ShowUp.com
Alliance for Audience

    Organization

    20553img1.jpg

    Rialto Theatre

    Constructed in 1919, the Rialto Theatre was the most elegant and luxurious playhouse west of the Mississippi. Its unique architecture made it a dramatic showcase for plays, films and Vaudeville. The stage was the largest in the western states. The Sistine Choir sang from it, Ginger Rogers danced on it and Tucson's first talking picture was shown from it. The oldest performance theater in Tucson is the Rialto. Its opening served notice that Tucson was now on the nation's cultural map.

    In 1948, the Rialto changed its name to the Paramount. For the next fifteen years the theater was Tucson's premiere movie house, but changes in economics and society caused the Paramount to close its doors for the last time. A decade later, the theater where once orchestras played overtures to discriminating audiences, had become a porno palace.

    Known then as the Cine Plaza, the theater cleaned up its act in 1978 with a switch to first-run Spanish-language films, but a fire in 1981 and a boiler explosion in 1984 bolted its doors again. Unused for a decade and in disrepair, the Rialto was scheduled for demolition.

    Concerned Tucson citizens, recognizing the importance of preserving this architecturally unique structure, negotiated the purchase of the theater property. The non-profit Rialto Theatre Foundation was established in 1995 to raise the funds necessary for the Theatre's restoration.