Theater

This Rootsweb page has a history of Walnut’s theaters, and says that the old Opera House had presented movies off and on as the Lyric Theatre from 1909 until 1930, at which time a new owner renamed the house the Ritz. The page says nothing more about the Ritz, but has a fairly detailed history of the rival house (at 303 Central/Antique City Drive) which also operated off and on under various names, from 1913 until closing as the Walnut Theatre on May 1, 1954.

However (I really hate these “howevers” that crop up too often) I’m not sure the history on the page is entirely accurate, as it contradicts certain information from the FDY. Most notably, the 1931 FDY lists both the Lyric and the Ritz, each with 300 seats, though the Lyric is listed as silent. Only the Ritz is listed in 1932, and in 1933 only the Walnut Theatre, which is what the history says the rival house (originally called the Happy Hour) was renamed in 1931, is listed.

This makes me wonder if it was the rival house that was renamed Ritz in 1930, and the Lyric simply closed as a silent house sometime in 1931. A pair of items from Film Daily itself don’t help to clear it up, but do suggest that the Lyric and Ritz were two different theaters. The June 14, 1930 issue said this: “Walnut, Iowa—The Lyric has been purchased by Mr. Max W. Shoemaker. O. C. Johnson was the former owner.” Then the June 19 issue had this item: “Walnut, Ia.—O. C. Johnson has sold the Ritz to Max W. Shoemaker of Sterling, Neb.” The history page doesn’t mention either O. C. Johnson or Max Shoemaker, but only says that “[t]he Lyric sold in February, 1930 to Royal Duke of Sioux City and the name changed to the Ritz Theatre.”

The FDY was not always reliable, but I’ve found local histories are often suspect as well, especially those written long after the events they record. In any case, if the Lyric did become the Ritz in 1930 it appears to have closed for good in 1931 anyway.

The local historical society’s museum now occupies this building, with some of it viewable on this web site (the pages can be rather sluggish, so you’ll need patience while they load.) I couldn’t find any details about the building itself there, but it appears to have been owned by the IOOF for a long time, with the theater only leased by a series of operators, which may account for why the other theater prevailed over this one in the end.