Boxoffice of January 27, 1940, said the Vogue had been opened the previous week by J.E. Mooney. The Vogue reopened in 1956 after closing for twelve days to redecorate and install CinemaScope equipment, according to Boxoffice of May 26 that year. The theater was then being operated by Mr. and Mrs. Leman Lee. These are the only references to the Vogue I can find in Boxoffice.
It’s too bad they knocked that building down. That was a very nice Colonial Revival facade. Liebenberg and Kaplan’s undated work on the building must have involved only minor alterations as far as the exterior was concerned if it was done before that photo was taken.
Maybe Liebenberg & Kaplan did some remodeling work on the building in 1939. Unfortunately the finding aid for the University of Minnesota’s collection doesn’t give details about the projects, only names, dates, building types, and locations.
The archives of the architectural firm of Liebenberg & Kaplan list an undated theater project at Vermillon under the name March. The photo of the theater linked by ken mc above does look like their earlier work, but seems quite old fashioned for the opening date of 1935. Perhaps this was an older building that was converted into a movie theater?
The November 30, 1946, issue of Boxoffice has an interesting item datelined Vermillion: “George March is the new owner of the March Theatre here. He purchased the house at an auction.”
The Coyote Theatre at Vermillion is listed as a 1939 design in the archives of the architectural firm of Liebenberg & Kaplan.
A November 25, 1939, Boxoffice item indicates that at that time the March circuit consisted of six theaters in three towns: The March and Coyote at Vermillion; the Elite and Royal at LeMars, Iowa; and the Crystal and Gay at Wayne, Nebraska.
The rear portion of La Plaza Theatre was demolished in 1957. The front portion (which must have been the arcade leading to the theater) had been demolished in 1955, and the entire complex had been condemned in 1953, according to this article in the St. Petersburg Times of April 9, 1957.
This 1913 article about amusements available in St. Petersburg says that construction of La Plaza had begun in May, 1912, and the 1,800-seat theater had opened in March, 1913, with a series of three operas presented by the Royal Italian Grand Opera company. The article also mentions that there were three movie houses then operating in St. Petersburg: the Rex, the Star, and the Royal Palms.
The Dakota was under construction in 1950 when the March 25 issue of Boxoffice reported that the walls and roof had been completed and the heating plant installed. I haven’t found any announcement of the opening, but it probably came that year.
The Majestic was being rebuilt in 1929, according to the the April 13 issue of Movie Age. 150 seats were to be added to the 500-seat house. I haven’t found the Majestic mentioned later than 1929, nor any other theater in Sturgis until the Dakota was being built. It could be that the Majestic operated until the Dakota opened, perhaps under a different name. It seems unlikely that a town of Sturgis’s size would have been without a movie theater for any length of time between 1929 and 1950, but about as unlikely that it would have supported two theaters at any one time.
A postcard showing the Majestic was sold on E-bay some time ago. Unfortunately even the Google cache of the listing appears to be gone, so no details from the listing page are available.
It’s difficult to research Sturgis because it is one of four towns of that name, and the other three were mentioned in Boxoffice far more frequently than the one in South Dakota.
A couple of years after it opened, three photos of the Dixie ran in Boxoffice of May 5, 1951. It was a nice Art Moderne style theater built for the N.N. Bernstein circuit.
The theater’s name was changed from Dixie to Rio in 1965, according to Boxoffice of December 20 that year. Wometco was set to reopen the house at Christmas.
Boxoffice of March 27, 1955, said that the Community Theatre in Miami Beach was being demolished. The article says that the house was built by local investors when no theater operators were willing to build in Miami Beach. After a year of successful operation, the Community Theatre was taken over by Paramount interests.
The Boxoffice article diverges from the history given in comments above, and says that the Community opened in 1924 and was closed in 1935 when Paramount leased another theater. Thereafter, it says, the building was used for storage.
To belatedly answer Al Alvarez’s question of March 30 last year, the E.J. Sparks circuit was for many years the Paramount affiliate in Florida.
I think this must be the theater that was, in its original plans, to have been called the Broadway. A rendering of the Broadway Theatre, which was then under construction, appeared in Boxoffice of December 20, 1965. One of the owners of the proposed Broadway, Herb Kaplan, was mentioned in later issues of Boxoffice as a co-owner of the Bay Harbor Theatre. In even later issues of Boxoffice, Kaplan is mentioned as a director of Loew’s Florida division.
The caption of the drawing says that the Broadway was designed by architect Arthur Thomas. I’ve been unable to find anything about him on the Internet.
Originally operated by a partnership called Broadway Enterprises, by May, 1968, the Bay Harbor was being operated by Loew’s. A January 13, 1969, item about the planned benefit premier of “Oliver” referred to the house as “…Loew’s 972-seat Bay Harbor Theatre….”
I’ve had no luck finding a confirmation of the address, but the June 6, 1977, issue of Boxoffice has a list of theater projects completed during 1976, and it includes the Showboat Cinema 2 at Mandan, with 144 seats. As the item doesn’t mention a Showboat Cinema 1, I suspect the new screen might have been in an addition or in space annexed from an adjacent building rather than carved from the existing auditorium.
Scott, the ACI photo must be of the original Arlington Theatre, which got a complete makeover in 1962, as described in the May 28 issue of Boxoffice that year. I’ll link to the Boxoffice article on the first Arlington’s page.
The April 25, 1942, issue of Boxoffice featured an article about the Arlington and a second theater built by Robert Lucas at the same time the Arlington was rebuilt, the Coral Theatre in Oak Lawn. The facades of the two were almost identical. The article attributes the design of the Coral to architect Frederick Stanton, and says the theater consultant David N. Sandine was design consultant on both projects. It doesn’t name the architect of the Arlington.
The Hanns Teichert Studio of Chicago did the decoration of both theaters. A second article about the Arlington, penned by Teichert, appears on later page of the same issue of Boxoffice.
In addition to its 1942 rebuilding, the Arlington was extensively remodeled and expanded in 1962. This article in Boxoffice of May 28 that year describes the project, which was to begin that summer.
The recent opening of the Studio Theatre was mentioned in Boxoffice of May 7, 1962, though the magazine gave the location of the theater as Oak Lawn. The item said it was the first in a planned circuit of “astronaut-inspired” theaters. Apparently it was also the last, as the phrase “astronaut-inspired” never again appears in Boxoffice.
Thanks. Somehow I missed the Dakota Stage Playhouse page.
Whet the help of the name Gackle I found one more Boxoffice item mentioning the Krieger Theatre, in 1964 when Albert Krieger joined a regional association of theater operators. Boxoffice must have misplaced the theater in the earlier item.
Most of the Granada’s original Spanish style decor was removed in a mid-1950s remodeling for the Associated Theatres Circuit, which had taken over operation of the house from Loews in November, 1954. Plans for the modernization were by architect Jack Alan Bialosky. A few photos can be seen in this Boxoffice article of June 2, 1956.
Boxoffice refers to Bialosky as a theatre architect, but the only other project I can find is the Princeton Cinema in Springdale, Ohio, attributed to his firm of Manders & Bialosky by Boxoffice of December 12, 1966.
Boxoffice of December 2, 1974, said that the former Mandan Theatre had reopened as the Showboat Cinema in mid-November, following a $100,000 renovation. It was a single-screen house with 412 seats. The Mandan Theatre had originally been built by Frank Wetzstein.
Chuck, can you find any listings from the 1930s or later for either a State Theatre or a Capitol Theatre in Bismarck? Those two and the Bismarck are the only theaters in the town that are mentioned in Boxoffice during the 1930s and 1940s.
I’m wondering if the State might have been the Paramount renamed (the Capitol was an older theater on Main Avenue and had only 300 seats.) After being mentioned three times in Movie Age in 1929, the Paramount vanishes, and the only explanation I can think of for a house built for a major chain vanishing from the magazine without a trace is that the name was changed. Had it been destroyed in some disaster I’m sure the magazine would have mentioned it.
I also came across two references to an Eltinge Theatre in Bismarck. It was having Gennett talking picture equipment installed according to Movie Age of June 8, 1929. A second reference to the Eltinge appeared in Boxoffice of October 28, 1950. I find this gap puzzling. The Eltinge then vanishes too.
Another mystery is a single-line item in Boxoffice of September 24, 1949, datelined Bismarck, N.D., saying “The new Krieger Theatre has been opened here by Frederic and Albert Krieger.” Neither the theater nor the Kriegers ever get mentioned again.
By 1954, Boxoffice is making reference to the Bismarck and the Dakota as the town’s only indoor theaters, though a 1956 item said that the Capitol was being reopened following extensive remodeling. There’s never a hint of what became of the State or the mysterious Eltinge or Krieger theaters.
Boxoffice of October 27, 1951, said that cowboy star Rex Allen had been the top personal attraction at the recent opening of the new Fox Theatre in Sidney.
This theater opened to the public as the Plaza Twin on October 30, 1970, following a benefit premier the previous night. It was a joint venture of Mid Continent Theatres and the Dubinsky circuit, operating under the name R&D Theatres. In the original twin configuration it had 900 seats, according to several Boxoffice items of the period.
Boxoffice of November 23, 1970, said that the Plaza Twin was designed by Mel Glatz & Associates. The opening feature in the Plaza I was “The People Next Door” and the Plaza II featured “The Boatniks.”
“H. O. Mugridge’s Bismarck, Bismarck, N. D.” was on a list of new theaters scheduled to open in the next thirty days, published in Boxoffice of December 11, 1937.
The 1937 project must have been a renovation or rebuild, as Boxoffice of September 28, 1970, ran an item saying that the Bismarck Theatre had recently closed after 52 years of operation, and that it had been built in 1918 for $50,000. The September 14 issue of Boxoffice had said that the theater was to be demolished.
The last operator of the Bismarck was the R&D Amusement Company. R&D was a partnership of Mid-Continent Theatres and the Dubinsky circuit. The partnership opened the new Plaza Twin, later to be the Plaza 3, in Bismarck’s Kirkwood Mall on October 30, 1970.
A few pictures of the Safari 1&2 illustrate this article in Boxoffice, June 30, 1975. The Safari had 850 seats, divided 550 and 300. Originally operated by the State Theatre Company, the Safari was the first new hardtop built in Moorhead in 30 years. The African safari theme was the notion of State Theatres head Dan Peterson, and the design was carried out by decorator Jerry Arness. Boxoffice did not give the name of the architect.
Boxoffice of January 27, 1940, said the Vogue had been opened the previous week by J.E. Mooney. The Vogue reopened in 1956 after closing for twelve days to redecorate and install CinemaScope equipment, according to Boxoffice of May 26 that year. The theater was then being operated by Mr. and Mrs. Leman Lee. These are the only references to the Vogue I can find in Boxoffice.
It’s too bad they knocked that building down. That was a very nice Colonial Revival facade. Liebenberg and Kaplan’s undated work on the building must have involved only minor alterations as far as the exterior was concerned if it was done before that photo was taken.
Maybe Liebenberg & Kaplan did some remodeling work on the building in 1939. Unfortunately the finding aid for the University of Minnesota’s collection doesn’t give details about the projects, only names, dates, building types, and locations.
The archives of the architectural firm of Liebenberg & Kaplan list an undated theater project at Vermillon under the name March. The photo of the theater linked by ken mc above does look like their earlier work, but seems quite old fashioned for the opening date of 1935. Perhaps this was an older building that was converted into a movie theater?
The November 30, 1946, issue of Boxoffice has an interesting item datelined Vermillion: “George March is the new owner of the March Theatre here. He purchased the house at an auction.”
The Coyote Theatre at Vermillion is listed as a 1939 design in the archives of the architectural firm of Liebenberg & Kaplan.
A November 25, 1939, Boxoffice item indicates that at that time the March circuit consisted of six theaters in three towns: The March and Coyote at Vermillion; the Elite and Royal at LeMars, Iowa; and the Crystal and Gay at Wayne, Nebraska.
The rear portion of La Plaza Theatre was demolished in 1957. The front portion (which must have been the arcade leading to the theater) had been demolished in 1955, and the entire complex had been condemned in 1953, according to this article in the St. Petersburg Times of April 9, 1957.
This 1913 article about amusements available in St. Petersburg says that construction of La Plaza had begun in May, 1912, and the 1,800-seat theater had opened in March, 1913, with a series of three operas presented by the Royal Italian Grand Opera company. The article also mentions that there were three movie houses then operating in St. Petersburg: the Rex, the Star, and the Royal Palms.
The Dakota was under construction in 1950 when the March 25 issue of Boxoffice reported that the walls and roof had been completed and the heating plant installed. I haven’t found any announcement of the opening, but it probably came that year.
The Majestic was quite old, and was listed in a 1909 business directory.
The Majestic was being rebuilt in 1929, according to the the April 13 issue of Movie Age. 150 seats were to be added to the 500-seat house. I haven’t found the Majestic mentioned later than 1929, nor any other theater in Sturgis until the Dakota was being built. It could be that the Majestic operated until the Dakota opened, perhaps under a different name. It seems unlikely that a town of Sturgis’s size would have been without a movie theater for any length of time between 1929 and 1950, but about as unlikely that it would have supported two theaters at any one time.
A postcard showing the Majestic was sold on E-bay some time ago. Unfortunately even the Google cache of the listing appears to be gone, so no details from the listing page are available.
It’s difficult to research Sturgis because it is one of four towns of that name, and the other three were mentioned in Boxoffice far more frequently than the one in South Dakota.
In better days, the Gene Theatre, pictured in Boxoffice of May 5, 1951.
A couple of years after it opened, three photos of the Dixie ran in Boxoffice of May 5, 1951. It was a nice Art Moderne style theater built for the N.N. Bernstein circuit.
The theater’s name was changed from Dixie to Rio in 1965, according to Boxoffice of December 20 that year. Wometco was set to reopen the house at Christmas.
Boxoffice of March 27, 1955, said that the Community Theatre in Miami Beach was being demolished. The article says that the house was built by local investors when no theater operators were willing to build in Miami Beach. After a year of successful operation, the Community Theatre was taken over by Paramount interests.
The Boxoffice article diverges from the history given in comments above, and says that the Community opened in 1924 and was closed in 1935 when Paramount leased another theater. Thereafter, it says, the building was used for storage.
To belatedly answer Al Alvarez’s question of March 30 last year, the E.J. Sparks circuit was for many years the Paramount affiliate in Florida.
I think this must be the theater that was, in its original plans, to have been called the Broadway. A rendering of the Broadway Theatre, which was then under construction, appeared in Boxoffice of December 20, 1965. One of the owners of the proposed Broadway, Herb Kaplan, was mentioned in later issues of Boxoffice as a co-owner of the Bay Harbor Theatre. In even later issues of Boxoffice, Kaplan is mentioned as a director of Loew’s Florida division.
The caption of the drawing says that the Broadway was designed by architect Arthur Thomas. I’ve been unable to find anything about him on the Internet.
Originally operated by a partnership called Broadway Enterprises, by May, 1968, the Bay Harbor was being operated by Loew’s. A January 13, 1969, item about the planned benefit premier of “Oliver” referred to the house as “…Loew’s 972-seat Bay Harbor Theatre….”
I’ve had no luck finding a confirmation of the address, but the June 6, 1977, issue of Boxoffice has a list of theater projects completed during 1976, and it includes the Showboat Cinema 2 at Mandan, with 144 seats. As the item doesn’t mention a Showboat Cinema 1, I suspect the new screen might have been in an addition or in space annexed from an adjacent building rather than carved from the existing auditorium.
Scott, the ACI photo must be of the original Arlington Theatre, which got a complete makeover in 1962, as described in the May 28 issue of Boxoffice that year. I’ll link to the Boxoffice article on the first Arlington’s page.
The April 25, 1942, issue of Boxoffice featured an article about the Arlington and a second theater built by Robert Lucas at the same time the Arlington was rebuilt, the Coral Theatre in Oak Lawn. The facades of the two were almost identical. The article attributes the design of the Coral to architect Frederick Stanton, and says the theater consultant David N. Sandine was design consultant on both projects. It doesn’t name the architect of the Arlington.
The Hanns Teichert Studio of Chicago did the decoration of both theaters. A second article about the Arlington, penned by Teichert, appears on later page of the same issue of Boxoffice.
In addition to its 1942 rebuilding, the Arlington was extensively remodeled and expanded in 1962. This article in Boxoffice of May 28 that year describes the project, which was to begin that summer.
The recent opening of the Studio Theatre was mentioned in Boxoffice of May 7, 1962, though the magazine gave the location of the theater as Oak Lawn. The item said it was the first in a planned circuit of “astronaut-inspired” theaters. Apparently it was also the last, as the phrase “astronaut-inspired” never again appears in Boxoffice.
Thanks. Somehow I missed the Dakota Stage Playhouse page.
Whet the help of the name Gackle I found one more Boxoffice item mentioning the Krieger Theatre, in 1964 when Albert Krieger joined a regional association of theater operators. Boxoffice must have misplaced the theater in the earlier item.
Heh. Gackle.
Most of the Granada’s original Spanish style decor was removed in a mid-1950s remodeling for the Associated Theatres Circuit, which had taken over operation of the house from Loews in November, 1954. Plans for the modernization were by architect Jack Alan Bialosky. A few photos can be seen in this Boxoffice article of June 2, 1956.
Boxoffice refers to Bialosky as a theatre architect, but the only other project I can find is the Princeton Cinema in Springdale, Ohio, attributed to his firm of Manders & Bialosky by Boxoffice of December 12, 1966.
Boxoffice of December 2, 1974, said that the former Mandan Theatre had reopened as the Showboat Cinema in mid-November, following a $100,000 renovation. It was a single-screen house with 412 seats. The Mandan Theatre had originally been built by Frank Wetzstein.
Photos of the Showboat Theatre appeared in Boxoffice of June 30, 1975.
Chuck, can you find any listings from the 1930s or later for either a State Theatre or a Capitol Theatre in Bismarck? Those two and the Bismarck are the only theaters in the town that are mentioned in Boxoffice during the 1930s and 1940s.
I’m wondering if the State might have been the Paramount renamed (the Capitol was an older theater on Main Avenue and had only 300 seats.) After being mentioned three times in Movie Age in 1929, the Paramount vanishes, and the only explanation I can think of for a house built for a major chain vanishing from the magazine without a trace is that the name was changed. Had it been destroyed in some disaster I’m sure the magazine would have mentioned it.
I also came across two references to an Eltinge Theatre in Bismarck. It was having Gennett talking picture equipment installed according to Movie Age of June 8, 1929. A second reference to the Eltinge appeared in Boxoffice of October 28, 1950. I find this gap puzzling. The Eltinge then vanishes too.
Another mystery is a single-line item in Boxoffice of September 24, 1949, datelined Bismarck, N.D., saying “The new Krieger Theatre has been opened here by Frederic and Albert Krieger.” Neither the theater nor the Kriegers ever get mentioned again.
By 1954, Boxoffice is making reference to the Bismarck and the Dakota as the town’s only indoor theaters, though a 1956 item said that the Capitol was being reopened following extensive remodeling. There’s never a hint of what became of the State or the mysterious Eltinge or Krieger theaters.
Boxoffice of October 27, 1951, said that cowboy star Rex Allen had been the top personal attraction at the recent opening of the new Fox Theatre in Sidney.
The Dakota Theatre opened October 12, 1951, according to Boxoffice of October 27. The original operator was Northwest Theatres, Inc.
This theater opened to the public as the Plaza Twin on October 30, 1970, following a benefit premier the previous night. It was a joint venture of Mid Continent Theatres and the Dubinsky circuit, operating under the name R&D Theatres. In the original twin configuration it had 900 seats, according to several Boxoffice items of the period.
Boxoffice of November 23, 1970, said that the Plaza Twin was designed by Mel Glatz & Associates. The opening feature in the Plaza I was “The People Next Door” and the Plaza II featured “The Boatniks.”
“H. O. Mugridge’s Bismarck, Bismarck, N. D.” was on a list of new theaters scheduled to open in the next thirty days, published in Boxoffice of December 11, 1937.
The 1937 project must have been a renovation or rebuild, as Boxoffice of September 28, 1970, ran an item saying that the Bismarck Theatre had recently closed after 52 years of operation, and that it had been built in 1918 for $50,000. The September 14 issue of Boxoffice had said that the theater was to be demolished.
The last operator of the Bismarck was the R&D Amusement Company. R&D was a partnership of Mid-Continent Theatres and the Dubinsky circuit. The partnership opened the new Plaza Twin, later to be the Plaza 3, in Bismarck’s Kirkwood Mall on October 30, 1970.
A few pictures of the Safari 1&2 illustrate this article in Boxoffice, June 30, 1975. The Safari had 850 seats, divided 550 and 300. Originally operated by the State Theatre Company, the Safari was the first new hardtop built in Moorhead in 30 years. The African safari theme was the notion of State Theatres head Dan Peterson, and the design was carried out by decorator Jerry Arness. Boxoffice did not give the name of the architect.
I misspelled the architect’s surname in my previous comment (as did the Heywood-Wakefield ad.) It should be Sornik.