Iao Theater on Saturday, April 6, 1940 between shows at about 5:00 pm. The movie "Drums Along the Mohawk" was playing with show times of 12:30, 3:00, 6:45 and 8:45. The "First Vue" of the film was the previous night at 10:00.
Today, the sign is located in a safer position above a thinner marquee. Anchor holes and missing molding can be found for the poster frames pictured.
LOWER RIGHT DETAIL
EARLY HISTORY OF IAO THEATER
HOW THE IAO THEATER GOT IT'S NAME
This is how the sign appeared at night. The color is just a guess, I wanted to get hold of the actual neon tubes used to determine the color but sadly, the company that did the most recent sign repainting stripped all the tubing and discarded them. Since the current county sign ordinance prohibits sign animations of this type, perhaps they felt justified in discarding the tubing.
