Flood began work on this plan in 1917, investing in land and building commercial spaces. Work began on the theater itself on March 5th, 1920. Plans for the theater’s features, including fire-resistant concrete, enamel electric sign, and a $20,000 organ (over $250,000 in today's money) were publicized several times throughout the year. Click on the news clippings below for more information!
A photo of Maine Street in the 1920s, after the New Rex was completed.
A reception was held for the New Rex Theatre, as it was known at the time, on December 28, 1920. Speakers included Lieutenant Governor Maurice J. Sullivan, Senator-Elect Tasker L. Oddie, and Congressman-elect Sanyek Arentz, as well as representatives of several Reno clubs and the Southern Pacific Railroad.
This poster for the film shows young Leon on the left, his mother in the center, and adult Leon on the right.
The theater showed its first movie on December 30, 1920, a silent film called Humoresque. Humoresque is a drama that follows the life of Leon Kantor, a violin prodigy born to poor immigrant parents in New York. Leon becomes wildly famous, but his success is interrupted by World War One.
If you wish to watch the whole movie, it is available here.
Theater was a big business in the 1920s, but an expensive one. These books show both the expenses Flood incurred building the theater and the income from ticket sales.
