 Lightman traveled to Atlanta where he had made a contact in the theatre business and sought to learn the art of movie exhibition.Upon his return two months later to Northwest Alabama, in February 1915, Lightman formed The Sterling Amusement Company and opened his first theatre in a storefront he had rented in Sheffield, Alabama.Lightman named this storefront theatre "The Liberty Theater", and later opened a 400-seat theatre, "The Majestic" across the river in Florence, Alabama at 204 North Court Street, in August 1919.