The rise and decline of one of Little Rock's prominent motion picture companies
Video courtesy of the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies
Arkansas Amusement Corporation
History of the
Founded Robb and Rowley Theatres in Dallas in 1915
The Partners
Harold Robb
&
Ed Rowley
Became one of the largest managers of movie theaters in Texas and Oklahoma
The Arkansas Amusement Corporation was originally called the Little Rock Amusement Company. It was a motion picture business that by 1925 owned or controlled almost all the movie theaters in Little Rock. This company soon caught the attention of Harold B. Robb and Eduardo H. Rowley, owners of a movie theater management company based in Dallas. Their company eventually became one of the largest developers and managers of movie theaters in the Texas and Oklahoma area.
In 1927 Robb and Rowley formed a partnership with Paramount Studios, took over the Little Rock Amusement Company, and renamed it to the Arkansas Amusement Corporation (AAC).
AAC operated in Little Rock from 1927 to 1972, but it faced numerous challenges during this time as society changed.
The Challenges
In its early years, a blue law, also known as a Sunday-closing law, restricted business operations and entertainment on Sundays, making all movie theaters close for the day. Rowley and other community members fought against this law, and in 1931 legislators added a statute allowing movie theaters to show pictures for profit on Sundays at the option of the county. With this success, AAC began to grow.
Blue Law
At the same time though, other amusement companies such as Kirby Theatre Corporation, Twin City Amusement Corporation, and Fair Park Amusement Corporation formed during the 1940s and 1950s and began competing for customers.
Competition
The advent of the television in the 1950s further hurt the amusement company as people began staying home to watch movies and television shows instead of going to the theaters.
Television
On top of the increased competition and limited consumer base, AAC underwent numerous changes in management. In the 1940s, AAC became a subsidiary of Robb and Rowley United Theatres, which later changed to Rowley United Theatres in 1951. Finally, the amusement company came to an end in 1972 when United Artists Theatres absorbed it.
Management
The Facilities
ACC Movie Theaters
In its forty-five years of operation, AAC managed a total of fourteen movie theaters in Little Rock.
By 1934, it owned four movie theaters in Little Rock, all of which were located downtown: the Arkansas, the Capitol, the Pulaski (later the second Capitol), and the Royal (later the Center).
From the 1930s through the 1960s, AAC built or took over management of six more theaters: the Heights, the Lee (previously the Highland), the Park, the Prospect, and the Roxy.
AAC also added four drive-in movie theaters during the late 1940s and early 1950s: the Asher, the Pines, the Razorback, and the Riverside (later the Razorback Twin then the Big Red Twin). Click on the icons in the map below to learn more about each theater. To view more photographs of the theaters, visit the Gallery.
Theater Photographs
