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| The Ritz Theater (left) in 1929 with the three-story Lincoln Theater building beyond. |
Loved the Oscars this year, watched in fits and starts after the fact. Who wouldn't be dazzled by Adam Lambert fronting for Queen and that combo of Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper on "Shallow." Heck, I may go watch that again right now.
I even liked "Green Book," although many didn't, but then I'm an old guy and an updated version of "Driving Miss Daisy" made perfect sense to me. Spike Lee had the best line, however.
But I did get to wondering how the crowd that flocked to Chariton's Ritz Theater on Sunday, April 14, 1929, to see the first "talkie" screened in Lucas County --- Antonio Moreno and Helene Costello with Myrna Loy and William Russell in "The Midnight Taxi" --- would have reacted to Hollywood's offerings nearly a century later. We'll never know.
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The brand new Ritz, designed both for movies and live entertainers, had opened on the south side of the Chariton square a year and a half earlier. Harry J. and Jeanette Cramer were the builders and would own the building for many years. But during May of 1928, they leased the theater to Des Moines-based A.H. Blank Enterprises.
This was Abraham Henry Blank, then developing what would become the largest chain of privately owned theaters in the United States. Blank Childrens Hospital, Blank Zoo and many other reminders of the Blank family's benevolence continue to serve us.
When the Ritz opened, Blank already owned controlling interest with Walter Dewey as partner in its principal competitor --- The Lincoln, two doors west. Blank Enterprises now controlled the movie market in Chariton.
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Lucas Countyans learned officially that the talkies were coming to town when The Herald-Patriot announced in its Feb 21 edition, "Talking Movies Coming to Ritz; Owners of Lease Plan Installation of Equipment by May 1."
"Sound pictures began to replace the silent drama in the picture houses in the larger cities of the country about a year ago," The Herald-Patriot reported. "There is considerable expense attached to the changes necessary, and at present the smaller cities would have some difficulty in getting enough changes for a week's program. This is partly due to the fact that while there are a number of companies making talkies, the films are not made alike and are not changeable from one type of producing machine to the type machine made by another firm. For this reason it is probable that the local house will devote a part of each week to sound pictures and the remaining portion of the week to the silent movies."
Their was plenty of room in the Ritz projection room for the new equipment, but manufacturers were having trouble keeping up with nationwide demand, so it wasn't clear when the transition would be possible. A new screen would be needed, too. A Royal Amplitone sound-on-disc set-up had been ordered. A Vitaphone attachment coupled to the projector motor provided the sound --- recorded on 16-inch phonograph discs.
But all of the equipment was on hand by early April and the Ritz was able to announce its opening lineup, "The Midnight Taxi" on Sunday, April 14, followed up by "Women They Talk About" on Monday and Tuesday, April 15 and 16." Fannie Brice in "My Man" would finish the week and Al Jolson in "The Jazz Singer" was coming soon.
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Disaster struck during February of 1930 when a massive fire on the south side of the square completely destroyed the Lincoln Theater building and heavily damaged The Ritz, leaving Chariton movie-less for a couple of months. The Cramers moved quickly however, the Ritz was rebuilt immediately behind its surviving facade and on May 22, the theater reopened.
The theater continued to serve Chariton for many years, and still does as The Connecticut Yankee Pedaller bicycle emporium. We now watch movies, however, at Vision II, located in a new building a block and a half off the square.
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