New Ritz Theatre
107 E. Main Avenue,
Ritzville,
WA
99169
107 E. Main Avenue,
Ritzville,
WA
99169
2 people
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No website. Movie showtimes are listed on their Facebook page.
The B.F. Shearer company was a huge theater equipment dealer all up and down the west coast during the late 1940’s through the mid 1960’s. They had offices in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.
They will be showing Guardians of the Galaxy this weekend while it is still in Spokane!! Cant wait to go, as I havent been to a movie in years!!
Does anyone remember a person by the name E.R Bechtel I found a watch at a auction his name engraved on the watch with bf shearer 1946 I was wondering if relatives r still around my email is
“Artist’s Drawing of new $30,000 Theater at Ritzville” from April 8, 1937 of the Spokesman Review includes fun tidbit about the theater being the first in Adams County to be air-conditioned.
The Kendrick Collection of photographs (search for “theater” or “main street”), available for viewing on the Washington State Digital Archives page, is an excellent source for older photos of the theater around the time it was first built.
The collection also has a few photos of the “original” Ritz theater, which looks to have been located near the train depot.
Another “Remembering from the Files” blurb about transfer of ownership. This must be the “other theater in town” people have asked about. A PDF is available.
The local weekly paper featured a snippet about the theater in its “Remembering from the Files” feature last year under the “75 years ago” section. A PDF is available.
Here is a link to the Boxoffice Magazine article that Mr. Vogel refers to. Also available from boxoffice.com as a PDF.
2011 photos can be seen here and here.
From Boxoffice Magazine, September 18, 1937: “Roy Irvine has opened his new theatre in Ritzville, Wash. The house seats 450 and was designed by Bjarne Moe.”
Bjarne Moe was the architect of the Roxy Theatre, Bremerton; the Crest Theatre in Seattle; the Lake City Theatre, Seattle; the Bungalo Theatre, St. Maries, Idaho; and the Liberty Theatre, Ellensburg. There are probably quite a few others, but I haven’t unearthed them yet. In addition, he was the architect for many theatre remodeling jobs.
A 1944 issue of Boxoffice featured a photo of many employees of the Seattle office of the B.F. Shearer Co., a theater supply and design house. Bjarne Moe was among them.
Actually, I think I saw them at the OLD Ritz, since it’s the 70s we’re talking about here, but the idea is still the same…
I saw SO MANY movies here when I was a teenager! I lived in Harrington and Ritzville was much easier to get to than Spokane. Yes, you had to wait 4-6 months for the big movies to come down, but I remember it would be jammed every weekend night – it was only open on the weekends then, as I recall. IT’s nice to know it’s still in business…
I worked there several years in the late 90s early 00’s as projectionist. There are 375 seats, as some rows in the front were taken out for parts for the seats. I have a photo of opening night, Sept 7, 1937. Much of the theater is original inside, even the wiring and heating system. The air washer cooling system doesn’t work, as water was left standing in it, and rusted the floor out of it, and ran down the screen. The projectors are from 1952, when the building was paid off, and the owner could purchase new machinery that came from the Old Ritz Theater that was 2 blocks away (building was torn down in late 70’s). The player piano that was used in silent days from the theater still works and was donated to the Benge Community Church when it was built in 1952 by the owner.
Boy, who picked out the color scheme? Those paint colors are an insult.