The August 27, 1979, issue of Boxoffice has a letter from Peyton Terry, owner of the Survant Theatre, Glasgow, Montana. He must have renamed the house after himself some time after that. A Roxy Theatre in Glasgow, destroyed by fire in November, 1952, was replaced by a house called the Survant Theatre, the opening of which was reported in Boxoffice of January 30, 1954. The description of the new house says that the front had facing of Arizona flagstone, which the photos linked above show Valley Cinemas building has.
The Survant featured a “south seas” motif, the article said, beginning with a floral pattern on the sidewalk at the entrance. The first photo Chuck linked to shows that the decorative sidewalk has been replaced by ordinary concrete. The lobby and auditorium of the Survant were decorated with hand-painted murals by San Francisco artist Homer Sterios. Construction was by the Harvey Theatre Construction Company, a California firm, and the theater was designed by San Francisco architect Bernard Nobler.
Bernard G. Nobler died in 2003, and an obituary referred to him as an architect who had designed theaters and other buildings in California and Hawaii. Though the Boxoffice item also refers to him as a theater architect I’ve been unable to find out much about his work. The only other Boxoffice references to him are for his unfortunate 1970 remodeling of the Empire Theatre in San Francisco, his position as local associate to architect Henry Greene in the 1968 twinning of the St. Francis Theatre in the same city, and a project for a twin theater that was planned for a site on Ventura Boulevard in North Hollywood as long ago as 1948, but which was apparently never built.
I’ve found Internet references to several of his non-theater projects, including the Tahoe Biltmore resort and casino of 1946, which was originally owned by the Blumenfelds, operators of the San Francisco-based theater chain, though the resort apparently didn’t have a theater in it. But given the association with the Blumenfelds, it seems possible that Nobler designed some of the theaters for that chain, most of which so far remain unattributed at Cinema Treasures.
The 1970 renovation mentioned by Slevin in a comment above was designed by architect Bernard G. Nobler, according to an item in Boxoffice of March 2, 1970.
A March 22, 1947, Boxoffice item said that G.W. Page was building a new theater at the corner of Grand Avenue and Alder Street in Arroyo Grande. Boxoffice of December 13, 1947, said that Bob Page had opened his new Fairoaks Theatre in Arroyo Grande. Page also operated the Bay Theatre in Morro Bay.
I’ve found Boxoffice referring to not only a Grande Theatre in Arroyo Grande, but also to an Arroyo Theatre and an Arroyo Grande Theatre. So far I’ve been unable to tell if this was one theater that kept changing its name, or if Boxoffice was just inconsistent about the name, or if there were actually two (probably not three in this tiny town) different theaters.
In 1938 and 1939, all three names were given, though always one name per item, for a theater operated by Charlie Olds. A March 5, 1938, item said that Charles Olds was taking over the dark Mission Theatre in Arroyo Grande and would reopen the 400-seat house on March 15, after remodeling was complete. There was nothing about him ever opening a second theater. Olds vanished from Boxoffice by 1945, but the multiple theater names continued.
An ad in Boxoffice of January 17, 1948, said that the Arroyo Theatre had installed new chairs. The February 18, 1950, issue said the Grande Theatre was getting a complete remodeling. In 1949, one item named George Page as the operator of the Arroyo Theatre. Did he buy the rival house, or was this an example of confusion by Boxoffice?
I haven’t found any of these three names mentioned after the 1950 item other than retrospectively (former owner of the Arroyo, for example) but the Fairoaks (Boxoffice split the name into Fair Oaks a few times, but Fairoaks was their most frequent usage) is last mentioned in the January 8, 1955, issue.
Boxoffice of November 16, 1964, reported that the Roosevelt Theatre at Seattle would be replaced by a new, first-run house called the Town, to be operated by Sterling Theatres. The bland and boxy facade that replaced that splendid zig-zag Art Deco front was the work of architect Alfred H. Croonquist. The impression given by the article was that the theatre would be virtually rebuilt, indicating that an art deco interior was probably lost at the same time.
A larger version of the 1941 photo linked above, along with additional information about the theater, can be seen at this web post by Seattle chronicler Paul Dorpat. Especially interesting is the information in a comment by David Jeffers, revealing that the original architect of the Roosevelt was Henry Bittman. Bittman, an engineer who became a licensed architect in 1923, was known for his use of terra-cotta ornament, and many buildings of his design featuring that material still grace the streets of Seattle’s older neighborhoods.
The Embassy Theatre was built in 1926, and was designed by Seattle architect Henry Bittman, who also designed the Music Box Theatre (1924) and the Roosevelt Theatre (1933.) Bittman was credited as the engineer for the 1914 Liberty Theatre, designed by architect Henderson Ryan. Bittman was licensed to practice architecture in 1923.
The Music Box Theatre was designed by architect Henry Bittman. Previously an engineer, in which capacity he worked with architect Henderson Ryan on the innovative 1914 design for the Liberty Theatre, Bittman went on to gain an architect’s licence in 1923 and, in addition to the Music Box, designed at least two other theatres in Seattle, the surviving Embassy Theatre of 1926, and the Art Deco Roosevelt Theatre, aka Pike Street Theatre and Town Theatre, which opened in 1933 and has been demolished.
Bittman was a master of terra-cotta decoration, and used it on numerous Seattle buildings including and the one he designed for the Fraternal Order of Eagles. The Eagles' building was renovated in the 1990s as a home for the ACT theater company. This was an appropriate use for the building, as the club had been founded by six Seattle theater owners, including John Cort, who went on the become a leading impresario in New York.
Engineer Henry Bittman, who collaborated with Henderson Ryan on the Liberty Theatre project in 1914, was licensed as an architect in 1923 and went on to design at least three Seattle theatres himself; The Embassy Theatre of 1926, the Music Box Theatre of 1928, and the Town Theatre (aka Roosevelt) of 1933. The Embassy is the only one of these three still standing.
Unlike most Fox theaters of the postwar period, which were designed by in-house architects such as Mel Glatz or Carl G. Moeller, the Palos Verdes Fox was the work of Carver L. Baker, coordinating architect and planning consultant for the development company that managed almost 7000 acres of the Palos Verdes Peninsula for the Great Lakes Carbon Company, which had acquired title to the land in 1953.
An item about the opening of the Fox Theatre appeared in Boxoffice, August 12, 1963, a few days after the house opened. It includes a photo. The caption says that this was the fifth theater opened by National General Theatres, and brought the circuit to 225 theaters in 27 states.
Most of the information about National General Theatres available on the Internet is a bit confusing. The company was incorporated as National Theatres in 1952, but at that time had already operated under that name for many years, having been formed in a 1934 reorganization of Fox West Coast Theatres, which had gone into receivership the previous year, part of the collapse of William Fox’s various enterprises. 20th Century Fox owned a minority interest in National Theatres for a number of years, then acquired a majority interest in the 1940s. The 1952 incorporation was the result of a reorganization of the company stemming from the anti-trust decrees that required movie studios to divest their theater operations.
The various claims that National General took over Fox Theatres in the 1960s are thus misleading, as the company and its predecessor National Theatres had by then been running Fox Theatres for about three decades. The name change to National General in 1962 was a belated reflection of the fact that the National Theatres Corporation incorporated in 1952 had been from the beginning a diversified conglomerate, with movie exhibition only one facet of its operations. A majority of the company’s revenues came from publishing and insurance.
Boxoffice says that the Fox Conejo Theatre was in the Conejo Village Shopping Center, but I’ve been unable to track down an address for it. The shopping center’s name has apparently been changed. The theater opened in 1963.
There was a 750-seat Melody Theatre in Thousand Oaks, opened on October 13, 1965. It was mentioned in several issues of Boxoffice. The Melody was originally operated by Jack Grossman’s Holiday Theatres. It was in the Park Oaks Shopping Center, at Moorpark and Janss Road. I think it must be one of the theaters Knatcal remembers.
It turns out that S. Charles Lee’s 1938 design for the Sierra Theatre was not carried out. The theater as opened in 1946 was designed by Vincent G. Raney. There are a couple of small photos from the time of the opening in Boxoffice of November 2, 1946.
Boxoffice of April 5, 1971, said that a new facade was being built at the Delano Theatre. It was the final step in a multi-year renovation project which had brought the theater new seats, wider aisles, a new sound system and projection equipment, and an new air conditioning system.
I also suspect an opening year of 1924 for the Delano Theatre. Southwest Builder & Contractor of February 29, 1924, said a theater was being planned at Delano as part of the proposed Grower’s Security Bank building, then being designed by Bakersfield architect Charles H. Bigger. An ad for Paramount Pictures in Boxoffice of September 7, 1940, includes tiny photos of the Delano Theatre and the Wasco Theatre along with a photo of operator Frank Panero.
The photo of the pre-remodel Delano shows a building with arched windows characteristic of the 1920s but pretty much out of style by 1930. There is also a letter from Frank Panero indicating that he had been in the theater business for 25 years. The circuit having been headquartered in Delano suggests that the Delano could have been the Panero’s first theater, as its likely opening date of 1925-1925 would have been about the time they got their start.
An article about the new Eastown Theatre was published in Boxoffice of December 12, 1936. There are several photos. The Art Moderne design of the 1,000-seat house was by Grand Rapids architect Harry L. Colton. The Eastown was built for B&J Theatres (Butterfield & Johnson.)
A photo of the recently remodeled facade of the Denis Theatre appeared in this article in Boxoffice of October 15, 1938. The architect for the remodeling was Victor A. Rigaumont.
The Vogue opened in 1938. It was a rebuild of a 1923 theater called the Michigan, which had been closed for ten years according to one Boxoffice item about the project. Before and after photos appeared in this article in Boxoffice of October 15, 1938. I can’t find the name of the architect who designed the remodeling, though architects are named for the other two remodeling projects featured in the article.
This house was mentioned in passing in an item datelined Toronto in Boxoffice of January 3, 1948, which referred to the “…newly-opened Glendale Theatre here….”
I’ve found a couple of references to “William” Overpeck on the Internet, but the architect’s actual first name was Warren. He has been a member of the Architectural Review Board of the Bel Air Association, and a document published by the association indicates why the confusion arose:[quote]“Warren Frazier Overpeck- Bill, as he is called by his friends, graduated from the USC School of Architecture. After graduation he joined the A. Quincy Jones, F.A.I.A. Architectural firm. Two years later he opened his own office in Pacific Palisades, designing custom residences. Later, in
partnership with Bob Kite, their firm designed the John Thomas Dye School after the Bel-Air fire. In 1969 he associated with a major architectural firm to develop Marina City and the Marina City Club”[/quote]The “identical” theater opened by Lippert the same year as the Buena Park was apparently the Corbin Theatre in Tarzana. Presumably it too was designed by Overpeck. The only major difference I can see between the Buena Park as pictured in this Boxoffice feature from 1959 and this 1984 photo of the Corbin is that the Corbin had a traditional marquee, probably added later as it is mounted on columns rather than on the building itself.
On page 14 of the same issue of Boxoffice linked above is an article about Robert Lippert’s twin Riviera and Capri Theatres in Los Angeles, and that project was attributed to architect John P. Edwards with W. F. Overpeck associated. As Lippert had Overpeck work on three projects in a short period, it’s possible that he also designed others of the theaters Lippert was building during the brief time when Overpeck had an individual practice- from about 1958 to 1961, as near as I’ve been able to determine.
A July 12, 1941, Boxoffice item about Walter Noa, manager of the Olson Brothers' Gaylord Theatre, said that he had managed the Gaylord Theatre’s predecessor since 1931. I also found a 1938 item mentioning James Olson of Gaylord, but the name of the earlier theater was not mentioned. Maybe it was called the Gaylord, too.
The Corbin was built for Robert Lippert Theatres and was opened in 1959. It was a near twin to the Buena Park Theatre opened the same year and which was the subject of this Boxoffice feature of October 19 that year. You can see the resemblance to the 1984 photo, though it looks like the Corbin had a traditional marquee added later, judging from the way it’s mounted on columns rather than attached to the building itself. The Corbin was probably designed by the architect of the Buena Park, Warren F. Overpeck.
The Roger Sherman Theatre reopened on December 23, 1961, following a major remodeling designed by architect Drew Eberson. The house was then the Stanley Warner circuit’s zone flagship, according to the item in Boxoffice of January 1, 1962, which also said: “The interior was completely stripped for the extensive wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling renovation program.” The opening movie was Disney’s “Babes In Toyland.”
A rendering of the new front of the Roger Sherman was published in Boxoffice of December 18, 1961. This item said that the remodeled house would feature continental seating, and that total capacity would be reduced by 350 seats.
Boxoffice of July 9, 1938, ran an item saying that construction on the new Crystal Theatre was scheduled begin on August 15, and that operator Ben Cohen anticipated opening the house some time around Thanksgiving Day.
The item also said that this Crystal was a replacement for an older theater of the same name, across the street from the site of the new house, which had been demolished for the widening of Michigan Avenue.
The opening of the new Crystal was delayed. Boxoffice of December 17 said the house “…bows the latter part of the month.”
The 1982 photo depicts the last Music Box Theatre in Portland, located on Broadway next door to the Fox Theatre. Gary Lacher and Steve Stone’s book “Theaters of Portland” says that there were six Portland theaters called the Music Box. I don’t think it has a page at Cinema Treasures yet.
The Hill Theatre was not a quonset hut, but a site-built theater using laminated wood arches that formed both walls and roof. They came to a slight peak, giving the auditorium a somewhat Gothic look, though the style of the building was California Modern, a regional variant of the Midcentury style, but which favored the use of natural materials such as redwood and stone along with the glass walls more characteristic of the modern mode. This sometimes gave the California Modern a rather rustic look, as was the case with this theater.
A double-page spread about the Hill Theatre was published in Boxoffice of October 19, 1959, though this was several years after the theater had opened. This article gives the seating capacity of the Hill as 303.
Construction of this theater was to begin in 30 days, according to an item in Boxoffice of July 1, 1950. The backers of the project had arranged for the theater to be operated under lease by R.B. Read and Paul Clark, both of Carmel Point. The as-yet unnamed theater was to show “foreign and domestic films of prestige quality.”
Early in 1956 the Hill Theatre was taken over by a partnership of Maury Schwarz and John Parsons, San Francisco exhibitors. Parsons operated a circuit of several houses in the Bay Area and in the Central Valley. He also operated the Golden Bough Theatre in Monterey from about 1955. Many of his theaters were art houses. After Parsons and Schwarz acquired the house, R.B. Read was to continue as manager of the Hill and take over management of the Golden Bough as well, according to Boxoffice of February 18, 1956.
The start of construction on the Coronet Theatre was announced in Boxoffice of February 11, 1963. It was to be the first unit in a six acre commercial project planned by Comstock Developers. It was to be a first-run house, and would be operated under lease by A.J. Longtin, operator of theaters at Madera, Coalinga, and Willows, and former operator of the Guild and Encore theaters in Sacramento.
One of the partners in Comstock Developers was architect Herbert E. Goodpastor, designer of the Coronet. Goodpastor also designed the Manor and Colonial theaters in Sacramento.
A photo of the auditorium of the Cameo Theatre was featured in an ad for the American Seating Company in Boxoffice of January 3, 1953. The architects of the theater were Ginnocchio and Cromwell.
The Crane Theatre became the Fox Theatre in 1955, replacing Fox Midwest’s Tiger Theatre which had burned the previous year. The building was extensively altered and given a Midcentury Modern style by architect Samuel W. Bihr, Jr. Before and after photos are on display in this article in Boxoffice of October 22, 1955. Many additional photos appear on the three subsequent pages.
The August 27, 1979, issue of Boxoffice has a letter from Peyton Terry, owner of the Survant Theatre, Glasgow, Montana. He must have renamed the house after himself some time after that. A Roxy Theatre in Glasgow, destroyed by fire in November, 1952, was replaced by a house called the Survant Theatre, the opening of which was reported in Boxoffice of January 30, 1954. The description of the new house says that the front had facing of Arizona flagstone, which the photos linked above show Valley Cinemas building has.
The Survant featured a “south seas” motif, the article said, beginning with a floral pattern on the sidewalk at the entrance. The first photo Chuck linked to shows that the decorative sidewalk has been replaced by ordinary concrete. The lobby and auditorium of the Survant were decorated with hand-painted murals by San Francisco artist Homer Sterios. Construction was by the Harvey Theatre Construction Company, a California firm, and the theater was designed by San Francisco architect Bernard Nobler.
Bernard G. Nobler died in 2003, and an obituary referred to him as an architect who had designed theaters and other buildings in California and Hawaii. Though the Boxoffice item also refers to him as a theater architect I’ve been unable to find out much about his work. The only other Boxoffice references to him are for his unfortunate 1970 remodeling of the Empire Theatre in San Francisco, his position as local associate to architect Henry Greene in the 1968 twinning of the St. Francis Theatre in the same city, and a project for a twin theater that was planned for a site on Ventura Boulevard in North Hollywood as long ago as 1948, but which was apparently never built.
I’ve found Internet references to several of his non-theater projects, including the Tahoe Biltmore resort and casino of 1946, which was originally owned by the Blumenfelds, operators of the San Francisco-based theater chain, though the resort apparently didn’t have a theater in it. But given the association with the Blumenfelds, it seems possible that Nobler designed some of the theaters for that chain, most of which so far remain unattributed at Cinema Treasures.
The 1970 renovation mentioned by Slevin in a comment above was designed by architect Bernard G. Nobler, according to an item in Boxoffice of March 2, 1970.
A March 22, 1947, Boxoffice item said that G.W. Page was building a new theater at the corner of Grand Avenue and Alder Street in Arroyo Grande. Boxoffice of December 13, 1947, said that Bob Page had opened his new Fairoaks Theatre in Arroyo Grande. Page also operated the Bay Theatre in Morro Bay.
I’ve found Boxoffice referring to not only a Grande Theatre in Arroyo Grande, but also to an Arroyo Theatre and an Arroyo Grande Theatre. So far I’ve been unable to tell if this was one theater that kept changing its name, or if Boxoffice was just inconsistent about the name, or if there were actually two (probably not three in this tiny town) different theaters.
In 1938 and 1939, all three names were given, though always one name per item, for a theater operated by Charlie Olds. A March 5, 1938, item said that Charles Olds was taking over the dark Mission Theatre in Arroyo Grande and would reopen the 400-seat house on March 15, after remodeling was complete. There was nothing about him ever opening a second theater. Olds vanished from Boxoffice by 1945, but the multiple theater names continued.
An ad in Boxoffice of January 17, 1948, said that the Arroyo Theatre had installed new chairs. The February 18, 1950, issue said the Grande Theatre was getting a complete remodeling. In 1949, one item named George Page as the operator of the Arroyo Theatre. Did he buy the rival house, or was this an example of confusion by Boxoffice?
I haven’t found any of these three names mentioned after the 1950 item other than retrospectively (former owner of the Arroyo, for example) but the Fairoaks (Boxoffice split the name into Fair Oaks a few times, but Fairoaks was their most frequent usage) is last mentioned in the January 8, 1955, issue.
Boxoffice of November 16, 1964, reported that the Roosevelt Theatre at Seattle would be replaced by a new, first-run house called the Town, to be operated by Sterling Theatres. The bland and boxy facade that replaced that splendid zig-zag Art Deco front was the work of architect Alfred H. Croonquist. The impression given by the article was that the theatre would be virtually rebuilt, indicating that an art deco interior was probably lost at the same time.
A larger version of the 1941 photo linked above, along with additional information about the theater, can be seen at this web post by Seattle chronicler Paul Dorpat. Especially interesting is the information in a comment by David Jeffers, revealing that the original architect of the Roosevelt was Henry Bittman. Bittman, an engineer who became a licensed architect in 1923, was known for his use of terra-cotta ornament, and many buildings of his design featuring that material still grace the streets of Seattle’s older neighborhoods.
The Embassy Theatre was built in 1926, and was designed by Seattle architect Henry Bittman, who also designed the Music Box Theatre (1924) and the Roosevelt Theatre (1933.) Bittman was credited as the engineer for the 1914 Liberty Theatre, designed by architect Henderson Ryan. Bittman was licensed to practice architecture in 1923.
The Music Box Theatre was designed by architect Henry Bittman. Previously an engineer, in which capacity he worked with architect Henderson Ryan on the innovative 1914 design for the Liberty Theatre, Bittman went on to gain an architect’s licence in 1923 and, in addition to the Music Box, designed at least two other theatres in Seattle, the surviving Embassy Theatre of 1926, and the Art Deco Roosevelt Theatre, aka Pike Street Theatre and Town Theatre, which opened in 1933 and has been demolished.
Bittman was a master of terra-cotta decoration, and used it on numerous Seattle buildings including and the one he designed for the Fraternal Order of Eagles. The Eagles' building was renovated in the 1990s as a home for the ACT theater company. This was an appropriate use for the building, as the club had been founded by six Seattle theater owners, including John Cort, who went on the become a leading impresario in New York.
Engineer Henry Bittman, who collaborated with Henderson Ryan on the Liberty Theatre project in 1914, was licensed as an architect in 1923 and went on to design at least three Seattle theatres himself; The Embassy Theatre of 1926, the Music Box Theatre of 1928, and the Town Theatre (aka Roosevelt) of 1933. The Embassy is the only one of these three still standing.
Unlike most Fox theaters of the postwar period, which were designed by in-house architects such as Mel Glatz or Carl G. Moeller, the Palos Verdes Fox was the work of Carver L. Baker, coordinating architect and planning consultant for the development company that managed almost 7000 acres of the Palos Verdes Peninsula for the Great Lakes Carbon Company, which had acquired title to the land in 1953.
An item about the opening of the Fox Theatre appeared in Boxoffice, August 12, 1963, a few days after the house opened. It includes a photo. The caption says that this was the fifth theater opened by National General Theatres, and brought the circuit to 225 theaters in 27 states.
Most of the information about National General Theatres available on the Internet is a bit confusing. The company was incorporated as National Theatres in 1952, but at that time had already operated under that name for many years, having been formed in a 1934 reorganization of Fox West Coast Theatres, which had gone into receivership the previous year, part of the collapse of William Fox’s various enterprises. 20th Century Fox owned a minority interest in National Theatres for a number of years, then acquired a majority interest in the 1940s. The 1952 incorporation was the result of a reorganization of the company stemming from the anti-trust decrees that required movie studios to divest their theater operations.
The various claims that National General took over Fox Theatres in the 1960s are thus misleading, as the company and its predecessor National Theatres had by then been running Fox Theatres for about three decades. The name change to National General in 1962 was a belated reflection of the fact that the National Theatres Corporation incorporated in 1952 had been from the beginning a diversified conglomerate, with movie exhibition only one facet of its operations. A majority of the company’s revenues came from publishing and insurance.
Boxoffice says that the Fox Conejo Theatre was in the Conejo Village Shopping Center, but I’ve been unable to track down an address for it. The shopping center’s name has apparently been changed. The theater opened in 1963.
There was a 750-seat Melody Theatre in Thousand Oaks, opened on October 13, 1965. It was mentioned in several issues of Boxoffice. The Melody was originally operated by Jack Grossman’s Holiday Theatres. It was in the Park Oaks Shopping Center, at Moorpark and Janss Road. I think it must be one of the theaters Knatcal remembers.
It turns out that S. Charles Lee’s 1938 design for the Sierra Theatre was not carried out. The theater as opened in 1946 was designed by Vincent G. Raney. There are a couple of small photos from the time of the opening in Boxoffice of November 2, 1946.
Boxoffice of April 5, 1971, said that a new facade was being built at the Delano Theatre. It was the final step in a multi-year renovation project which had brought the theater new seats, wider aisles, a new sound system and projection equipment, and an new air conditioning system.
I also suspect an opening year of 1924 for the Delano Theatre. Southwest Builder & Contractor of February 29, 1924, said a theater was being planned at Delano as part of the proposed Grower’s Security Bank building, then being designed by Bakersfield architect Charles H. Bigger. An ad for Paramount Pictures in Boxoffice of September 7, 1940, includes tiny photos of the Delano Theatre and the Wasco Theatre along with a photo of operator Frank Panero.
The photo of the pre-remodel Delano shows a building with arched windows characteristic of the 1920s but pretty much out of style by 1930. There is also a letter from Frank Panero indicating that he had been in the theater business for 25 years. The circuit having been headquartered in Delano suggests that the Delano could have been the Panero’s first theater, as its likely opening date of 1925-1925 would have been about the time they got their start.
An article about the new Eastown Theatre was published in Boxoffice of December 12, 1936. There are several photos. The Art Moderne design of the 1,000-seat house was by Grand Rapids architect Harry L. Colton. The Eastown was built for B&J Theatres (Butterfield & Johnson.)
A photo of the recently remodeled facade of the Denis Theatre appeared in this article in Boxoffice of October 15, 1938. The architect for the remodeling was Victor A. Rigaumont.
The Vogue opened in 1938. It was a rebuild of a 1923 theater called the Michigan, which had been closed for ten years according to one Boxoffice item about the project. Before and after photos appeared in this article in Boxoffice of October 15, 1938. I can’t find the name of the architect who designed the remodeling, though architects are named for the other two remodeling projects featured in the article.
This house was mentioned in passing in an item datelined Toronto in Boxoffice of January 3, 1948, which referred to the “…newly-opened Glendale Theatre here….”
I’ve found a couple of references to “William” Overpeck on the Internet, but the architect’s actual first name was Warren. He has been a member of the Architectural Review Board of the Bel Air Association, and a document published by the association indicates why the confusion arose:[quote]“Warren Frazier Overpeck- Bill, as he is called by his friends, graduated from the USC School of Architecture. After graduation he joined the A. Quincy Jones, F.A.I.A. Architectural firm. Two years later he opened his own office in Pacific Palisades, designing custom residences. Later, in
partnership with Bob Kite, their firm designed the John Thomas Dye School after the Bel-Air fire. In 1969 he associated with a major architectural firm to develop Marina City and the Marina City Club”[/quote]The “identical” theater opened by Lippert the same year as the Buena Park was apparently the Corbin Theatre in Tarzana. Presumably it too was designed by Overpeck. The only major difference I can see between the Buena Park as pictured in this Boxoffice feature from 1959 and this 1984 photo of the Corbin is that the Corbin had a traditional marquee, probably added later as it is mounted on columns rather than on the building itself.
On page 14 of the same issue of Boxoffice linked above is an article about Robert Lippert’s twin Riviera and Capri Theatres in Los Angeles, and that project was attributed to architect John P. Edwards with W. F. Overpeck associated. As Lippert had Overpeck work on three projects in a short period, it’s possible that he also designed others of the theaters Lippert was building during the brief time when Overpeck had an individual practice- from about 1958 to 1961, as near as I’ve been able to determine.
A July 12, 1941, Boxoffice item about Walter Noa, manager of the Olson Brothers' Gaylord Theatre, said that he had managed the Gaylord Theatre’s predecessor since 1931. I also found a 1938 item mentioning James Olson of Gaylord, but the name of the earlier theater was not mentioned. Maybe it was called the Gaylord, too.
The Corbin was built for Robert Lippert Theatres and was opened in 1959. It was a near twin to the Buena Park Theatre opened the same year and which was the subject of this Boxoffice feature of October 19 that year. You can see the resemblance to the 1984 photo, though it looks like the Corbin had a traditional marquee added later, judging from the way it’s mounted on columns rather than attached to the building itself. The Corbin was probably designed by the architect of the Buena Park, Warren F. Overpeck.
The Roger Sherman Theatre reopened on December 23, 1961, following a major remodeling designed by architect Drew Eberson. The house was then the Stanley Warner circuit’s zone flagship, according to the item in Boxoffice of January 1, 1962, which also said: “The interior was completely stripped for the extensive wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling renovation program.” The opening movie was Disney’s “Babes In Toyland.”
A rendering of the new front of the Roger Sherman was published in Boxoffice of December 18, 1961. This item said that the remodeled house would feature continental seating, and that total capacity would be reduced by 350 seats.
Boxoffice of July 9, 1938, ran an item saying that construction on the new Crystal Theatre was scheduled begin on August 15, and that operator Ben Cohen anticipated opening the house some time around Thanksgiving Day.
The item also said that this Crystal was a replacement for an older theater of the same name, across the street from the site of the new house, which had been demolished for the widening of Michigan Avenue.
The opening of the new Crystal was delayed. Boxoffice of December 17 said the house “…bows the latter part of the month.”
The 1982 photo depicts the last Music Box Theatre in Portland, located on Broadway next door to the Fox Theatre. Gary Lacher and Steve Stone’s book “Theaters of Portland” says that there were six Portland theaters called the Music Box. I don’t think it has a page at Cinema Treasures yet.
The Hill Theatre was not a quonset hut, but a site-built theater using laminated wood arches that formed both walls and roof. They came to a slight peak, giving the auditorium a somewhat Gothic look, though the style of the building was California Modern, a regional variant of the Midcentury style, but which favored the use of natural materials such as redwood and stone along with the glass walls more characteristic of the modern mode. This sometimes gave the California Modern a rather rustic look, as was the case with this theater.
A double-page spread about the Hill Theatre was published in Boxoffice of October 19, 1959, though this was several years after the theater had opened. This article gives the seating capacity of the Hill as 303.
Construction of this theater was to begin in 30 days, according to an item in Boxoffice of July 1, 1950. The backers of the project had arranged for the theater to be operated under lease by R.B. Read and Paul Clark, both of Carmel Point. The as-yet unnamed theater was to show “foreign and domestic films of prestige quality.”
Early in 1956 the Hill Theatre was taken over by a partnership of Maury Schwarz and John Parsons, San Francisco exhibitors. Parsons operated a circuit of several houses in the Bay Area and in the Central Valley. He also operated the Golden Bough Theatre in Monterey from about 1955. Many of his theaters were art houses. After Parsons and Schwarz acquired the house, R.B. Read was to continue as manager of the Hill and take over management of the Golden Bough as well, according to Boxoffice of February 18, 1956.
The start of construction on the Coronet Theatre was announced in Boxoffice of February 11, 1963. It was to be the first unit in a six acre commercial project planned by Comstock Developers. It was to be a first-run house, and would be operated under lease by A.J. Longtin, operator of theaters at Madera, Coalinga, and Willows, and former operator of the Guild and Encore theaters in Sacramento.
One of the partners in Comstock Developers was architect Herbert E. Goodpastor, designer of the Coronet. Goodpastor also designed the Manor and Colonial theaters in Sacramento.
A photo of the auditorium of the Cameo Theatre was featured in an ad for the American Seating Company in Boxoffice of January 3, 1953. The architects of the theater were Ginnocchio and Cromwell.
The Crane Theatre became the Fox Theatre in 1955, replacing Fox Midwest’s Tiger Theatre which had burned the previous year. The building was extensively altered and given a Midcentury Modern style by architect Samuel W. Bihr, Jr. Before and after photos are on display in this article in Boxoffice of October 22, 1955. Many additional photos appear on the three subsequent pages.