With regard to Sswank’s comment just above, this web page with an inventory of items relating to Arch B. Swank Jr. contains the following reference:
Smith, Raymond F. and A.B. Swank Jr., Architects
“Delman theater, Dallas.” Architectural Record 105:84-7 (Jan. 1949). Illus, plans, diags.
An item in the January 12, 1946, issue of Boxoffice Magazine, headed “New Dallas Theatre for Delman Circuit” says that architect Raymond F. Smith was preparing the final plans for Delman’s first theater building project in Dallas, to be called the Delman Theatre, and that construction was scheduled to begin within 90 days. However, the location the article gave for the project was Lemmon Avenue and Schley Street, confirming JGarland’s comment of August 11, 2008, above.
The December 13, 1947, issue of Boxoffice contains a brief item saying that I.B. Adelman and Harry Sachs were allowing an Episcopal congregation to use their new Delman Theatre in Dallas for services until the congregation’s new church was completed. The opening of the Delman must have taken place in 1947, then, and the architects apparently were Raymond F. Smith and Arch B. Swank Jr, not W. Scott Dunne. Dunne did design the earlier Delman Theatre in Houston, though.
The Elgin turns out to have been Canada’s second dual-auditorium theater, according to an article in the April 5, 1947, issue of Boxoffice Magazine. The article announced that Twentieth Century Theatres, a Toronto company allied with Famous Players, was planning to add a second auditorium to their Elgin Theatre in Ottawa. But the article also mentioned that a second auditorium was already under construction at the Allen Brothers' Hollywood Theatre in Toronto, and was expected to open shortly.
Three dual-auditorium theaters are known to have already been opened in the United States by that time- two in 1935 and one in 1941. However, these three, and the Hollywood in Toronto, were all operated under a policy of showing the same program in both of their auditoriums. The intention of the operators of the Elgin was to show an entirely different program, consisting of foreign language movies and special attractions, in the new auditorium. The Elgin was probably the first movie theater in the world to do this.
The Boxoffice article gives the seating capacity of the original Elgin as 800, and the capacity of the “Little Elgin” (as it was then being called) as 350.
This was Canada’s first dual-auditorium theater, according to an item in Boxoffice Magazine, April 5, 1947. The item was actually about the Elgin Theatre in Ottawa, the expansion of which was then in the planning stage. The second auditorium of the Hollywood was already under construction at that time, and was expected to open soon. The second auditorium of the Elgin opened on December 31, 1947.
Three dual-auditorium theaters are known to have been built in the United States by 1941. All of these, and the Hollywood, opened with a policy of showing the same program in both of their auditoriums. The first dual-auditorium theater known to have opened with a policy of showing different programs in each auditorium was the Elgin.
If the Blue Mouse was not demolished until 1958, it had gotten a three-year reprieve. Boxoffice Magazine published an announcement in its September 10, 1955, issue that the theater was being razed to make way for a parking garage.
Metropolitan’s Plaza del Oro Twin opened on December 22, 1978, according to an item in the January 8, 1979, issue of Boxoffice Magazine. The new house had 300 seats in each auditorium, and the Spanish-style building was designed by Santa Barbara architect Don Sharpe. Oddly, the magazine describes the lobby decor as following a “…Gay Nineties theme.” An unusual feature of the theater was having the lobby situated between the auditoriums, to eliminate the bleed-through of sound so common in multi-screen theaters.
Metropolitan actually opened four new screens in the Santa Barbara area that December, as the circuit’s newly-twinned Fairview and Cinema Theatres in Goleta re-opened that month.
The Airport Drive-In at Goleta would be “…completed and ready for an opening any day now,” according to an item in the April 7, 1951, issue of Boxoffice Magazine.
The April 11, 1966, issue of Boxoffice Magazine said that Harold Goldman and Robert Lippert planned to have their new Tiffany Theatre operating by late May of that year. The first movie theater on the Sunset Strip, the new art house had 400 seats, arranged in the continental style. The interior of the theater was designed by Ben Mayer, and the new facade and marquee were designed by Heath & Company. The building itself dates from 1935, and had already undergone extensive alterations in 1955.
The December 7, 1964, issue of Boxoffice Magazine said that the 740-seat Cinema was being built for Metropolitan Theatres. The architect was Carl Moeller. The new house was to be managed by George D. McKenzie Jr., who would also continue to manage Metropolitan’s adjacent Airport Drive-In. The single-screen house was equipped to show 35mm and 70mm movies.
The April 5, 1965, issue of Boxoffice said that the opening of the Cinema had been set for April 6.
As I said in my comment just above, Thorpe Associates were the architects for the 2006 expansion and remodeling of the Fairview.
Now I’ve found an item in the January 10, 1966, issue of Boxoffice Magazine which reveals that the original architect of the Fairview was Robert Kleigman. Construction was set to begin in March, 1966, with an opening target of mid-June. The eighth Santa Barbara County theater operated by Metropolitan Theatres, the Fairview opened as a single-screener with 750 seats, and was equipped to show 35mm and 70mm films on its 72-foot screen.
I don’t know yet if Kleigman designed any other theaters, but he was the architect of Metropolitan Theatres Corporation’s headquarters building in Los Angeles, completed in April, 1966.
From the July 31, 1937 issue of Boxoffice Magazine: “A thirty-day shutdown has been ordered for the Washington Theatre, Pasadena. Crown City Theatres, operating the house, has planned a $20,000 improvement budget, which will include a new floor, marquee, seats, and other items.”
From Boxoffice Magazine, December 10, 1949: “LITTLETON, N.H.— A building to house a 900 seat theatre… will be constructed to replace the one containing the Premier Theatre which burned here, according to Jack Eames…. Plans for the new building now are being drawn by W. Chester Browne Associates, Boston architects.”
Unless the original theater at this location was demolished to make way for the 8-plex, it opened as the single-screen Britton Theatre in 1956. Boxoffice Magazine’s issue of September 10, 1955, carried an item about the planned theater, which was designed by architect James E. Casale. At that time, it was intended to have a seating capacity of 1,800. I haven’t been able to find any items about the actual opening, so I don’t know if it was built to that size or not.
The original Britton was apparently triplexed by the early 1970s. The various photos of the Cinema 8 at Cinema Tour, as well as the satellite view from Google Maps, lead me to suspect that the original theatre is still there as the nucleus of the 8-plex.
The August 13, 1949, issue of Boxoffice Magazine announced that the Dickinson Circuit would take over the Show Theatre on September 1. It also said that the Show had originally opened in September, 1947. Dickinson intended to remodel the house and give it a new name. It was to be operated as a first-run theater. Seating capacity was given as 876.
Before the 1949 remodeling, the Fayette had been called the Paramount. The new owner, Edwin P. Brown, was also the operator of the Soisson Theatre. This information is from an item in the August 13, 1949, issue of Boxoffice Magazine.
The August 13, 1949, issue of Boxoffice Magazine said that the new Lund Theatre in Carmichaels had opened on August 5th. The new theater was adjacent to the previous Lund Theatre, which was to be closed and converted to a storeroom. The new building was 60'x140' and had a 28'x30' stage. The seating capacity of the new house was given as 800. The proprietors were named as John Lund and his son, Werner “Fuzzy” Lund.
When this theater opened, Boxoffice Magazine’s headline writer apparently conflated the location of the theater with the town its owners lived in. Under the headline “Opens Redwood City Paris” in their August 21, 1961, issue is a brief item saying that Jean Renoir’s “Picnic On the Grass” had been the opening attraction at the new “…Paris Theatre and espresso house….” The owners were named as Mr. and Mrs. Harold Snyder, of Redwood City.
Richard D. King was apparently not the architect of the El Portal. A Southwest Builder & Contractor article from May 13, 1924, said that he was designing a theater and office building for Las Vegas, but that was four years before the El Portal opened. It’s pretty much certain that the architect of the El Portal was Charles Alexander MacNelledge, as the plaque on the building (seen on this page) says. I don’t know if King’s 1924 project was carried out or not, but if it was it has to be some other theater.
An extensive remodeling of the El Portal in 1961, including enlarging the lobby, some alterations to the auditorium, the installation of a new marquee and vertical sign, and redecoration throughout, was handled by architect J. Maher Weller, according to an article in the August 21 issue of Boxoffice Magazine that year.
I’ve come across another Redwood City puzzler. Under the headline “Opens Redwood City Paris” in the August 21, 1961, issue of Boxoffice Magazine is a brief item saying that Jean Renoir’s “Picnic On the Grass” had been the opening attraction at the new “…Paris Theatre and espresso house….” No address is given, but the owners were named as Mr. and Mrs. Harold Snyder of Redwood City.
Anybody know anything about this theater? Boxoffice sometimes got details wrong, so the new theater might have actually been in a nearby town.
Looking at the 1932 photo again, I notice that there is equipment hanging from the roof sign, and the marquee attraction board is empty. I’d say it’s likely the theatre was not yet open when the photo was taken. The photo might date from early August.
Gerald: I think it probably says “Metropolitan” on the front of the marquee. Here are a couple of excerpts from an article in the September 1, 1932, issue of New England Film News: [quote]“August 25 at 10 o'clock a.m., marked the opening of "Jake” Conn’s new 4100 seat Metropolitan Theatre here….
“‘Jake’…stated that never in his opening of 16 theatres has he ever been accorded such a grand ovation as on the opening of the new Conn’s Metropolitan.”[/quote]
The article also noted that the Metropolitan would be operated as a subsequent-run house with “…admissions scaled to a 30-cent top at all times.”
Conn’s Metropolitan should probably be listed as an aka.
I’ve come across a couple of references that must be to this theater, in issues of Boxoffice Magazine dating from 1937. They mention the operator as A.L Woods or Ashley Woods, but cite him as the operator of the “Chino Theatre, Chino.” I wonder if Chino Theatre was an actual aka for the house before it became the Woods, or if Boxoffice was just careless about the name?
From Boxoffice Magazine, October 8, 1938: “Lou Berkoff, owner of the La Tosca Theatre here, will start construction immediately on a new 600-seat house at Pico Blvd. and Manhattan Ave. Plans have been approved and Berkoff is awaiting a building permit.”
With regard to Sswank’s comment just above, this web page with an inventory of items relating to Arch B. Swank Jr. contains the following reference:
Smith, Raymond F. and A.B. Swank Jr., Architects
“Delman theater, Dallas.” Architectural Record 105:84-7 (Jan. 1949). Illus, plans, diags.
An item in the January 12, 1946, issue of Boxoffice Magazine, headed “New Dallas Theatre for Delman Circuit” says that architect Raymond F. Smith was preparing the final plans for Delman’s first theater building project in Dallas, to be called the Delman Theatre, and that construction was scheduled to begin within 90 days. However, the location the article gave for the project was Lemmon Avenue and Schley Street, confirming JGarland’s comment of August 11, 2008, above.
The December 13, 1947, issue of Boxoffice contains a brief item saying that I.B. Adelman and Harry Sachs were allowing an Episcopal congregation to use their new Delman Theatre in Dallas for services until the congregation’s new church was completed. The opening of the Delman must have taken place in 1947, then, and the architects apparently were Raymond F. Smith and Arch B. Swank Jr, not W. Scott Dunne. Dunne did design the earlier Delman Theatre in Houston, though.
The Elgin turns out to have been Canada’s second dual-auditorium theater, according to an article in the April 5, 1947, issue of Boxoffice Magazine. The article announced that Twentieth Century Theatres, a Toronto company allied with Famous Players, was planning to add a second auditorium to their Elgin Theatre in Ottawa. But the article also mentioned that a second auditorium was already under construction at the Allen Brothers' Hollywood Theatre in Toronto, and was expected to open shortly.
Three dual-auditorium theaters are known to have already been opened in the United States by that time- two in 1935 and one in 1941. However, these three, and the Hollywood in Toronto, were all operated under a policy of showing the same program in both of their auditoriums. The intention of the operators of the Elgin was to show an entirely different program, consisting of foreign language movies and special attractions, in the new auditorium. The Elgin was probably the first movie theater in the world to do this.
The Boxoffice article gives the seating capacity of the original Elgin as 800, and the capacity of the “Little Elgin” (as it was then being called) as 350.
This was Canada’s first dual-auditorium theater, according to an item in Boxoffice Magazine, April 5, 1947. The item was actually about the Elgin Theatre in Ottawa, the expansion of which was then in the planning stage. The second auditorium of the Hollywood was already under construction at that time, and was expected to open soon. The second auditorium of the Elgin opened on December 31, 1947.
Three dual-auditorium theaters are known to have been built in the United States by 1941. All of these, and the Hollywood, opened with a policy of showing the same program in both of their auditoriums. The first dual-auditorium theater known to have opened with a policy of showing different programs in each auditorium was the Elgin.
If the Blue Mouse was not demolished until 1958, it had gotten a three-year reprieve. Boxoffice Magazine published an announcement in its September 10, 1955, issue that the theater was being razed to make way for a parking garage.
Metropolitan’s Plaza del Oro Twin opened on December 22, 1978, according to an item in the January 8, 1979, issue of Boxoffice Magazine. The new house had 300 seats in each auditorium, and the Spanish-style building was designed by Santa Barbara architect Don Sharpe. Oddly, the magazine describes the lobby decor as following a “…Gay Nineties theme.” An unusual feature of the theater was having the lobby situated between the auditoriums, to eliminate the bleed-through of sound so common in multi-screen theaters.
Metropolitan actually opened four new screens in the Santa Barbara area that December, as the circuit’s newly-twinned Fairview and Cinema Theatres in Goleta re-opened that month.
The Airport Drive-In at Goleta would be “…completed and ready for an opening any day now,” according to an item in the April 7, 1951, issue of Boxoffice Magazine.
The April 11, 1966, issue of Boxoffice Magazine said that Harold Goldman and Robert Lippert planned to have their new Tiffany Theatre operating by late May of that year. The first movie theater on the Sunset Strip, the new art house had 400 seats, arranged in the continental style. The interior of the theater was designed by Ben Mayer, and the new facade and marquee were designed by Heath & Company. The building itself dates from 1935, and had already undergone extensive alterations in 1955.
The December 7, 1964, issue of Boxoffice Magazine said that the 740-seat Cinema was being built for Metropolitan Theatres. The architect was Carl Moeller. The new house was to be managed by George D. McKenzie Jr., who would also continue to manage Metropolitan’s adjacent Airport Drive-In. The single-screen house was equipped to show 35mm and 70mm movies.
The April 5, 1965, issue of Boxoffice said that the opening of the Cinema had been set for April 6.
As I said in my comment just above, Thorpe Associates were the architects for the 2006 expansion and remodeling of the Fairview.
Now I’ve found an item in the January 10, 1966, issue of Boxoffice Magazine which reveals that the original architect of the Fairview was Robert Kleigman. Construction was set to begin in March, 1966, with an opening target of mid-June. The eighth Santa Barbara County theater operated by Metropolitan Theatres, the Fairview opened as a single-screener with 750 seats, and was equipped to show 35mm and 70mm films on its 72-foot screen.
I don’t know yet if Kleigman designed any other theaters, but he was the architect of Metropolitan Theatres Corporation’s headquarters building in Los Angeles, completed in April, 1966.
From the July 31, 1937 issue of Boxoffice Magazine: “A thirty-day shutdown has been ordered for the Washington Theatre, Pasadena. Crown City Theatres, operating the house, has planned a $20,000 improvement budget, which will include a new floor, marquee, seats, and other items.”
That was a considerable sum for 1937.
From Boxoffice Magazine, December 10, 1949: “LITTLETON, N.H.— A building to house a 900 seat theatre… will be constructed to replace the one containing the Premier Theatre which burned here, according to Jack Eames…. Plans for the new building now are being drawn by W. Chester Browne Associates, Boston architects.”
Unless the original theater at this location was demolished to make way for the 8-plex, it opened as the single-screen Britton Theatre in 1956. Boxoffice Magazine’s issue of September 10, 1955, carried an item about the planned theater, which was designed by architect James E. Casale. At that time, it was intended to have a seating capacity of 1,800. I haven’t been able to find any items about the actual opening, so I don’t know if it was built to that size or not.
The original Britton was apparently triplexed by the early 1970s. The various photos of the Cinema 8 at Cinema Tour, as well as the satellite view from Google Maps, lead me to suspect that the original theatre is still there as the nucleus of the 8-plex.
Thanks for the clarification, Steve.
The August 13, 1949, issue of Boxoffice Magazine announced that the Dickinson Circuit would take over the Show Theatre on September 1. It also said that the Show had originally opened in September, 1947. Dickinson intended to remodel the house and give it a new name. It was to be operated as a first-run theater. Seating capacity was given as 876.
Before the 1949 remodeling, the Fayette had been called the Paramount. The new owner, Edwin P. Brown, was also the operator of the Soisson Theatre. This information is from an item in the August 13, 1949, issue of Boxoffice Magazine.
The August 13, 1949, issue of Boxoffice Magazine said that the new Lund Theatre in Carmichaels had opened on August 5th. The new theater was adjacent to the previous Lund Theatre, which was to be closed and converted to a storeroom. The new building was 60'x140' and had a 28'x30' stage. The seating capacity of the new house was given as 800. The proprietors were named as John Lund and his son, Werner “Fuzzy” Lund.
When this theater opened, Boxoffice Magazine’s headline writer apparently conflated the location of the theater with the town its owners lived in. Under the headline “Opens Redwood City Paris” in their August 21, 1961, issue is a brief item saying that Jean Renoir’s “Picnic On the Grass” had been the opening attraction at the new “…Paris Theatre and espresso house….” The owners were named as Mr. and Mrs. Harold Snyder, of Redwood City.
Thanks, Larry. I’ll put the information about the opening on the Paris page.
Richard D. King was apparently not the architect of the El Portal. A Southwest Builder & Contractor article from May 13, 1924, said that he was designing a theater and office building for Las Vegas, but that was four years before the El Portal opened. It’s pretty much certain that the architect of the El Portal was Charles Alexander MacNelledge, as the plaque on the building (seen on this page) says. I don’t know if King’s 1924 project was carried out or not, but if it was it has to be some other theater.
An extensive remodeling of the El Portal in 1961, including enlarging the lobby, some alterations to the auditorium, the installation of a new marquee and vertical sign, and redecoration throughout, was handled by architect J. Maher Weller, according to an article in the August 21 issue of Boxoffice Magazine that year.
I’ve come across another Redwood City puzzler. Under the headline “Opens Redwood City Paris” in the August 21, 1961, issue of Boxoffice Magazine is a brief item saying that Jean Renoir’s “Picnic On the Grass” had been the opening attraction at the new “…Paris Theatre and espresso house….” No address is given, but the owners were named as Mr. and Mrs. Harold Snyder of Redwood City.
Anybody know anything about this theater? Boxoffice sometimes got details wrong, so the new theater might have actually been in a nearby town.
Looking at the 1932 photo again, I notice that there is equipment hanging from the roof sign, and the marquee attraction board is empty. I’d say it’s likely the theatre was not yet open when the photo was taken. The photo might date from early August.
Gerald: I think it probably says “Metropolitan” on the front of the marquee. Here are a couple of excerpts from an article in the September 1, 1932, issue of New England Film News: [quote]“August 25 at 10 o'clock a.m., marked the opening of "Jake” Conn’s new 4100 seat Metropolitan Theatre here….
“‘Jake’…stated that never in his opening of 16 theatres has he ever been accorded such a grand ovation as on the opening of the new Conn’s Metropolitan.”[/quote]
The article also noted that the Metropolitan would be operated as a subsequent-run house with “…admissions scaled to a 30-cent top at all times.”
Conn’s Metropolitan should probably be listed as an aka.
The Monica Theatre was built in 1940, according to the L.A. County Assessor’s office.
I’ve come across a couple of references that must be to this theater, in issues of Boxoffice Magazine dating from 1937. They mention the operator as A.L Woods or Ashley Woods, but cite him as the operator of the “Chino Theatre, Chino.” I wonder if Chino Theatre was an actual aka for the house before it became the Woods, or if Boxoffice was just careless about the name?
From Boxoffice Magazine, October 8, 1938: “Lou Berkoff, owner of the La Tosca Theatre here, will start construction immediately on a new 600-seat house at Pico Blvd. and Manhattan Ave. Plans have been approved and Berkoff is awaiting a building permit.”