Smith's Theater

The Fornea Theatre was opened by W. Joseph Fornea on November 10, 1927 at 210 East Canal Street. When the competing Ideal Theatre was opened in 1928 in the D'Antoni Building, there was no question that the Fornea was a distant second place for best theater in town. Mr. Fornea innovated around the competition by adding Moviephone sound to the Fornea. Its first talkie was “Alias Jimmie Valentine” with William Haines. That brought the clientele back in. And then the Ideal Theatre burned down within a year of its launch never to be rebuilt. That helped business even more.

The Fornea Theatre was next operated by R.C. Richards Circuit until being sold in 1938 along with a number of other small-town theaters to the Dixie Amusement Corporation. J.W. Lobb was transferred from the firm’s Morgan City, Louisiana Dixie Theatre to operate in Picayune. The Dixie Theatre received a Streamline Moderne style makeover operating into the 1950’s. In the TV age, Dixie Amusement dropped the venue.

Mary Allyne Foyer Smith took on the former Dixie Theatre calling it Smith’s Theatre in a building that also housed Graeber’s Superette and apartments above. Smith’s faded leaving just the Ritz Theatre in operation. The building’s marquee and its first floor were levels to make it a full-fledge apartment building. However, in 1979, the City of Picayune condemned the former Fornea/Dixie/Smith’s building. A year-long project concluded with the building’s demolition. Apartments now stand on the site.

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