Once ‘grand site’ that fueled an Eastern Kentucky downtown is being restored

Someday, Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn may star again on the screen of the historic Novo Theatre.

The theater opened in 1937 on Main Street in Cumberland, located in Harlan County, but like many downtown theaters beset by age and other entertainment options — including watching movies at home — the Novo ultimately stopped showing films.

Ministries used it for live music for a time, but it closed altogether several years ago.

An effort is underway to resurrect it, however.

Darla Saylor-Jackson bought the defunct theater in September 2021 and is working to get it open in the coming months.

Saylor-Jackson said theaters once were the heart of downtown areas, and she wants to bring that back in Cumberland.

“I think it will add character to the downtown,” she said.

The work to reopen the theater is part of an effort to revitalize downtown Cumberland, one of the Tri-Cities with nearby Benham and Lynch, both historic coal towns.

Retail outlets had dwindled in downtown Cumberland and a number of buildings were vacant, but that has begun to turn around, said Paul Browning III, the local tourism director and magistrate.

Several retail businesses have opened in the last few years and more than 20 commercial properties have changed hands since 2019 as longtime owners finally sold, creating opportunities for development, Browning said.

“The economic development I think will happen,” Browning said.

Saylor-Jackson owns several other buildings in Cumberland where there are plans for development, including a clothing store and a coffee shop.

Valerie Long Hinkle, who owns Hill & Holler clothing and gift shop in Cumberland, said the Novo could play a key role in revitalizing downtown as part of a “trifecta of food/shopping/entertainment” to help draw in visitors.

“Having something like the Novo back open not only helps with the community’s historic preservation but could help funnel money to our local shops and eateries as well,” Hinkle said.

Businessman J.E. Isaac built the Novo and other theaters in several towns in the coalfields, according to former Lexington Mayor Teresa Isaac, his granddaughter.

J.E. Isaac went to considerable expense on the Novo, which replaced a smaller theater, hiring well-known architect John Eberson to design it and using high-quality materials, including expensive terrazzo tile in the lobby that is still in good shape more than 80 years later.

Browning said his understanding was the building was the first in town with an air-cooling system.

J.E. Isaac’s children ran the family’s theaters, including his son Sam, who ran the Novo, Teresa Isaac said.

“It was the entertainment for all the coal miners,” she said.

The Novo also was popular with kids because it featured the Mickey Mouse club on Saturdays, Isaac said.

Isaac said she helped take up tickets and sell popcorn as a little girl before her family moved to Lexington in 1964.

Dwain Lester, who graduated high school in Cumberland in 1981 and has researched the history of the Novo Theatre, said residents lined up to see movies.

“Holy cow, the Novo was the place to be,” said Lester, who now lives in Three Rivers, Mich. “It was a grand site to see when you went into town.”

Lester said “Gone with the Wind,” which premiered in late 1939, was the longest-running movie at the Novo, drawing crowds for weeks.

Saylor-Jackson said she wants to use the Novo to show classic movies, mentioning “The Seven Year Itch” and “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” as examples, and also wants to make the building available for events such as weddings, dance recitals and meetings.

“I would like for it to be a place where the community could gather,” she said.

Saylor-Jackson said a prior owner had fixed the roof and done other work at the Novo, leaving it in good shape, but there’s still been cleaning, painting and some renovation, such as removing a dropped ceiling, required to get the building ready.

She said she is trying to get the theater as close as possible to the original.

She and Browning have found admission tickets from years ago, promotional materials, financial records and even the blueprints Eberson sent for approval.

Saylor-Jackson said she loves Art Deco architecture and older buildings.

“I love preservation,” Saylor-Jackson said. “You start peeling back the layers and you find treasure.”