This web page about Duluth’s smaller theaters says that the Strand’s building was built in 1906 as a meat market, but had been converted to a movie theater by 1915. The house closed in 1951, then reopened as an adult theater twenty years later. The Strand closed for the last time in 1986, and the building remained vacant until it was demolished in 1998.
The February 5, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World ran an item about the opening of the Majestic Theatre:
“The new Majestic theater in Wyandotte, owned by the Caille & Guthard Interests of Detroit, was formally opened on Thursday evening, January 20, to immense crowds, hundreds going from Detroit to see the new house. In the first ten days booking the following companies have been considered: Paramount, Metro, Big Four, Equitable, World, Pathe, Triangle and Blue Bird. The opening picture was ‘The Whirl of Life’ with Mr. and Mrs. Vernon Castle, which Caille & Guthard control for Michigan. George P. Wilbur is the manager of the New Majestic, having come from the Grand in Columbia, Ohio. The Marx theater in Wyandotte closed Jan. 23. It will be entirely remodelled, redecorated and refurnished and re-opened sometime in February. This theater is also owned by Caille & Guthard. Mr. Guthard announces that the firm will also control a third theater In Wyandotte.”
Other sources indicate that the Marx Theatre was built in 1910 at the northwest corner of Biddle and Sycamore Streets, so it was almost directly across the street from the Majestic.
This web page with an extensive history of the Empire Theatre in Grand Forks also has information about the Dakota Theatre. The Dakota itself was originally called the Empire Theatre, but had been renamed the Grand Theatre sometime before 1918, in which year it was damaged by a fire. After the fire, the house was rebuilt and reopened as the Orpheum Theatre. The page doesn’t say when it became the Dakota Theatre, but Chuck’s earlier comments suggest that it was probably renamed in 1935.
The August 6, 1931, issue of The Film Daily had a brief item about the house: “Grand Forks, N. D. — Work has been started on rebuilding the Publix Orpheum.”
According to the official web site of the Heights Theatre in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, the bottom section of that restored theatre’s stage curtain is from the Orpheum in Grand Forks.
RKO’s Capitol Theatre was enlarged following the 1931 fire. The August 6, 1931, issue of The Film Daily ran the following item about the project:
“Trenton, N. J.— The Capitol, RKO
house, will have its seating capacity increased to 1,850. Plans also call for a cooling system and fireproof roof, in addition to the rebuilding of the interior.”
The Elrae Theatre was mentioned in the August 9, 1931, issue of The Film Daily. New operator Mike Stiefel had closed the house to make improvements and redecorate.
There is a possibility that this house opened in 1916 as the Star Theatre. Here is an item from the August 5, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World:
“The Star theater, a big house at Cortez and Cleveland streets, recently erected by John Sheppard, has passed to new management, composed of W. M. Rose and F. F. Goodrow. Mr. Goodrow is a wellknown former exchange man.”
The expansive 1910s would have been a more likely period than the depressed 1930s for a theater to have been opened in the middle of a residential neighborhood.
Moving Picture World of December 20, 1913, carried the following item about the proposed Allston Theatre:
“R. W. J. MCDONALD, of 96 Milk street, Boston, reports the erection and sale of the Allston Theater, 128 Brighton avenue, near the corner of Harvard avenue. The plans, by Architect George N. Meserve, call for the erection, for Walker & Watson, of an absolutely fireproof theater, costing $100,000, with a total seating capacity of 1,200. The building is to be of brick, stone and concrete, with a frontage of 70 feet, and a depth of 132 feet. The stage has a width of 70 feet and a depth of 27 feet, with a proscenium opening 35 feet wide and 25 feet high. The stage is to have all the latest improvements for the presentation of pictures and vaudeville. Special attention has been given to the acoustic properties, ventilating plant and the electric lighting, which is to be the ‘direct-indirect’ system. The safety of patrons has been given first consideration; the theater being open on all four sides, with twice as many exits as the law requires. The auditorium floor will be of concrete, with no basement, making it absolutely non-combustible. The mezzanine floor contains the ladies' waiting rooms and offices. The front is to be of classic style of architecture, built of Norman brick, with Indiana limestone trimmings, and a marquee of 42 feet long will extend the entire length of the sidewalk.”
The December 27 issue of the same publication reported that construction of the new theater on Brighton Avenue was underway. I haven’t found any announcements of the opening of the Allston Theatre, but it must have been in 1914.
The Princess Theatre was on N. St. Clair Street, not S. St. Clair St. Here is a nocturnal photo of N. St. Clair Street about 1949, showing the lighted marquees of the Princess and several other theaters.
It was Seattle’s first Orpheum Theatre, at 3rd and Madison, that was renamed the President Theatre, probably in 1927 when the new Orpheum at 5th and Stewart was opened. The first Orpheum isn’t listed at Cinema Treasures yet. I’ve been meaning to submit it for quite a while, but I keep misplacing my notes about it.
Data on this Flickr page says that the Princess Theatre was at 314 4th Street.
However, Marcia Meller, the author of the article on this web page, gives the impression that the Princess was never a movie theater, but in 928 went directly from being a legitimate house to hosting sporting events and public meetings.
WorldCat lists A History of the Princess Theatre of Des Moines, Iowa, a 1949 Thesis/Dissertation by Raymond Scott Hill. The only copy the catalog lists is in the University of Iowa Library in Iowa City. Maybe someone who has access to the library will find this comment and examine the book to see if it says anything about the Princess ever having shown movies.
Decorator Rex Davis of the Teichert studios had some unkind things to say about the original decor of the State in this Boxoffice article of June 21, 1941. The house had just been redecorated by Teichert, under the direction of architect Roy B. Blass.
Henry L. Newhouse and F. M. Bernham were the architects of the State Theatre. A rendering of the building can be seen at the bottom of this page of the February 2, 1924, issue of Exhibitors Herald.
A history of Denver movie houses in the July 15, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World said that the Princess Theatre had opened on October 11, 1910. It was the first theater in Denver to have been built expressly to show movies.
A lawsuit involving the Princess Amusement Company and the architects of the theater, the F. E. Edbrooke Architect Company, was reported in the 1915 edition of the legal journal Pacific Reporter.
The October 19, 1912, issue of Electrical Review and Western Electrician (Google Books scan) had an article about exterior illumination of Denver theaters which included a photo of the Princess Theatre by night.
The Denver Public Library provides this early photo of the Princess Theatre. Enlarging the photo reveals the intricate detail of the facade, which I suspect was cast iron painted white rather than terra cotta or plaster.
Ottawa’s original Orpheum Theatre was rebuilt in 1924, according to an item in the January 5 issue of Exhibitors Herald that year:
“Ottawa, Ill.— Architect Jason F. Richardson, Jr., has been commissioned to rebuild the Orpheum theatre in Ottawa for B. S. Jordon at a cost of $70,000. The seating capacity will be increased to 1,025, with new seats and the entire interior rebuilt. Work will start in spring.”
This was the house that was virtually destroyed by fire some years later. I’ve yet to discover how old the Orpheum was at the time of its 1924 rebuilding.
This item from the January 5, 1924, issue of Exhibitors Herald is about a combination theater-hotel project to be built in Tamaqua:
“New Theatre and Hotel Under Way
“A theatre and hotel combined which will cost $550,000 is under construction at Tamaqua, Pa., for G. J. Higgins & Sons. The theatre will have a seating capacity of 1,400, while the hotel will have 120 rooms with baths.
“W. H. Lee, 32 S. 17th Street. Philadelphia, is the architect for this project.”
This web page cites an item published by a Tamaqua newspaper in 1923 saying that George Higgins was planning to build a hotel and theater in Tamaqua. Both items must pertain to the Majestic. I’ve found references to the Higgins Amusement Company of Shamokin, Pennsylvania, operating houses called the Majestic in Pottsville and Gettysburg, so it was apparently the company’s favored name.
Here is an item from the January 5, 1924, issue of Exhibitors Herald which fills in another missing piece of the history of the Marysville/Atkins/National Theatre:
“L. R. Crook, president of the National Theatres Syndicate, announces the purchase of the Atkins theatre from Frank Atkins at Marysville, Cal., also the Webster theatre at Woodland. These houses will be entirely remodeled and renovated.”
The Cecil B. DeMille production The Affairs of Anatol would be showing at the Cozy Theatre on Wednesday and Thursday, October 12th and 13th, according to the theater’s advertisement in the October 7, 1921, issue of the Checotah Times.
The Roxy opened around November, 1916, as the Cline Theatre, built by local physician Dr. John Cline. In its early years it was operated under lease by a bay area theater man, whose name I’ve found variously spelled as Thomas G. Reaves and T. C. Reavis. The house featured movies and Orpheum circuit vaudeville.
The Roxy might have operated as late as 1969, when the building suffered structural damage from a pair of earthquakes that struck on the night of October 1, but the house might have already been closed by that date.
A. A. Cantin could have been the original architect of the Cline Theatre, as he was licensed to practice by 1916, but the work done by Cantin & Cantin might have been only a remodeling job sometime later.
Here is an item from the January 5, 1924, issue of Exhibitors Herald:
“The new G. & S. theatre was opened last week at Santa Rosa and is managed by T. C. Reavis, who also owns the Cline and Rosa of the same city. This house, it is said, cost $250,000 and seats 2000. The policy calls for feature pictures, vaudeville and road attractions.”
A September 11, 1977, article by Gaye LeBaron in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat says that the G & S Theatre was both designed and built by local contractor Albert M. Hildebrandt. The owners of the building, John Greeott and Eligio Strobino, leased the theater to an experienced theater man, Thomas G. Reaves.
The first show at the new house was a production of the Broadway musical Blossom Time, and the first movie shown was Lon Chaney’s version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The house was also on the Pantages vaudeville circuit in its early years.
This photo dated 1928 shows the name California Theatre on the vertical sign, but it looks like G & S Theatre might still be on the front of the marquee (it’s a bit blurry.)
This recent article in the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat is about two large stained glass windows that were in the Roxy Theatre, and are being offered for sale by their current owner.
I can’t find the exact address of the Tos Theatre, but the block of buildings it is part of is on the north side of Main Street between Broad and Grady Streets. The theater is closer to the Broad Street end of the block.
This web page from the Evans County Parks and Recreation Department has a slide show of photos of the restoration project, plus a link to a .zip file with renderings, a floor plan, and a site plan of the project.
There is also a link to a .pdf text about Salvino Tos and his theater. The house was built in the mid-1920s and originally operated under the name Italian Gardens. It was renamed the Tos Theatre after a remodeling and expansion in the 1940s. The Tos Theatre closed in 1976.
The 1894 edition of the New York Clipper Annual says that the Opera House in Washington, Indiana, was dedicated on January 2, 1893. I don’t know of this means that the Opera House was a different house than Wise’s Family Theatre, opened in 1892, or if new owners had renamed Wise’s and rededicated it.
This web page says that the Renaissance Revival facade (it looks mostly Italian Renaissance to me) was put on the building in the mid-1920s. I would imagine that the interior was rebuilt at the same time, or earlier. The Opera House was a second floor theater, and few of those survived long as movie houses. Those that did had almost invariably been rebuilt as ground-floor theaters at some point, and the Indiana was probably no exception.
This web page about Duluth’s smaller theaters says that the Strand’s building was built in 1906 as a meat market, but had been converted to a movie theater by 1915. The house closed in 1951, then reopened as an adult theater twenty years later. The Strand closed for the last time in 1986, and the building remained vacant until it was demolished in 1998.
The February 5, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World ran an item about the opening of the Majestic Theatre:
Other sources indicate that the Marx Theatre was built in 1910 at the northwest corner of Biddle and Sycamore Streets, so it was almost directly across the street from the Majestic.The first Empire Theatre goes back to at least 1908, when it is mentioned in several issues of The Billboard as a vaudeville house.
This web page with an extensive history of the Empire Theatre in Grand Forks also has information about the Dakota Theatre. The Dakota itself was originally called the Empire Theatre, but had been renamed the Grand Theatre sometime before 1918, in which year it was damaged by a fire. After the fire, the house was rebuilt and reopened as the Orpheum Theatre. The page doesn’t say when it became the Dakota Theatre, but Chuck’s earlier comments suggest that it was probably renamed in 1935.
The August 6, 1931, issue of The Film Daily had a brief item about the house: “Grand Forks, N. D. — Work has been started on rebuilding the Publix Orpheum.”
According to the official web site of the Heights Theatre in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, the bottom section of that restored theatre’s stage curtain is from the Orpheum in Grand Forks.
RKO’s Capitol Theatre was enlarged following the 1931 fire. The August 6, 1931, issue of The Film Daily ran the following item about the project:
The Elrae Theatre was mentioned in the August 9, 1931, issue of The Film Daily. New operator Mike Stiefel had closed the house to make improvements and redecorate.
This house replaced an earlier Royal Theatre that was destroyed by fire in 1931, according to the August 9, 1931, issue of The Film Daily.
There is a possibility that this house opened in 1916 as the Star Theatre. Here is an item from the August 5, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World:
The expansive 1910s would have been a more likely period than the depressed 1930s for a theater to have been opened in the middle of a residential neighborhood.Moving Picture World of December 20, 1913, carried the following item about the proposed Allston Theatre:
The December 27 issue of the same publication reported that construction of the new theater on Brighton Avenue was underway. I haven’t found any announcements of the opening of the Allston Theatre, but it must have been in 1914.Edward Richardson and Arthur Yost, architects of the Mall Theatres, also designed the Abbey Theatre on Waterloo Road.
The Princess Theatre was on N. St. Clair Street, not S. St. Clair St. Here is a nocturnal photo of N. St. Clair Street about 1949, showing the lighted marquees of the Princess and several other theaters.
It was Seattle’s first Orpheum Theatre, at 3rd and Madison, that was renamed the President Theatre, probably in 1927 when the new Orpheum at 5th and Stewart was opened. The first Orpheum isn’t listed at Cinema Treasures yet. I’ve been meaning to submit it for quite a while, but I keep misplacing my notes about it.
Data on this Flickr page says that the Princess Theatre was at 314 4th Street.
However, Marcia Meller, the author of the article on this web page, gives the impression that the Princess was never a movie theater, but in 928 went directly from being a legitimate house to hosting sporting events and public meetings.
WorldCat lists A History of the Princess Theatre of Des Moines, Iowa, a 1949 Thesis/Dissertation by Raymond Scott Hill. The only copy the catalog lists is in the University of Iowa Library in Iowa City. Maybe someone who has access to the library will find this comment and examine the book to see if it says anything about the Princess ever having shown movies.
Decorator Rex Davis of the Teichert studios had some unkind things to say about the original decor of the State in this Boxoffice article of June 21, 1941. The house had just been redecorated by Teichert, under the direction of architect Roy B. Blass.
Henry L. Newhouse and F. M. Bernham were the architects of the State Theatre. A rendering of the building can be seen at the bottom of this page of the February 2, 1924, issue of Exhibitors Herald.
The February 2, 1924, issue of Exhibitors Herald had a photo of the entrance of the Princess Theatre.
A history of Denver movie houses in the July 15, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World said that the Princess Theatre had opened on October 11, 1910. It was the first theater in Denver to have been built expressly to show movies.
A lawsuit involving the Princess Amusement Company and the architects of the theater, the F. E. Edbrooke Architect Company, was reported in the 1915 edition of the legal journal Pacific Reporter.
The October 19, 1912, issue of Electrical Review and Western Electrician (Google Books scan) had an article about exterior illumination of Denver theaters which included a photo of the Princess Theatre by night.
The Denver Public Library provides this early photo of the Princess Theatre. Enlarging the photo reveals the intricate detail of the facade, which I suspect was cast iron painted white rather than terra cotta or plaster.
Ottawa’s original Orpheum Theatre was rebuilt in 1924, according to an item in the January 5 issue of Exhibitors Herald that year:
This was the house that was virtually destroyed by fire some years later. I’ve yet to discover how old the Orpheum was at the time of its 1924 rebuilding.This item from the January 5, 1924, issue of Exhibitors Herald is about a combination theater-hotel project to be built in Tamaqua:
This web page cites an item published by a Tamaqua newspaper in 1923 saying that George Higgins was planning to build a hotel and theater in Tamaqua. Both items must pertain to the Majestic. I’ve found references to the Higgins Amusement Company of Shamokin, Pennsylvania, operating houses called the Majestic in Pottsville and Gettysburg, so it was apparently the company’s favored name.Here is an item from the January 5, 1924, issue of Exhibitors Herald which fills in another missing piece of the history of the Marysville/Atkins/National Theatre:
The Cecil B. DeMille production The Affairs of Anatol would be showing at the Cozy Theatre on Wednesday and Thursday, October 12th and 13th, according to the theater’s advertisement in the October 7, 1921, issue of the Checotah Times.
The Roxy opened around November, 1916, as the Cline Theatre, built by local physician Dr. John Cline. In its early years it was operated under lease by a bay area theater man, whose name I’ve found variously spelled as Thomas G. Reaves and T. C. Reavis. The house featured movies and Orpheum circuit vaudeville.
The Roxy might have operated as late as 1969, when the building suffered structural damage from a pair of earthquakes that struck on the night of October 1, but the house might have already been closed by that date.
A. A. Cantin could have been the original architect of the Cline Theatre, as he was licensed to practice by 1916, but the work done by Cantin & Cantin might have been only a remodeling job sometime later.
Here is an item from the January 5, 1924, issue of Exhibitors Herald:
A September 11, 1977, article by Gaye LeBaron in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat says that the G & S Theatre was both designed and built by local contractor Albert M. Hildebrandt. The owners of the building, John Greeott and Eligio Strobino, leased the theater to an experienced theater man, Thomas G. Reaves.The first show at the new house was a production of the Broadway musical Blossom Time, and the first movie shown was Lon Chaney’s version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The house was also on the Pantages vaudeville circuit in its early years.
This photo dated 1928 shows the name California Theatre on the vertical sign, but it looks like G & S Theatre might still be on the front of the marquee (it’s a bit blurry.)
This recent article in the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat is about two large stained glass windows that were in the Roxy Theatre, and are being offered for sale by their current owner.
I can’t find the exact address of the Tos Theatre, but the block of buildings it is part of is on the north side of Main Street between Broad and Grady Streets. The theater is closer to the Broad Street end of the block.
This web page from the Evans County Parks and Recreation Department has a slide show of photos of the restoration project, plus a link to a .zip file with renderings, a floor plan, and a site plan of the project.
There is also a link to a .pdf text about Salvino Tos and his theater. The house was built in the mid-1920s and originally operated under the name Italian Gardens. It was renamed the Tos Theatre after a remodeling and expansion in the 1940s. The Tos Theatre closed in 1976.
The 1894 edition of the New York Clipper Annual says that the Opera House in Washington, Indiana, was dedicated on January 2, 1893. I don’t know of this means that the Opera House was a different house than Wise’s Family Theatre, opened in 1892, or if new owners had renamed Wise’s and rededicated it.
This web page says that the Renaissance Revival facade (it looks mostly Italian Renaissance to me) was put on the building in the mid-1920s. I would imagine that the interior was rebuilt at the same time, or earlier. The Opera House was a second floor theater, and few of those survived long as movie houses. Those that did had almost invariably been rebuilt as ground-floor theaters at some point, and the Indiana was probably no exception.