B&B Theatres

B&B TODAY · 6th Largest Theatre Chain in America · 429 Screens . 49 locations · 9 States · Featuring Marquee Suites®, PLF GRAND SCREEN ®, screenPLAY!, MX4D®, SCREEN-X, Lyric and 21+ auditoriums. THE BEGINNING B&B Theatres stands for Bills and Bagby, two families that both launched movie theatres and joined forces-for business and love-in 1980. The history of B&B stretches back to 1924 when Elmer Bills, Sr., bought the Lyric Theatre in Salisbury, MO, and founded Bills Theatres. It was there that he met his future wife, Johnnie, while she played the piano along with the silent movies. Years later, their son Elmer Bills, Jr., was born into the business. In 1936, the elder Elmer hired 10-year-old Sterling Bagby as a concession clerk. Sterling grew up, fought in World War II and came home to marry his Higbee, MO ticket seller, Pauline. Together, they started the Bagby Traveling Picture Show and roamed rural Missouri with their films, projection equipment, seats and snack bar. The Bagby Traveling Picture Show screened movies in barns, schools and parks. Eventually, Sterling and Pauline's company evolved into a Kansas circuit of drive-in theatres and "hardtops" (their nickname for indoor theatres). Meanwhile, young Elmer Bills, Jr. had met his wife-to-be, Amy, when both were 13 (he lovingly refers to her as "the best popcorn girl I ever hired") and gone on to graduate from the University of Missouri in 1959. Elmer and Amy joined his parents Elmer Sr. and Johnnie and continued the expansion of Bills Theatres, Inc. On January 1, 1980, the Bills and Bagby families cemented decades of friendship by formally joining their two theatre companies into B&B Theatres. At the same time, Sterling and Pauline's son Bob married Elmer and Amy's daughter Bridget truly wedding the families together. After taking B&B into the 21st century, Sterling Bagby passed away in October of 2000. From 2000 to 2014 B&B replaced several of their existing locations with new state-of-the-art facil