Help Restore the Uptown Theatre to its 1936 glory!

      The Uptown Theatre was donated by Margie (Ghosen) Wagenknecht to Sedalia Downtown Development Inc. in 2006.  Her family, starting with her father, have been entertaining Sedalia with movies and stage shows since the 1920's.  First with three downtown theaters including the Fox and the Star.  Later the family operated the Hiway 50 Drive In (from 1949), Jerry Lewis Cinemas at the State Fair Shopping Center (1976) and finally the Galaxy Cinemas on the site of the former drive-in (1998).
      Before donating the Uptown, Margie paid to repair the theatre's leaky roof, greatly slowing the pace of deterioration.  Now, it's up to the local community to step up and see that this gift counts.   Cash contributions will be required to fund needed improvements so that the theatre can be a venue for live music, popular speakers and comedy acts, corporate, social or political gatherings...a true multi-purpose building.

1936 Newspaper Account Describes Uptown's Appearance

           
          The Uptown Theatre, Sedalia’s beautiful new movie house, 225-227 South Ohio avenue, will be opened to the public Wednesday (June 10, 1936), and J. T. Ghosen, owner, announces the picture for the opening day “The Melody Lingers On” Edward Small’s new Reliance picture.
            The theatre, not only beautiful in its appointments, but most modernly equipped, carries with it all the comforts that are part of the present day, up to the minute theatre.  It was built at a cost greater than $50,000 and Mr. Ghosen spared no expense in making it a playhouse which will attract and please the people of Sedalia and surrounding community.
            The house manager is R.L. Robertson, an experienced theatre manager who with his wife arrived in Sedalia Sunday.  He is a capable and efficient young man and will be welcomed by the citizens of Sedalia as a resident.  Mrs. Opal Baum, who has held the position of cashier at the Star Theatre, will be in charge of the box office at the Uptown.
            The theatre has two front entrances, one on either side of the box office.  Stepping into the main lobby, one finds a sight pleasing to the eye, blue and gold silk velour drapes, chromium and white glass light fixtures, a soft light cast from overhead and wall lights. The floor is covered with a thickly padded carpet of many hues.  Stairs easy to climb, on the right and left hand, lead to the balcony.

Seating For 800

            The main auditorium, which seats five hundred persons, with 300 hundred seats in the balcony, is large and like the main lobby, beautiful to the eye. Walls of rust colored are set off by gold and blue drapes of silk velour. Two immense murals, pained by a theatre decorator, beautify the side walls and their coloring is enhanced by four wall lights, ten feet long, of chromium and glass, in keeping with other fixtures throughout the house. In the center of the auditorium ceiling is a large fixture, giving the desired light effect.

 
             The chairs mean comfort to the theatre goer.   Equipped with springs, they have cushion seats, and are attractively upholstered. Those on the first floor have the backs upholstered with orange and black velour, all giving the streamline effect.  The idea of the whole theatre is modernistic, but not carried out to the extreme.
             The box office is equipped with steam heat, an air ventilator, a specially made safe cemented to the ground, to which there are two keys and it cannot be opened unless both keys are operated at the name time. This is to protect one person who may be forced to attempt to open the safe, which under the system of the one installed, will be impossible.
            Mr. Ghosen has contracted for high class pictures, United Artists production MGM, and Columbia, and is negotiating with other concerns.  He will have a popular price, 25 cents downstairs, 15 cents upstairs, with ten cents for children.
            Special workmen have installed the new high fidelity sound system of the RCA Victor Company. There is a giant loud speaker capable of reproducing the entire range of audible frequencies with the utmost fidelity. The range of volume is such that the merest whisper of the wind in the grass, or the great crescendo of a symphony orchestra, may be heard with equal fidelity. The screen is 13 ½ by 18 feet.   Another delightful feature of the theatre is the air conditioning.
            Mr. Ghosen not only owns the beautiful new Uptown, but also the Star theatre, on West Second street, this city, the Royal at Versailles, the Tipton theatre at Tipton, and the theatre at Sweet Springs.  He recently sold one, at Eldon. With the exception of the Star, all are new buildings erected from the ground up.