The Google Street View shows Miller Alley leading south from Union Street. This Flickr photo shows the pedestrian passage leading to the theater from Colorado Boulevard, with the theater’s sign and attraction board suspended above it (the photo is a bit blurry.)
Current Google Street View shows that the building has been remodeled in a retroish style all too characteristic of Pasadena in the early 21st century. I only ever saw the original building during the early stage of construction, but photos of it show that, as originally completed to Daniel Uesugi’s design, this was a Neo-Vintage/Streamline style theater. I think the original design made a better contribution to the streetscape than does the boxy thing the building has become, Tiffany’s or not.
There are four photos at CinemaTour showing the original look. The lobby wasn’t all that impressive, but the facade was nice.
The February 23, 1921, issue of [em]Engineering News-Record[/em] has an item which must be about the American Theatre. Datelined Bonham, Texas, is says that E. H. Hulsey and H. B. Robb, of Dallas, were having plans prepared by Bonham architect A. B. Scarborough for a two-story brick theater building. The project was expected to cost about $75,000.
As CSWalczak’s comment of October 25, 2010, says, and the photo Don Lewis linked to on November 1, 2010, shows, the Royal Theatre on Houston Street was on part of the site now occupied by the much larger Majestic Theatre.
The Royal had to have been demolished by 1929. That means that the theater in the current description, still operating in 1943, must have been one of the two other Royals mentioned in Bob Jensen’s comment of October 31, 2010.
According to the caption of a photo in the book “Parsons,” by David Mattox and Mike Brotherton, this multiplex was built shortly before the April, 2000, tornado struck, and had been in operation less than six weeks when it was destroyed. The owners rebuilt on the same site.
According to the same source, the original Parsons Theatre (the one in the 1985 photo Chuck linked to,) which had been rebuilt following one fire in 1943, was destroyed by another fire more than 50 years later, and was subsequently demolished.
The Parsons Theatre was opened no later than 1928, when an organ was installed. According to the book “Parsons,” by David Mattox and Mike Brotherton, the Parsons Theatre was partly destroyed by a fire on September 3, 1943, and was rebuilt, but was completely destroyed by another fire more than 50 years later.
This is probably the 1967 photo Chuck’s dead link fetched.
The Ivanhoe Theatre was in operation before 1919. It was included on a list of Toledo movie houses in a book called “Motion Pictures as a Phase of Commercial Amusement in Toledo, Ohio,” by John Joseph Phelan, which was published that year.
Michigan Film Review of June 4, 1918, had this to say about the Strand:
“Lester Matt, of the Strand theatre, Flint, is planning to add a balcony that will increase his capacity 600 seats. The Strand is doing a phenomenal business despite the warm weather.”
The Star Theatre was listed at 1618 N. Saginaw in Polk’s 1915 Flint City Directory. I don’t know if that indicates that the theater was rebuilt or expanded between 1915 and 1922, or if the street numbers were just changed.
The Star was one of the houses mentioned in an item headed “Flint Theatres” in the November 6, 1917, issue of Michigan Film Review:[quote]“There are only thirteen theatres now operating in Flintâ€\"all others being out of business or closed:
“Delia and Strand, operated by Lester Matt; Orpheum, Charles Garfield, manager; Elite, W. DuKarry, manager; L. J. Sumlin, manager; Royal, Rex Minkley, manager; Star, L. Booth, manager; Gem, F. C. Philips, manager: Princess, Reckin and Nickotemus. managers: Fredro, J. Olenski, manager, and Majestic, Palace and Garden theatres, operated by W. S. Butterfield.”[/quote]The item only mentions twelve theaters by name, so one of the thirteen got left out, apparently the one managed by L. J. Sumlin. The August 6 issue of the same journal had said that Sumlin was manager of the Savoy Theatre, so that’s probably the missing name.
The October 6, 1917,issue of The American Contractor had an item saying that contracts had been awarded for construction of a motion picture theater, hall, and office building to be built at Plymouth, Michigan, for Kate E. Allen. The projected cost for the two-story, 100x90-foot building was $30,000. The project had been designed by architect C. Howard Crane.
The Venice Motion Picture Theatre Company was organized at Nephi in June, 1914, according to the Report of the Secretary of State of the State of Utah published in 1915. Given the name of the corporation, I don’t know what to make of the claim at Utah Theatres that the house was originally called the Ermo Theatre. They cite the source for the Ermo aka as an email from someone named Jerry Shepherd. The page also gives the Venice the aka Foote Theatre.
Editions of Julius Cahn’s Guide from 1903-1904 and 1904-1905 list an 800-seat, ground floor theater called the Opera House in Nephi, managed by a Mr. G.W. Toote. I think Toote in the Cahn guides was a typo, as there are many references to a Foote family residing in Nephi, but no other references to anybody named Toote. I’ve found a 1982 reference to a Richard and Shirley Foote, of the Venice Theatre Corporation in Nephi. Perhaps the Venice Moving Picture Theatre Company of 1914 was formed not to build a new theater, but to take over operation of G.W. Foote’s Opera House and convert it to movies?
Utah Theatres has a page for the Nephi Opera House, with little information other than a seating capacity of 500 and an operational period of 1903 to after 1912, which would not conflict with the opening of the Venice in 1915, if they were the same theater.
The September 4, 1918, issue of The Music Trades says that a large American Fotoplayer had been sold in Nephi, but doesn’t name the buyer. It’s possible the instrument was installed in the Venice Theatre, although I’ve come across a single reference to an Arlington Theatre operating at Nephi in 1915, so the Fotoplayer might have gone there.
If anybody wonders what a Fotoplayer is, watch this YouTube video for a sample.
Rereading my comment of Jan 4, 2009, I think the opening date of September, 1947, I cited from Boxoffice must have been a typo. The introduction says that The Show was operating during the depression, and the building in the photo A. Ratcliffe linked to is certainly of a style more characteristic of the 1930s than the late 1940s. Most likely the house opened in 1937, not 1947.
I’ve been unable to discover whether or not the building survived the tornado that struck Joplin last Sunday evening. One map of the tornado’s path shows its northern edge crossing Main Street near 13th Street, a short distance north of the Glen’s location. The former Wasson and Electric theater buildings are within a block of the Glen, so they would also have been in danger, as would the former Royal Theatre’s building, assuming it hadn’t already been demolished.
Herman J. Bley must have had a relative in the business. The Moving Picture World of January 15, 1916, mentioned a Theodore V. Bley who operated the Fairmount Theatre in Cincinnati. This list of movie theaters from the March 29, 1915, issue of The Cincinnatian includes both the Valley and the Fairmount, which turns out to have almost directly across the street from the Valley, at 1515 Harrison Avenue.
The Strand/Berwick is located at the same address that was listed for the P.O.S.of A. Opera House in a 1905 city directory. This was a theater built in 1890 by the Patriotic Order Sons of America. The P.O.S. of A. Opera House, according to various editions of Julius Cahn’s guide, was a ground floor theater seating about 650. Unless the original building was destroyed, the Strand/Berwick Theatre must be the same house. The facade of the Berwick in the photos linked above does look fairly old, though it also looks rather plain for a theater built in 1890, so it might have been remodeled at some point.
During the 1910s, Berwick had houses called the Palace Theatre, mentioned in a book published in 1915, and the Lyric Theatre, mentioned in a 1913 magazine article as having been recently remodeled. I haven’t found any references to the Opera House later than 1908, so either the Palace or the Lyric (or both) might have been the Opera House renamed, and thus an aka for the Berwick, but I’ve been unable to connect either name with an address.
Looking at the photos of this theater, I think it’s almost certain that this is the theater mentioned in Southwest Builder & Contractor of November 1, 1940: “Theater (Dinuba)— Leo L. Smith, 249 N. K St., Dinuba, has started work on a theater at Dinuba for Hollywood interests…cost $35,000. S. Charles Lee, architect.”
Now that I know that C.C. Dakin designed this theater, I’m especially sorry I never got to see it. Here is a 1923 picture of Pul Elder’s Book Shop in San Francisco, designed by Dakin a few years after the Redding Theatre. Though his work fell into obscurity in the later 20th century, it has recently been rediscovered, and those of his buildings which have survived are much appreciated by aficionados of California architecture.
The claim made on the Cascade Theatre web site that the Redding Theatre was built in 1910 was wrong. This article by Renee McKean, about Redding’s Armory Hall, which was destroyed by fire in 1915, says that after the Armory Hall was destroyed, the Redding Chamber of Commerce arranged with M. Leonardini to build the Redding Theatre.
Here is an item from The Moving Picture World of July 15, 1916:
“REDDING, CAL.â€"M. Leonardini, owner of the Paragon block on California street, is having plans prepared bf C. C. Dakin, First National Bank building, Oakland, Cal., for a theatre building, costing between $20,000 and $25,000.”
Given the fact that the front of the Redding Theatre was designed in a style that was typical of the 19th century, and was out of date by the 1900s, it’s possible that Leonardini’s project was to build an auditorium behind his existing business building, the Paragon Block. It would explain why the theater’s facade was so old fashioned.
I totally screwed up the first sentence of my previous comment with sloppy cut-and-paste editing. It should say this: Here is a web page with an index of articles from Brunswick newspapers that are available on microfilm from the local library.
The Los Angeles Times of February 2, 1923, reported that the Strand Theatre had opened at Dinuba. Southwest Builder & Contractor of May 26, 1922, reported that the Strand had been designed by Fresno architect Ernest J. Kump. Modern sources usually refer to him as Ernest J. Kump, Sr., as his namesake son also became a noted architect.
Here is a vintage photo of the Powers Theatre. The caption says that it “… started as the Gem Opera House in the 1920s….” but an item in [em]The Moving Picture World[em] of July 15, 1916, indicates that the house was built to show movies: “CARIBOU, ME.â€"Astte & Page has the contract to erect a two-story moving picture theatre, 45 by 96 feet, for P. J. Powers, to cost $10,000.”
There is a web page an index of articles from the The Cumberland Theatre that are available on microfilm at a local library. It lists an article about the Cumberland Theatre published in 1949. The abstract indicates that the house was built in 1910, and remodeled in 1949.
The Cumberland Theatre is mentioned frequently in various 1920 issues of Bowdoin College’s student newspaper, The Bowdoin Orient. Some of its ads were for live theater performances. The newspaper also carried ads for a movie house called the Pastime Theatre, but no addresses were given for either house.
The Cumberland and the Pastime were both mentioned in the November 22, 1913, issue of The Moving Picture World The postcard book Brunswick and Bowdoin College, by Elizabeth Huntoon Coursen, has photos of both the Cumberland and the Pastime (search using the spelling theater.)
The Leavitt Theatre was under construction in late 1910. In its issues of November 5 and November 19 that year, trade journal Domestic Engineering carried items about the letting of the plumbing contract and the installation of a heating plant.
Frank C. Leavitt was one of Sanford’s leading citizens, a coal and wood merchant, and the owner of quite a bit of property, including the town’s most important business block, but that didn’t stop him from getting into trouble with the law. He opened Sanford’s first movie theater in a billiard parlor on the fourth floor of the Leavitt Building in 1908, and apparently some locals were not pleased with the new entertainment. The official report of the state’s attorney general, covering cases for two years through November 30, 1908, included a report that Frank C. Leavitt had been charged with exhibiting obscene pictures.
Fortunately he was found not guilty, or it might have ended his promising career as a movie exhibitor, and the Leavitt Theatre might never have been built.
Is 721 10th Street South the confirmed address of the 1935 Park Theatre?, There was a New Park Theatre opened in 1913 at 822-825 10th Street South, a block away from this house. There was a photo of it in the July 12, 1913, issue of The Moving Picture World. Google street view shows what looks like the same building still standing, though it gives the approximate address as 884 10th Street South. Theater-style exit doors can be seen on the back of the building, which abuts East 14th Street.
From the aerial view, it looks as though County Road 33 might once have ended at 10th Street, or maybe ran straight south to end at Grant Street, but was later cut diagonally through the 700 block to connect with Park Avenue South. If the Park Theatre moved to a new building in the 700 block of 10th Street in 1935, that building might have been demolished in the 1960s if such a road project was carried out then.
The Google Street View shows Miller Alley leading south from Union Street. This Flickr photo shows the pedestrian passage leading to the theater from Colorado Boulevard, with the theater’s sign and attraction board suspended above it (the photo is a bit blurry.)
Current Google Street View shows that the building has been remodeled in a retroish style all too characteristic of Pasadena in the early 21st century. I only ever saw the original building during the early stage of construction, but photos of it show that, as originally completed to Daniel Uesugi’s design, this was a Neo-Vintage/Streamline style theater. I think the original design made a better contribution to the streetscape than does the boxy thing the building has become, Tiffany’s or not.
There are four photos at CinemaTour showing the original look. The lobby wasn’t all that impressive, but the facade was nice.
The February 23, 1921, issue of [em]Engineering News-Record[/em] has an item which must be about the American Theatre. Datelined Bonham, Texas, is says that E. H. Hulsey and H. B. Robb, of Dallas, were having plans prepared by Bonham architect A. B. Scarborough for a two-story brick theater building. The project was expected to cost about $75,000.
As CSWalczak’s comment of October 25, 2010, says, and the photo Don Lewis linked to on November 1, 2010, shows, the Royal Theatre on Houston Street was on part of the site now occupied by the much larger Majestic Theatre.
The Royal had to have been demolished by 1929. That means that the theater in the current description, still operating in 1943, must have been one of the two other Royals mentioned in Bob Jensen’s comment of October 31, 2010.
According to the caption of a photo in the book “Parsons,” by David Mattox and Mike Brotherton, this multiplex was built shortly before the April, 2000, tornado struck, and had been in operation less than six weeks when it was destroyed. The owners rebuilt on the same site.
According to the same source, the original Parsons Theatre (the one in the 1985 photo Chuck linked to,) which had been rebuilt following one fire in 1943, was destroyed by another fire more than 50 years later, and was subsequently demolished.
The Parsons Theatre was opened no later than 1928, when an organ was installed. According to the book “Parsons,” by David Mattox and Mike Brotherton, the Parsons Theatre was partly destroyed by a fire on September 3, 1943, and was rebuilt, but was completely destroyed by another fire more than 50 years later.
Here is an updated link to the 1963 Boxoffice article with pictures of the Belcourt cited in my earlier comment.
This is probably the 1967 photo Chuck’s dead link fetched.
The Ivanhoe Theatre was in operation before 1919. It was included on a list of Toledo movie houses in a book called “Motion Pictures as a Phase of Commercial Amusement in Toledo, Ohio,” by John Joseph Phelan, which was published that year.
Michigan Film Review of June 4, 1918, had this to say about the Strand:
The Star Theatre was listed at 1618 N. Saginaw in Polk’s 1915 Flint City Directory. I don’t know if that indicates that the theater was rebuilt or expanded between 1915 and 1922, or if the street numbers were just changed.
The Star was one of the houses mentioned in an item headed “Flint Theatres” in the November 6, 1917, issue of Michigan Film Review:[quote]“There are only thirteen theatres now operating in Flintâ€\"all others being out of business or closed:
“Delia and Strand, operated by Lester Matt; Orpheum, Charles Garfield, manager; Elite, W. DuKarry, manager; L. J. Sumlin, manager; Royal, Rex Minkley, manager; Star, L. Booth, manager; Gem, F. C. Philips, manager: Princess, Reckin and Nickotemus. managers: Fredro, J. Olenski, manager, and Majestic, Palace and Garden theatres, operated by W. S. Butterfield.”[/quote]The item only mentions twelve theaters by name, so one of the thirteen got left out, apparently the one managed by L. J. Sumlin. The August 6 issue of the same journal had said that Sumlin was manager of the Savoy Theatre, so that’s probably the missing name.
The October 6, 1917,issue of The American Contractor had an item saying that contracts had been awarded for construction of a motion picture theater, hall, and office building to be built at Plymouth, Michigan, for Kate E. Allen. The projected cost for the two-story, 100x90-foot building was $30,000. The project had been designed by architect C. Howard Crane.
The Venice Motion Picture Theatre Company was organized at Nephi in June, 1914, according to the Report of the Secretary of State of the State of Utah published in 1915. Given the name of the corporation, I don’t know what to make of the claim at Utah Theatres that the house was originally called the Ermo Theatre. They cite the source for the Ermo aka as an email from someone named Jerry Shepherd. The page also gives the Venice the aka Foote Theatre.
Editions of Julius Cahn’s Guide from 1903-1904 and 1904-1905 list an 800-seat, ground floor theater called the Opera House in Nephi, managed by a Mr. G.W. Toote. I think Toote in the Cahn guides was a typo, as there are many references to a Foote family residing in Nephi, but no other references to anybody named Toote. I’ve found a 1982 reference to a Richard and Shirley Foote, of the Venice Theatre Corporation in Nephi. Perhaps the Venice Moving Picture Theatre Company of 1914 was formed not to build a new theater, but to take over operation of G.W. Foote’s Opera House and convert it to movies?
Utah Theatres has a page for the Nephi Opera House, with little information other than a seating capacity of 500 and an operational period of 1903 to after 1912, which would not conflict with the opening of the Venice in 1915, if they were the same theater.
The September 4, 1918, issue of The Music Trades says that a large American Fotoplayer had been sold in Nephi, but doesn’t name the buyer. It’s possible the instrument was installed in the Venice Theatre, although I’ve come across a single reference to an Arlington Theatre operating at Nephi in 1915, so the Fotoplayer might have gone there.
If anybody wonders what a Fotoplayer is, watch this YouTube video for a sample.
Here is a recent photo of the former Congress Theatre. It looks as though the street has been recently repaved, but the sidewalk still needs some work.
Rereading my comment of Jan 4, 2009, I think the opening date of September, 1947, I cited from Boxoffice must have been a typo. The introduction says that The Show was operating during the depression, and the building in the photo A. Ratcliffe linked to is certainly of a style more characteristic of the 1930s than the late 1940s. Most likely the house opened in 1937, not 1947.
I’ve been unable to discover whether or not the building survived the tornado that struck Joplin last Sunday evening. One map of the tornado’s path shows its northern edge crossing Main Street near 13th Street, a short distance north of the Glen’s location. The former Wasson and Electric theater buildings are within a block of the Glen, so they would also have been in danger, as would the former Royal Theatre’s building, assuming it hadn’t already been demolished.
Herman J. Bley must have had a relative in the business. The Moving Picture World of January 15, 1916, mentioned a Theodore V. Bley who operated the Fairmount Theatre in Cincinnati. This list of movie theaters from the March 29, 1915, issue of The Cincinnatian includes both the Valley and the Fairmount, which turns out to have almost directly across the street from the Valley, at 1515 Harrison Avenue.
The Strand/Berwick is located at the same address that was listed for the P.O.S.of A. Opera House in a 1905 city directory. This was a theater built in 1890 by the Patriotic Order Sons of America. The P.O.S. of A. Opera House, according to various editions of Julius Cahn’s guide, was a ground floor theater seating about 650. Unless the original building was destroyed, the Strand/Berwick Theatre must be the same house. The facade of the Berwick in the photos linked above does look fairly old, though it also looks rather plain for a theater built in 1890, so it might have been remodeled at some point.
During the 1910s, Berwick had houses called the Palace Theatre, mentioned in a book published in 1915, and the Lyric Theatre, mentioned in a 1913 magazine article as having been recently remodeled. I haven’t found any references to the Opera House later than 1908, so either the Palace or the Lyric (or both) might have been the Opera House renamed, and thus an aka for the Berwick, but I’ve been unable to connect either name with an address.
Looking at the photos of this theater, I think it’s almost certain that this is the theater mentioned in Southwest Builder & Contractor of November 1, 1940: “Theater (Dinuba)— Leo L. Smith, 249 N. K St., Dinuba, has started work on a theater at Dinuba for Hollywood interests…cost $35,000. S. Charles Lee, architect.”
Now that I know that C.C. Dakin designed this theater, I’m especially sorry I never got to see it. Here is a 1923 picture of Pul Elder’s Book Shop in San Francisco, designed by Dakin a few years after the Redding Theatre. Though his work fell into obscurity in the later 20th century, it has recently been rediscovered, and those of his buildings which have survived are much appreciated by aficionados of California architecture.
The claim made on the Cascade Theatre web site that the Redding Theatre was built in 1910 was wrong. This article by Renee McKean, about Redding’s Armory Hall, which was destroyed by fire in 1915, says that after the Armory Hall was destroyed, the Redding Chamber of Commerce arranged with M. Leonardini to build the Redding Theatre.
Here is an item from The Moving Picture World of July 15, 1916:
Given the fact that the front of the Redding Theatre was designed in a style that was typical of the 19th century, and was out of date by the 1900s, it’s possible that Leonardini’s project was to build an auditorium behind his existing business building, the Paragon Block. It would explain why the theater’s facade was so old fashioned.I totally screwed up the first sentence of my previous comment with sloppy cut-and-paste editing. It should say this: Here is a web page with an index of articles from Brunswick newspapers that are available on microfilm from the local library.
The Los Angeles Times of February 2, 1923, reported that the Strand Theatre had opened at Dinuba. Southwest Builder & Contractor of May 26, 1922, reported that the Strand had been designed by Fresno architect Ernest J. Kump. Modern sources usually refer to him as Ernest J. Kump, Sr., as his namesake son also became a noted architect.
Here is a vintage photo of the Powers Theatre. The caption says that it “… started as the Gem Opera House in the 1920s….” but an item in [em]The Moving Picture World[em] of July 15, 1916, indicates that the house was built to show movies: “CARIBOU, ME.â€"Astte & Page has the contract to erect a two-story moving picture theatre, 45 by 96 feet, for P. J. Powers, to cost $10,000.”
There is a web page an index of articles from the The Cumberland Theatre that are available on microfilm at a local library. It lists an article about the Cumberland Theatre published in 1949. The abstract indicates that the house was built in 1910, and remodeled in 1949.
The Cumberland Theatre is mentioned frequently in various 1920 issues of Bowdoin College’s student newspaper, The Bowdoin Orient. Some of its ads were for live theater performances. The newspaper also carried ads for a movie house called the Pastime Theatre, but no addresses were given for either house.
The Cumberland and the Pastime were both mentioned in the November 22, 1913, issue of The Moving Picture World The postcard book Brunswick and Bowdoin College, by Elizabeth Huntoon Coursen, has photos of both the Cumberland and the Pastime (search using the spelling theater.)
The Leavitt Theatre was under construction in late 1910. In its issues of November 5 and November 19 that year, trade journal Domestic Engineering carried items about the letting of the plumbing contract and the installation of a heating plant.
Frank C. Leavitt was one of Sanford’s leading citizens, a coal and wood merchant, and the owner of quite a bit of property, including the town’s most important business block, but that didn’t stop him from getting into trouble with the law. He opened Sanford’s first movie theater in a billiard parlor on the fourth floor of the Leavitt Building in 1908, and apparently some locals were not pleased with the new entertainment. The official report of the state’s attorney general, covering cases for two years through November 30, 1908, included a report that Frank C. Leavitt had been charged with exhibiting obscene pictures.
Fortunately he was found not guilty, or it might have ended his promising career as a movie exhibitor, and the Leavitt Theatre might never have been built.
Is 721 10th Street South the confirmed address of the 1935 Park Theatre?, There was a New Park Theatre opened in 1913 at 822-825 10th Street South, a block away from this house. There was a photo of it in the July 12, 1913, issue of The Moving Picture World. Google street view shows what looks like the same building still standing, though it gives the approximate address as 884 10th Street South. Theater-style exit doors can be seen on the back of the building, which abuts East 14th Street.
From the aerial view, it looks as though County Road 33 might once have ended at 10th Street, or maybe ran straight south to end at Grant Street, but was later cut diagonally through the 700 block to connect with Park Avenue South. If the Park Theatre moved to a new building in the 700 block of 10th Street in 1935, that building might have been demolished in the 1960s if such a road project was carried out then.