Opening today, the new Barron Theater in Pratt, costing $10,000, with 900 seating capacity. It has an orchestra pit in front of the stage, and chandeliers which change colors as the lights are lowered before the movie feature begins. The exterior features a Spanish-style facade, green jade colored glass, red-tiled roofs and ornate ironwork, plus a marquee that boldly displays the name Barron, a tribute to owner Charles Barron.
Today is 1930
Herbert Hoover is president, finding himself in a situation he didn’t create, unable to find a way out. The Great Depression has begun. The president advises: “Patience and self-reliance, are all Americans need to get through this passing incident in our national lives.”
“Bah-humbug!” the ordinary person declares.
Today is 1930, but the day and the month are now lost. For a quarter, one can escape a dismal economic disaster to a movie theater wonderland. But then a quarter was real money when every unemployed man was saying, “Hey Buddy can you spare me a dime?”
The feature film might have been All Quiet on the Western Front, Animal Crackers, Blue Angels, or Paramount on Parade. The animated short one of Walt Disney’s Silly Symphonies. Universal releases a newsreel of the last Civil War veterans on parade. The concession stand served up popcorn at 10 cents a bag, and offer an assortment of candies that include: Jujubes and Jujyfruits, Baby Ruths, Raisinets, and Milk Duds.
People from Pratt love this theater. They love the movies. Then and now, movies were and are an escape from an ordinary life into something magical.
Abandoned, old, and interesting Kansas 