The Historic Missouri Theatre
(Excerpt from Missouri Theatre: Visions of the Past and the Future by Marie C. Sloan)
The opening of the Missouri Theatre on October 5, 1928, was an exciting event for the citizens of Columbia and surrounding areas. A full-page ad in the Columbia Tribune on October 4, 1928, exclaimed: "Formal Opening of your new Missouri Theatre--Friday Evening A $400,000 Showhouse of Unrivaled Beauty and Extravagant Setting in Central Missouri. The Magnificent Splendor of The Place of Amusement Will Dazzle and Thrill You." Columbia, Missouri had a movie and live performance palace!
The Columbia Missourian reported on the day after the grand opening that almost three hundred invited guests occupied special seating. The public followed, and was hushed by the magnificence of the lobby, with its thick red carpets--into which were woven the Great Seal of Missouri and the letter M--red and gold tapestries, and baskets of flowers. Large congratulatory ads were placed in the local newspapers by S. E. Shultz, general contractor from Chillicothe, Missouri; Boller Brothers, architects from Kansas City, Missouri, and Los Angeles, California; the Music Shop of Columbia, which supplied the Kimball piano; and the Boone County Lumber Company. The theater management received telegrams of congratulation from United Artists in Hollywood, from stars such as John Barrymore, Charles Chaplin, Gloria Swanson, Buster Keaton, Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford, and from film-makers such as Carl Laemmle and Samuel Goldwyn.
On opening night, the crowd applauded the music of Bob Crowley at the organ console, and master of ceremonies Jack Keith at the piano with his Missouri Orchestra. The evening of enchantment was completed by a newsreel, a cartoon, dancing during the stage show, and the feature picture, "Steamboat Bill Jr.," a United Artists film with Buster Keaton and Ernest Torrence. The Missouri Rockets, later to become the core of the Radio City Rockettes, were the dancers for the evening. Leslie Townes Hope, later known as Bob Hope, was reported to have been part of the dance troupe performing at the Missouri Theatre.
Columbia residents could enjoy all this at the Missouri Theatre for an admission of 25 cents for matinees, or 25 cents (balcony) and 35 cents (floor) for evening shows. Children were admitted for 10 cents at all times. The Theatre ran three shows each week during the first years of existence.
Save the Missouri Theatre
The Missouri Theatre, because of its size and elegance, was a challenge to maintain and operate from its beginning in 1928. The depression of the 1930s meant less money to spend on entertainment, World War II meant that people had less time to spend at the theater, and increasing costs of utilities, projection equipment and movie films during these years caused financial burdens for the Missouri Building Company, Inc. In 1953, the company leased the building to Commonwealth Theaters, Inc., which successfully operated the theater until the 1980s. In 1982, however, rumors spread that Commonwealth planned to modernize the Theatre by gutting the auditorium to make a three-screen cinema complex.
Citizens of Columbia rallied around a project to save the Missouri Theatre. The "Save the Missouri Theatre Now" campaign was started by a committee of the Missouri Heritage Trust. The petition stated:
THE COMPANY WHICH OWNS THE MISSOURI THEATRE (COMMONWEALTH AMUSEMENT, INC.) WANTS TO TURN THIS BEAUTIFUL THEATRE INTO A TRI-PLEX LIKE THE BISCAYNE III. The Missouri Theatre is on the National Register of Historic Places... a National honor --- but the Federal Government has no authority over privately owned properties...therefore the interior can be GUTTED, removing all of the beautiful moldings, paintings and architecture, much of which was brought from overseas.
WON'T YOU PLEASE HELP US TRY TO SAVE THIS LAST REMAINING THEATRE PALACE FROM BECOMING A...CORRUGATED TIN SHOW ???
The petitions were distributed and signed by hundreds of concerned people who realized the importance of the old movie palace. The Columbia City Council and the Missouri Students Association from the University of Missouri also passed resolutions in favor of maintaining the historic and architectural integrity of the Missouri Theatre.
Additional support to keep the auditorium as a single cinema came from a statewide group. The Missouri Preservation News, a publication of the Missouri Heritage Trust, Inc., joined the effort by describing the theater as an endangered building by stating: "The Missouri Theatre is slated by its current lessee, Commonwealth Amusement Corporation of Kansas City, to undergo transformation from an opulent theatre palace to a more profitable three-screen complex."
Because of the pressures exerted by these citizens and organizations, Commonwealth backed off from its plan. The theater struggled on with the profits from a single screen for six more years, staying open until January 7, 1988, when the Missouri Symphony Society purchased the Missouri Theatre.
Visions-Past and Present
J. Dozier Stone, who built the Missouri Theatre in 1928, was a visionary of the performing arts in Columbia.
Hugo Vianello also had a vision in 1973. According to the Columbia Missourian, "Columbia could become the Nashville of symphonic music if Hugo Vianello pursues his dreams with the same vitality he has pursued his musical career...[Vianello] foresees the establishment of a multi-acre cultural center for the practice and performance of music and other performing arts in Columbia."
The Missouri Symphony Society had a vision as well, and also a very real need for a new office space and a permanent hall for practices and performances of the orchestras. True to its vision, the Society moved into the Missouri Theatre in 1988.