Roy’s Hall – established 1913
Originally Blairstown’s Main Street Livery, the concrete structure at 30 Main Street was fashioned into a movie theatre and community hall in 1913 by early film exhibitors, Robert Roy and Raymond Smith. Dubbed Roy’s Hall, the building opened for a dance on March 13, 1913 and began screening silent movies twice a week beginning March 29, 1913. A spectacular fire on February 7, 1917 caused major damage to the theatre and destroyed five apartments adjacent to the structure. Rebuilt and modernized, Roy’s Hall reopened on July 14, 1917 and continued to show silent movies until 1930, when it was converted to “talkies.” Although the theatre survived the devastating flood of 1955 when much of Main Street was under water, the heavy competition from television was too great an adversary. Roy’s Hall was forced to close its doors on November 2, 1961.
Roy’s Hall Ads
Two newspaper ads for Roy’s Hall from 1916. Dustin Farnum had starred in Cecil B. DeMille’s The Squaw Man in 1914 and many years later would become the inspiration for Dustin Hoffman’s unusual first name. Theodore Roberts, would later play Moses in DeMille’s 1923 silent version of The Ten Commandments.
Original Roy’s Hall c1916
A very rare photo of the original Roy’s Hall taken shortly before the disastrous fire of February 1917.
Roy’s Hall fire of 1917
Article from the Blairstown Press on the 35th Anniversary of the great Roy’s Hall fire of 1917.
Postcard c1921
The movie poster is this 1921 photo of ROY’s THEATER advertises “The Kid“, a 1921 silent comedy-drama film written by, produced by, directed by, and starring Charlie Chaplin, and featuring Jackie Coogan as his adopted son and sidekick.
Roy’s Theater c1923
A 1923 photo of Roy’s Hall during its days as a silent movie house. The movie was Rags To Riches, featuring character actor, Richard Tucker, who would become the very first member of the new Screen Actors Guild in 1933.
Tickets and Program
A Roy’s Theatre program for “A Man Must Live” starring Richard Dix from 1925. Also pictured are assorted ticket stubs priced from fifteen to forty-five cents. ~ Items donated from the collection of Kenneth Bertholf ~
The Crawling Thing 1959
Roy’s Theater poster from the May 7, 1959 performance of the Crawling Thing stage show. Watch the trailer!
