Tivoli Theatre

The Tivoli is listed in the 1934 Year Book of Motion Pictures as having 947 seats.

There was another Spanish house with live shows along Flagler Street and towards downtown that closed in the late fifties/early sixties. It was displaced by 1-95 construction and was called Radio Centro or Radio City. Any ideas?

Where can I get information about child stars Joselito And Marisol?

I need to rent movies with child stars Joselito and or Marisol. These are early 1960's movies that were shown at the Tivoli theatre in Miami Florida.

Child St., if you have a multi-regional DVD you can order these from Spain. If not, Maraka Video from Miami carries several titles and some non-regional versions can be found on ebay from questionable Latin American sources.

Some VHS versions are also available.

Thanks for the tip AlAlvarez...I will check out the Miami location first.

A Wurlitzer theater organ opus 1211 style "B" special was installed in the Tivoli Theater on 10/18/1926.

Lost Memory, you are flipping me out with all these organ references! I have to assume that these organs were taken out way before I grew up in Miami during the 60s. I never saw not even one in any of the theatres. I did a search on the Wurlitzer models you mentioned to see if I could see a picture, in the hopes of jogging my memory, however I did not see anything.

Do you have any idea when these organs were taken out of the theatres? I wonder what they used them for? Intermission?

The organ could have have been removed right after the theater upgraded to sound. Or it might have remained into the 1940s or 50s. No status was given for this organ so I have no idea when it was removed or what happened to it after it was removed.

The organ pit was shut by 1965 when I was there and kids threw gum from the front row for child star Marisol performing live. The Tivoli had an elaborate neon canopy that would date it to the thirties so I suspect sound was not a factor in the organ being removed or covered.
Switching to Spanish films may have eliminated a need for the organ, though.

LM, the Tivoli was very much on a Mexican distribution cycle, although audiences were predominantly Cuban. What happened to organs in the west when Mexican films started flowing into US cinemas?

Al....The theater organ list only gives installation dates. A status is given for some organs but not all. This is a "WurliTzer Opus List". If you search for an opus 1211, you will find two theaters listed. This theater and the Dramatic Theater in Miami. No status is given for the Tivoli, but a Reposessed status is given for the Dramatic Theater. As you can see, no dates are given. I'm not aware of any list that gives such dates.

LM, never heard or saw a Dramatic Theatre in Miami. Is there an address for that theatre? Al, have you heard of the Dramatic Theatre?

I never heard of it either. I don't have an address for the Dramatic Theater. The WurliTzer was installed in 1925. Its possible that the Dramatic Theater closed soon after that or possibly changed its name. Other than it being on the organ list, I haven't found any other information for a Dramatic Theater.

I have not heard of the Dramatic either but it could have been a legit house.

There were also a number of silent downtown Miami theatres that closed after the big mid-twenties hurricane when the city was almost wiped off the map.

The organ list doesn't specify if the theater was a movie theater or not. It could have been a live theater as you mentioned Al. Or the Dramatic Theater could have been destroyed in a fire or by a hurricane.

The Tivoli opened in 1927 and closed in 1988.

1987 photo of the Tivoli here.

Wow! You've hit a gold mine of rare Miami theatres images, Harvey!

I did! I followed a few links posted at the Paris and 79th Street Art by ken mc, so credit needs to be given where credit is due. Thanks ken mc!

1981 Photo

According to an April 6, 1940 issue of Boxoffice magazine, the Tivoli was involved in the Paramount Consent Decrees whereby the management claimed that Paramount refused to allow the Tivoli a sub-run on their product until five months after first-run and after lower priced Paramount Theatres had already played out the films in the area. The Tivoli was forced to give Paramount a half interest in its profits in exchange for reduction in the clearance time.