From the Searcy Library

On Monday night,  January 1?, 1929 the building was opened to the public With a drinking fountain, French doors between foyer & show room. The walls are decorated with candle bracket lights, full-stage curtains & upholstered opera chairs. Private dressing rooms are located underneath the large stage & also a complete heating & ventilating system installed. Mr F.G. Roberts is the new manager.

   May 20, 1929: Admission for talking pictures will be 10c & 40c except for Road show caliber productions.   

   About 1938 joined the Commonwealth Amusement Company. Mr. Blume made arrangements to broadcast th fight between Max Sshmeling & Joe Louis tonight, the 22nd of June direct from the ring for his patrons. The fight will be heard after the comedies & newsreel and before the movie  "Yellow Jack" at the regular prices.

   The Rialto was reopened again in April 1939 after renovations including carpeted foyer & light fixtures on the theater walls that have changeable bulbs.

   The Rialto was reopened again Mar. 15, 1949 after new construction & remodeling which started January 4. A new "V" marquee with vari-colored neon running to the top of the building & a structural glass front with the latest type chrome advertising boards. The entrance & ticket office are being lowered to sidewalk level. At the left of the entrance will be manager & assistant manager's office. The modifications will include 240 additional seats on the lower floor and in the balcony.  Inside the lobby a popcorn & candy bar & modern rest rooms were installed on one side of the lobby. A modern forced hot air heating plant is being installed with a new air conditioning system also.

   K.K. king, manager of the Rialto Theater, announced 14 Mar 1953, that the installation of a new 50-ton airconditioner unit is nearing realization.

From: Searcy, Arkansas: A frontier Town Grows Up With America       
by Raymond Lee Muncy

pages 236-238
    Searcy had its share of theaters when the silver screen was coming of age with stars like Lillian Gish, Clara Bow and Rudolf Valentino. The first theater in town was the Grand managed by D.E. Fitton and located on the northwest corner of Spring and Race Streets. In 1918, W.E. Blume became the manager
and in 1923, the old theater was torn down, and a new one constructed at the same location, later the name was changed to "Rialto." "Our Theater," located on the west side of the square where Mrs. Harris' Cafe is now, was opened Tuesday night, November 13, 1928, and featured the synchronized music of
an Orchestrola with the silent drama. Music was produced by an oversized phonograph with speakers placed throughout the building. The discs had thunder, locomotive, wind, surf, etc., sounds that were synchronized with the movie scenes. Earlier Mrs. W. E. Blume had played a Wurlitzer organ while the
movie was shown and did her own interpretative renditions. Her husband admitted there was a division of opinion on "talking movies," and that most people preferred silent dramas. But there could be no  doubt that everyone would be pleased with the new electronic synchronized music. Blume also claimed
the Vitaphone equipment necessary for showing talking movies was so expensive (fifteen thousand dollars), that he was doubtful if Searcy would ever have one.
     Our Theater.. advertised as "where most people spend their evenings," was an eye-opener for the some three hundred-plus patrons who stood in line for an hour before it opened its French walnut doors for the first time. There were mirrors reflecting the light, soft brown carpets, green velvet curtains, built-in
flower boxes, and lighting which was copied after that of the Royal Theater in Little .Rock. The walls were plastered and painted apple green above and bottle green below. The opera chairs had lights beneath them to enable patrons to see how to find their seats in the darkened theater. Roy Shannon was
as proud as a peacock when he turned on those new projectors and Arline Jones was equally elated when the time came for her to drop the needle on the large disc and hope that neither the projector nor the Orchestrola would outrun the other.  But Blume was not satisfied with the appearance of Our Theater.
It did not smack enough of Hollywood. He hired an artist who worked in plastics for a Hollywood studio to redo the lobby of his theater within five months of its opening. The artist decorated the walls in "high lighting texture work," as he called it, in rainbow colors, and redid the box office in popular green and gold. This
was typical of the era of "conspicuous consumption" which Hollywood aided and abetted, and Searcy was in the mainstream of the times.
     There were all kinds of gimmicks to get people to turn loose of a dime, the price of admission, and go to  the theater. At the Grand Theater on August 28, 1924, the picture "Panjola" was shown in which Anna Q. Nilsson played a role dressed in men's clothing. The theater offered to let the women of Searcy in tree if they would come dressed as a man. Comfort was another drawing card. The Grand Theater proudly advertised in the summer months as the place "where the Typhoon Breezes Blow." A unit which took air from outside and forced it through the building created a constant breeze which was a welcomed relief before
the days of air conditioning. The "washed air" cooling system which forced the air through water flowing down tubes on the roof like an auto radiator was not installed in Searcy until 1931 at the Rialto Theater .
     There had been several theater fires throughout the nation during the Roaring Twenties resulting in the loss of human lives. This caused some people to refuse to attend the theaters, and the local proprietors attempted to allay their fears by pointing out the fire proof features of their houses. The Grand Theater frequently pointed  out that their building "with its heavy brick walls. steel framed roof, metal ceiling and wide doors is practically free from the terrible danger of fire which menances the patrons of so many picture show houses.
     The theaters in Searcy during the third decade of the twentieth century offered a variety of entertainment for varying tastes. Jasper, the popular dog of the movies. like the later Rin Tin Tin and Lassie. paid Searcy a visit in 1927 and appeared at the Grand Theater. Searcians were first treated to a parade in his honor during which he walked down Race Street proudly carrying the American flag in his teeth, The movie, '..When a Dog Loves," featured Jasper, who was likely the first movie "star" to visit Searcy. There were no "X" or "R" ratings in movies, as it was regarded the responsibility of the pictures to uphold the virtues and values of the times. There were always tempters and temptresses, villains and violence. misery and misfortune, but virtue always triumphed. In 1920, the Grand Theater showed "What Every Woman Learns" to Searcy audiences, in which Enid Bennett refused to wed a dependable youth because he bored her at times. She wanted a man who could amuse her continually. .'But what did she draw? There is a moral here, girls. Beware of the lounge lizard and the parlor clown in preference to the staid but sterling youth. Every girl has a problem, and if she does not decide upon the right man she has a whole lifetime to repent." 142 Some weddings were not so tragic. The Phoenix Club staged one at the Grand Theater in 1928 that had all the earmarks of connubial bliss. It also netted over sixty-six dollars for the public library fund. The performances before the mock wedding were the main feature as Mrs. Ben Grisham played the piano, Jamie Baugh played the violin, and Mrs. Wyatt Sanford and Mrs. Theron Ford sang. "Parson" C.E. Yingling united two males, Willie Blume and Edwin Robbins in the bonds of "'holy confusion." It was fitting that the movie shown afterwards was entitled II A Night of Mystery.
     Despite W .E. Blumes' earlier prediction, talkies did come to Searcy and, in fact, he purchased the equipment to show them for his own theater. The first "talkie" show at Our Theater was "The College Coquette" on May 11, 1929. Earlier that year the Grand Theater had been overhauled by F. G. Roberts and given the name of the New York Theater district then being adopted all over America. "The Rialto." The new theater had to come up to the standards of the competitor on the west side of the square if it stayed in business. and it did just that. There were new carpets in the foyer, mirrors, the ever-popular French doors, brightly colored walls, candle-bracket lights, maroon curtains and upholstered opera chairs. There were also private dressing rooms under the stage for the vaudeville companies and other performers who wished to book the theater. Bernard Jamison flicked the switch to start the film, "The Goodbye Kiss," and Lillian Robbins sat at the Pitt pipe organ and managed to convey the actors' moods in music.144 Before the year 1929 was out, the new Rialto had talking pictures and the reeds of the organ were silenced in deference to progress. When C. M. Boyd, minister of the First Presbyterian Church, heard that both Rialto and Our Theater were putting in Vitaphone talking pictures systems, he was certain the town could have a much "higher type of entertainment" than what the silent films had heretofore provided. The Rialto's first talking picture was "The Prisoners," starring the beautiful Corinne Griffith with Bohemian music played by the Vitaphone Music Masters. A "talking comedy" entitled "His Night Out" was shown immediately preceding the main feature.

pages 339-342
       Movies were the favorite wartime entertainment, and the themes of pictures capitalized on the moods of Americans at home and the action of Americans abroad. Some of the movies shown in Searcy at the Plaza were "Submarine Alert," "Bomber's Moon," and "We've never Been Licked." At the Rialto one could see "Destroyer," "Watch on the Rhine," "Behind the Rising Sun," "Bataan," and "So Proudly We Hail." The latter was about heroic service women. The motion picture "I Love a Soldier" was shown October 19 and 20, 1944, at the Rialto, and Searcians were able to see a local girl in several of the scenes. Sergeant Kathy Jamerson, a former beautician at the Powder Puff Beauty Shop, was a WAC on location in Utah when the movie was filmed.
       Community sings were always entered into with gusto as movie audiences followed the bouncing ball over the words on the screen. War-weary Searcians were given opportunity to shed their inhibitions and try to harmonize on old favorites as "Let Me Call you Sweetheart" and "Down by the Old Mill Stream." There were a few new ones like "Let's Remember Pearl Harbor," "You're a Sal' Mr. Jap," and "Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition. ..." Both the Plaza and Rialto urged people to buy War Bonds and Stamps, even if they sacrificed going to the movie to do so. They reminded Searcians: "If we lose this war there won't be any fellows taking their gals on a Saturday night date to hold hands in the balcony."
       There were all types of gimmicks used in order to get Searcians to attend the movies in this era. K. K. King and Jack Bomar entered a friendly bet to see who could persuade the most people to attend the Rialto and Plaza respectively during certain designated weeks. The showing of a horror film enabled Jack to win. The agreement had been made previously that the loser would climb to the top of their respective marquee and sit there throughout the evening. "Deacon" King accommodated a large crowd that appeared in front of the theatre on Wednesday night, August 14, 1940, by mounting a ladder and taking a comfortable chair atop the old marquee.
     Three months later the old marquee was torn down and a new one in- stalled. The five-colore9, sixty-seven foot sign had three hundred feet of neon tubing making it the largest neon sign in White County.
    The Paramount Studios in Hollywood honored the manager of the Rialto and Plaza theatres, K. K. King, with a gift of the original motion picture script "Untamed." The script was displayed in the lobby of the Rialto and Searcians were given a close-up view of the document, which bore the signatures of the stars of the picture, Ray Milland, Patricia Morison, William Frawley, and Akin Tamiroff.
     "Deacon" King made friends with several Hollywood stars on his numerous visits to the industry's conventions. Possibly his closest friend in the world of stars was Tex Ritter, who visited King at his home in Searcy on several occasions. Another familiar face at the Rialto and Plaza Theatres during and after the "Duration" was Herbert Chatman. Patrons were always losing items to the theatres and the common advice to the loser was "see Herbert." During the decade of the forties Herbert returned two thousand, three hundred dollars in cash lost in the two theatres in addition to watches, rings, clothing, glasses, books, purses, umbrellas, etc.
     The best attended and possibly most enjoyed performances at the theatres were those which featured local talent, a commodity of which Searcy seemed to have an abundance. The annual Floozie Show staged by the Young Business Men's Club was an attraction few dared to miss and the participants wished to be forgotten quickly. The 1940 version of the show featured "Flapper Fannie" Smith, the winner, "Curley Locks" Ball, "Slinging Hip" Gilliland, "Gorgeous" Cone, "Saucy" Huff, "Moll" Yancey, "Oomphy" Hart, and "Daisy Mae" Byler. It was all for charity. The wildest thing that was attempted was the "Screwball Show." The theatre had some pretty strict rules, to permit patrons' minimum disturbances and inconveniences while they watched the films. However, on June 25, 1941, all rules were suspended during that one evening and anyone was allowed to do anything he wished. If a movie-goer wished to ride a scooter down the aisle, that was his privilege. If an aspiring vocalist wished to go to the stage and sing for the audience, that was allowed, too, only the audience was not required to listen and could toss tomatoes if they felt the compulsion. The same held true for the employees. If the ushers preferred to turn cartwheels rather than show a patron to this seat, that, too, was allowable. The place was packed when the pandemonium broke loose, and Deacon decided to go back to the house rules for all time to come.
      In an effort to publicize the movie "Cheaters," starring Joseph Schildkraut, Deacon King arranged a quiz show to be held on the stage of the Rialto between six members of the Searcy High School faculty and six members of the senior class. John Stotts, Kathryn Martin, Jarrett Dean Smith, LaVerne Blankenship, Mary Anne Hestir and Bobbie Rogers gave a good account of themselves and their training by their mentors W. L. Mason, George Hunter, Mrs. John Fuller, Virginia Stotts, Johnnie Reda Stroud and Rowena Paschall.

City of Searcy     White County Government