Lincoln Theatre: Winchester’s theater for ‘colored people’

Silent films took the coun­try by storm in the ear­ly years of the twen­ti­eth cen­tu­ry.  The silent film era in Winchester began in 1907 and end­ed with the first “talkie,” which made its appear­ance at the Leeds in 1929.  During that era, a dozen of these “nick­elodeons,” opened in the down­town area.  They got the name from the nick­el admis­sion charge.  In the begin­ning, most of the films were “one reel­ers,” one thou­sand feet of film that ran for about fif­teen min­utes.  As pub­lic amuse­ments were lim­it­ed at the time, cit­i­zens flocked to the new the­aters, and a cul­tur­al rev­o­lu­tion was born. 

Winchester then was a seg­re­gat­ed city, and the ear­ly the­aters were for whites only.  To expe­ri­ence the new craze, African Americans had to trav­el to Lexington’s Gem Theater, owned by the black entre­pre­neur R. F. Bell.  At the start of 1912 there were three white the­aters in Winchester:  the Auditorium on South Main, Winchester Theatre in the Opera House, and Lyric Theatre on Court Street.  That changed with the open­ing of the Lincoln Theatre at 51 North Maple Street.

Clarence B. and William W. George, pro­pri­etors of the St. George Hotel, erect­ed a 26 foot by 98 foot frame build­ing and leased it out for “a the­ater for col­ored peo­ple.”  The George broth­ers asked William Webb Banks to name it.  Banks, a local edi­tor and polit­i­cal orga­niz­er, chose the name to hon­or Abraham Lincoln.  The Winchester Sun report­ed that the Lincoln Theatre for­mal­ly opened its doors on March 14, 1912. 

“This is one of the most hand­some col­ored hous­es of amuse­ment in the state.  It has over two hun­dred opera chairs.  Miss Anna B. Wilson is tick­et sell­er; Mrs. Daisy Gordon pianist; and Miss Sallie McBotts soloist.”

The trade jour­nal Motion Picture World also car­ried a notice:  “The Lincoln Theater has opened in Winchester, Kentucky.  Only col­ored peo­ple are admit­ted.  The house is built on mod­ern lines, elec­tric lights and oth­er essen­tials being in evi­dence.  Early busi­ness indi­cates that the ven­ture will be a success.”

Regular news about the the­ater appeared in the Sun’s “Colored Column.”  Films were shown on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.  An entry on May 18 stat­ed that “Vaudeville fea­tures are to be added to the Lincoln Theater.”  These were films rather than live acts.  The actors in these films were prob­a­bly white, as they were in the dra­mat­ic films.  Although black vaude­ville had been around for decades, the ear­li­est film I could find came out in 1935: “An All Colored Vaudeville Show,” which fea­tured singing and danc­ing and head­lin­ing Cab Calloway.

By 1914 the the­ater began sched­ul­ing live enter­tain­ment, such as con­certs and lec­tures.  Most of the events were fundrais­ers for schools, fra­ter­nal groups, church­es, and the “Colored Ladies’ Hospital League.”  For exam­ple, the Sun report­ed that Letilla Ranels and Ella Cheeks, teach­ers at Oliver School, enter­tained at a school ben­e­fit.  There was no men­tion of their program.

The the­ater also host­ed live min­strel shows with local per­form­ers.  These fea­tured com­ic acts, danc­ing and singing, which often includ­ed gospel.  Surprisingly, on one occa­sion the the­ater actu­al­ly host­ed a black­face min­strel com­pa­ny.  A 1923 notice stat­ed that due to a sched­ule con­flict at the Opera House, the Al G. Fields’ Minstrel Company would per­form at the Lincoln Theater.

In 1919 Mary Curry, pro­pri­etor of a restau­rant on Washington Street, took over man­age­ment of the the­ater.  One of the first movies she sched­uled was Uncle Tom’s Cabin.  The five-reel film was adapt­ed from Harriet Beecher Stowe’s best-sell­ing nov­el, cred­it­ed with fuel­ing the abo­li­tion­ist cause.  On meet­ing her at the White House, Lincoln report­ed­ly said, “So you’re the lit­tle woman who wrote the book that made this great war.”

The film had nev­er been shown in Kentucky.  The local chap­ter of the Daughters of the Confederacy placed a paid notice in the Sun appeal­ing to the author­i­ties to pre­vent the show­ing.  I could find no men­tion of whether the movie actu­al­ly played, but I’m guess­ing not.  We know that W. W. Banks advised against it, prob­a­bly fear­ing that it might pro­voke violence.

Mrs. Curry began show­ing movies every day except Sunday.  Due to the increased cost of films dur­ing the War, she raised admis­sion prices to 15 cents for adults and 10 cents for chil­dren.  Five-reel movies were the most pop­u­lar, but some evenings fea­tured sev­er­al two-reel come­dies.  There was no black film indus­try at the time, so all the movies at the Lincoln had white casts.  Westerns became pop­u­lar with Lincoln audi­ences in 1920.  One of the most cel­e­brat­ed show­ings that year was “Heart of Wetona” with American screen idol Norma Talmadge.

The Lincoln closed a num­ber of times due to poor atten­dance, but then reopened under new man­age­ment.  The Sun did not men­tion the first the­ater man­ag­er but did name suc­ceed­ing man­agers:  Lewis H. Evans (from Louisville), December 1912; Sphar Swift (Winchester), July 1914; Robert Jackson (Dayton), May 1916; Frank A. Ogden (Irvine), August 1916; Mary Curry (Winchester), May 1919; and Nellie Glover (Winchester), July 1922.

The last men­tion of the Lincoln in the “Colored Column” was in 1923, when local busi­ness­woman Nellie Glover was oper­at­ing the the­ater.  The build­ing is labeled “Storage” on the 1926 Sanborn Insurance Map.  The site is now occu­pied by Best Donut of Winchester.