Isis Theatre (1918-1970)

Operating from 1918 to 1970, this location was once the site of Isis Theatre 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 that were produced by Laugh-O-gram Films in the early 1920s. Disney also used the theatre to promote the Laugh-O-gram studio, with footage captured during a South Central Business Association parade. Notable music composer Carl Stalling was the theater's organist and became friends with Disney, which sparked a working relationship with Laugh-O-gram Films and Disney Brothers years later. When several months of backdated rent was due to thenearby McConahay building, Disney packed up and moved the Laugh-O-gram studio into the Wirthman Building, where he spent one month before leaving for California. By the late 1960s, this stretch of Troost Avenue was suffering from years of disinvestment and neglect from city leaders, and the theater closed 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 a busy public bus stop.

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 from years of white flight and disinvestment. 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.

Walt Disney and the Isis Theatre

Walt Disney’s first professional art studio, Laugh-O-gram Films, was incorporated on May 23, 1922, and was located in the McConahay Building, just one block fom the Isis Theatre. In the first few months, business was slow so Walt made many efforts to acquire clients. Around mid-August, Laugh-O-gram Films participated in a parade held by the South Central Business Association, in which they were members. Walt, sales manager Leslie Mace, and animator Rudy Ising represented the studio. They brought a movie camera branded with the “Laugh-O-gram Films” name and placed it in the back seat of their parade car, with a sign that read, “These pictures will be shown at the Isis Theatre Tomorrow Night.” 

Joseph Wirthman was the owner of the Wirthman Building which housed the Isis Theatre, and so happened to be the first president of the South Central Business Association. Though not verified, the footage caught during the parade most likely ran during one of three segments offered by the Isis; Topics-News, Screen Snapshots, or Home Made Movies. While this footage started the relationship between Disney and the Isis Theatre, Walt also became friends with the theater's organist Carl Stalling, frequently walking through the alley from Laugh-O-gram Films studio to visit. Stalling also supplied Walt and his friends with free movie passes. 

By the summer of 1923, Laugh-O-gram was facing financial difficulty as they had a huge contract fall through and no contracts in the foreseeable future. By this time, the animators were working on Alice’s Wonderland with hopes this would be the start of fame as it was the first time a live person was set into a cartoon background. Always advocating for these “Cartoonland” reels, Stalling recommended that Walt produce a sing-a-long film for the song Martha: Just a Plain Old Fashioned Name written by Joe L. Sanders of the Coon Sanders Orchestra. Calling it a “Song-O-Reel," Disney filmed live actors and illustrated the lyrics which showed one word at a time, along with music played by Stalling. “Martha” debuted at the Isis Theatre but had a short run and disappeared. 

Creditors came knocking at Laugh-O-gram's door in June 1923 to collect backdated rent. Unable to pay, Disney moved his studio out of the McConahay Building and into the Wirthman Building. However, Laugh-O-gram Films’ time here did not last long, as Disney left his struggling studio for California in late July. Once in California, Walt partnered with his older brother Roy to start the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio. Carl Stalling loaned Disney Studios money in its initial months before becoming their first musical director. Stalling wrote 19 of the first 20 Disney sound cartoons, the song Minnie’s Yoo Hoo!, and the first Mickey Mouse film produced, Plane Crazy. In 1936, Stalling went to work for Warner Bros. Studios, where he scored nearly 1,000 cartoons in his twenty-two-year career.

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.