When it opened on August 29, 1913, the new Gary Theatre was leased to and operated by the Carrouthers, Smith & Colby Amusement Company. CS&C had a 10-year lease at a rate of $10,000 per year. On February 24, 1914, the Gary Theater Company, an Illinois corporation, purchased the 10-year lease from CS&C for $100,000. (There was also a Gary Theater Company of Gary formed three years earlier.)
The 800-seat Orpheum Theatre at the southeast corner of Eighth Avenue and Washington Street opened as a showhouse on September 22, 1910. The 90-ft x 125-ft building started life as the Washington skating rink, which might have been the city’s largest public space at the time. As such, it hosted skaters, banquets, basketball games and special events. It closed in June 1910. Owner Young & Vossler, a real estate concern, leased the building to F&H Amusement Company after spending $10,000 to convert the space into a theater. Local contractor Wiley Brothers did the work, which included remodeling the floors and building a stage. V.U. Young, of Young & Vossler, supervised the transformation and managed the theater for F&H. (F&H was also leasing the Majestic Theatre in Gary from Young & Vossler, and V.U. Young was managing that venue too.)
Young would spend the next 38 years managing theaters. He and future partner C.J Wolf eventually owned a web of inter-related companies that in turn owned and/or operated theaters, several of which were in Gary. One such entity was the Young Amusement Company, which operated the Orpheum after F&H. On June 2, 1929, Indiana-Ohio Theatre Corp., a new Publix Theaters Corp. subsidiary, acquired control of the Orpheum and nine other Young Amusement theaters. Never wired for sound, the Orpheum closed in 1930.
The Vidette-Messenger newspaper reported on August 2, 1930, that miniature golf had taken the place of drama and motion pictures inside the Orpheum. The article noted that owner V.U. Young spent $10,000 to remodel the interior of the building and construct a miniature golf course. Another source indicated that the building was leased to Indoor Golf Courses of America in September 1930.
The structure was razed in 1933. After that the property was home to a filling station.
This was likely the Princess Theatre, which was advertising in 1909 (see Photos). The 1908 Sanborn shows a theater at 730 Broadway. The 1911 Sanborn shows the same building as 728-730 Broadway, though it’s no longer labeled as a theater.
The theater was leased to F&H Amusement for five years. Unless terminated early the five-year term would have run until March 15, 1914. It seems likely that the Majestic Theatre closed in 1914 after which it became a skating rink.
The Casino skating rink mentioned in the Overview was a wooden structure that burned to the ground on December 7, 1908. It was owned by Young & Vossler, a local real estate business, and Dr. C.H. Long. Young & Vossler and Long erected a new brick edifice on the same site that became the first building in the city to be constructed as a theater. The resulting Majestic Theatre opened March 15, 1909, to a sold-out audience of local dignitaries. The Majestic Theatre was leased to the F&H Amusement Company and operated by a veteran F&H manager who was transferred to a new post on January 1, 1910. V.U. Young, of the Young & Vossler real estate concern, began managing the Majestic Theatre on January 2, 1910. Young would build, own and/or operate theaters for the next 38 years.
The Cozy Theatre (see Photos) was operating as early as July 1909 and might have been managed by Young and Wolf at some point during its short life. But in July 1909 Young was not yet in the theater business, nor had he and Wolf teamed up. The Cozy Theatre had to be at the southeast corner of Ninth Avenue and Jefferson Street, at 901 Jefferson Street, as no other corner buildings show at this intersection in the 1911 and 1915 Sanborn maps.
Gary Theatre Company, not to be confused with the Gary Theater in Gary, IN, took over the Maywood Theatre in April 1928. Gary Theatre Company was the holdco through which Indiana showmen V.U. Young and C.J. Wolf conducted much of their business. Young briefly undertook personal management of the Maywood Theatre, which didn’t fall under the umbrella of Young Amusement Company, Gary Theatre Company’s exhibition affiliate. The marriage was brief. In January 1929 Gary Theatre Company passed the Maywood to Jack Cooney. Jack and brother Ben Cooney were attempting to build a new circuit after the demise of their National Playhouse chain. The Cooneys would also briefly operate the Gary Theater, which they leased from owner Northern Indiana Investment Company.
The Crystal Theater building became the new home of the Labor Temple Association, Inc. and Madison County Labor Council in January 1, 1940. Harry Muller sold the building to the group in December 1939 for $15,000.
Muller owned the Crystal through his Anderson-Meridian Realty Company. A May 1929 securities offering shows that the Crystal had an appraised value of $75,000 and was leased to Fitzpatrick-McElroy for $5000/year.
Exhibitor Harry Muller acquired the Crystal Theater in 1918 after relocating from Winston-Salem, NC, to Anderson, IN. Muller signed a Vitaphone lease for the Crystal in March 1928 giving him a supposedly exclusive Vitaphone franchise in Anderson for five years. At the time only three other Indiana cities had Vitaphone. In April 1929 Publix-Fitzpatrick-McElroy agreed to lease from Muller both the Crystal and the new, as-yet-unnamed theater he was building at Thirteenth and Meridian (it became the State). Those leases became effective June 2, 1929. Muller became general manager for Publix overseeing operations at all of its Anderson showhouses. Publix dropped the final curtain at the Crystal on November 30, 1929. The next day technicians started moving the Vitaphone and other sound equipment to the State theater.
In early 1927 bankers Neel McCullough and Fred Mustard were operating the Riviera, Starland and Granada theaters through their M&M Realty Company. In March 1927 M&M sold the three theaters for $250,000 to Col. Fred Levy, Lee Goldberg, and Sam and Harry Switow (dba Anderson Realty Company). McCullough, Levy, Goldberg and the Switows incorporated Anderson Theatrical Enterprises Corporation in March 1927 and began operating the Riviera, Starland and Granada on March 20, 1927. In October 1927 Anderson Theatres Corporation, owned by Levy, Goldberg and Leo Keiler, all of Louisville, KY, acquired the Riviera, Starland and Granada and affiliated with Principal Theatres Corporation, forming the West Coast circuit’s first group of Eastern theaters. In January 1930 Publix took possession of the Riviera, Starland, and Granada, leasing them from Principal. Publix assumed active management on January 11, 1930, though the deal was effective six days earlier. The Starland, which was not equipped for sound, closed March 2, 1930, after showing Art Accord in “Fighters of the Saddle” and the final chapter of “Pirates of Panama.”
In early 1927 banker Neel McCullough and Fred Mustard were operating the Riviera, Starland and Granada theaters through their M&M Realty Company. In March 1927 M&M sold the three theaters for $250,000 to Col. Fred Levy, Lee Goldberg, and Sam and Harry Switow (dba Anderson Realty Company). McCullough, Levy, Goldberg and the Switows incorporated Anderson Theatrical Enterprises Corporation in March 1927 and began operating the Riviera, Starland and Granada on March 20, 1927. In October 1927 Anderson Theatres Corporation, owned by Levy, Goldberg and Leo Keiler, all of Louisville, KY, acquired the Riviera, Starland and Granada and affiliated with Principal Theatres Corporation, forming the West Coast circuit’s first group of Eastern theaters. In January 1930 Publix took possession of the Riviera, Starland, and Granada, leasing them from Principal. Publix assumed active management on January 11, 1930, though the deal was effective six days earlier. The Anderson Herald reported on January 12, 1930, that the Granada, one of the oldest theaters in the city, had been closed, except for intervals, for three years and probably would not reopen.
The Anderson Daily Bulletin reported in February 1932 that owner Miley Realty Company sold the Kay-Bee to Charles Charles of Indianapolis, and that Charles would relocate to Anderson to operate the theater.
Norm Kristoff was president of owner Maywood Theater Company. W. Scott Armstrong, Chicago, was the architect, engineer and builder. The theater was equipped with a Geneva organ.
On April 7, 1936, V.U. Young, now president of three-year-old Theatrical Managers, Inc., announced plans to build a $160,000 1200-seat movie house on the Orpheum site, which had been used as a filling station since the Orpheum was torn down in 1933. The theater was never built. A local rival would soon break ground for the State Theatre, built one block north of the old Orpheum. That showplace opened on October 1, 1937.
Film Daily in June 1926 reported that the Drake Theatre, located at Montrose and Drake avenues, would be finished in August 1926. The Drake is not shown in FDYB 1926, covering 1925. FDYB 1927, covering 1926, lists the Drake under Ascher Brothers. In January 1927 Film Daily noted that Ambassador Theaters Corp. had taken over the 20-year lease of the Drake, “one of the larger outlying theaters,” from Drake Amusement Company for a gross rental of $580,000. (Note the “Ambassador’s Corp.” atop the Drake’s vertical in Lou Rugani’s undated photo.) Consistent with the foregoing, the Drake is not listed under Ascher in FDYB 1928. Ambassador Theaters Corp. also operated the Ambassador Theatre (aka Rockne) on Division Street. By September 1928 Ambassador Theaters was in the hands of a receiver, joining three Chicago chains with a string of over 40 Chicago-area houses that ended up being operated under a receivership by the Chicago Title & Trust Company.
FDYB 1926, covering 1925, lists the Ambassador Theatre under Ascher Brothers. In 1926 the Ambassador was hived off to the Ambassador Theaters Corp. As such, the Ambassador was no longer listed under Ascher in FDYB 1927, covering 1926. In January 1927 Film Daily noted that Ambassador Theaters Corp. had taken over the 20-year lease of the Drake, “one of the larger outlying theaters,” from Drake Amusement Company. By September 1928 Ambassador Theaters was in the hands of a receiver, joining three Chicago chains with a string of over 40 Chicago-area houses that ended up being operated under a receivership by the Chicago Title & Trust Company.
In October 1928 Peter Kalleres’s Grand Amusement Company took over the Grand, which had been in the hands of receivers since August when the Gregory-Bernasek circuit was thrown into receivership. Jim Bikos operated the theater after Grand Amusement. In December 1929 the Grand was equipped for sound and City Amusement Company was incorporated by Kalleres, George Anthoulis and Ernest Force. City Amusement acquired the Grand in February 1930 from Jim Bikos.
In August 1925, three months before the sprawling John Eberson-designed Palace would open across the street, hundreds attended the reopening of the remodeled Grand. In November 1926 Peter Kalleres offered Mary Paine $355,000 for the Paine Building. In January 1927 the Grand joined the Illinois and Indiana Theaters booking circuit, formerly Earl Johnson Theaters.
The Grand and nearby Cosmo merged under one management in September 1922 when Cosmo owner Nick Bikos sold the theater to Kalleres’s Grand Theatre Company. The two theaters were redecorated and managed by Kalleres. In January 1923 the S.J. Gregory Amusement Company was operating the Grand and Cosmo in Gary and the Parthenon in Hammond.
The Hammond Times reported in September 1912 that Gary’s new $100,000 five-story theater (it wasn’t yet named) would “be of the same size as to seating capacity and of the same general interior design as the Illinois and Blackstone theaters in Chicago … and will be devoted to the legitimate drama.” The first floor included storefronts, with offices in the front parts of the second, third, fourth and fifth floors. The stage was 38 feet wide and 38 feet deep. “Height from the floor pit to the gallery ceiling will measure the five stories. Besides elegant boxes there will be a balcony and a gallery.”
When it opened on August 29, 1913, the new Gary Theatre was leased to and operated by the Carrouthers, Smith & Colby Amusement Company. CS&C had a 10-year lease at a rate of $10,000 per year. On February 24, 1914, the Gary Theater Company, an Illinois corporation, purchased the 10-year lease from CS&C for $100,000. (There was also a Gary Theater Company of Gary formed three years earlier.)
In 1909 the first Broadway Theatre was being operated by the Gary Amusement Company.
The 800-seat Orpheum Theatre at the southeast corner of Eighth Avenue and Washington Street opened as a showhouse on September 22, 1910. The 90-ft x 125-ft building started life as the Washington skating rink, which might have been the city’s largest public space at the time. As such, it hosted skaters, banquets, basketball games and special events. It closed in June 1910. Owner Young & Vossler, a real estate concern, leased the building to F&H Amusement Company after spending $10,000 to convert the space into a theater. Local contractor Wiley Brothers did the work, which included remodeling the floors and building a stage. V.U. Young, of Young & Vossler, supervised the transformation and managed the theater for F&H. (F&H was also leasing the Majestic Theatre in Gary from Young & Vossler, and V.U. Young was managing that venue too.)
Young would spend the next 38 years managing theaters. He and future partner C.J Wolf eventually owned a web of inter-related companies that in turn owned and/or operated theaters, several of which were in Gary. One such entity was the Young Amusement Company, which operated the Orpheum after F&H. On June 2, 1929, Indiana-Ohio Theatre Corp., a new Publix Theaters Corp. subsidiary, acquired control of the Orpheum and nine other Young Amusement theaters. Never wired for sound, the Orpheum closed in 1930.
The Vidette-Messenger newspaper reported on August 2, 1930, that miniature golf had taken the place of drama and motion pictures inside the Orpheum. The article noted that owner V.U. Young spent $10,000 to remodel the interior of the building and construct a miniature golf course. Another source indicated that the building was leased to Indoor Golf Courses of America in September 1930.
The structure was razed in 1933. After that the property was home to a filling station.
This was likely the Princess Theatre, which was advertising in 1909 (see Photos). The 1908 Sanborn shows a theater at 730 Broadway. The 1911 Sanborn shows the same building as 728-730 Broadway, though it’s no longer labeled as a theater.
The theater was leased to F&H Amusement for five years. Unless terminated early the five-year term would have run until March 15, 1914. It seems likely that the Majestic Theatre closed in 1914 after which it became a skating rink.
The Casino skating rink mentioned in the Overview was a wooden structure that burned to the ground on December 7, 1908. It was owned by Young & Vossler, a local real estate business, and Dr. C.H. Long. Young & Vossler and Long erected a new brick edifice on the same site that became the first building in the city to be constructed as a theater. The resulting Majestic Theatre opened March 15, 1909, to a sold-out audience of local dignitaries. The Majestic Theatre was leased to the F&H Amusement Company and operated by a veteran F&H manager who was transferred to a new post on January 1, 1910. V.U. Young, of the Young & Vossler real estate concern, began managing the Majestic Theatre on January 2, 1910. Young would build, own and/or operate theaters for the next 38 years.
The Cozy Theatre (see Photos) was operating as early as July 1909 and might have been managed by Young and Wolf at some point during its short life. But in July 1909 Young was not yet in the theater business, nor had he and Wolf teamed up. The Cozy Theatre had to be at the southeast corner of Ninth Avenue and Jefferson Street, at 901 Jefferson Street, as no other corner buildings show at this intersection in the 1911 and 1915 Sanborn maps.
This was the Gem Theatre, and it was at 722 Broadway. See Photos.
Gary Theatre Company, not to be confused with the Gary Theater in Gary, IN, took over the Maywood Theatre in April 1928. Gary Theatre Company was the holdco through which Indiana showmen V.U. Young and C.J. Wolf conducted much of their business. Young briefly undertook personal management of the Maywood Theatre, which didn’t fall under the umbrella of Young Amusement Company, Gary Theatre Company’s exhibition affiliate. The marriage was brief. In January 1929 Gary Theatre Company passed the Maywood to Jack Cooney. Jack and brother Ben Cooney were attempting to build a new circuit after the demise of their National Playhouse chain. The Cooneys would also briefly operate the Gary Theater, which they leased from owner Northern Indiana Investment Company.
The Crystal Theater building became the new home of the Labor Temple Association, Inc. and Madison County Labor Council in January 1, 1940. Harry Muller sold the building to the group in December 1939 for $15,000.
Muller owned the Crystal through his Anderson-Meridian Realty Company. A May 1929 securities offering shows that the Crystal had an appraised value of $75,000 and was leased to Fitzpatrick-McElroy for $5000/year.
Exhibitor Harry Muller acquired the Crystal Theater in 1918 after relocating from Winston-Salem, NC, to Anderson, IN. Muller signed a Vitaphone lease for the Crystal in March 1928 giving him a supposedly exclusive Vitaphone franchise in Anderson for five years. At the time only three other Indiana cities had Vitaphone. In April 1929 Publix-Fitzpatrick-McElroy agreed to lease from Muller both the Crystal and the new, as-yet-unnamed theater he was building at Thirteenth and Meridian (it became the State). Those leases became effective June 2, 1929. Muller became general manager for Publix overseeing operations at all of its Anderson showhouses. Publix dropped the final curtain at the Crystal on November 30, 1929. The next day technicians started moving the Vitaphone and other sound equipment to the State theater.
In early 1927 bankers Neel McCullough and Fred Mustard were operating the Riviera, Starland and Granada theaters through their M&M Realty Company. In March 1927 M&M sold the three theaters for $250,000 to Col. Fred Levy, Lee Goldberg, and Sam and Harry Switow (dba Anderson Realty Company). McCullough, Levy, Goldberg and the Switows incorporated Anderson Theatrical Enterprises Corporation in March 1927 and began operating the Riviera, Starland and Granada on March 20, 1927. In October 1927 Anderson Theatres Corporation, owned by Levy, Goldberg and Leo Keiler, all of Louisville, KY, acquired the Riviera, Starland and Granada and affiliated with Principal Theatres Corporation, forming the West Coast circuit’s first group of Eastern theaters. In January 1930 Publix took possession of the Riviera, Starland, and Granada, leasing them from Principal. Publix assumed active management on January 11, 1930, though the deal was effective six days earlier. The Starland, which was not equipped for sound, closed March 2, 1930, after showing Art Accord in “Fighters of the Saddle” and the final chapter of “Pirates of Panama.”
In early 1927 banker Neel McCullough and Fred Mustard were operating the Riviera, Starland and Granada theaters through their M&M Realty Company. In March 1927 M&M sold the three theaters for $250,000 to Col. Fred Levy, Lee Goldberg, and Sam and Harry Switow (dba Anderson Realty Company). McCullough, Levy, Goldberg and the Switows incorporated Anderson Theatrical Enterprises Corporation in March 1927 and began operating the Riviera, Starland and Granada on March 20, 1927. In October 1927 Anderson Theatres Corporation, owned by Levy, Goldberg and Leo Keiler, all of Louisville, KY, acquired the Riviera, Starland and Granada and affiliated with Principal Theatres Corporation, forming the West Coast circuit’s first group of Eastern theaters. In January 1930 Publix took possession of the Riviera, Starland, and Granada, leasing them from Principal. Publix assumed active management on January 11, 1930, though the deal was effective six days earlier. The Anderson Herald reported on January 12, 1930, that the Granada, one of the oldest theaters in the city, had been closed, except for intervals, for three years and probably would not reopen.
The Anderson Daily Bulletin reported in February 1932 that owner Miley Realty Company sold the Kay-Bee to Charles Charles of Indianapolis, and that Charles would relocate to Anderson to operate the theater.
Norm Kristoff was president of owner Maywood Theater Company. W. Scott Armstrong, Chicago, was the architect, engineer and builder. The theater was equipped with a Geneva organ.
On April 7, 1936, V.U. Young, now president of three-year-old Theatrical Managers, Inc., announced plans to build a $160,000 1200-seat movie house on the Orpheum site, which had been used as a filling station since the Orpheum was torn down in 1933. The theater was never built. A local rival would soon break ground for the State Theatre, built one block north of the old Orpheum. That showplace opened on October 1, 1937.
Film Daily in June 1926 reported that the Drake Theatre, located at Montrose and Drake avenues, would be finished in August 1926. The Drake is not shown in FDYB 1926, covering 1925. FDYB 1927, covering 1926, lists the Drake under Ascher Brothers. In January 1927 Film Daily noted that Ambassador Theaters Corp. had taken over the 20-year lease of the Drake, “one of the larger outlying theaters,” from Drake Amusement Company for a gross rental of $580,000. (Note the “Ambassador’s Corp.” atop the Drake’s vertical in Lou Rugani’s undated photo.) Consistent with the foregoing, the Drake is not listed under Ascher in FDYB 1928. Ambassador Theaters Corp. also operated the Ambassador Theatre (aka Rockne) on Division Street. By September 1928 Ambassador Theaters was in the hands of a receiver, joining three Chicago chains with a string of over 40 Chicago-area houses that ended up being operated under a receivership by the Chicago Title & Trust Company.
FDYB 1926, covering 1925, lists the Ambassador Theatre under Ascher Brothers. In 1926 the Ambassador was hived off to the Ambassador Theaters Corp. As such, the Ambassador was no longer listed under Ascher in FDYB 1927, covering 1926. In January 1927 Film Daily noted that Ambassador Theaters Corp. had taken over the 20-year lease of the Drake, “one of the larger outlying theaters,” from Drake Amusement Company. By September 1928 Ambassador Theaters was in the hands of a receiver, joining three Chicago chains with a string of over 40 Chicago-area houses that ended up being operated under a receivership by the Chicago Title & Trust Company.
In October 1928 Peter Kalleres’s Grand Amusement Company took over the Grand, which had been in the hands of receivers since August when the Gregory-Bernasek circuit was thrown into receivership. Jim Bikos operated the theater after Grand Amusement. In December 1929 the Grand was equipped for sound and City Amusement Company was incorporated by Kalleres, George Anthoulis and Ernest Force. City Amusement acquired the Grand in February 1930 from Jim Bikos.
In August 1925, three months before the sprawling John Eberson-designed Palace would open across the street, hundreds attended the reopening of the remodeled Grand. In November 1926 Peter Kalleres offered Mary Paine $355,000 for the Paine Building. In January 1927 the Grand joined the Illinois and Indiana Theaters booking circuit, formerly Earl Johnson Theaters.
The Grand and nearby Cosmo merged under one management in September 1922 when Cosmo owner Nick Bikos sold the theater to Kalleres’s Grand Theatre Company. The two theaters were redecorated and managed by Kalleres. In January 1923 the S.J. Gregory Amusement Company was operating the Grand and Cosmo in Gary and the Parthenon in Hammond.
The Paine Building housed the Grand Theater. Sanborn Maps shows a stage present in 1915 - and a drug store in the front left corner.
Before it was the Paris Theater this was the Rex.
The Hammond Times reported in September 1912 that Gary’s new $100,000 five-story theater (it wasn’t yet named) would “be of the same size as to seating capacity and of the same general interior design as the Illinois and Blackstone theaters in Chicago … and will be devoted to the legitimate drama.” The first floor included storefronts, with offices in the front parts of the second, third, fourth and fifth floors. The stage was 38 feet wide and 38 feet deep. “Height from the floor pit to the gallery ceiling will measure the five stories. Besides elegant boxes there will be a balcony and a gallery.”