Museum presents talk on the history of movie theaters in Kalispell

Randy and Jim Mohn will speak on "The Golden Age of Moviegoing in Kalispell" at 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 29 in the second installment of the annual John White Series, presented by the Northwest Montana History Museum.

As movies went mainstream in the 1920s, Kalispell entrepreneurs made ready to screen them for avid Flathead audiences. The second installment of the Northwest Montana History Museum's 2023 John White Series will feature a presentation on the history of 80 years of movie theaters in Kalispell.

Starting with Randy Mohn’s grandfather’s entry at Ellis Island when he was two and through his journey to Kalispell, where his father, Marius Anderson and partners bought the property where they would build the Liberty in 1923, the Mohns will trace the proliferation of movie theaters and moviegoing in Flathead County’s largest city. The Anderson family owned theaters such as the Orpheum (later the Strand), the Roxy, Gateway Cinema, and two drive-ins: the Sundown and the Midway.

Jim Mohn remembers that in the mid-1960s the Sundown held two screenings of “North to Alaska” in one night for which they sold 5,000 tickets per showing and traffic backed up for miles. Theaters were the place to be for premier entertainment before movies came online.

“Ushers wore uniforms,” Mohn says. “People dressed up to go to the movies.”

With Randy’s family’s eight decades in the business, before selling in 2000, hundreds of locals worked for the enterprise, representing all ages. The Mohns will present how the business was built, run and the impact of the theater on local culture.

“There are some fun stories,” she says. “Some not so fun — we’ll tell those, too.”

The presentation will begin at 2 p.m. and end with a half-hour social time when the presentation concludes.

Tickets are $15 for members and $20 for nonmembers. Tickets may be purchased online, onsite, or by calling Terri or Margaret, 406-756-8381, option 5 or 6.

The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday at 124 Second Ave. East, Kalispell, MT 59901.