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It has been a long road over 100 years for the Rialto Theater. At times, it was a bumpy one.
The Rialto Theater has been the mainstay of downtown Loveland since it opened in 1920.
Its origins can be traced to the 1919 Loveland Daily Herald announcing that a “… magnificent new opera house, modern in every respect … ” was planned in the heart of downtown Loveland.
William C. Vorreiter, president of the Bank of Loveland, hired Denver architect Robert K. Fuller. The design selected was art nouveau, and construction took place during the winter of 1919-20.
After the end of World War I, prosperity abounded in the United States. Motion pictures were relatively new and captured the public’s imagination.
Loveland already had two movie theaters, the Novelty and the Majestic. Both were small and known as nickelodeons for the nickel they charged for a short feature.
In contrast, Rialto owner Vorreiter’s vision was to offer the public a full-scale theater that rivaled those in Denver.
For its grand opening, the screen version of Zane Gray’s “Desert of Wheat” was shown with the comedy “The Dew Drop Inn.” Prices for opening night were inflated to 55 cents for adults and 25 cents for children. Normal ticket prices ran from 10 cents to 35 cents, depending on the movie shown.
The Rialto was fitted with 1,014 wooden seats and had a modest orchestra pit, a stage and small dressing rooms.
During its early years, not only were movies shown, but the theater hosted traveling vaudeville acts, local talent shows and even graduations.
Movies at the time were silent, and a small theater orchestra provided background music. This was expensive, and in 1928, a Wurlitzer theater organ was purchased. A single organist could provide music as well as a host of sound effects.
The organist had to improvise and keep an eye on the screen so that the music fit the scene. Fast music was played for a chase, while slow romantic music was played for a love scene.
The Wurlitzer was fitted with percussion instruments including chimes, harp, xylophone and drums. The organist could also actuate whistles, bells, automobile horns and the clippity-clop of a horse as required.
For its debut, one of Colorado’s leading organists, Earle Sherdelle, was hired by management for the first show. The movie selected was “The Shepherd of the Hills,” based on favorable reviews. For this event, a full program was presented for 40 cents. It started with the popular Paramount News followed by a comedy short. The feature film came last.
Don Wick, a former Loveland resident and Hewlett-Packard employee, purchased the Rialto organ. He added, “The Wurlitzer organ was purchased new in May of 1928. ‘Talkies’ came later that year, and the Rialto installed one of the early sound systems in Colorado. As a result, the organ saw little use and only for silent movies. It was mainly used for pre-show and intermission entertainment. It was sold to the First Methodist Church in Midland, Texas in the early 1940s … I acquired it in about 1974 when the church was being remodeled. I restored it to original condition and sold it in 1981. The organ is now in the Dougherty Antique Museum in Longmont and can be seen there.”
The Great Depression of the 1930s cost Vorreiter his personal fortune and with it, the Rialto Theater.
It was eventually purchased by Gibraltar Enterprises. They did the theater’s first renovation in 1935-36 and changed the seating on the main floor to 700 upholstered chairs. Added were chandeliers and for audience comfort, an evaporative cooler.
Gibraltar Enterprises brought in one of their best managers, Ted Thompson.
Ted and his wife Mabel arrived in 1935 and kept the Rialto open using clever promotions. Loveland’s storefronts were plastered with colorful movie posters. Whenever the popular “Thin Man” film series came to town, the Thompsons painted downtown fire hydrants white with black lettering that spelled “reserved for Asta,” the name of the dog in the series.
In 1941, Gibraltar Enterprises redecorated the Rialto with new carpeting and an art deco look that covered the old murals. This backfired, however. The farm boys arrived in their overalls and were turned away by the fancy additions.
Quick to respond, Thompson brought in bales of hay and had the usherettes in gingham dresses. The male employees wore blue jeans, and business picked up.
The Thompsons stayed with the traditional format for theaters of that era with a newsreel followed by cartoons and coming attractions. The main feature was shown last. Fridays and Saturdays were reserved for Westerns.
Ted and Mabel Thompson retired from the theater business in 1947 to open the Dude Corral Restaurant at the south end of Lake Loveland, but they are also responsible for starting the Valentine card re-mailing program, a tradition that continues today.
Nothing lasts forever. The Rialto’s business fell as the large multiplex theaters made inroads.
In October 1977, the Rialto featured “Star Wars” and it ran for six weeks. This was the longest engagement in the theater’s history, but this was also the Rialto’s last regularly scheduled movie.
What followed was building’s conversion into a second-rate shopping mall. The balcony became offices and the main floor was raised to the level of the stage. A drop ceiling completed the conversion covering the murals and the leaded glass “Rialto” over the entrance.
The mall was not a financial success, and the building sat abandoned until Felicia Harmon came along. She was the director of the Downtown Development Authority and started a movement to return the Rialto to its former glory for special features and the performing arts.
In 1987, the Rialto was purchased by the Downtown Development Authority, and the following year, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
In 1993, a grant was given by the State Historical Fund for its restoration. Volunteers worked for 14 months tearing out the vestiges of the mall leading to the theater’s restoration.
The city of Loveland purchased the building for $500,000. Feb. 17, 1996 marked the official grand opening of the fully restored Rialto Theater.
Now the centerpiece in Loveland’s downtown area, the Rialto grew to become an example of the type of restoration work that could be done to return other historic structures to a useful purpose.
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