Weiser Area Theaters

First Movie Theaters in Weiser

Charles E. Phipps and his wife Maud came to Weiser in April 1908 to perform on stage. Phipps was also looking for a suitable town in which to start an electric theater, which was the generic name for a movie theater in 1908.

Subsequently, Phipps leased a building at 12 West Idaho (where the Wells Fargo Bank drive-through teller lane is now located.) Phipps had the necessary equipment close at hand because on April 20, 1908, he opened his doors to the Electric Theater and gave three shows to a crowded house. The newspaper reports were very favorable, despite noting a problem with the electric current. With that success, Charles ordered 4,000 feet of new film, and would change the program every Monday and Thursday.

By the first week in May, Phipps offerings were enthusiastically noted in the press: “The pictures at the Electric Theater are very fine this week. The eruption of Vesuvius is superb and geographically educational, every school boy and girl should see it. The Corsican’s Daughter is also educational. The songs are the best yet….”

Noting the worth of the songs might lead to the  conclusion that these were talking movies, but that was not the case. Silent movies came with a script that told the piano player the type of music to play in accompanying the film to enhance the mood, and made other suggestions to improve the performance. 

But business wasn’t as good as the press opined, and Phipps began holding prize drawings to pull in patrons.

In June 1908, electrical power for Weiser came from the city power plant, and on June 7″ the system failed leaving he city without power, except for those businesses that their own generators. There was a generator at the Electric Theater with enough capacity to run the projector, but not the house lights.

On Saturday, June 13″, a show was about to begin when a lamp, probably coal oil, was knocked from its place in the outer entrance and “exploded.” 

The following story from the Weiser Sem-Weekly Signal of June 17, describes the event: 
“Immediately after the crash of the falling lamp and the flames became visible within the theater, women began to scream and everyone started in a wild stampede for the outer door. For a few minutes the rush was terrific. An unknown man was the first to plunge through the front plate glass window and was followed by Mrs. W.H. Weaver who sustained a badly torn dress and lacerated her right hand. Mr. Young followed his wife; Mrs. Young’s clothes were badly burned and she received several bruises while Mr. Young was painfully injured in the arm and leg. Mr. Dale had his hip put out of place while Mrs. Dale suffered a severe ankle sprain.

Following the people who went through the window, came Viola Brendon whose uncle conducts a bakery, so fast did she run that three men who were in pursuit were unable to catch her while every minute her clothes were being fanned into a fiercer flame. When she had reached the State Street crossing in her wild flight down East Idaho, Mr. P.A. Pyle, the gentleman who has been conducting the sale for Morris Sommer rushed out and by strenuous effort seized the unfortunate young lady, who by this time was wild with fright and fighting like a demon, and threw her to the ground making her fast and calling for men to throw him their coats, many bystanders responded and in a few seconds the flames where extinguished.

It might be said with proper fairness to Mr. C.E. Phipps, the manager, “… that the accident was no fault of the management; that it was Mr. Phipps who covered up and extinguished the exploded lamp and probably prevented a very destructive conflagration….”

Belatedly, on that same Saturday, the city power plant was repaired, but the power was not turned on until Sunday evening.

The excitement of the Electric Theater fire commanded the headlines that Saturday, but just a little over a block away, a new movie theater had opened that evening to little fanfare. 

The Lyric Theater was set up in the Wheaton Theater building. On that Saturday in June 1908, the Lyric attracted some patrons but there was no generator and a movie could not be shown, however, music was provided.

On the following Monday, with the power restored, a movie was shown to a crowded house and everyone enjoyed the pictures and songs.

On Thursday, June 18, 1908, the Electric Theater did not open. An employee who had not been paid his back wages of $35 made an attachment to the theater’s property. The newspaper reported Phipps saying he would repay every cent and reopen. About a week later, on Wednesday, the theater reopened and on Thursday, the Weiser American carried an open letter from Phipps to the public pledging he would soon show the 1900 Pathe’ version of the Passion Play, and continue showing the best in movies.

The Weiser newspapers did not report what transpired in that long week until a month later. The theater was attached and when it became known, a great number of people who felt they were owed went there and took items: the projector, chairs, and other fixtures. Finally a wagon was brought and the piano hauled away. The city 

Sullivan’s Lyric interest in early April; making that partnership now Moyer & Overbeck. A week later Moyer & Overbeck bought the Orpheum, and consolidated the two theaters under the Lyric name in the Orpheum location. Weiser was now back to being a one

movie theater city. Itis difficult to pinpoint the time-—-

perhaps the summer of 1909—–but the Lyric moved from the

State and Main corner to a new location one door south of the

Odd Fellows Hall. In November 1909, Moyer committed

himself to a new career when

he sold his painting business. He

now had the Lyric Theater, a box ball alley on East Commercial,

and he started a real estate office in the back of the Lyric. Life

settled down to normal growth in the

remainder of 1909 and into 1910. At the |

end of March, George traveled to Salt Lake

to purchase equipment for a new theater in

“New Lyric Theater.” In Payette and for a

April 1910 a transformative event occurred.

The citizens of Washington County had

voted themselves dry and all the saloons

and bars closed by April 31st. Also in

April, the Lyric was forced to move again

and relocated to 47 East Idaho on a

temporary basis. It was planned that the i se

5 ; aA: Star Theater in Pythian

Lyric will later move to a new building at

f Castle, photo by Paul Van

37 East Main. Graven, C1912.

after Phipps departed they ran an advertisement for a double
feature including the showing of Nero and the Burning of Rome
and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The Nero film was a 1908 release,
so they were showing new movies. However, the business must
have been a little strained because in mid-August Bowman sold
his interest in the theater to Mr J. S. Overbeck of St. Louis. And
then in late August it became known that T. A. Bowman and
Mrs. Effie 1. Snow would open another theater called the Iris at
451 State Street. The grand opening was on September 21.

The remainder of the fall was fairly quiet; the Lyric
was having power problems and had to buy a generator.
In early December, Effie Snow sold her interest in the Iris
to Donald Numbers; later that month Bowman sold to ae
P. Homan and the new owners, Numbers and Homan,
changed the theater’s name to the Orpheum. The grand
opening of the Orpheum was on Christmas eve 1908.

In 1907 there had been a major recession in America,
but by the start of 1909 the economy was much improved
and many business changes were in the offing. It was not
explained, but the Lyric’s move in early February from the
Wheaton Theater to the Van Sicklin building on the corner
of State and Main was probably economically motivated.
Unfortunately, two weeks later, Herman Haas bought the
Van Sicklin building where he would build a large
hardware and implement store. This event forced the
Lyric to move again, but a savior was riding to the rescue.

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