The Liberty was one of two theaters lately remodeled by Martin Theatres which were featured in Boxoffice of July 7, 1956. Before and after photos illustrate the article. Both projects were designed by architect Rufus E. Bland.
Architect Jack Corgan’s rendering of the proposed Leachman Theatre appeared in Boxoffice’s “Just Off the Boards” feature for March 29, 1947. The theater as built differs somewhat from Corgan’s original design, which included an auditorium the full width of the building that would have seated 1,300.
A later issue of Boxoffice gives the house’s seating capacity as 1,100, but given that the width of the auditorium as built appears to have been reduced by almost a third from the original proposal, that seems a bit exaggerated.
The Middleton Theatre was a quonset structure designed by architect Myles Belongia, of the firm Peacock & Belongia. The firm designed the prototypes for the quonset theaters erected during the postwar period by Poblocki & Sons, a Milwaukee signage company that branched out into theater construction.
An article about the Middleton, with photos theater during and after construction, appeared in Boxoffice of March 29, 1947. Boxoffice of November 9, 1946, said that the Middleton Theatre had opened the previous Wednesday. It was first operated by a regional circuit, M&E Theatres.
The November 12, 1949, issue of Boxoffice reported that Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Sosna had leased their Sosna Theatre at Moberly to the Dubinsky Brothers chain, but it also said that they “…had entered the theatre busines here in 1936, and the present Sosna Theatre was opened in July, 1946.” So the Sosna/State was their second theater in Moberly. If the aka’s given as CinemaTour are correct, the first Sosna in Moberly was the house currently listed at Cinema Tresures as the Princess.
I’d guess the name State was chosen by the Dubinskys because it’s the same length as Sosna and shares two letters in common, simplifying (and making less costly) the changing of name on the marquee.
Boxoffice of February 4, 1950, reported that the Sosna Theatre in Moberly had reopened as the State Theatre.
Two years after Louis Sosna returned to Moberly and reopened the house, Boxoffice of January 15, 1962, reported thet the Sosna State Theatre had been acquired by Elmer Bills.
If this house was built in 1922, as the introduction currently says, then it must have had at least one aka that is currently missing. Boxoffice gives no clues as to what it might have been.
Given that the theater at this location was called the Halloran Theatre for only ten years, from 1903 until 1913, and the Grand Theater from 1913 until closing in 1960, it ought to be listed as the Grand Theatre.
If the aka given for this theater at CinemaTour is correct, from 1936 until 1946 this house was called the Sosna Theatre. It was the first of two houses using that name in Moberly.
A photo of the first Sosna can be seen at upper right on this page from Boxoffice of June 27, 1936. The caption indicates that the front was new at that time. (The second Sosna at Moberly opened in 1946, according to a Boxoffice item from 1949, and became the State Theatre in 1950.)
The first Sosna became the Dickenson Theatre when it reopened in 1946. In 1960, it was taken over by Elmer Bills and renamed the Amy Lou Theatre, which the February 29 issue of Boxoffice said had opened on February 9. The January 29, 1962, issue of Boxoffice said that the Amy Lou Theatre had been condemned by the city of Moberly to make way for additional parking, but would continue to operate until demolition was ready to begin. I haven’t found when the theater actually closed.
This house must have been called the Princess before becoming the Sosna in 1936. CinemaTour also lists Rialto and Baby Grand as aka’s, but Baby Grand at least, and perhaps both, might be mistakes. A 1925 Reel Journal item about the destruction of the Grand Theatre by fire said that while it was being rebuilt, the management had taken over an old theater on 3rd Street and woule operate it as the Baby Grand. Unless the magazine was mistaken about the location, the Baby Grand could not have been this house on Williams Street. I don’t see a Cinema Treasures listing for a theater on 3rd Street.
Louis Sosna and his brother Sam opened a Sosna Theatre at Mexico, Missouri, in 1940, which a Boxoffice item of that year says was designed by Moberly architect Ludwig Abt. This makes me wonder if the two Sosna theaters at Moberly might also have been designed by Abt. The two houses closely resemble each other, and were probably both done by the same architect, and it could have been Abt. I haven’t found confirmation of this surmise, though. Maybe somebody local would know for sure. Also, if somebody could come up with a photo of the Sosna at Mexico we could see if it resembled the two Moberly houses.
Boxoffice of June 3, 1939, said that the Grand Theatre at Torrance had opened. The house was operated by Pacific States Theatres, a company controlled by Adolph Ramish and the Gore brothers.
Here is a rendering from an aerial perspective of Martin’s Georgia Theatre, published with a brief article in Boxoffice of July 27, 1964, about the time construction began.
I’ve been unable to find an article devoted to the opening of the house, but Boxoffice of March 29, 1965, said that the Georgia Theatre was scheduled to open with the roadshow of “The Greatest Story Ever Told” on April 14. July 19, 1965, Boxoffice item said that the Georgia Theatre had opened during Holy Week, following a four-week delay caused by weather-related construction problems. The same item said that “Hallelujah Trail” was set to open at the house on July 29.
A photo of the auditorium of the Centre Theatre was featured on the frontispiece of Boxoffice magazine’s Modern Theatre section of August 6, 1955. The curved screen was 28 feet high and 60 feet wide.
An article about the Golden Mile Theatre appeared in Boxoffice of August 6, 1955. There are several photos. The article failed to give the name of the architect.
Photos of the Golden Mile after its coversion to a twin appeared in Boxoffice of September 18, 1978. The architect for the conversion was Mandel Sprachman.
This theater had to have been one of the earliest twin theaters built in the United States. Boxoffice of December 9, 1963, said that ground had been broken for the 2000-seat twin theater being built by Town & Country Theatres at the Mid-Island Shopping Plaza in Hicksville. An earlier item in the issue of October 14 had said that the architect for the project was Leon Miller.
So far I’ve been unable to find any Boxoffice items about the opening, but the Twin Theatre was in operation by spring of 1965, when it was the site of a wedding arranged as part of a promotion for the movie “Marriage Italian Style.” Boxoffice of April 5 has a photo of the happy couple with part of the theater visible in the background.
The Americana began as a single-screen theater, and a four-screen addition was opened in 1970. Here is an article about it in Boxoffice of April 20, 1970. The architect for the expansion was Gale Santocono. Most likely he did the original theater as well, since he designed so many of Robert Lippert’s theaters.
This house was originally called the Showcase Cinemas I and II, and was opened by Robert Lippert’s Transcontinental Theatres in May, 1970. As described in Boxoffice of June 1, each auditorium had 400 seats, and to maintain proper decorum, nobody under 18 would be admitted to the theater after 6:00 PM unless accompanied by an adult.
Boxoffice of September 21 that same year gave the seating capacity of the house as 900. Another item in Boxoffice of April 12, 1971, dropped the seating capacity to 700. At least these conflicting reports average out to the 800 given by the June, 1970, item.
As Georob noted in a comment above, this house was never a Jerry Lewis operation. However, by 1974 it was being operated by Chuck Boening who, according to Boxoffice of February 4 that year, had operated the Jerry Lewis Cinema in El Cerrito for nine months before closing it the previous June. The Jerry Lewis Cinema had opened in 1972, and was located at 10624 San Pablo Avenue, El Cerrito.
This list of theaters operated by Robert Lippert includes seven bearing the name Showcase. I don’t think any of them were ever operated by Showcase Cinemas, Sumner Redstone’s company, which used the name for many theaters in the eastern United States.
So far I’ve been unable to find anything in Boxoffice about when, or even if, this theater was taken over by Sumner Redstone’s Showcase Cinemas (and if it closed in the late 1970s I doubt that it ever was.) But Redstone’s chain was already in operation when the Showcase I and II was opened by Robert Lippert’s San Francisco-based Transcontinental Theatres. Boxoffice of May 11, 1970, said that the house had opened on April 9. Another Showcase I and I was opened by Lippert in San Pablo the following month.
The September 15, 1969, Boxoffice item about the Fremont Showcase said that the house would have one auditorium of 760 seats and the other would seat 420.
I’ve found the Weddington Theatre mentioned in Boxoffice as early as April 30, 1938. Operator W.J. Ward had installed a modern cooling system in the house. W.J. Ward was mentioned as a theater operator in Pikeville in the October 19, 1935, issue of Boxoffice, though the name of his theater was not mentioned.
The Weddington was destroyed by fire on February 2, 1946, said the February 9 issue of Boxoffice. Rebuilding was long delayed. Boxoffice of June 5, 1948, said that construction was well underway, but the opening did not take place until that fall, and was reported in Boxoffice of November 15. The rebuilt house had been leased to Darnell Theatres.
Boxoffice of October 8, 1955, said that the Weddington and Liberty theaters at Pikeville were then controlled by Cumberland Theatres. The Liberty had just reopened, with newly installed CinemaScope equipment, after having been closed for some time (the previous year it had been on a one-day-a-week schedule.)
The Weddington underwent remodeling and redecoration in 1956, according to the May 19 issue of Boxoffice. Less than a year later, severe flooding put the Weddington Theatre under ten feet of water, as reported by Boxoffice of February 16, 1957. The house might have remained closed for a few years after that, as I don’t find it mentioned in Boxoffice again until the issue of May 9, 1960, where it was listed among theaters for which National Theatre Supply of Cincinnati had recently supplied carpeting.
A May 4, 1964, item about exhibitor Sam T. Isaac, then running for Congress from Kentucky’s 5th district, said that he operated the Weddington and Liberty theaters at Pikesville (for some reason, Boxoffice refers to the town as Pikesville almost as often as it calls it Pikeville), among others.
In the 1970s, several issues of Boxoffice mention an exhibition company called Powell Enterprises, headed by Ernie Powell, being headquartered in Pikeville (or Pikesville.) I’ve been unable to find specific Pikeville theater names in any of these items, though. But the Weddington, at least, was still in operation as late as 1979, judging from the photo with “The Amityville Horror” featured on the marquee.
Boxoffice of September 27, 1941, said that Jack Holman had recently opened his new Ritz Theatre at Texarkana. In 1943 he sold the house to Garlon Nelson, and after that I can’t find the Ritz mentioned in Boxoffice other than retrospectively, in items about Holman. Garlon Nelson is never mentioned again, either.
As for the other two theaters on Broad Street, I can’t find the Capri mentioned in Boxoffice at all, but the Joy opened in 1961, according to the May 9 issue of Boxoffice that year. It had 520 seats, and was originally operated by Joy Houck and L.D. Powers. It was built as a replacement for the Leo Theatre, which was to be dismantled and replaced by a bank. The Joy was “…closed indefinitely….” on September 14, 1967, according to boxoffice of September 25. I haven’t found it mentioned after that.
Bob: The April 8, 1950, Boxoffice item I cited said that N.W. Hart was naming his new theater after his three granddaughters. I’d presume that their initials were arranged into the somewhat pronounceable word. The item didn’t reveal the girls' names. Maybe somebody who knew (or knows) them will discover this page and tell us. For now I’m just imagining that the one who provided the useful vowel was called Ann, and that if she’d been named Sharon this theater might have become the Shmrr.
IA: Thanks for the correction. When I submitted this theater, I did say that the El Dorado was the first house in Tucson equipped for 70mm films (I kept a copy of my original submission, and just checked it.) The text must have been edited by a moderator after Michael Coate’s comment was posted.
An item in Boxoffice from around the time of the El Dorado’s opening was my source, but unfortunately I failed to make a note of the specific issue in which it appeared.
Wrens had two theaters called the Dixie. Here’s an item from Boxoffice of April 24, 1948: “Construction of the new Dixie Theatre, a 550-seater, is underway here. Mrs. Louis Williams, manager, said the project would cost about $40,000. The house will seat 350 on the main floor and 200 in the balcony. The present Dixie Theatre, opened 12 years ago, seats 215.”
The very next issue of Boxoffice, May 1, has additional, but somewhat belated, news from Wrens: “The Dixie Theatre was damaged by fire the morning of April 8. Several thousands of dollars damage was done to the screen and sound equipment. The Dixie is owned by Mrs. Violet Edwards and managed by Mrs. Louise Williams.”
Given the timing of the two articles, the phrasing of the first, and the lack of detail in both, I can’t tell if the new Dixie was a rebuilding of the original theater after the fire, or if its construction had been begun before the fire at a different location. I’ve found no other Boxoffice items that would clear up the mystery. Maybe somebody from the area knows.
The December 3, 1949, issue of Boxoffice said that the new theater as Shullsburg was almost ready to open. The new house had been designed by Milwaukee architect Myles Belongia. Boxoffice of January 23, 1950, gave the seating capacity of the Burg Theatre as 420.
There was an earlier theater at Shullsburg, which I’ve found mentioned only once in Boxoffice, in the issue of October 8, 1949. The single line said “The Opera House at Shullsburg has been closed due to the death of F. F. Lee, who operated the theatre for many years.”
Motion Picture Times of July 7, 1928, says: “While Holger Jorgensen and Mrs. Jorgensen are motoring through Colorado, Walter Jorgensen is in charge of the East Grand, Dallas neighborhood house.”
The State was apparently not built in 1933 as the current intro of this page says. It probably dated from the 1920s, and maybe earlier. A May 12, 1969, Boxoffice item about the opening of a new Harkins theater said that Dwight Harkins “…took over the old State Theatre….” in 1933.
A March, 1998, Boxoffice article about the Harkins chain said that in 1933 Dwight Harkins, then an 18 year old college student, “…put a $50 downpayment on the lease on the State Theatre in Tempe….”
Also there’s a November 2, 1940, item about the College Theatre, then nearing completion, which says that when the new theater opened Harkins planned to dismantle the State. It’s very unlikely he’d have dismantled a theater that was only seven years old.
JosephF: The information you provided is very helpful indeed. Learning the names of the architects led me to several interesting discoveries.
According to an item in the November, 1927, issue of the trade publication Architect & Engineer, Edwin J. Symmes and Clarence Cullimore had just formed their partnership, so the Granada was probably one of their first collaborations. The firm of Symmes & Cullmore designed a number of buildings in the San Joaquin Valley, many of them public schools. Symmes died in 1935, but Cullimore appears to have returned to an individual practice in 1932, designing primarily residential buildings after that. He was also noted for his research into the architecture and building of the Spanish and Mexican periods in California, which led to his 1948 book, Adobes of Santa Barbara.
This page at the web site of the Kern County Museum includes a partial list of buildings designed by Symmes and Cullimore, individually and in partnership. There are no theaters listed other than the Granada. The page also has a link to a small photo of the Granada ca.1941.
Google Documents provides an 2004 article called Spohn’s Old Granada Theatre, by Carla LaFong and Gilbert Gia. It includes a few period photos, history, and a fairly detailed description of the Granada at the time the article was written. The article can also be downloaded in pdf format from Gilbert Gia’s web site (follow the “persons” link.)
Walnut Hill Productions featured the Granada’s hybrid Robert Morgan/Wurlitzer theater organ on its web site in August, 2007. In addition to numerous photos and technical information, the page includes links to downloadable recordings made on the Granada organ.
The Rio became the Surf in 1949. The March 12 issue of Boxoffice reported the reopening of the house under its new name. The theater had been remodeled by its owner/operator since at least 1943, Ed Barnard. Barnard operated the Surf Theatre at least as late as 1954, when he was mentioned in the May 8 issue of Boxoffice.
The Rio had been remodeled previously, when it was given a new stucco front in 1939, as reported in Boxoffice of May 13 that year. The owner at that time was not named.
Boxoffice of May 29, 1937, reported that Southwestern Theatre Equipment Company had sold a motor to the Rio Theatre at Rockport. The August 7 issue said that the Dallas branch of National Theatre Supply had recently sold the Rio complete projection equipment.
In 1930 a theater at Rockport, Texas, was being operated by W.H. Smith. Motion Picture Times of March 18 that year reported that Smith had renamed his theater the Peoples. The previous name was not mentioned. I’ve found no mentions of theaters in Rockport between then and 1937.
Interestingly, Rockport, Indiana, also had a theater called the Rio, previously called the Alhambra, operating from 1939 until at least 1961. Its frequent appearance in Boxoffice made researching the Texas Rio rather frustrating.
The Liberty was one of two theaters lately remodeled by Martin Theatres which were featured in Boxoffice of July 7, 1956. Before and after photos illustrate the article. Both projects were designed by architect Rufus E. Bland.
Architect Jack Corgan’s rendering of the proposed Leachman Theatre appeared in Boxoffice’s “Just Off the Boards” feature for March 29, 1947. The theater as built differs somewhat from Corgan’s original design, which included an auditorium the full width of the building that would have seated 1,300.
A later issue of Boxoffice gives the house’s seating capacity as 1,100, but given that the width of the auditorium as built appears to have been reduced by almost a third from the original proposal, that seems a bit exaggerated.
The Middleton Theatre was a quonset structure designed by architect Myles Belongia, of the firm Peacock & Belongia. The firm designed the prototypes for the quonset theaters erected during the postwar period by Poblocki & Sons, a Milwaukee signage company that branched out into theater construction.
An article about the Middleton, with photos theater during and after construction, appeared in Boxoffice of March 29, 1947. Boxoffice of November 9, 1946, said that the Middleton Theatre had opened the previous Wednesday. It was first operated by a regional circuit, M&E Theatres.
A photo of the auditorium of the Madison Theatre illustrated an ad for Thortel Fireproof Fabrics in Boxoffice of March 29, 1947.
The November 12, 1949, issue of Boxoffice reported that Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Sosna had leased their Sosna Theatre at Moberly to the Dubinsky Brothers chain, but it also said that they “…had entered the theatre busines here in 1936, and the present Sosna Theatre was opened in July, 1946.” So the Sosna/State was their second theater in Moberly. If the aka’s given as CinemaTour are correct, the first Sosna in Moberly was the house currently listed at Cinema Tresures as the Princess.
I’d guess the name State was chosen by the Dubinskys because it’s the same length as Sosna and shares two letters in common, simplifying (and making less costly) the changing of name on the marquee.
Boxoffice of February 4, 1950, reported that the Sosna Theatre in Moberly had reopened as the State Theatre.
Two years after Louis Sosna returned to Moberly and reopened the house, Boxoffice of January 15, 1962, reported thet the Sosna State Theatre had been acquired by Elmer Bills.
If this house was built in 1922, as the introduction currently says, then it must have had at least one aka that is currently missing. Boxoffice gives no clues as to what it might have been.
Given that the theater at this location was called the Halloran Theatre for only ten years, from 1903 until 1913, and the Grand Theater from 1913 until closing in 1960, it ought to be listed as the Grand Theatre.
If the aka given for this theater at CinemaTour is correct, from 1936 until 1946 this house was called the Sosna Theatre. It was the first of two houses using that name in Moberly.
A photo of the first Sosna can be seen at upper right on this page from Boxoffice of June 27, 1936. The caption indicates that the front was new at that time. (The second Sosna at Moberly opened in 1946, according to a Boxoffice item from 1949, and became the State Theatre in 1950.)
The first Sosna became the Dickenson Theatre when it reopened in 1946. In 1960, it was taken over by Elmer Bills and renamed the Amy Lou Theatre, which the February 29 issue of Boxoffice said had opened on February 9. The January 29, 1962, issue of Boxoffice said that the Amy Lou Theatre had been condemned by the city of Moberly to make way for additional parking, but would continue to operate until demolition was ready to begin. I haven’t found when the theater actually closed.
This house must have been called the Princess before becoming the Sosna in 1936. CinemaTour also lists Rialto and Baby Grand as aka’s, but Baby Grand at least, and perhaps both, might be mistakes. A 1925 Reel Journal item about the destruction of the Grand Theatre by fire said that while it was being rebuilt, the management had taken over an old theater on 3rd Street and woule operate it as the Baby Grand. Unless the magazine was mistaken about the location, the Baby Grand could not have been this house on Williams Street. I don’t see a Cinema Treasures listing for a theater on 3rd Street.
Louis Sosna and his brother Sam opened a Sosna Theatre at Mexico, Missouri, in 1940, which a Boxoffice item of that year says was designed by Moberly architect Ludwig Abt. This makes me wonder if the two Sosna theaters at Moberly might also have been designed by Abt. The two houses closely resemble each other, and were probably both done by the same architect, and it could have been Abt. I haven’t found confirmation of this surmise, though. Maybe somebody local would know for sure. Also, if somebody could come up with a photo of the Sosna at Mexico we could see if it resembled the two Moberly houses.
Boxoffice of June 3, 1939, said that the Grand Theatre at Torrance had opened. The house was operated by Pacific States Theatres, a company controlled by Adolph Ramish and the Gore brothers.
Here is a rendering from an aerial perspective of Martin’s Georgia Theatre, published with a brief article in Boxoffice of July 27, 1964, about the time construction began.
I’ve been unable to find an article devoted to the opening of the house, but Boxoffice of March 29, 1965, said that the Georgia Theatre was scheduled to open with the roadshow of “The Greatest Story Ever Told” on April 14. July 19, 1965, Boxoffice item said that the Georgia Theatre had opened during Holy Week, following a four-week delay caused by weather-related construction problems. The same item said that “Hallelujah Trail” was set to open at the house on July 29.
A photo of the auditorium of the Centre Theatre was featured on the frontispiece of Boxoffice magazine’s Modern Theatre section of August 6, 1955. The curved screen was 28 feet high and 60 feet wide.
An article about the Golden Mile Theatre appeared in Boxoffice of August 6, 1955. There are several photos. The article failed to give the name of the architect.
Photos of the Golden Mile after its coversion to a twin appeared in Boxoffice of September 18, 1978. The architect for the conversion was Mandel Sprachman.
This theater had to have been one of the earliest twin theaters built in the United States. Boxoffice of December 9, 1963, said that ground had been broken for the 2000-seat twin theater being built by Town & Country Theatres at the Mid-Island Shopping Plaza in Hicksville. An earlier item in the issue of October 14 had said that the architect for the project was Leon Miller.
So far I’ve been unable to find any Boxoffice items about the opening, but the Twin Theatre was in operation by spring of 1965, when it was the site of a wedding arranged as part of a promotion for the movie “Marriage Italian Style.” Boxoffice of April 5 has a photo of the happy couple with part of the theater visible in the background.
The Americana began as a single-screen theater, and a four-screen addition was opened in 1970. Here is an article about it in Boxoffice of April 20, 1970. The architect for the expansion was Gale Santocono. Most likely he did the original theater as well, since he designed so many of Robert Lippert’s theaters.
This house was originally called the Showcase Cinemas I and II, and was opened by Robert Lippert’s Transcontinental Theatres in May, 1970. As described in Boxoffice of June 1, each auditorium had 400 seats, and to maintain proper decorum, nobody under 18 would be admitted to the theater after 6:00 PM unless accompanied by an adult.
Boxoffice of September 21 that same year gave the seating capacity of the house as 900. Another item in Boxoffice of April 12, 1971, dropped the seating capacity to 700. At least these conflicting reports average out to the 800 given by the June, 1970, item.
As Georob noted in a comment above, this house was never a Jerry Lewis operation. However, by 1974 it was being operated by Chuck Boening who, according to Boxoffice of February 4 that year, had operated the Jerry Lewis Cinema in El Cerrito for nine months before closing it the previous June. The Jerry Lewis Cinema had opened in 1972, and was located at 10624 San Pablo Avenue, El Cerrito.
This list of theaters operated by Robert Lippert includes seven bearing the name Showcase. I don’t think any of them were ever operated by Showcase Cinemas, Sumner Redstone’s company, which used the name for many theaters in the eastern United States.
So far I’ve been unable to find anything in Boxoffice about when, or even if, this theater was taken over by Sumner Redstone’s Showcase Cinemas (and if it closed in the late 1970s I doubt that it ever was.) But Redstone’s chain was already in operation when the Showcase I and II was opened by Robert Lippert’s San Francisco-based Transcontinental Theatres. Boxoffice of May 11, 1970, said that the house had opened on April 9. Another Showcase I and I was opened by Lippert in San Pablo the following month.
The September 15, 1969, Boxoffice item about the Fremont Showcase said that the house would have one auditorium of 760 seats and the other would seat 420.
I’ve found the Weddington Theatre mentioned in Boxoffice as early as April 30, 1938. Operator W.J. Ward had installed a modern cooling system in the house. W.J. Ward was mentioned as a theater operator in Pikeville in the October 19, 1935, issue of Boxoffice, though the name of his theater was not mentioned.
The Weddington was destroyed by fire on February 2, 1946, said the February 9 issue of Boxoffice. Rebuilding was long delayed. Boxoffice of June 5, 1948, said that construction was well underway, but the opening did not take place until that fall, and was reported in Boxoffice of November 15. The rebuilt house had been leased to Darnell Theatres.
Boxoffice of October 8, 1955, said that the Weddington and Liberty theaters at Pikeville were then controlled by Cumberland Theatres. The Liberty had just reopened, with newly installed CinemaScope equipment, after having been closed for some time (the previous year it had been on a one-day-a-week schedule.)
The Weddington underwent remodeling and redecoration in 1956, according to the May 19 issue of Boxoffice. Less than a year later, severe flooding put the Weddington Theatre under ten feet of water, as reported by Boxoffice of February 16, 1957. The house might have remained closed for a few years after that, as I don’t find it mentioned in Boxoffice again until the issue of May 9, 1960, where it was listed among theaters for which National Theatre Supply of Cincinnati had recently supplied carpeting.
A May 4, 1964, item about exhibitor Sam T. Isaac, then running for Congress from Kentucky’s 5th district, said that he operated the Weddington and Liberty theaters at Pikesville (for some reason, Boxoffice refers to the town as Pikesville almost as often as it calls it Pikeville), among others.
In the 1970s, several issues of Boxoffice mention an exhibition company called Powell Enterprises, headed by Ernie Powell, being headquartered in Pikeville (or Pikesville.) I’ve been unable to find specific Pikeville theater names in any of these items, though. But the Weddington, at least, was still in operation as late as 1979, judging from the photo with “The Amityville Horror” featured on the marquee.
Boxoffice of September 27, 1941, said that Jack Holman had recently opened his new Ritz Theatre at Texarkana. In 1943 he sold the house to Garlon Nelson, and after that I can’t find the Ritz mentioned in Boxoffice other than retrospectively, in items about Holman. Garlon Nelson is never mentioned again, either.
As for the other two theaters on Broad Street, I can’t find the Capri mentioned in Boxoffice at all, but the Joy opened in 1961, according to the May 9 issue of Boxoffice that year. It had 520 seats, and was originally operated by Joy Houck and L.D. Powers. It was built as a replacement for the Leo Theatre, which was to be dismantled and replaced by a bank. The Joy was “…closed indefinitely….” on September 14, 1967, according to boxoffice of September 25. I haven’t found it mentioned after that.
Bob: The April 8, 1950, Boxoffice item I cited said that N.W. Hart was naming his new theater after his three granddaughters. I’d presume that their initials were arranged into the somewhat pronounceable word. The item didn’t reveal the girls' names. Maybe somebody who knew (or knows) them will discover this page and tell us. For now I’m just imagining that the one who provided the useful vowel was called Ann, and that if she’d been named Sharon this theater might have become the Shmrr.
IA: Thanks for the correction. When I submitted this theater, I did say that the El Dorado was the first house in Tucson equipped for 70mm films (I kept a copy of my original submission, and just checked it.) The text must have been edited by a moderator after Michael Coate’s comment was posted.
An item in Boxoffice from around the time of the El Dorado’s opening was my source, but unfortunately I failed to make a note of the specific issue in which it appeared.
Wrens had two theaters called the Dixie. Here’s an item from Boxoffice of April 24, 1948: “Construction of the new Dixie Theatre, a 550-seater, is underway here. Mrs. Louis Williams, manager, said the project would cost about $40,000. The house will seat 350 on the main floor and 200 in the balcony. The present Dixie Theatre, opened 12 years ago, seats 215.”
The very next issue of Boxoffice, May 1, has additional, but somewhat belated, news from Wrens: “The Dixie Theatre was damaged by fire the morning of April 8. Several thousands of dollars damage was done to the screen and sound equipment. The Dixie is owned by Mrs. Violet Edwards and managed by Mrs. Louise Williams.”
Given the timing of the two articles, the phrasing of the first, and the lack of detail in both, I can’t tell if the new Dixie was a rebuilding of the original theater after the fire, or if its construction had been begun before the fire at a different location. I’ve found no other Boxoffice items that would clear up the mystery. Maybe somebody from the area knows.
The December 3, 1949, issue of Boxoffice said that the new theater as Shullsburg was almost ready to open. The new house had been designed by Milwaukee architect Myles Belongia. Boxoffice of January 23, 1950, gave the seating capacity of the Burg Theatre as 420.
There was an earlier theater at Shullsburg, which I’ve found mentioned only once in Boxoffice, in the issue of October 8, 1949. The single line said “The Opera House at Shullsburg has been closed due to the death of F. F. Lee, who operated the theatre for many years.”
Motion Picture Times of July 7, 1928, says: “While Holger Jorgensen and Mrs. Jorgensen are motoring through Colorado, Walter Jorgensen is in charge of the East Grand, Dallas neighborhood house.”
The State was apparently not built in 1933 as the current intro of this page says. It probably dated from the 1920s, and maybe earlier. A May 12, 1969, Boxoffice item about the opening of a new Harkins theater said that Dwight Harkins “…took over the old State Theatre….” in 1933.
A March, 1998, Boxoffice article about the Harkins chain said that in 1933 Dwight Harkins, then an 18 year old college student, “…put a $50 downpayment on the lease on the State Theatre in Tempe….”
Also there’s a November 2, 1940, item about the College Theatre, then nearing completion, which says that when the new theater opened Harkins planned to dismantle the State. It’s very unlikely he’d have dismantled a theater that was only seven years old.
JosephF: The information you provided is very helpful indeed. Learning the names of the architects led me to several interesting discoveries.
According to an item in the November, 1927, issue of the trade publication Architect & Engineer, Edwin J. Symmes and Clarence Cullimore had just formed their partnership, so the Granada was probably one of their first collaborations. The firm of Symmes & Cullmore designed a number of buildings in the San Joaquin Valley, many of them public schools. Symmes died in 1935, but Cullimore appears to have returned to an individual practice in 1932, designing primarily residential buildings after that. He was also noted for his research into the architecture and building of the Spanish and Mexican periods in California, which led to his 1948 book, Adobes of Santa Barbara.
This page at the web site of the Kern County Museum includes a partial list of buildings designed by Symmes and Cullimore, individually and in partnership. There are no theaters listed other than the Granada. The page also has a link to a small photo of the Granada ca.1941.
Google Documents provides an 2004 article called Spohn’s Old Granada Theatre, by Carla LaFong and Gilbert Gia. It includes a few period photos, history, and a fairly detailed description of the Granada at the time the article was written. The article can also be downloaded in pdf format from Gilbert Gia’s web site (follow the “persons” link.)
Walnut Hill Productions featured the Granada’s hybrid Robert Morgan/Wurlitzer theater organ on its web site in August, 2007. In addition to numerous photos and technical information, the page includes links to downloadable recordings made on the Granada organ.
The Rio became the Surf in 1949. The March 12 issue of Boxoffice reported the reopening of the house under its new name. The theater had been remodeled by its owner/operator since at least 1943, Ed Barnard. Barnard operated the Surf Theatre at least as late as 1954, when he was mentioned in the May 8 issue of Boxoffice.
The Rio had been remodeled previously, when it was given a new stucco front in 1939, as reported in Boxoffice of May 13 that year. The owner at that time was not named.
Boxoffice of May 29, 1937, reported that Southwestern Theatre Equipment Company had sold a motor to the Rio Theatre at Rockport. The August 7 issue said that the Dallas branch of National Theatre Supply had recently sold the Rio complete projection equipment.
In 1930 a theater at Rockport, Texas, was being operated by W.H. Smith. Motion Picture Times of March 18 that year reported that Smith had renamed his theater the Peoples. The previous name was not mentioned. I’ve found no mentions of theaters in Rockport between then and 1937.
Interestingly, Rockport, Indiana, also had a theater called the Rio, previously called the Alhambra, operating from 1939 until at least 1961. Its frequent appearance in Boxoffice made researching the Texas Rio rather frustrating.