Morris Theatre

The Morris Theatre Cooperative is committed to offering area residents an exceptional moviegoing experience. Our intent is to rehabilitate the current historic Morris Theatre, consistent with its original architecture and decor as designed and built by B.J. Benfield in 1940, and continue the long tradition of bringing first-run movies to our area.... The first theater in Morris was the Orpheum, located where the Radio Shack is today. The Orpheum was built in 1912 as an all-purpose space for lectures, graduations, church choral programs, vaudeville, and the new medium of movies. A 1915 advertisement in the Morris Tribune tempted readers with a production Direct from the New York Hippodrome. . . Seven realistic reels presenting America. The ad continued to preview the kinds of sights the audience would enjoy: farm machinery at work in the fields, cars tumbling down mountainsides, Indian ceremonies, New York street life. The final exhortation aimed at parents who might suspect the value of such fare: Bring the childrenIt will educate and amuse them. By the end of the decade, the Orpheum had competition from The Strand theatre, which once stood where Ardelles Eatery is now. The Strand was larger, with about 500 seats, but like the Orpheum it was a multi-purpose facility where one day you could hear a lecture on the Temperance Movement and the next day watch Dorothy Dalton star in Guilty of Love: A Romance of Youths Dreams and Womanhoods Realities (1921). The Orpheum also was the scene of local graduations and public events. Competing against each other in the 1920s, both the Orpheum and the Strand struggled. According to one Morris resident of the 30s, Neither one of them were very prosperous in those days, too much. So Mr. Benfield came to town in the mid 20s and he I guess had done this before, he bought both theatres, locked up the Orthium, and the only time he had it open was like for class plays. . . . There used to be traveling show go through and they would rent it, of course Benfield was in on this, and ...Read More