Comments from Joe Vogel

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Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Savoy Theatre on Mar 27, 2012 at 5:37 pm

Ed is right about the building in the photo not being the Dunlop Hotel, but the building next door to it, on the corner of Boardwalk and South Carolina Avenue.

However, the satellite view at Google Maps doesn’t show that building very well, so I checked the bird’s eye view at Bing Maps, and the building does have what looks like a stage house, and a central section that could have held a theater. But if there was a theater in that building, it isn’t listed at Cinema Treasures yet.

I suppose the building could have held a ballroom with stage facilities. I don’t think it’s the same building that housed the Hotel Poinsettia in the ca.1915 photo Ed linked to. The current building looks like it dates from the 1920s.

As for the Savoy, here’s another big photo from Shorpy showing the Dunlop Hotel from another angle. Shorpy dates it ca.1905, so it doesn’t clear up the mystery of the Savoy’s opening year. The only part of the Hotel Poinsettia building that had been built when this photo was taken was the section on the corner of South Carolina Avenue.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Savoy Theatre on Mar 27, 2012 at 5:24 am

The Arcadia Publishing company’s book Atlantic City, by James D. Ristine and Allen Pergament, gives a different opening year for the Savoy than Andrew Craig Morrison’s book, cited in my previous comment, which gives the opening year as 1907. Ristine and Pergament say the house opened in 1903. Neither book cites a source.

There was a theater called the Savoy operating in Atlantic City by 1904. The biographical sketch of an actress named Edytha Ketchum, in the 1907 edition of Who’s Who in New York, lists among her credits an appearance at the Savoy Theatre in Atlantic City in 1904, but of course the name Savoy might have been used by a different house at that time.

The Dunlop Hotel, through which the theater’s entrance ran, was definitely in operation at least as early as 1904, but the theater might have been added behind the hotel building after the hotel had opened.

The Savoy was also listed in the 1906-1907 edition of Julius Cahn’s guide, copyrighted 1906. The guide gives the seating capacity as 1,450, pretty much the same size as the 1,500 given in Morrison’s book, so this could well have been the same house.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Arlington Theatre on Mar 27, 2012 at 3:43 am

Here is a brief item about the Arlington Theatre in Riverside, with a small photo of its recently remodeled front, from the September 7, 1957, issue of Boxoffice.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Academy of Music on Mar 26, 2012 at 7:19 pm

The Academy of Music’s official web site gives a brief history of the theater, but fails to mention the name of the architect, William C. Brocklesby. Brocklesby (1848-1911) studied architecture in the offices of Richard Upjohn, who was one of the leading American architects of the early 19th century.

Brocklesby later established his own practice in Hartford, Connecticut, and designed many historically significant buildings in New England. His other works in Northampton include the Forbes Library and several buildings on the campus of Smith College.

The Academy of Music, formally opened in May, 1891, is an early example of the Renaissance Revival style which, after the World’s Columbian Exposition was held in Chicago in 1893, became the dominant style for public buildings in the United States for almost four decades.

In 1892 the builder of the Academy of Music, Edward H. R. Lyman, donated the building to the City of Northampton, making it the first municipally owned theater in the United States. From 1912 to 1919, the Academy was the home of the Northampton Players, the first municipally financed theater group in the United States.

The Academy of Music is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Oak Park Theatre on Mar 26, 2012 at 3:01 am

Facade and auditorium photos of the Oak Park Theatre illustrated an ad for the Kooler-Aire Engineering Corporation on this page of Boxoffice predecessor Exhibitors' Forum, issue of April 7, 1931.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about New Angola Theatre on Mar 26, 2012 at 2:40 am

In 1930, the architect of this theater, George E. Eichenlaub, wrote some articles about theater design and construction for Motion Picture Times. Eichenlaub called his projects “Standard Theaters.”

The article in the January 14 issue focused on an unnamed 500-seat theater in a small town some 18 miles from a major city, which fits Angola’s relationship to Buffalo. There is a drawing of the theater’s facade, which looks virtually identical to the 1985 American Classic Images photo of the Angola.

As the article never gives the theater’s name, and the design was intended to be somewhat generic, we can’t be sure that the theater described and pictured is the Angola, but there’s a good possibility that it is.

It’s also possible that there are other theaters built along the same lines scattered about the region, and some larger theaters designed along the lines of the 750-seat house described in Eichenlaub’s article in the February 11, 1930 issue of Motion Picture Times.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Mindlin's Playhouse on Mar 26, 2012 at 2:36 am

Boxoffice predecessor Motion Picture Times published an illustrated two-page article about Michael Mindlin’s new theater in Newark, in its issue of June 3, 1930.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Kearse Theatre on Mar 26, 2012 at 1:33 am

The theater for which construction contracts had just been let, according to an item in the January 14, 1922, issue of The American Contractor, must have been the Kearse:

“Theater: $250,000. 4 or 5 sty. Charleston, VV. Va. Archt. Mills & Millspaugh Co., 67 E. Long st., Columbus. Owner T. K. Kearse, Circuit of Theaters. T. L. Mearse, gen. mgr., Strand Theater bldg., cor. Summers & State sts., Charleston. Gen. contr., including excav. fdn., let to E. L. Harris, 1568 Jackson St., Charleston. Brk. mas. & carp, work by supt. Rfg. to W. F. Shawer, Eagan St., Charleston. Fdns. drawn.”

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Aztec Theatre on Mar 26, 2012 at 12:43 am

The official web site still exists, but has no shows of any sort listed at all. Instead, it touts the shops and restaurant in the building. When was the last time any events took place in this theater?

The history section of the web site says that the house opened on June 4, 1926, not 1924. An article about the takeover of the Aztec by Publix, in the January 7, 1930, issue of Motion Picture Times, gives the same date, as does every other print source I’ve found.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Capri Theatre on Mar 25, 2012 at 4:30 am

A De Luxe Theatre at Johnson City is listed in the 1922 edition of Julius Cahn’s guide. The Deluxe Theatre placed a courtesy ad in the 1923 edition of The Buffalo, the senior class yearbook of Milligan College in Johnson City. A 2007 book called Fiddlin' Charlie Bowman, by Bob L. Cox, says that Mr. Bowman appeared at the Deluxe Theatre in Johnson City in the spring of 1924, and adds that the “…stately entertainment center had been built just four years previously….” It’s quite possible that the Deluxe opened in 1920, and it was certainly open by 1922.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Majestic Theatre on Mar 25, 2012 at 3:55 am

The scan is a bit blurry, but in Boxoffice of August 17, 1946, there are two pairs of before-and-after photos depicting the results of a remodeling of the Majestic. The auditorium looked atmospheric originally, but the whole house became Art Moderne when remodeled. No architect or designer was credited in the article.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Circle Arts Theatre on Mar 25, 2012 at 3:24 am

The obituary LouB linked to says that the Circle Arts closed in 1963. This matches up with the claim on this web page, which also supports Eastsidekid’s memory of the former Varsity Theatre having been called the Circle Arts for a while:

“In early 1962 Fred Keller leased the theatre and renamed it the Circle Arts, and, as the new name implied, he specialized in European films. A year or so later he lost the lease and moved to the Varsity Theatre on Bailey and took the Circle Arts name with him.”
The obituary also notes that the former Circle Theatre now serves as a mosque.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Varsity Theatre on Mar 25, 2012 at 3:11 am

The Palace Theatre in the picture DonLewis linked to is not this house, but one on Main Street in Downtown Buffalo. It isn’t listed at Cinema Treasures. As far as I’ve been able to discover, that Palace was always a burlesque house.

This house might have been called the Circle Arts Theatre, if the claim about Fred Keller, operator of the earlier Circle Arts Theatre, on this web page is correct:

“In early 1962 Fred Keller leased the theatre [the Circle] and renamed it the Circle Arts, and, as the new name implied, he specialized in European films. A year or so later he lost the lease and moved to the Varsity Theatre on Bailey and took the Circle Arts name with him.”
Here is a weblog post from early 2010 about Abraham Cisse (though they misspelled his surname as Cissie), who had recently bought the Uptown Theatre and was in the process of renovating it. I’ve been unable to find any more recent information about the project, but Mr. Cisse is apparently still the owner of the property.

Here is another recent photo of this house as the Uptown.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Chang's Theatre on Mar 25, 2012 at 2:04 am

The June, 1989, issue of the Bulletin published by the Society for the Study of Architecture in Canada has small versions of the photos of the Garden Theatre that CSWalczak linked to. The text says that the house was built in 1911, and was designed by architect J. Hunt Stanford.

A PDF of the Bulletin is available from this link. The issue is devoted to theaters, and has dozens of historic photos, but the PDF is quite large (almost 8MB.) The photos of the Garden Theatre are on page 48.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Lovejoy Theatre on Mar 25, 2012 at 1:37 am

I’ve updated the street view to the Lovejoy Pool building, which has the address 1171 E. Lovejoy Street, at the corner of Gold Street. The building is obviously the former third Lovejoy Theatre, built in the 1940s. I think I might have seen a rendering of the Lovejoy in an issue of Boxoffice a couple of weeks ago, but I can’t remember which issue it was and I’ve been unable to find it again.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Doric Theatre on Mar 24, 2012 at 7:16 am

Ground was being cleared for the new theater that was to become the Doric, according to an item in The American Contractor of September 3, 1917. Architects Greenbaum & Hardy had designed the house for owner Mrs. Margaret D. C. Ridge.

An item about the Doric Theatre’s new organ appeared in the November 29, 1919, issue of Music Trades Review:

“ORGAN IS VERSATILE

“Kimball Piano Co. Makes Telling Window Display of Big Organ Manual Board

“KANSAS CITY, MO., Nov. 26.—The Kimball Piano Co. is showing in its display window the manual board of the new Kimball pipe organ, which is now being installed at the Doric Theatre in this city. This instrument is one of the finest of its kind in the United States and is the largest to be installed in any theatre in the west. While it takes up less space than many of the others, it contains many stops which are an innovation in pneumatic construction. In addition to a full tones set of pipes, the instrument by means of double touch kevs possesses the equipment of an orchestra, string, brass or both, a marimba band, brass band, or can manage solos on a variety of instruments against a background of orchestral or organ music. The double touch keys are distinctly new and do away with the organ stops.”

Following the explosion which severely damaged the Doric Theatre in 1922, the December 16 issue of The American Contractor said that architects Greenbaum, Hardy & Schumacher were drawing preliminary plans for a theater on the site, but I’ve found no evidence that the project was ever carried out.

Here are fresh links to the photos of the Doric Theatre at the Kansas City Public Library. All are dated 1918:

View 1

View 2

View 3.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Capitol Theatre on Mar 23, 2012 at 6:31 pm

According to the book Remembering Plant City, by Gilbert Gott, the Capitol was in the Young and Moody Building, which is on the northeast corner of W. Reynolds and N. Evers Streets. Gott says that the theater was on Reynolds Street, and opened in 1924.

Judging from the configuration of the building, the auditorium must have occupied the back half of the square structure, with the screen end along Evers Street where the second-floor wall is still blank brick, while the rest of that facade has fenestration. The theater entrance must have been at the east end of the Reynolds Street side of the building, farthest from the street corner, at about 110 W. Reynolds. Here is a recent photo of the Young and Moody Building.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Ritz Theatre on Mar 23, 2012 at 6:13 pm

Long-lost drawings of the Ritz Theatre by architect M. Leo Elliot were discovered a couple of years ago. Here is one of them.

Elliott labeled the drawing Haya Theater. According to this web page, the theater was built on the site of Ybor City’s first cigar factory, founded by Serafin Sanchez and Ignacio Haya in 1886. It’s possible that members of the Haya family were involved in the development of the Ritz Theatre.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Delta Theatre on Mar 23, 2012 at 6:07 pm

The entry for architect Emile Fuhrmann in the 1956 edition of the AIA’s American Architects Directory lists the Delta Theatre at New Orleans as one of his projects from the year 1945.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Capitol Theater on Mar 23, 2012 at 6:52 am

The Capitol Theatre was designed by architect Bertram C. Hill. This item appeared in the July 13, 1922, issue of Manufacturers Record:

“Tex., Dallas—Popular Amusement Co. (Leon Gohlman and associates) will erect $50,000 theater, 1519-21 Elm St.; Bertram C. Hill Co., Archt. (Lately noted.)”
Two photos of the Capitol survive in the collection of Hill’s papers at Southern Methodist University.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Regent Theatre on Mar 23, 2012 at 6:13 am

David and Noelle’s list of known Boller Brothers theaters says that the remodeling of the Regent Theatre by Robert Boller was a 1947 project.

The original architect of the Regent Theatre in 1916 was H. Alexander Drake, who also designed Frank Newman’s Royal Theatre of 1914 and the Newman Theatre of 1919, which later became the Paramount. According to the March 4, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World, the Regent was then nearing completion:

“REGENT MAY OPEN MARCH 10.

“Kansas City, Mo.—Work on the new Regent theatre being erected here at 107 East 12th St., by Frank L. Newman, manager of the Royal, is rapidly progressing and the theatre will probably be opened by March 10. One of the problems of Alexander Drake, the architect, was to design a house with a capacity of 700, as the Regent will have, on a lot 38x76 feet. This was accomplished by an unusual balcony, made possible by the fact that the theater is fifty feet high. A grilled celling, above which three 36-inch fans will suck air into ventilating shafts is one of the many interesting features being introduced by Mr. Newman. The entire cost of the structure is to be $60,000.”

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Webbo Theatre on Mar 23, 2012 at 5:19 am

Here is a larger version of the same photo of the Webbo Theatre that is linked twice in earlier comments. The movie advertised on the banner under the marquee, Western Mail starring Tom Keene was released in 1942.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Derby Theater on Mar 22, 2012 at 4:19 am

Here is a photo of the Delbee Theatre, probably from 1920. There is a poster for director William Desmond Taylor’s 1920 film, The Furnace, at lower left. The brick facade now on the building doesn’t resemble the original theater front at all.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Broadway Theater on Mar 22, 2012 at 4:04 am

Here is a photo of the Broadway Theatre in the 1930s. Note that the old Hippodrome sign is still on the roof above the Broadway marquee.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Liberty Theatre on Mar 22, 2012 at 3:50 am

The web site of the Liberty Theatre’s current owner, the Greater Cincinnati Deaf Club, features this photo gallery which includes a few shots of events taking place in the upstairs hall. It appears that the original auditorium was divided into two floors, with offices, rest rooms, smaller meeting rooms and such on the ground floor and a large hall occupying the upper half.

The ceiling looks like it might be pressed tin, and is probably the Liberty’s original ceiling. The stage in the hall appears to have been built above the original stage, and its proscenium is probably part of the original, though it was most likely raised above its original level, which would not have come so close to the theater’s ceiling.