Early Movie Theaters—Elkton and Chesapeake City (Part 3)

Early Movie Theaters—Elkton and Chesapeake City (Part 3)

The Rio Theater, with coming attractions posted on each side. Note Jumping Jim’s barber shop at right, circa 1941

The Talkies—Elkton

          Bill Baker recalled the first talkies in Elkton. “Later on, there was a movie theater in the New Central Hotel. The movies there were modern compared to the ones shown in the Clayton Building. They had sound then. I believe Mr. Lewis owned the New Central building. The Ritz Hotel was right alongside of the New Central. It had three stories and was very narrow, no wider than this room. Back during the war, when girls came up from the South to work in the defense plant, they had rooms in the Ritz Hotel, and they rented them out in three shifts. Nine girls had one room, but they slept in shifts, three girls at a time.”

At one point in the late forties or early fifties the New Central Hotel burned down. From then until the Elk Theater was built on North Street the movies were shown in the Elkton Armory. As Vic McCool recalled, special permission was given to the Conley brothers to show the films there, and servicemen were admitted free. Elkton’s Jack Loomis remembers watching movies in the Armory. He believed that they were shown for a period of about two years.

My own recollections are vivid; I remember hitchhiking to Elkton from Chesapeake City to watch the movies at the Elk Theater. I was a young teenager, and I would walk to the end of the bridge on the South Side and thrust out my thumb. In a few minutes I’d be on my way. I recall walking past the old Singerly firehouse and Elkton Auto Parts and then I’d be there, next to the ticket booth and surrounded by the “Coming Attractions” windows.

Elkton resident, Rich Juergens had vivid memories as well.  “I can still see old Mrs. Kelly, with her purple hair, sitting in the ticket booth. Tickets were 25 cents until you were a teenager and then they were 35 cents. Well, she would always let me in for 25, even though I was a pretty good sized teenager. I recall the concession stand on the right and the ticket collector beyond that as you walked in. The bathrooms were at the back, around the corner on the right. I have a clear memory of the mural or painting with colonial figures, and nearby was a banner with ‘Head of Elk’ in large, clear letters. Also visible was a large neon clock.”

The Talkies—Chesapeake City

The first movie I ever saw as a young boy was at the Rio. It was a big, white building on Chesapeake City’s south side. It was on George Street, just a few steps from the lift bridge that was destroyed in 1942. Next to the Rio was another unforgettable small building, Jumping Jim’s Barber Shop, where for 50 cents I could get a haircut while listening to Amos and Andy on the always-active radio.

I remember walking into the Theater and seeing the projector mounted on a platform at the left. I’d walk down the long aisle and sit in the middle, pretty close to the screen. I recall how loudly the projector chattered from the back of the room, and how we all yelled and stamped our feet when the reels had to be changed.

Lee Collins had many clear recollections of the Rio. “It was a popular attraction in the 40s and 50s, especially on Saturday afternoon. Those were the days of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, Hop-a-Long Cassidy, Durango Kid, Tim Holt, and Abbott and Costello to name a few. Admission was around 50 cents if you used the ticket booth entrance or free if you entered through the rest room doors in the back of the building.

         “The wooden fold-down type seats were hard and loaded with chewing gum on the bottoms. The film would break at times and everyone would yell until the movie resumed. The screen had a few spots on it and was torn in a couple of places but still acceptable. The lighted rest room signs were to the left and right of the screen, and the Ladies Room sign was a silhouette of a female figure and a mirror. The Men’s Room sign was a silhouette of a man in a top hat.”