentions the Palace. A new owner of the building planned to remodel it for another use, an the item mentions that the Palace was last operated by Bill Stricker and Bill Jones, operators of the Ritz. The closing date is not given, but the wording suggests that the house had been dark for quite some time.