RHODES: Chatham’s Park Theatre went by many names
My friend Pete Dyer recently sent me a photo of the ancient Park Theatre and it has an excellent story to tell.
Date of the photo?
That is easy.
One of the motion pictures being shown was Red River Renegades which was released in 1946 but the photo might be a year later as, by that stage, the Park Theatre was not getting the opportunity to play the same calibre of films as the Centre and Capitol Theatres. The Park, unfortunately, would have to wait.
The same circumstance could be applied to the Grenada Theatre which was located on the south side of King Street, second building east of Fourth Street. The site of the Grenada is now a municipal parking lot.
In checking to see the year in which Red River Renegades was released, I happened to examine the names of the actors appearing in the cast, one of which was famous Hollywood bad guy Kenne Duncan.
His real name was Kenneth Duncan McLachlan and he was born and grew up in Chatham. His father was Malcolm McLachlan who built and operated the Canada Business College which still stands on the east side of Queen Street, at........
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