They sat in seats K-8 and K-10,
It was the evening of Wednesday, Feb. 21, 1940, and Wichita’s Orpheum Theatre at 200 N. Broadway was hosting the Kansas premiere of “Gone With the Wind,” just weeks after it had debuted in Atlanta.
The two moviegoers paid $1.12 each for their tickets, and at some point in the evening, they became separated from their bright pink ticket stubs. Somehow, those stubs were swept into a crevice, where they remained for the next 86 years.
Wichita has been eagerly awaiting the reopening of the 104-year-old Orpheum Theatre, which has been closed since May of last year so that it could be restored to its former glory. During that time, crews have put in new seats, installed new carpet and repaired and repainted the theater’s intricate plasterwork. The results will be revealed when the theater reopens sometime in September, said the theater’s executive director, Stacee Olden…