By Cody Berry 

Downtown Benton was once home to three movie theaters but not all at the same time. The Palace was the oldest, then came the IMP (Independent Motion Pictures), which we now call the Royal, and the Victory. The Palace Theater was built in 1919 on West South Street in Benton just around the corner from what became the Royal Theater. The Palace was owned by Charley Womack, and it was hailed as “The Show Place of the South,” by the Benton Courier in 1920. The Palace opened on Friday, March 5, 1920, with the film In Walked Mary. It reportedly had 1,000 seats and a stage.¹ 

In 1917, Wallace Kaufman came to Benton to work as a projectionist for Alice Wooten at the IMP on South Market Street. In May 1920, a fire broke out at the IMP, and it was later determined by Fire Chief Louis Wolchansky’s men that it was arson. Womack was rumored to have been involved and he sold the Palace in June 1920 to the Hefley-Skinner Amusement Company of Oklahoma City. By the winter of 1920, Alice Wooten had taken over The Palace and was planning to show live theater there. The City of Benton purchased it in 1929.²  

The IMP theater was built in 1920. It officially opened on January 14, 1922. By that time, Kaufman had taken over. In 1936, the business was sold to the forerunners of today’s United Artists Communications but the Kaufman’s continued to run it for many years. The IMP was remodeled and renamed in 1949 when the new “Royal” sign was acquired from a theater in Little Rock. The “new” Royal in Benton was designed by architects Frank Ginocchio and Edwin Cromwell who had designed the one in Little Rock as well.³  

The Victory Theater operated for just eleven years (from 1942 to 1953) in the top story of the Bell Building in downtown Benton. That building was built for Dr. J. K. Bell in 1888. In December 2023, Benton resident Brandon Sutton was allowed to see what remains of the old Victory Theater.⁴ He was kind enough to allow the Gann Museum to use a couple of his photographs from that trip. One of them shows names that have been carved into the inside of a second-story window and another shows an old theater seat in the former projection room.  

In our display on these three theaters, we have photographs of all three in their prime years and today. The only one that remains in operation is the Royal which was taken over by the Royal Players from movie star Jerry Van Dyke in 2000. It is now used for live theater not films. The Royal was added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 27, 2003.⁵

Citations:

 ¹ Cody Lynn Berry, Palace Theater, CALS Encyclopedia of Arkansas, https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/palace-theatre-12234/, Date Accessed October 12, 2024. 

² Cody Lynn Berry, “Royal Theater,” CALS Encyclopedia of Arkansas, https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/royal-theatre-12174/, Date Accessed October 12, 2024, and Cody Lynn Berry, “Palace Theater,” CALS Encyclopedia of Arkansas, https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/palace-theatre-12234/, Date Accessed October 12, 2024. 

³ Cody Lynn Berry, “Royal Theater,” CALS Encyclopedia of Arkansas, https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/royal-theatre-12174/, Date Accessed October 12, 2024, and Cheryl Griffith Nichols, “Royal Theater,” National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form, June 4, 2003. Section 8, p. 1. 

⁴ Neale Zeringue, “Benton’s Victory Theater untouched for 70 years; a time capsule rediscovered,” KARK.com, December 1, 2023, https://www.kark.com/news/local-news/bentons-victory-theater-untouched-for-70-years-a-time-capsule-rediscovered/, Date Accessed October 12, 2024, and Rachel Silva, “Walks Through History Benton Commercial Historic District,” March 21, 2015, p. 10 

⁵ Cody Lynn Berry, “Royal Theater,” CALS Encyclopedia of Arkansas, https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/royal-theatre-12174/, Date Accessed October 12, 2024