History &
Pictures
Rialto operator marks 50 years
in film business
Webers still plan to build theater
Opened in 1923 and remodeled with splashy neon
lighting in the 1940s, it is one of only a few
historic theaters that
maintains a daily schedule, with matinees on weekends.
The first theater in Searcy, the Grand, was on the corner of Spring and Race Streets.
It was torn down in 1923 and reopened Nov. 13, 1928, as the "Rialto," and the first show featured music synchronized to a silent drama, an Orchestrola.
In 1931, the theater installed a unit that "forced air through water flowing down tubes on the roof like an auto radiator," creating a cool breeze in the summer months and the owners advertised the theater as "Where the Typhoon Breezes Blow."
Owned by the City of Searcy and operated by Todd Webber
268-6699
Gem Theatre, Heber Springs, AR
