RICHMOND CIVIC THEATRE

The Murray Theatre: Built in 1909 by Omar G. Murray. The Murray Theater, also known as the Richmond Civic Theater, was built in 1909 by Omar G. Murray at a cost of $40,000 and originally named Murray Theatre. Omar G. Murray, who, with his partner, Gus Sun, operated a theater chain, leasing theaters in several Midwestern cities. In 1909, he built a new theater in Richmond at 10th and Main and put his own name on it. The original building housed a 700 seat auditorium with 4 private boxes, a billiard hall in the basement, a barber shop and dry cleaner on the first floor, professional offices on the second, and apartments on the third. In its day, the Murray Theatre was the most state-of-the-art facility in town and attracted some of the biggest names on the vaudeville circuit including: The Marx Brothers, George Burns and Gracie Allen, Fanny Brice, Sammy Davis, Jr.(as a child), and the Great Louis Armstrong. The Murray Theatre closed in 1930 due to the depression but reopened a year later as a movie house under the name of The Indiana Theater. The Richmond Civic Theatre Company was led by Norbert Silbiger. Silbiger was a Jewish refugee in Nazi Germany who was taken to Quaker Hill here in Richmond in 1940. It was there that his passion for live theatre was discovered by a group of ladies, led by Hazel Thornburg Emry – The Mother of Richmond Civic Theatre. Ms. Emry taught a volunteer drama class at Quaker Hill for refugees. Regarding her discovery of Norbert Silber’s talent, Ms. Emry is noted as saying “I have a new, little man in my group, and I’m convinced he’s a genius.” In 1941 Emry, along with her sister, Cleo, and Norbert Silbiger, formed the Richmond Civic Theatre. The organization produced at least six performances a year and presented them in Goddard Auditorium on the Earlham College campus and at McGuire Memorial Hall. In 1952 the building was leased by the Richmond Civic Theater and their programs begin showing productions at the “Indiana Theatre”. It was even