i was the headusher partime after HS…GOING TO AUSTIN..xhanged that marquee many time…when b & k ran the biltmore….this was 1954 just after cineMascope became part of movies…we were 3rd run house after big movies played downtown and then 1 week in our theatre…i had to make lobby boards…and 1 aheets for displays..james salice was our manager. Niles and ivar and me were the typical uniformed ushers in those days…it was easy and pleasant work…i remember the other shops in retail part of bldg….doctor…jewelry store are remember and little dorothy in box office who knew everyone who passed…this was 1954 after all….
the Leclaire theater was next door to the Leclaire Hotel(Now a senior residential housing)..and the Illini Theater was further down 5th ave. and later became a Drug Store…when Downtown Moline was busy before everything went to outlying Malls..I used to go to them when I was a Kid in 1940s-50s…..also used to be a Small Theater called the Paradise which lasted until the 1970s…owned by the Brotman Brothers who owned a few other small Theaters in the Quad Cities…
i was the headusher partime after HS…GOING TO AUSTIN..xhanged that marquee many time…when b & k ran the biltmore….this was 1954 just after cineMascope became part of movies…we were 3rd run house after big movies played downtown and then 1 week in our theatre…i had to make lobby boards…and 1 aheets for displays..james salice was our manager. Niles and ivar and me were the typical uniformed ushers in those days…it was easy and pleasant work…i remember the other shops in retail part of bldg….doctor…jewelry store are remember and little dorothy in box office who knew everyone who passed…this was 1954 after all….
the Leclaire theater was next door to the Leclaire Hotel(Now a senior residential housing)..and the Illini Theater was further down 5th ave. and later became a Drug Store…when Downtown Moline was busy before everything went to outlying Malls..I used to go to them when I was a Kid in 1940s-50s…..also used to be a Small Theater called the Paradise which lasted until the 1970s…owned by the Brotman Brothers who owned a few other small Theaters in the Quad Cities…