Kossuth County History Buff Blog
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Kossuth County History Buff By Jean Cramer. Saturday, August 1st 2020 The Al Gona Theater It seems that whenever I come up with a topic for a new post, it never turns out the way I initially pictured it. Sometimes my research takes me down a rabbit hole or leads me down, twisting and turning paths. Such is the case in point. My original idea was to do a story on the Al Gona Theater, but that research led to the new Call theater, which led to the old call Opera house. And so my story takes you further back in time. The old call most of us are familiar with the story of the building. Known originally is the Call Opera House, located on Thornton Street, just across the street from the courthouse built by Ambrose, Call and Business Partners in 18 93 it served as an event center for the area hosting many types of entertainment, including live performances of all kinds, political rallies, school plays, graduations and on and on. Until settling into its final role as a motion picture theater, it met its demise in a fiery inferno on April 28th, 1937 N. C. Norm Rice had taken over management of the call Opera House and theater in 1916. 1 of the first things he did was to install equipment for the showing of motion pictures. In 1929 Rice installed a silent system in the Old Call, which rivaled many find theaters in the state. The Rice family, which consisted of wife Harriet and daughter Mary Janice, lived in an apartment located in the call. Harriet was an exceptional pianist, having attended the Boston Conservatory of Music. She worked closely with her husband, managing the call when it burned. The rice is also lost all of their worldly possessions. Plans for a new 700 seat facility began to be discussed, while the embers of the old call still smoldered. The plans never got beyond the discussion stage, though, on the remains of the opera House continued to be an eyesore for more than a year. Occasionally, a brick windowpane or piece of mortar would fall to the sidewalk below, sometimes narrowly missing an unsuspecting passer by. Although the loss of the landmark call was a devastating blow to the community, Alguna was not left without a theater. Rice also managed the Iowa Theater, which was located several doors north of the old call site. The motion pictures that had been booked at the call were able to be screened there.