The theater in Washington, Iowa, has been showing movies since the 19th century.
The theater in Washington, Iowa, has been showing movies since the 19th century.
Transcript
[Kohlsdorf] In Washington, Iowa, on the east side of this classic small town square sits what Guinness World Records calls the oldest continuously operating movie theater in the world.
[Michael Zahs] It started as an opera house. An opera house was a multi-purpose building. High school graduations were here, you know, lots of programs were here. They seated about 700 people. Now it seats about 300. At that time had two balconies. Now it has one. It was a big deal. And people supported the local entertainment venues.
[Kohlsdorf] What began as the Graham Opera House took on a new life in the late 1890s, when local farmer and inventor Frank Brinton assumed management. Brinton became a world traveling showman, displaying early movie technologies for paying audiences. That meant people here in Washington were treated to the latest motion pictures available. In 1931, the Graham Opera House became the State Theater. 50 years later, a discovery in the basement of a nearby farmhouse unlocked a story fit for the cinema.
[Michael Zahs] I cleaned out a basement in August of ‘81, and in that basement was one of the largest collections of early motion pictures in the world, about 140 and also over 1,300 magic lantern slides.
[Kohlsdorf] Zahs had stumbled onto Brinton's collection of rare turn of the century images and film reels, including two works by legendary French filmmaker Georges Mélies, long thought to have been lost. An Iowa City film team captured the story in the celebrated 2017 documentary film Saving Brinton, bringing new attention to the State Theater and its record longevity.
[Michael Zahs] I had said for a number of years that I think we probably have been showing motion pictures longer than the rest of the world. And finally, some people kind of took up my dare and started doing the research. And they found that there had been motion pictures shown here since 1897. And then after we got that recognition here on stage, I found that they started showing motion pictures here the year before.
[Kohlsdorf] Acquired by Fridley Theaters in 2001, the State Theater has been lovingly restored and remains a vital part of this community.
[Michael Zahs] We're the best audience in the country, and I really think that we're out on the farm all week, and you'd come in and you wanted to be a good audience, and you laughed even if you thought it was silly instead of funny. But we were a good audience, and we still are.