Posted
4/25/2006 05:21:00 PM
by Douglas
The Ritz Theater, in all its
glory.In the late 1920s and '30s, Wellington moviegoers flocked to the Ritz Theater to catch the likes of Clark Gable and Shirley Temple on the silver screen.
For decades, film lovers came to the Ritz to see their favorite stars. But by the late 1970s, the Ritz had seen better days and shuttered its doors.
But a new generation soon will enjoy the once-majestic theater thanks to a major overhaul funded by the local Zephyr Foundation and Historic Wellington. Historic Wellington already has spruced up the marquee, and the once-dark Ritz sign glows once again in green and red neon.
The theater, built in 1928, featured a $35,000 Vitaphone and Movietone sound system, cutting-edge technology for showing "talking" movies. But its first big event was that year's local Democratic Party convention.
Hopefully it won't be the site of the 2008 Democratic Party convention in Collingsworth County.