A century on the silver screen, the Joyland Theatre turns 100
By Melissa Crispin-Piche Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Mellisa Crispin-Piche Photo
A century of movies, memories and popcorn was celebrated at Strathmore’s Joyland Theatre on Sept. 13 when the town’s historic theatre marked its 100th anniversary by taking moviegoers back to the silent film era.
Current owner Jeff Larsen and his wife Kathy hosted an invitation-only screening of Mantrap, the 1926 silent film starring Clara Bow that Larsen said was shown when the theatre celebrated its grand opening.
“My niece, Elaine Laweyssen, did some research digging, and she found the original ad from the Strathmore Standard from back in 1926 of the grand opening of the theatre,” Larsen said. “It was Sept. 3, 1926 and the movie that opened the theatre was the old silent movie called Mantrap with Clara Bow.”
Larsen tracked down a digital copy and decided it would be fitting to show the same film again nearly a century later.
“I thought, well, that’d be fun to, almost 100 years to the date, bring that back and run it in the theatre again,” he said, giving guests a chance to “experience what it might have been like to be sitting in there 100 years ago watching a movie.”
The evening included a short history of the Joyland and the people who owned it over the decades, along with wine, cheese and crackers, birthday cupcakes and naturally, popcorn.
The theatre has a particularly personal history for Larsen. His grandfather purchased it after arriving in Strathmore in 1950 and his father later took over the business.
After years away from his family the Joyland came full circle when Larsen and Kathy purchased it from long time owners Bill and Sheila Crispin in January 2014.
And the anniversary celebration may have offered a glimpse of things to come.
“People have been asking us for some time to bring back classic films and run them in the theatre,” Larsen said.
The Larsens have started to talk about reinstalling film projectors in the projection booth, possibly allowing audiences to once again see classic movies the way generations before them did on film.