The Moon Theater was a silent movie theater at 1410 Douglas Street in

Downtown Omaha Downtown Omaha is the central business, government and social core of the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area, U.S. state of Nebraska. The boundaries are Omaha's 20th Street on the west to the Missouri River on the east and the centerline ...

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...

. The 1,600-seat theater was built on the site of Omaha's first movie theater, the Parlor. In later years the theater was renamed the Town Theater and eventually the Cooper Theater. The building was demolished in 1976.

History

The Moon Theater was built for the World Realty Company in 1918 at 1410 Douglas Street, and was built right next door to the existing Rialto Theater. The Moon joined the company's other theaters, the Sun Theater at 1410 Farnam Street and the Muse Theater at 24th and Farnam Streets. A fourth theater, the World Theater would, in later years, join the trio. The Moon Theater was a Moorish-style building designed by Harry Lawrie of the Omaha architectural firm of Mendelssohn, Fisher and Lawrie. The brick and steel structure boasted an exterior finish of

terra cotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta ...

, white

tile Tiles are usually thin, square or rectangular coverings manufactured from hard-wearing material such as ceramic, stone, metal, baked clay, or even glass. They are generally fixed in place in an array to cover roofs, floors, walls, edges, or o ...

and

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphose ...

. Over the entrance canopy hung a sign thirty-feet in height with the image of a crescent moon. The interior included decorative painted panels depicting scenes of historic interest and locations within the U.S. National Parks. Playing off the theater's name, the theater's marquee prior to its opening announced, "''Moon Rises Next Sat Eve,

Sessue Hayakawa , known professionally as , was a Japanese actor and a matinée idol. He was a popular star in Hollywood during the silent film era of the 1910s and early 1920s. Hayakawa was the first actor of Asian descent to achieve stardom as a leading man ...

in Gray Horizons''". During a promotion for ''The Great Air Robbery'', an Essex Motors touring car built to replicate a 600-pound airplane

bomber A bomber is a military combat aircraft designed to attack ground and naval targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry (such as bombs), launching torpedoes, or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. The first use of bombs dropped from an air ...

was driven through the streets of Omaha to the entry of the Moon Theater. In 1929, the Moon Theater became a Burlesque theater. In 1933, it became the Town Theater, hosting both stage shows and movies. Its first stage show under its new name was ''Talk o' the Town''. It was remodeled in 1958 for

Cinerama Cinerama is a widescreen process that originally projected images simultaneously from three synchronized 35mm projectors onto a huge, deeply curved screen, subtending 146° of arc. The trademarked process was marketed by the Cinerama corporati ...

by the

Cooper Foundation The Cooper Foundation of Lincoln, Nebraska, is a charitable and educational organization established in 1934 by Joseph H. Cooper, a long-time theater owner and former partner of Paramount Pictures. It supports nonprofit organizations in Lincoln ...

. It opened as the Cooper Theater with a showing of '' South Pacific'', for a record 78 weeks. At the time, the ''South Pacific'' run set a record for the longest movie run. The Cinerama equipment was later moved to the Cooper Foundation's new

Indian Hills Theater The Indian Hills Theater in Omaha, Nebraska, United States, was a movie theater built in 1962 showcasing films in the Cinerama wide-screen format. Its location was at 8601 West Dodge Rd. The theater's screen was the largest of its type in the Unite ...

. The last movie shown at the Cooper Theater was ''

Serpico ''Serpico'' is a 1973 American neo-noir biographical crime drama film directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Al Pacino in the title role. The screenplay was adapted by Waldo Salt and Norman Wexler from the book of the same name written by ...

'' in June 1974. The theater was demolished at the beginning of 1976. The Union Pacific Headquarters building occupies the lot.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Moon Theater at Night

Moon Theater Advertisement

1922 Photo of Moon Theater

Golden Spike Parade Past Town Theater
Theatres in Omaha, Nebraska History of Omaha, Nebraska Downtown Omaha, Nebraska Demolished buildings and structures in Omaha, Nebraska Cinemas and movie theaters in Omaha, Nebraska Buildings and structures demolished in 1976

History

See also

References

External links