By Jonathan Canaday
Special News-Leader
The local theater scene during the 20th century is something that fascinates me.
For me, the research is like time traveling to a different world. This is a world with no smartphone devices, no Hulu or Netflix, and even very few televisions.
According to Cornell University, the first television system broadcast occurred in September of 1927, and very few households owned a television.
For many individuals, a typical Saturday would include a full day of shopping and movie entertainment. Nashville even had a meat market that contained coolers for people to leave their groceries at while they walked main street.
A Brief History
Early theater information is still being researched, but I believe it all started with an opera house and an air-dome theater in the early 1900s. The Princess Theater opened in July 1913 and operated until about 1922. Entertainment included staged minstrel shows, magic shows and silent movies.
Most theaters closed for a couple of years during the Great Depression. Following the economic crisis, more theaters opened, adding to the local entertainment.
Everything changed on Tuesday, March 28, 1939, when the K. Lee Williams Theatres Inc. circuit purchased all three operating theaters in Nashville: the New, the Gem and the Liberty. The Nashville News noted that upon the purchase, the company operated 254 theaters in Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.
Williams had recently acquired 10 additional theaters including De Queen and Dierks.
The Gem Theater, which opened circa 1930, closed for about 90 days and reopened as the new Howard Theater, a modernized motion picture house that was described as the best in this part of the state.
A Rich History
The Howard Theater is not the only business that started at 107/109 S. Main St. It began in 1903 as a general goods store, housing the Wilson & Galloway Grocery Store. The modern-day Nashville Coca-Cola Bottling Co. started here in 1911. A permanent wall was added in the late 1920s and divided the building into two businesses.
Photos depict Barton Grocery in what is now the Elberta Arts Center.
The Gem Theater opened and operated until 1939 at what is now the Nashville Chamber of Commerce location.
Many interesting things can be found at the chamber, if you know where to look.\Look closely enough above the false ceiling, and you will travel back in time to the balcony of the Howard Theater. The original ceiling can be viewed, as well as several comfort additions.\ An art mural can also be found to this day, located in the attic on the south side of the middle wall, depicting a landscape of hills, trees, and even a house.
Howard Theater Renovations
The remodeled Gem Theater included a 42-foot extension on the rear of the building and a 10-foot rise of the ceiling, at an approximate cost of $10,000. A circular marquee was added to the front of the building, brightly illuminated by neon and incandescent lights. A modernistic tower sign rose above the awning. Updates included new décor, additional seating, RCA wide-range sound, heavy drapes in deep wine velvet, and a modern ice-refrigerated drinking fountain.
Nashville News articles described another innovation, a concealed picture screen that would part the curtains at the push of a button.
Cooling system
“The large cooling system which has been installed for the comfort of the patrons during the heated season, is one of the latest and most modern type. Of refrigerated washed air construction, the equipment is housed in a special airtight room atop the theater at the rear, some 25 feet in the air. This room is so constructed that germs and dust cannot possibly get into the air, which is brought into the theater. The air is washed through a series of pumps and discs, then delivered to the auditorium through two large tumbler type fans. The washed air enters the auditorium through a six-foot opening in the ceiling. This equipment is controlled by an automatic system which keeps the temperature in the house at the range of 70 degrees in the hottest weather.”
Advanced Lighting
“Aisle lights placed at intervals provide convenience in seating patrons … the walls and ceiling of the theater have been decorated in contrasting pastel shades and four pilasters on each side carry tubular glass lighting fixtures that are controlled from the projection room. The lighting may be bright, dim, or colored, according to the need.”
Nashville Pride
Articles noted that the Williams organization left nothing undone that would provide comfort and pleasure for the patrons of the Howard. They wanted the theater-going public to have an institution of which they would be proud. The movie house opened with a screening of Myrna Loy and Robert Taylor in “Lucky Night.” Admission ranged from ten cents to twenty-five cents, plus tax.
The Howard Theater was closed in 1953 as the auto drive-in and Elberta Theater opened. This location is now the office of the Nashville Chamber of Commerce.
Sources Cited
(1939, March 28) Nashville News.
