The Rialto Theater was a movie theater at 1424 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 building was razed in 1986 and the site paved over for use as a parking lot. The property was later redeveloped as part of the construction of the Union Pacific Railroad's headquarters building.

History

The 2,500-seat theater was designed by John Latenser & Sons for the Blank Realty Company. The general contractor was Calvin Ziegler. The theater was of

steel frame Steel frame is a building technique with a "skeleton frame" of vertical steel columns and horizontal I-beams, constructed in a rectangular grid to support the floors, roof and walls of a building which are all attached to the frame. The developm ...

construction with

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wid ...

and

masonry Masonry is the building of structures from individual units, which are often laid in and bound together by mortar; the term ''masonry'' can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of masonry construction are bricks, building ...

walls. The theater's exterior was of old ivory and

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 ...

, with accents of

polychrome Polychrome is the "practice of decorating architectural elements, sculpture, etc., in a variety of colors." The term is used to refer to certain styles of architecture, pottery or sculpture in multiple colors. Ancient Egypt Colossal statu ...

blues and reds. There were three prominent arches for advertising over the theater's diagonal corner entrance. Features included a nursery with an attendant, a screening room and large orchestra space with a pipe organ. Store fronts were built along the street level and business offices were available on the second level. The total investment in the building and its outfitting was estimated in 1917 at $300,000. The theater, built primarily for movies, opened to the public on Memorial Day, May 30, 1918. The inaugural movie was '' Raffles, the Amateur Cracksman'', starring

John Barrymore John Barrymore (born John Sidney Blyth; February 14 or 15, 1882 – May 29, 1942) was an American actor on stage, screen and radio. A member of the Drew and Barrymore theatrical families, he initially tried to avoid the stage, and briefly att ...

and

Evelyn Brent Evelyn Brent (born Mary Elizabeth Riggs; October 20, 1895 – June 4, 1975) was an American film and stage actress. Early life Brent was born in Tampa, Florida, and known as Betty. When she was age 10, her mother Eleanor (née. Warner) died, ...

. Initially built for

silent movies A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, whe ...

, the theater was eventually converted to talking movies. The theater closed suddenly on August 2, 1929 and was subsequently sub-divided into several retail establishments. Its later uses included a

bus station A bus station or a bus interchange is a structure where city or intercity buses stop to pick up and drop off passengers. While the term bus depot can also be used to refer to a bus station, it generally refers to a bus garage. A bus station is ...

, a

bowling alley A bowling alley (also known as a bowling center, bowling lounge, bowling arena, or historically bowling club) is a facility where the sport of bowling is played. It can be a dedicated facility or part of another, such as a clubhouse or dwelling ...

, a retail clothing store and a cafeteria before its eventual demolition in February 1986. The theater's large organ was acquired by

Omaha Central High School Omaha Central High School, originally known as Omaha High School, is a fully accredited public high school located in downtown Omaha, Nebraska, United States. It is one of many public high schools located in Omaha. As of the 2015-16 academic year ...

with plans to install it in the school's auditorium. That plan was never executed upon and the organ was later dismantled and sold for scrap. In Season 1, Episode 14, “The Phantom of the Horse Opera,” of the television program, “That Girl”, the Rialto theater is mentioned in the dialogue. One of the characters owns an old organ, and he mentions acquiring it from “...The Rialto Theater in Omaha, NE...”Internet Movie Database
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References

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External links

Rialto Theater
at Cinema Treasures
Street View of Rialto Theater
Theatres in Omaha, Nebraska Theatres completed in 1918 History of Omaha, Nebraska Downtown Omaha, Nebraska Demolished buildings and structures in Omaha, Nebraska Cinemas and movie theaters in Nebraska Buildings and structures demolished in 1986

History

See also

References

External links