North Street Theatre

George H. Hayob and J. Leo Hayob opened the first Mary Lou Theatre on W. North Street on March 2, 1928 with Dolores Costello in “The College Widow” (with music composed by Higdon’s Los Toreadors which is a 5-piece aggregation) along with a comedy and a newsreel. The first film they played at the start of intermission on-screen is a snipe reading “Mary Lou Bids You Welcome”. It had 432-seats including a balcony for African-American patrons, and featured two Simplex projectors in the booth. The Mary Lou name was named after his niece. It was a silent movie house but was upgraded to sound in January 1930 via RCA Photophone. As of World War II and afterward, both the original Mary Lou Theatre and the Fox Auditorium Theatre shared an equal amount of first-run A features.

In August 1947, the Hayob Brothers announced that a newer and much larger theatre will be constructed on the site of a former garage of a dealership, known as the Rieman Motor Company on 115 N. Jefferson Avenue, with a capacity of almost 800 seats and a modern design

Just before the newer and much larger Mary Lou Theatre on N. Jefferson Avenue opened on June 16, 1949 (it has its own page on Cinema Treasures), the old Mary Lou Theatre on W. North Street was renamed the North Street Theatre. Its former policy of A-films were moved to the newer Mary Lou Theatre and the W. North Street Theatre began running mostly B-films.

The North Street Theatre closed for the final time on April 30, 1955.

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