Le Claire Theatre

I found something kind of odd on the theater organ list. It shows a Wurlitzer organ being installed in a LeClaire theater aka (Illini theater) on 8/11/1922. Normally, when multiple names are listed, the main theater name given is the name of the theater at the time of the organ installation. In this case it would be LeClaire theater. The additional names are usually the names that the theater was known as at a later date. Could the LeClaire theater been renamed the Illini theater at some point?

LM it's very possible but the Illini I found was located at 1611 5th Ave. They were both open during the same time period and owned by different companies. There were two blocks apart.

I don't know what to make of this one Chuck. Maybe the LeClaire became the Illini, the other Illini opened and the name reverted back to LeClaire. We would probably need some FDYbooks to help solve this mystery.

The LeClaire is listed in the 1945 Film Daily Yearbook as open and seating 1000. It was being operated by a subsidiary of Paramount Pictures at that time.

Here is a 1940's promo for the Le Claire Theater.

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...

Here is an early 1930s ad for a Cary Grant film:
http://tinyurl.com/ylk88l5

Another gem.