MALVERN, Ark. — On Thursday, College of the Ouachitas took over the Ritz Theater in Malvern. The theater closed in December after 80 years of business.
College of the Ouachitas plans to remodel the Ritz Theater into a performing arts center that won’t only be useful to the college but will also serve as an event place for the Malvern community.
“Until it closed just a couple months ago it was the second longest active movie theater, West of the Mississippi,” College of the Ouachitas President, Steve Rook said.
The Ritz in Malvern is a theater with a long rich history.
“It was built in 1938 and it burned down in 1947,” Rook said.
In its prime, the theater saw many firsts.
“It was the first movie theater in the south to have air conditioning,” Rook said.
It’s guests also seeing important milestones of their own.
“It was their memories of growing up here, their first kiss here, bringing their children here,” former owner and employee Marla Nix said.
The theater not only served as a place of entertainment but as a source of livelihood.
“I started popping popcorn and went from that on up to running the projector,” former employee Billy Alston, said.
83-year-old Billy Alston started working at the Ritz in 1950. He worked there for 11 years and said that theater saw his family grow.
“I got married and brought my boy with me when I was running projectors when he was about four and five years old. He would sit up there with me and watch the movies. He liked movies and still does,” Alston said.
He said the venue served as a pillar of the community.
“People coming to the movies on Saturday evening because everyone showed up back then,” Alston said.
It’s a feeling echoed by Nix who started working at the theater when she was 16. She eventually became co-owner until she and her husband made the decision to close in December.
“I think that the college is going to take on a big step to keep the theater for the community and to keep the neon burning,” Nix said.
Rook said the school has big plans for the space that will make the space more efficient.
“Typically, we have had to go out of town to have some of our events. People can now have them in Malvern right here in their historic Ritz theater,” Rook said.
The theater will also still provide entertainment.
“Smaller types of acts, musical acts, plays, speakers, those sorts of events can be held here,” Rook said.
There is no established timeline for that renovation but as soon as that center is ready, the college hopes to put on an event that the whole community can attend.
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The money to buy the theater was donated to the College of the Ouachitas. It's now up to the school to find the cash to renovate the venue. Rook said the plan is to apply for grant money.