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Walt Disney's Kansas City
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Operating from 1918 to 1970, this location was once the site of Isis Theatre. It was housed in the Wirthman Building and operated by Fox Studios. The extravagant Egyptian style theater was nicknamed by the media “The Irresistible” and was considered by many at the time to be the finest theater outside of downtown. Notable musician Carl Stalling played the organ for silent films in the theater's early years, including some of Walt Disney’s animated shorts. By the late 1960s, this stretch of Troost Avenue was beginning to see neglect, causing business to decline and the theater to shut down in 1970. The theater remained vacant until the Wirthman Building was razed in 1997. It is now the site of a surface parking lot and busy public bus stop.


The Wirthman Building and Isis Theatre c. 1940. Courtesy of Missouri Valley Special Collections, Kansas City Public Library.

Isis Theatre c. 1940

The Wirthman Building was originally built as 2 stories in 1917. The Isis Theatre opened in 1918 and three floors were added in 1922. Courtesy of Missouri Valley Special Collections, Kansas City Public Library.

Wirthman Building and Isis Theatre c. 1918

The lobby of the Wirthman Building which was the entrance to the Isis Theatre c. 1928. Courtesy of Missouri Valley Special Collections, Kansas City Public Library.

Isis Theatre lobby

The marquee of Isis Theatre promotes "The Cohens and Kellys" silent film c.1928.

Isis Theatre marquee

A rare letter from the Isis Theatre to the Cole Theatre Supply Co. raves about how great their new equipment, dated Dec, 3 1921.

Isis Theatre letter

A crowd gathers outside of the Isis Theatre c. 1945. Courtesy of Missouri Valley Special Collections, Kansas City Public Library.

Isis Theatre crowd

The cover of an early program for the Isis Theatre. Courtesy of the Kansas City Museum, Kansas City, MO via Pendergast KC, Kansas City Public Library.

Isis Theatre program

A destructive fire in March 1939 caused the Isis Theatre to close for nearly seven months. It reopened on October, 6 1939 with a crowd of nearly 25,000 in attendance. Courtesy of Missouri Valley Special Collections, Kansas City Public Library.

Isis Theatre reopening

An image of fire damage to the stage of the Isis Theatre. The theatre was subject to three fires in its five decades of operation.

Isis Theatre fire damage

Musical composer Carl Stalling was the organist for Isis theatre in the 1920s. He was the musical director for Walt Disney before making a career at Warner Brothers.

Carl Stalling

Located inside the Wirthman Building at the southwest corner of 31st Street and Troost Avenue, the Isis Theatre opened on August 21, 1918. Many considered the Isis Theatre to be the finest suburban theater in the city as its Egyptian style design exuded extravagance. It offered many amenities and 1,400 seats. The theatre was owned and operated by the Midwest regional chain of Fox Studios and featured premier films until 1968. 

The theater was subject to several fires over the years. The first occurred in 1928 when the stage caught on fire. On March 9,1939 a second fire to the building devastated the theatre and did not reopen until October 6, 1939. For this reopening ceremony, the 3100 block of Troost was closed and an estimated 25,000 people attended. The third fire was in 1954 and caused considerable damage. However, by this time the once-booming district was beginning to suffer due to social, racial and economic divides. 

By 1968, frequent robberies and vandalism caused business to decline and dwindling audiences resulted in the Isis becoming an adult-film theatre. On March 15, 1970, a violent clash between local youths and the police resulted in extensive damage to the theatre, leading to its closure later that spring. Other businesses occupied the Wirthman Building through the 1990s, but the entire structure was razed in 1997. 

Musical genius Carl Stalling was the organist for the Isis Theatre in its earlier years. He created and played music to silent era films on a $22,000 Hope Jones Organ (which would currently be worth nearly $450,000 from a 1918 to 2022 conversion). The Isis Theatre is also where Stalling first met Walt Disney in the early 1920s, when he played music for his short animated films. Stalling also supplied the struggling animator and his movie-going friends with free tickets. In June 1923, Disney’s Laugh-O-gram Films studio moved into an office here when he defaulted on rent at the McConahay Building, just a block away at 31st and Forest. However, he filed for bankruptcy in July and left for California. Stalling would later follow Disney to California where he created the Mickey Mouse theme song, became the first musical director of Disney Brothers Studio, and scored nearly 1,000 cartoons throughout his career at Warner Bros. Studio. 

In celebration of the neighborhood's rich history, local artist Alexander Austin painted a 100-foot mural on the side of the once-neighboring building to the south. It includes a tribute to the Osage Tribe - the original landowners of this area, Martin Luther King Jr., Walt Disney, and the iconic Isis Theatre.

Salley, Paul. Isis Theater, Cinema Treasures. Accessed April 6th 2022. http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/1430.

Albright, Hunter. Isis Theater, African American Heritage Trail. Accessed April 6th 2022. https://aahtkc.org/isis-theater.

Viets, Dan. Burnes, Brian. Walt Disney's Missouri: The Roots of a Creative Genius. Edition Illustrated. Kansas City, Missouri. Kansas City Star Books, 2002.

The Re-Opening of Isis Theatre, Kansas City Public Library. Accessed April 6th 2022. https://kchistory.org/image/re-opening-isis-theatre.

Calculate the Value of $1 in 1918, Dollar Times. Accessed April 6th 2022. https://www.dollartimes.com/inflation/inflation.php?amount=1&year=1918.

Image Sources(Click to expand)

https://kchistory.org/image/isis-theater

https://kchistory.org/image/isis-theater-1

https://kchistory.org/image/isis-theater-2

http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/1430/photos/68613

http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/1430/photos/68613

https://kchistory.org/image/isis-theater-marquee-0

https://pendergastkc.org/collection/10792/kcma-c163-0002/isis-theatre-program-excerpts

https://kchistory.org/image/re-opening-isis-theatre

http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/1430/photos/68613

https://www.awn.com/animationworld/music-animation-golden-years