Volume 8 , Issue 9

Homer Jones & Rialto, Ranger, Ritz & Liberty...

We were looking back at some information on our "OkieLegacy" website, because we knew there was another theatre that Homer Jones owned for awhile until it burned in 1933. In the 1920's Homer C. Jones (Jones Amusement Co.) owned the New Opera House (located at 612 Flynn St., NE corner of 7th & Flynn, Alva, Oklahoma). It was originally constructed around 1907 and went by the name of "Grand Opera House" and played road shows of the legitimate stage and musicals. It was later known as the "Liberty Theatre" when Jones Amusement Company acquired it. The Grand / Liberty Theatre burned, except for the brick shell of the building, in 1933 and was never rebuilt.

This is a postcard showing the NEW Opera House on Flynn Ave., that became the "Grand & Liberty Theatre" that Jones owned in the 1920s & 1930s. The Liberty theatre was before my time, though. It must have been a Grand place of the early 1930's.

Besides the Liberty theatre, Jones owned three other theatres back in the late 1920s and 1930s that were known as the "three R's of entertainment" - (Rialto, Ranger & Ritz).

Did you know that Jones Amusement company brought the "first partial talkie" to Alva and equipped the Liberty theatre with "Vitaphone sound discs" on June 7, 1929? The Vitaphone sound discs were a bit before my time, so I never experienced them. How about some of you out there? Ever experience the Vitaphone discs?

Jones also owned the Rialto theatre at the time and left the Liberty to devote full time to the Rialto.

In 1933, there was built the Ritz Theatre on the south side of the square (527 Barnes, later known as Otasco Store).

In 1939, the Ranger Theatre (416 Flynn Ave.) was one of the finest 400 seat houses in the southwest.

Those three theatres were known as the "three R's of entertainment" - Rialto, Ritz and Ranger - were all operated by Jones Amusement until the 1950's when television started to make an impact on the movie business. That is about the time that Jones closed the Ranger and Ritz theatres. The Rialto still remains today in the middle of the 500 block of Flynn Street on the north side of the downtown square.

It always amazes this writer! HOW we are all connected in some way or another -- no matter where we live or where we are at the time.

Roy in Perry remembers, "As far as I know, Homer Jones was the first theatre owner to use a new plastic based paint to seal his theatre's cement floor before installing new seating in Alva. The paint was designed for very easy cleanup (spilled drinks and popcorn oils couldn't be absorbed by the concrete). I was the concession's sales person at the OKC branch of National Theatre Supply at the time -- we sold the paint at discount to Homer so we could find out just how good it really was. I was also operating a theatre at Minco, Oklahoma and was the first to use an epoxy paint on restroom walls to prevent lipstick and other means of writing to adhere. It worked! No more naughty sayings!"

Steve Nicholson reminds us, "I was the projectionist at both the Rialto and the Drive-In back about '56 & '57. Seems like Johnny was just a little boy then. Nice place to work as I remember. Does anyone remember "WaHoo" on Wednesday nites?"
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