PARKERSBURG – When the Smoot Theatre was built by the Smoot family in 1926 the Vaudeville circuit was filling Parkersburg theaters with up to five shows a day.

The Smoot family owned two other theaters in town plus the Smoot Advertising Company, which they used to promote upcoming shows.

The popularity of Vaudeville entertainment began to wane around 1930 when radio and movies gave people another entertainment option and The Great Depression left many people with little money to spend. The combination of the two left many theaters that depended on live entertainment struggling to make ends meet.

Large movie studios began to buy up struggling theaters.

The Smoot was purchased by Warner Brothers in 1930 and converted to show movies in its 720-seat theater. Bill Hendricks ran the theater for the movie company before leaving for California to work on the movies that places such as the Smoot showed for a quarter. While in Parkersburg, “he had a habit of making things happen with no money,” said Felice Jorgeson, executive director of the theater, by staging elaborate promotion stunts for the movie house. For the next 56 years the Smoot would serve mainly as a movie theater before being closed in 1986.

Like the other five theaters that once served Parkersburg, it looked like the Smoot had staged its last show.

A group of volunteers led by Jorgeson stepped in and brought the theater back to what it once was, a place to stage performances and community events.

What stands today is working example of the Vaudeville era. The eight dressing rooms that are tucked under the stage have been restored. They still have the gas valves that once shot flame out to heat the hair curlers of dancers.

Above the dressing rooms is the stage with the original flooring – walnut in front for the tap dancers and softer pine in the back to cut down the sound of people walking on and off stage.

High above the stage is the renovated system that allows up to 27 backgrounds and scenery elements to be raised and lowered.

In front of the stage is the orchestra pit, uncovered during renovation still containing the mud from the 1937 flood that put water on the stage, led to the construction of Parkersburg’s flood wall, and likely put an end to staged productions at the Smoot. The organ, disconnected and moved during the flooding, would see a life in a local church before being returned to the Smoot. It sits in front of the stage, but is now silent.

When Warner Brothers bought the theater they had to add the equipment necessary to show movies. The projection room was built at the top of the balcony, where today a pair of carbon arc projectors gives visitors a peek at how movies were once shown. Below it, the battery room glows with light streaming through green glass windows that line the wall facing Fifth Street.

Long removed from the days of Vaudeville and blockbusters, the Smoot today provides a working venue for artists to showcase their talent.

To suggest a Building Block, contact Art Smith at asmith@

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