Kansas City Public Library: Glenwood Chandelier Found

Press release from the Kansas City Public Library:

November 26, 2021

It’s been almost two years since “What’s Your KCQ?” whiffed on a question that sounded simple.

Lewis Jones asked us, “What happened to the giant chandelier at the old Glenwood Theatre?”

Turns out that tracking it down wasn’t simple at all.

In fact, “epic quest” might be its cinematic equivalent.

Let’s start with a flashback. To November 1966. A time when Johnson County was seriously flexing its new economic muscle.

It’s when Dickinson Theaters opened the Glenwood Theatre at Metcalf and 91st Street in Overland Park.

The building combined elements of an old school movie palace with mid-century modern flair. Its 800-seat auditorium featured a giant curved screen and plush red seats. The lobby dazzled with fireplaces and a circular concession stand topped by a 15’ x 15’ crystal chandelier reported to have been imported from Italy.

Business at the Glenwood was very good. Tons of tickets were taken. Particularly in 1977, when a little film called “Star Wars” landed in its lap!

Through four decades, many a date night unfolded there. But eventually the Age of the Multiplex and the purchasing power in more distant suburbs began to take a toll.

In 1999, Dickinson sold the Glenwood to Goodrich Quality Theatres. They closed it for good in May 2000 and auctioned off the contents a few months later.

We do know that the space-age sign and many of those fancy red seats went to the Fine Arts Group, which repurposed them for a “sequel” to the Glenwood at the Metcalf South Mall. When the mall was demolished in 2015, the seats (but not the sign) moved to what’s now called the Glenwood Arts Theatre on Mission Road.

Ben and Brian Mossman, who own the Fine Arts Group, are well-versed in theater salvage and restoration. But neither of them, nor their partner, Wade Williams, knew what happened to the iconic chandelier.

In true detective movie tradition, they could only tell us who dismantled it—a former Dickinson employee named David M. Smith.

Surely, he’d know where it went!

Smith did indeed remember that it “took a whole day” for him to take apart the chandelier and pack up the pieces to “put in storage” until it could be re-installed.

This press release was produced by the Kansas City Public Library. The views expressed here are the author’s own.