Our History
A pillar of Main Street since 1870
Single-screen theaters are becoming relics — of nearly 40,000 movie screens in the U.S., fewer than 10% still stand alone. The Melba is one of them.
1870
The building rises on Main Street
The structure was built in 1870, standing as a fixture of downtown Batesville long before it ever showed a film.
Early 1900s
A general store
Between eras, the building took a workaday turn as a general store serving downtown Batesville.
1939
The Melba is born
In 1939 the building was transformed into a movie house and christened the Melba — soon becoming one of Arkansas's first Cinemascope theaters. Generations had their first dates, watched their first movies, and worked their first jobs here.
2015
The building becomes available
Adam Curtwright — whose first job was at the Melba — teams up with wife Mandi and Joe and Janelle Shell. Together they buy the building and begin an exhaustive renovation. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette described it as a deteriorating state, with the owners spending more than a year cleaning, painting, and working late nights.
August 2016
Red-carpet reopening
After more than a year of engineering studies, sawdust, fresh paint, and late nights, the restored Melba reopens with a red-carpet-themed grand opening — and the ticket booth returned outside, the way it used to be.
End of 2016
Christmas on Main Street
The first holiday season brought nine sponsored free showings — It's a Wonderful Life, White Christmas, and a Christmas Vacation night with Cousin Eddie's R.V. parked out front and a local band on the sidewalk.
Historical details drawn from The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
The Owners
Two couples, one lone screen.
Adam Curtwright's first job was at the Melba. In elementary school he'd watched countless movies on its single screen. After high school he moved on to other jobs — but he never stopped yearning to come back.
When the building became available, Adam and his wife Mandi joined Joe and Janelle Shell. All four kept their full-time jobs. All four spent long nights cleaning and painting.
One evening, Adam's eight-year-old son Eli was in the lobby.
"You know, I better start helping. This will be mine one day."
The Grand Experience
One screen. On purpose.
The Melba could have been split into two smaller screens. But the screens would have been smaller, and the sound would have bled between them. The families chose to keep it a single-screen theater.
The ticket booth was moved back outside, in front of the theater — an homage to the way it used to be. Movies play Tuesday through Sunday, sometimes twice a day. The Melba is closed on Mondays.
Themed weekends are becoming tradition: a Jaws marathon for Memorial Day. Sandlot on the Fourth of July. Nine sponsored Christmas showings — free to the public — every December.
