Claiming to be “The Largest One-Floor Theatre in the World” the Delmonte opened in September, 1920 with 2800 seats. Under the management of Famous Players-Missouri (Paramount) the opening film was “Humoresque”. In the audience opening night was Fannie Hurst, author of the book on which the film was based.
Perhaps the theatre’s one claim to fame was the appearance of Valentino on stage in 1923 with the theatre swamped by flappers
tieing up traffic on Delmar.
Paramount had dropped management late in 1921, and theatre had various operators before finally closing as a movie house in February 1927. After this, theatre was converted to a night club in 1929; then to a bowling alley in 1938.
Located at 5634 Delmar, seating capacity was reduced to 1588 by the time of closure. (Capacity once claimed to be 3700 in fact.) Theatre was behind a six-story apartment building. Theatre structure has been demolished, the apartment building remains.
Original name was the EASTON-TAYLOR. Shortened to EASTON during the early-30s. Final name, CIRCLE, appeared in September 1936 when house began to be operated by the Kaimann chain.
Building permit issued in 1910. Capacity of the house was 580. Architect of record was W. P. McMahon.
In 1943 theatre became a Black-movie house.
House operated until December 1951, when the projectionists of Local 143-A went on strike at all Black-movie theatres. Strike was settled in a few weeks but Circle apparently didn’t reopen as no further ads appeared.
Boxoffice magazine reported the Pageant reduced its seating capacity to 878 from 1000 immediately prior to the hard-ticket engagement of “South Pacific” in 1958. This engagement was the first Todd-AO film exhibited in the St. Louis market.
Powell Hall (the old-St. Louis)and the Michigan in Detroit may have some common elements, but are not twins.
Rapp & Rapp, shall we say, “mixed and matched” a number of times.
I’m certainly not being negative when saying this, but one must remember that in the mid-20s these movie palaces were coming off the drawing boards at a pretty fast clip and certain architectural-features could appear in more than one theatre.
To cite one example: the organ screens in the St. Louis (covered up in Powell Hall) can be seen at the Rialto Square in Joliet.
The Cinderella Airdome (originally known as the Favorite Airdome) was located at the northeast corner of Cherokee and Iowa. The Favorite/Cinderella Airdome was a Freund operation physically seperate from the Cinderella Skating Rink/Theatre on the northwest corner. The Airdome began operation in 1912. This was a Freund operation.
The Cinderella Skating Rink/Theatre opened in 1913 (Freund operation); Converted to a theatre in 1915 (Freund operation).
The airdome site in 1926 became the Cinderella Ballroom, later known as the Casa Loma Ballroom and still in operation today (although not the original building which burned c. 1941). The Ballroom was built and originally operated by the Freunds.
1) The Broadway Drive-In was not the only ozoner within the St. Louis city limits. The THUNDERBIRD, at Natural Bridge and Goodfellow, also qualifies.
2) The Broadway was not built by Mid-America. The venue, which opened in May 1954, was a Ray Parker operation. Parker, then mayor of the suburb of Brentwood, also was involved with the Skyline Drive-In in Bridgeton.
3) The Broadway was always the Broadway. It was never known as the Holiday, which was an operation in the county on Page (and a Mid-America operation).
Building permit issued in late-1914, with theatre opening in 1915.
Original management by Mike Nash. Benjamin Paulter took over in 1931; Marvin Banks in 1947.
Theatre did not operate for “exclusive” Black patronage. Also, was not a Sam Komm operation.
Theatre closed in May, 1956. Structure opened for business in March, 1942 and was called the New Merry Widow as it replaced the (Old) Merry Widow in the 1400-block of Chouteau.
Address of New Merry Widow was 1739 Chouteau. The architect was Jack Shawcross.
In newspaper ads it was called the New Merry Widow until 1951 when the “New” was dropped.
Correct date of opening is June 5, 1955.
Architect of the Delmonte was E. Price Porter.
Claiming to be “The Largest One-Floor Theatre in the World” the Delmonte opened in September, 1920 with 2800 seats. Under the management of Famous Players-Missouri (Paramount) the opening film was “Humoresque”. In the audience opening night was Fannie Hurst, author of the book on which the film was based.
Perhaps the theatre’s one claim to fame was the appearance of Valentino on stage in 1923 with the theatre swamped by flappers
tieing up traffic on Delmar.
Paramount had dropped management late in 1921, and theatre had various operators before finally closing as a movie house in February 1927. After this, theatre was converted to a night club in 1929; then to a bowling alley in 1938.
Located at 5634 Delmar, seating capacity was reduced to 1588 by the time of closure. (Capacity once claimed to be 3700 in fact.) Theatre was behind a six-story apartment building. Theatre structure has been demolished, the apartment building remains.
Original name was the EASTON-TAYLOR. Shortened to EASTON during the early-30s. Final name, CIRCLE, appeared in September 1936 when house began to be operated by the Kaimann chain.
Building permit issued in 1910. Capacity of the house was 580. Architect of record was W. P. McMahon.
In 1943 theatre became a Black-movie house.
House operated until December 1951, when the projectionists of Local 143-A went on strike at all Black-movie theatres. Strike was settled in a few weeks but Circle apparently didn’t reopen as no further ads appeared.
Theatre was constructed in 1925 but, from newspaper ads, apparently didn’t open until September 1926.
Architect listed on the building permit: J. B. Catanzaro.
Theatre, with capacity of 738, opened as the Southampton and was renamed the Roxy in 1931.
Theatre closed in 1965.
Lexington operated from 1934 until 1950. Capacity was 698.
In 1954, building sold to the Knights of Columbus for use as a meeting hall.
Boxoffice magazine reported the Pageant reduced its seating capacity to 878 from 1000 immediately prior to the hard-ticket engagement of “South Pacific” in 1958. This engagement was the first Todd-AO film exhibited in the St. Louis market.
Venue opened December 23, 1964.
Powell Hall (the old-St. Louis)and the Michigan in Detroit may have some common elements, but are not twins.
Rapp & Rapp, shall we say, “mixed and matched” a number of times.
I’m certainly not being negative when saying this, but one must remember that in the mid-20s these movie palaces were coming off the drawing boards at a pretty fast clip and certain architectural-features could appear in more than one theatre.
To cite one example: the organ screens in the St. Louis (covered up in Powell Hall) can be seen at the Rialto Square in Joliet.
Theatre operated from c.1916 to April 1956.
Owned by Charles Kalbfell, later by his son Arthur.
Seating capacity of 783.
One of the many theatres in St. Louis built by O. T. Crawford.
Building permit issued in November, 1910…which probably means theatre opened in 1911.
The architect of record was the firm of Duggan & Huff.
Like other Crawford theatres the Gravois' management went to Famous Players-Missouri, to City Wide, and finally to St. Louis Amusement.
The Cinderella Airdome (originally known as the Favorite Airdome) was located at the northeast corner of Cherokee and Iowa. The Favorite/Cinderella Airdome was a Freund operation physically seperate from the Cinderella Skating Rink/Theatre on the northwest corner. The Airdome began operation in 1912. This was a Freund operation.
The Cinderella Skating Rink/Theatre opened in 1913 (Freund operation); Converted to a theatre in 1915 (Freund operation).
The airdome site in 1926 became the Cinderella Ballroom, later known as the Casa Loma Ballroom and still in operation today (although not the original building which burned c. 1941). The Ballroom was built and originally operated by the Freunds.
Began showing films in 1915, a Freund Bros. operation. Did not become a Wehrenberg operation until 1928.
The architect was Wm. Wedemeyer.
Some corrections are needed:
1) The Broadway Drive-In was not the only ozoner within the St. Louis city limits. The THUNDERBIRD, at Natural Bridge and Goodfellow, also qualifies.
2) The Broadway was not built by Mid-America. The venue, which opened in May 1954, was a Ray Parker operation. Parker, then mayor of the suburb of Brentwood, also was involved with the Skyline Drive-In in Bridgeton.
3) The Broadway was always the Broadway. It was never known as the Holiday, which was an operation in the county on Page (and a Mid-America operation).
Theatre met its ultimate demise with two “suspicious” fires in April 1956. As noted above, theatre had sat unused since 1949.
Years of operation were 1916 to 1957.
Interior shots are available on postcards which, on occasion, can be found on eBay.
The theatre is now demolished…an empty lot now marks the footprint of the theatre.
Building permit issued in late-1914, with theatre opening in 1915.
Original management by Mike Nash. Benjamin Paulter took over in 1931; Marvin Banks in 1947.
Theatre did not operate for “exclusive” Black patronage. Also, was not a Sam Komm operation.
Theatre did cease operation in 1952.
Years of operation as a movie house were 1949 to 1956. Capacity was 650.
At the corner was the theatre’s airdome; theatre just to the west of that.
Theatre closed in May, 1956. Structure opened for business in March, 1942 and was called the New Merry Widow as it replaced the (Old) Merry Widow in the 1400-block of Chouteau.
Address of New Merry Widow was 1739 Chouteau. The architect was Jack Shawcross.
In newspaper ads it was called the New Merry Widow until 1951 when the “New” was dropped.
It should be noted the Crest was the first post-War (II) theatre erected and opened in the St. Louis market.
Theatre opened in July, 1948.
Theatre became exclusive first-run on December 25, 1955 with “Guys and Dolls.”
Northwest 9 Cine quietly ceased operation after the showings of September 7, 2005.
Incidentally, theatre began operation in December, 1989.
Opening date was March 17, 1919.
Rapp & Rapp designed the office building.
Albert Lansburgh designed the theatre.
Seating capacity was 2626.