The Boulevard was being outfitted in mid-1940. The July 6 issue of Boxoffice listed drapes and carpets for the Boulevard among the equipment ordered for various theaters from the Wil-Kin Theatre Supply Co. of Atlanta.
S.A. Lynch, a regional partner of Paramount Theatres, was building the Boulevard, according to another item in the same issue of Boxoffice. The new house was expected to be open later that month.
The 110-Drive-In must have opened in 1957, not 1959. An ad for Ashcraft’s Super Cinex projectors appeared in the February 2 issue of Boxoffice Magazine that year, saying that these projectors had been installed at the Century 110 Drive-In.
It was certainly open by September of 1957, as the September 7 issue of Boxoffice carried an item about a promotion at the theater which involved giving away 6,000 barbecued beef sandwiches over a four day period.
The October 19, 1957, issue of Boxoffice ran an article about drive-in concession stands which featured several paragraphs about the operation at the 110 Drive-In, with two photos of its concession area.
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art has a number of drawings by Timothy Pflueger that can be seen on-line, including some depicting the Tulare Theatre. Enter Tulare in the search box. You can also search on Pflueger and then select the resulting “works by” link to see drawings of some of his other projects.
Also, the “firm” listing on this page should show Miller & Pflueger.
Patsy: Use Google Advanced Search, put issuu.com in the “site or domain” box, and the date January 03 1942 in the “exact wording or phrase” box. The article about the Grand starts on page 58.
My outgoing email isn’t working, so I’ll be unable to contact you until I get a different client set up. In any case, everthing I know about the Grand came from the online issues of Boxoffice.
There have been a lot of theaters called the Grand in California. but I’ve never been to any of them. Did you have a particular one in mind?
The Mayfair was the last of Trenton’s eight downtown theaters to close, according to an article Boxoffice Magazine of December 6, 1976, which announced the closing. Vincent Henry was the last manager of the house, and the last movies shown were “Saga In Africa” and “Burnt Offerings.”
This Boxoffice item says that the Henry family had operated the house since acquiring it in 1940, at which time they had changed the name to Mayfair. However, the January 3, 1942, issue of Boxoffice had said that the Hildingers (Charles and Helen) had reopened the former Orpheum as the Mayfair curing Christmas week.
The house had originally opened on March 29, 1922, as the Orpheum Theatre, owned by George B. Ten Eyck. The first feature at the Orpheum was the Coleen Moore film “Come On Over.”
During the 1930s the Orpheum was operated by the William Hunt Theatres Circuit of Wildwood, New Jersey.
I don’t have time to read through all the comments, so pardon me if this information has previously been posted. The January 3, 1942, issue of Boxoffice Magazine ran an article about the recently-opened Grand Theatre in its Modern Theatre section.
From the photos with the article I’d say the Grand was definitely Art Moderne in style, rather than Art Deco. The article identified the architect of the new house as Michael J. DeAngelis. The seating capacity at opening was given as 850. Total cost of the project was a mere $65,000. The original owner was Kenneth Blakely.
An architect’s rendering of the Grand had earlier appeared in Boxoffice’s “Just Off the Boards” feature in the April 21, 1941, issue.
Various issues of Boxoffice Magazine indicate that the Del Oro Theatre was not built by United Artists, nor operated by that chain during its early years. Construction was begun in 1941 by Golden State Theatres, but apparently the house was being operated by Albert and William Forman’s United Theatres Circuit later in the 1940s.
An item in the April 16, 1949, issue of Boxoffice said that a $36,000 damage suit against United Theatres and Del Oro manager Jack Keegan was being tried in Nevada County superior court. Mr. Terry T. Whitesides of Grass Valley alleged that he had fallen in the aisle of the theater on September 28, 1947.
I’ve been unable to discover when United Artists took over the house, but they were operating it when it was triplexed in 1975.
There are some interesting discrepancies among various sources of information about the theater and about Mr. Darress. The theater web site has a picture of Charles Darress. Boxoffice Magazine’s issue of May 14, 1979, has an article about recent two theater closings, the State being one of them, and it says that the theater was opened in 1922 by Clare Darress.
Then there’s this page about a landmarked house for sale in Boonton, which says the house was designed by “…Clair Darress, a famous architect of many homes in the area, and creator of the Darress theatre on Main Street.”
Whether Charles, Clare, or Clair, it seems reasonable that, being an architect, Mr. Darress would have designed his theater himself.
The February 8, 1941, issue of Boxoffice Magazine said that Phil Isley had opened the Bobby Walker Theatre on February 6.
Phil Isley’s daughter, Phylis, is better known by her movie name Jennifer Jones. Bobby Walker’s father was actor Robert Walker, co-star of Hitchcock’s “Strangers On a Train.” Bobby Walker also became an actor, appearing mostly on television. Robert Walker Jr. at IMDb.
The January 8, 1955, issue of Boxoffice said that the Imperial Theatre had been reopened after being completely remodeled and refurnished. A new 19x40-foot screen had been installed, along with a stereophonic sound system and acoustical plaster. The house was reseated with American Seating Company’s Bodiform chairs. The new seating capacity was given as 804.
Checking the 1937 Boxoffice article again, I think it says that 800 chairs were shipped to the Serf Theatre. The scan is very blurry, but the Google cache in plain text says 800. The 1950 reseating thus probably reduced the total capacity to 726, rather than increasing it.
The October 9, 1937, issue of Boxoffice Magazine said that the Graham Brothers Theatre Supply Company of Denver had shipped various items to the new Serf Theatre in Las Vegas, New Mexico. These included 500 seats, 340 yards of carpeting, two blowers and motors, two curtains with tracks and controls, a sound screen, and complete booth equipment.
The Maloof Bros. were apparently the owners of the building, but the house was operated by Fox Intermountain Theatres when it opened, according to the October 23, 1937, issue of Boxoffice.
In its April 15, 1950, issue, Boxoffice said that the Maloof Bros. had closed the Serf Theatre for repairs when it was discoverd that the back wall was sagging. Fox Intermountain must have taken this opportunity to expand the theater, as the November 4, 1950, issue of Boxoffice said that the company had reopened the Serf with 726 seats.
The remodeled lobby featured a wagon wheel chandelier with six brass lanterns, and the walls were decorated with murals depicting the Santa Fe Trail. The auditorium was painted in shades of aqua and turquoise, and the screen had a turquoise velvet curtain.
Plans to build what would become the 41st Avenue Playhouse were announced in the August 21, 1972, issue of Boxoffice Magazine. The item said that the three-screen house, the first of its kind in Santa Cruz County, would have approximately 1250 seats.
It was built for the Kindair Corporation, a local theater circuit based in Monterey, California. The recent opening of the house was noted in the July 30, 1973, issue of Boxoffice, but no details about the theater itself were given. The first movie shown was a benefit premier of “Sleuth.”
The Kindair circuit was apparently acquired by United Artists sometime in the 1980s.
The Capitola Theatre was built for Arthur Mayer of San Francisco and Joseph Jacobs of Burlingame. Although construction of the Capitola began in late 1947, materials shortages delayed its completion, and it didn’t open until the summer of 1948. The start of construction was announced in the December 6, 1947, issue of Boxoffice Magazine, and the opening in the August 7, 1948, issue. The September 3, 1973, issue of Boxoffice said that the Capitola had celebrated its 25th anniversary on August 6.
The recent opening of the Osocales Theatre was announced in the September 25, 1948, issue of Boxoffice Magazine. The October 2 issue of Boxoffice added that the theater had cost $60,000, was 50x100 feet in size, and seated 500.
I’m not sure if the May 6, 1950, Boxoffice item Ken cited just above referred to a replacement of 100 seats or an addition of another 100 seats. In any case, the building was large enough to accommodate the 500 seats it had on opening.
The April 15, 1950, issue of Boxoffice Magazine said that the J.T. Boutwell Company had installed 1,172 Kroelher seats in the Hiland Theatre, Albuquerque.
The November 27, 1967, issue of Boxoffice ran an article about Blanche Hatton, who had been managing theaters in Albuquerque since her arrival there in 1924. She became the first manager of the newly-opened Hiland in 1950, and held that post until 1963.
From Boxoffice Magazine, November 28, 1977: “There will be five benefit showings of ‘The Gathering’ at the Falls Theatre in Chagrin Falls, where it was filmed.”
And from Boxoffice of August 27, 1979: “The Chagrin Falls Theatre has been torn down to make way for a new office building in Chagrin Falls….”
The town was not left without an indoor theater when the Falls was demolished, though. A 248-seat house called the Tanglewood Cinema had opened in the Tanglewood Shopping Center in 1973.
Alamo Jack’s is now just The Alamo, and has a new web site. The site includes an early photo of the Alamo Theatre, plus a scan of an article from a local newspaper (though its hard to read, the scan being too small) which says that the Alamo Theatre opened in 1928 in space previously occupied by a retail store. The closing date given in the article appears to be 1968, but I wouldn’t swear to that. The information in the intro that the Alamo opened as the Newnan Theatre in 1937 is erroneous.
Boxoffice Magazine’s issue of October 2, 1937, says that the Lam Amusement Company had taken over the Alamo from its former operator, J.B. Meyers. The October 21, 1939, issue of Boxoffice said that the Alamo had reopened after a remodeling. The August 22, 1953, issue said that a wide screen had been installed in the Alamo.
I’ve been unable to find any specific references to the 1939 remodeling having been designed by Tucker & Howell, but as that firm had drawn the plans for remodeling Lam’s Gem Theatre in Newnan in 1935, as well as doing many other projects for the Lam Amusement Company over many years, it seems likely that they would have done the plans for the remodeling of the Alamo as well.
D'OH! The Alamo Theatre is already listed here. That will teach me (no, it probably won’t) to check such things before posting a comment. However, at least the Alamo’s web site reveals that the intro to the CT Alamo Theatre page has erroneous information, which can now be corrected.
Alas, Google Maps offers four choices for that address- North, South, East, and West Court Square. Google Street View’s truck only went down the west side of the square. Fortunately, on the west side of the square is a night club called The Alamo, which occupies an old theatre. Unfortunately, its address is 19 W. Court Square, which being an odd number means it’s not on the same side of the square as 22 Court Square would be. It’s not the Gem.
The 1935 Boxoffice item I cited in the intro for the Gem has a photo of the front, and it was in a mid-block building, while the Alamo is on a corner. The Alamo’s web site has an early photo of the theater it now occupies, and it was called the Alamo, not surprisingly. The building now has a modern marquee which probably dates from the 1940s or 1950s.
The web site also has a newspaper article about the club, but it’s too small to read easily. The Alamo Theatre apparently opened in 1928 in former retail space, and was converted back to retail space in (it looks like) 1969. It. too, should be listed in FDY.
So we have a second theatre in Newnan, but still don’t know the fate of the Gem, or its exact location. Looking down the north and south sides of the square with Street View, I can’t see any building resembling the Boxoffice photo of the Gem, so I’d guess it was on the east side, which is the side you can’t see with Street View, and one of the sides (along with the north, most likely) which has even numbered addresses. Thus we can’t be sure if it’s been demolished or not.
I’ve found mentions of the Portage Theatre in Boxoffice Magazine as early as February 1, 1937, but it had been in operation for a decade by then. According to an architectural and historical survey of Portage, it was built by the Fischer-Paramount Theatre Company in 1927.
The trade journal Movie Age said in its issue of January 5, 1929, that Milwaukee theater man Leonard K. Brin had taken over eight Fischer-Paramount houses, including the Portage and Home Theatres in Portage.
I found a mention of a Brin Theatre in Portage in the March 16, 1929, issue of Movie Age, but I’ve also found mentions from the same period of a Brin’s Portage Theatre, and the Home Theatre and Portage Theatre operated by L.K. Brin, so it’s unclear whether or not there was a temporary name change at one or the other of the houses.
In any case, the Portage closed for a while early in the 1930s, until it was reopened by F.J. McWilliams.
The Portage was operated by McWilliams at least through the 1950s. One Boxoffice item mentioned that he had entered the exhibition business since 1907. He also operated the Home Theatre in Portage, as mentioned in various issues of Boxoffice from the late 1930s into the early 1950s. In 1952, McWilliams built the 15/61 Drive-In. Later the theaters were operated by Jack McWilliams, presumably F.J.’s son.
The historical survey I cited above said that the triplexing of the Portage Theatre took place in 1985.
From Boxoffice, March 27, 1972: “Chet Werner, owner-operator of the Le Sueur Theatre, was featured in a New-Herald article recently…. His father, William J. Werner, purchased the old Snow Opera House in 1923 and converted it into a motion picture theatre. The building, located at the same site as the present Le Sueur Theatre, burned to the ground in 1933. The present showhouse was constructed in 1934.”
From Boxoffice Magazine, March 30, 1946, datelined Scottsbluff: “William Ostenberg will open his new 920-seat, $200,000 Midwest Theatre here on April 24. The theatre is on the location of the Egyptian, which was destroyed by fire last year.”
The Midwest was also the subject of a three-page article in the June 24, 1946, issue of Boxoffice. The architect of the new house, Charles D. Strong, was a member of the advisory staff of the magazine’s Modern Theatre Planning Institute.
The Boulevard was being outfitted in mid-1940. The July 6 issue of Boxoffice listed drapes and carpets for the Boulevard among the equipment ordered for various theaters from the Wil-Kin Theatre Supply Co. of Atlanta.
S.A. Lynch, a regional partner of Paramount Theatres, was building the Boulevard, according to another item in the same issue of Boxoffice. The new house was expected to be open later that month.
The 110-Drive-In must have opened in 1957, not 1959. An ad for Ashcraft’s Super Cinex projectors appeared in the February 2 issue of Boxoffice Magazine that year, saying that these projectors had been installed at the Century 110 Drive-In.
It was certainly open by September of 1957, as the September 7 issue of Boxoffice carried an item about a promotion at the theater which involved giving away 6,000 barbecued beef sandwiches over a four day period.
The October 19, 1957, issue of Boxoffice ran an article about drive-in concession stands which featured several paragraphs about the operation at the 110 Drive-In, with two photos of its concession area.
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art has a number of drawings by Timothy Pflueger that can be seen on-line, including some depicting the Tulare Theatre. Enter Tulare in the search box. You can also search on Pflueger and then select the resulting “works by” link to see drawings of some of his other projects.
Also, the “firm” listing on this page should show Miller & Pflueger.
Patsy: Use Google Advanced Search, put issuu.com in the “site or domain” box, and the date January 03 1942 in the “exact wording or phrase” box. The article about the Grand starts on page 58.
My outgoing email isn’t working, so I’ll be unable to contact you until I get a different client set up. In any case, everthing I know about the Grand came from the online issues of Boxoffice.
There have been a lot of theaters called the Grand in California. but I’ve never been to any of them. Did you have a particular one in mind?
The Mayfair was the last of Trenton’s eight downtown theaters to close, according to an article Boxoffice Magazine of December 6, 1976, which announced the closing. Vincent Henry was the last manager of the house, and the last movies shown were “Saga In Africa” and “Burnt Offerings.”
This Boxoffice item says that the Henry family had operated the house since acquiring it in 1940, at which time they had changed the name to Mayfair. However, the January 3, 1942, issue of Boxoffice had said that the Hildingers (Charles and Helen) had reopened the former Orpheum as the Mayfair curing Christmas week.
The house had originally opened on March 29, 1922, as the Orpheum Theatre, owned by George B. Ten Eyck. The first feature at the Orpheum was the Coleen Moore film “Come On Over.”
During the 1930s the Orpheum was operated by the William Hunt Theatres Circuit of Wildwood, New Jersey.
I don’t have time to read through all the comments, so pardon me if this information has previously been posted. The January 3, 1942, issue of Boxoffice Magazine ran an article about the recently-opened Grand Theatre in its Modern Theatre section.
From the photos with the article I’d say the Grand was definitely Art Moderne in style, rather than Art Deco. The article identified the architect of the new house as Michael J. DeAngelis. The seating capacity at opening was given as 850. Total cost of the project was a mere $65,000. The original owner was Kenneth Blakely.
An architect’s rendering of the Grand had earlier appeared in Boxoffice’s “Just Off the Boards” feature in the April 21, 1941, issue.
Various issues of Boxoffice Magazine indicate that the Del Oro Theatre was not built by United Artists, nor operated by that chain during its early years. Construction was begun in 1941 by Golden State Theatres, but apparently the house was being operated by Albert and William Forman’s United Theatres Circuit later in the 1940s.
An item in the April 16, 1949, issue of Boxoffice said that a $36,000 damage suit against United Theatres and Del Oro manager Jack Keegan was being tried in Nevada County superior court. Mr. Terry T. Whitesides of Grass Valley alleged that he had fallen in the aisle of the theater on September 28, 1947.
I’ve been unable to discover when United Artists took over the house, but they were operating it when it was triplexed in 1975.
There are some interesting discrepancies among various sources of information about the theater and about Mr. Darress. The theater web site has a picture of Charles Darress. Boxoffice Magazine’s issue of May 14, 1979, has an article about recent two theater closings, the State being one of them, and it says that the theater was opened in 1922 by Clare Darress.
Then there’s this page about a landmarked house for sale in Boonton, which says the house was designed by “…Clair Darress, a famous architect of many homes in the area, and creator of the Darress theatre on Main Street.”
Whether Charles, Clare, or Clair, it seems reasonable that, being an architect, Mr. Darress would have designed his theater himself.
The February 8, 1941, issue of Boxoffice Magazine said that Phil Isley had opened the Bobby Walker Theatre on February 6.
Phil Isley’s daughter, Phylis, is better known by her movie name Jennifer Jones. Bobby Walker’s father was actor Robert Walker, co-star of Hitchcock’s “Strangers On a Train.” Bobby Walker also became an actor, appearing mostly on television. Robert Walker Jr. at IMDb.
The January 8, 1955, issue of Boxoffice said that the Imperial Theatre had been reopened after being completely remodeled and refurnished. A new 19x40-foot screen had been installed, along with a stereophonic sound system and acoustical plaster. The house was reseated with American Seating Company’s Bodiform chairs. The new seating capacity was given as 804.
The entire Tyson’s Corner expansion, including the AMC cinema, was designed by the architectural firm RTKL Associates.
Checking the 1937 Boxoffice article again, I think it says that 800 chairs were shipped to the Serf Theatre. The scan is very blurry, but the Google cache in plain text says 800. The 1950 reseating thus probably reduced the total capacity to 726, rather than increasing it.
The October 9, 1937, issue of Boxoffice Magazine said that the Graham Brothers Theatre Supply Company of Denver had shipped various items to the new Serf Theatre in Las Vegas, New Mexico. These included 500 seats, 340 yards of carpeting, two blowers and motors, two curtains with tracks and controls, a sound screen, and complete booth equipment.
The Maloof Bros. were apparently the owners of the building, but the house was operated by Fox Intermountain Theatres when it opened, according to the October 23, 1937, issue of Boxoffice.
In its April 15, 1950, issue, Boxoffice said that the Maloof Bros. had closed the Serf Theatre for repairs when it was discoverd that the back wall was sagging. Fox Intermountain must have taken this opportunity to expand the theater, as the November 4, 1950, issue of Boxoffice said that the company had reopened the Serf with 726 seats.
The remodeled lobby featured a wagon wheel chandelier with six brass lanterns, and the walls were decorated with murals depicting the Santa Fe Trail. The auditorium was painted in shades of aqua and turquoise, and the screen had a turquoise velvet curtain.
The August 28, 1972, issue of Boxoffice Magazine said that United Artists had opened its U.A. Cinemas I, II, and III on August 4 that year.
Plans to build what would become the 41st Avenue Playhouse were announced in the August 21, 1972, issue of Boxoffice Magazine. The item said that the three-screen house, the first of its kind in Santa Cruz County, would have approximately 1250 seats.
It was built for the Kindair Corporation, a local theater circuit based in Monterey, California. The recent opening of the house was noted in the July 30, 1973, issue of Boxoffice, but no details about the theater itself were given. The first movie shown was a benefit premier of “Sleuth.”
The Kindair circuit was apparently acquired by United Artists sometime in the 1980s.
The Capitola Theatre was built for Arthur Mayer of San Francisco and Joseph Jacobs of Burlingame. Although construction of the Capitola began in late 1947, materials shortages delayed its completion, and it didn’t open until the summer of 1948. The start of construction was announced in the December 6, 1947, issue of Boxoffice Magazine, and the opening in the August 7, 1948, issue. The September 3, 1973, issue of Boxoffice said that the Capitola had celebrated its 25th anniversary on August 6.
The recent opening of the Osocales Theatre was announced in the September 25, 1948, issue of Boxoffice Magazine. The October 2 issue of Boxoffice added that the theater had cost $60,000, was 50x100 feet in size, and seated 500.
I’m not sure if the May 6, 1950, Boxoffice item Ken cited just above referred to a replacement of 100 seats or an addition of another 100 seats. In any case, the building was large enough to accommodate the 500 seats it had on opening.
The April 15, 1950, issue of Boxoffice Magazine said that the J.T. Boutwell Company had installed 1,172 Kroelher seats in the Hiland Theatre, Albuquerque.
The November 27, 1967, issue of Boxoffice ran an article about Blanche Hatton, who had been managing theaters in Albuquerque since her arrival there in 1924. She became the first manager of the newly-opened Hiland in 1950, and held that post until 1963.
From Boxoffice Magazine, November 28, 1977: “There will be five benefit showings of ‘The Gathering’ at the Falls Theatre in Chagrin Falls, where it was filmed.”
And from Boxoffice of August 27, 1979: “The Chagrin Falls Theatre has been torn down to make way for a new office building in Chagrin Falls….”
The town was not left without an indoor theater when the Falls was demolished, though. A 248-seat house called the Tanglewood Cinema had opened in the Tanglewood Shopping Center in 1973.
Alamo Jack’s is now just The Alamo, and has a new web site. The site includes an early photo of the Alamo Theatre, plus a scan of an article from a local newspaper (though its hard to read, the scan being too small) which says that the Alamo Theatre opened in 1928 in space previously occupied by a retail store. The closing date given in the article appears to be 1968, but I wouldn’t swear to that. The information in the intro that the Alamo opened as the Newnan Theatre in 1937 is erroneous.
Boxoffice Magazine’s issue of October 2, 1937, says that the Lam Amusement Company had taken over the Alamo from its former operator, J.B. Meyers. The October 21, 1939, issue of Boxoffice said that the Alamo had reopened after a remodeling. The August 22, 1953, issue said that a wide screen had been installed in the Alamo.
I’ve been unable to find any specific references to the 1939 remodeling having been designed by Tucker & Howell, but as that firm had drawn the plans for remodeling Lam’s Gem Theatre in Newnan in 1935, as well as doing many other projects for the Lam Amusement Company over many years, it seems likely that they would have done the plans for the remodeling of the Alamo as well.
D'OH! The Alamo Theatre is already listed here. That will teach me (no, it probably won’t) to check such things before posting a comment. However, at least the Alamo’s web site reveals that the intro to the CT Alamo Theatre page has erroneous information, which can now be corrected.
Alas, Google Maps offers four choices for that address- North, South, East, and West Court Square. Google Street View’s truck only went down the west side of the square. Fortunately, on the west side of the square is a night club called The Alamo, which occupies an old theatre. Unfortunately, its address is 19 W. Court Square, which being an odd number means it’s not on the same side of the square as 22 Court Square would be. It’s not the Gem.
The 1935 Boxoffice item I cited in the intro for the Gem has a photo of the front, and it was in a mid-block building, while the Alamo is on a corner. The Alamo’s web site has an early photo of the theater it now occupies, and it was called the Alamo, not surprisingly. The building now has a modern marquee which probably dates from the 1940s or 1950s.
The web site also has a newspaper article about the club, but it’s too small to read easily. The Alamo Theatre apparently opened in 1928 in former retail space, and was converted back to retail space in (it looks like) 1969. It. too, should be listed in FDY.
So we have a second theatre in Newnan, but still don’t know the fate of the Gem, or its exact location. Looking down the north and south sides of the square with Street View, I can’t see any building resembling the Boxoffice photo of the Gem, so I’d guess it was on the east side, which is the side you can’t see with Street View, and one of the sides (along with the north, most likely) which has even numbered addresses. Thus we can’t be sure if it’s been demolished or not.
I’ve found mentions of the Portage Theatre in Boxoffice Magazine as early as February 1, 1937, but it had been in operation for a decade by then. According to an architectural and historical survey of Portage, it was built by the Fischer-Paramount Theatre Company in 1927.
The trade journal Movie Age said in its issue of January 5, 1929, that Milwaukee theater man Leonard K. Brin had taken over eight Fischer-Paramount houses, including the Portage and Home Theatres in Portage.
I found a mention of a Brin Theatre in Portage in the March 16, 1929, issue of Movie Age, but I’ve also found mentions from the same period of a Brin’s Portage Theatre, and the Home Theatre and Portage Theatre operated by L.K. Brin, so it’s unclear whether or not there was a temporary name change at one or the other of the houses.
In any case, the Portage closed for a while early in the 1930s, until it was reopened by F.J. McWilliams.
The Portage was operated by McWilliams at least through the 1950s. One Boxoffice item mentioned that he had entered the exhibition business since 1907. He also operated the Home Theatre in Portage, as mentioned in various issues of Boxoffice from the late 1930s into the early 1950s. In 1952, McWilliams built the 15/61 Drive-In. Later the theaters were operated by Jack McWilliams, presumably F.J.’s son.
The historical survey I cited above said that the triplexing of the Portage Theatre took place in 1985.
From Boxoffice, March 27, 1972: “Chet Werner, owner-operator of the Le Sueur Theatre, was featured in a New-Herald article recently…. His father, William J. Werner, purchased the old Snow Opera House in 1923 and converted it into a motion picture theatre. The building, located at the same site as the present Le Sueur Theatre, burned to the ground in 1933. The present showhouse was constructed in 1934.”
From Boxoffice Magazine, March 30, 1946, datelined Scottsbluff: “William Ostenberg will open his new 920-seat, $200,000 Midwest Theatre here on April 24. The theatre is on the location of the Egyptian, which was destroyed by fire last year.”
The Midwest was also the subject of a three-page article in the June 24, 1946, issue of Boxoffice. The architect of the new house, Charles D. Strong, was a member of the advisory staff of the magazine’s Modern Theatre Planning Institute.