Before 1914, people in Ione watched silent movies and legitimate shows in the Women's Pavilion at the west end of Main Street, while Claude Violet also operated the Electric Theater at another location in town. Because that space was limited, he leased this building, remodeled it, and named it the Royal Theater. It was very popular until talking pictures made silent movies obsolete, and because Violet could not afford to upgrade, it remained closed for a decade. As Ione grew and demand for a theater increased, the owners of the Jackson Theater reopened the location, and the modernized Ione Theater opened to rave reviews on March 31, 1939. Opening festivities included a free street dance with a local swing band before the first showing of Spirit of Culver, starring Jackie Cooper, and admission cost 30 cents for adults and 15 cents for children. In the 1940's the Sullivan family owned the theater, admission was 25 cents and doubled in the 1950's, jewelry raffles were held during intermission, and B-rated films including many scary movies, westerns, and war movies were shown. Local teenagers worked the ticket booth, often doing homework between customers and sometimes waking the projectionist when the reel was skipping, before the theater closed permanently in 1961.