The Bell Theatre suffered $25,000 damage from a fire in late 1948, according to the item in Boxoffice of December 11 that year. The damage included the loss of the building’s roof, though the 500 seats suffered only water damage. The owners of the house at that time were Leon Kaplan and Nathan Fadim.
Ralph Todd’s sale of the Diana Theatre and its equipment to Willis J. Ford of Peoria was noted in the December 11, 1948 issue of Boxoffice. Ford was slated to take control of the house around January 1.
A December 11, 1948 Boxoffice item noted that work had begun on Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Baker’s new, 500-seat theater at Bunker Hill, Illinois. The Bakers' earlier house, the 350-seat Lincoln Theatre, had been “blown over” by a tornado on March 19, though “[l]ater it was righted and repaired, reopening for business in May.” The 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory lists only a house called the Lyric Theatre at Bunker Hill, and the 1926 FDY has only a theater called the Opera House. No details were provided for either, so there are no clues if either was the Lincoln under earlier name.
The Sidney Theatre at Sidney Iowa was on a list of movie houses that was published in the April 7, 1958 issue of Boxoffice under the heading “Theatres Reopened During First Quarter of 1958.” The headline of the accompanying article noted that 114 theaters in 39 states had been relit since January 1, many having been renovated as well. Another item in the same issue said that Quentin Chapman had taken over the Sidney Theatre from Earl Cowden, who had operated the house for many years.
The August 20, 1927 issue of Movie Age said that “[t]he old Opera House at Sidney, Iowa, which has been used lately as a picture house is being torn down.” The Opera House might have gotten a reprieve, as it is listed one last time in the 1929 FDY, though this could easily be one of the FDY’s frequent errors.
Colchester’s original Princess Theatre was in operation by 1921, as the November 12 issue of Exhibitors Herald that year published a letter from the manager, T. H. Smith. Colchester had not been listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory.
An article about the Princess in the spring, 1998 issue of the Colchester Area Historical Society Newsletter reveals that the first Princess was at a different location than its 1926 replacement. The new theater’s site had been occupied by a building that burned, but it had housed a retail store. Thomas Smith moved his Princess Theater into its new building on April 22, 1926. The opening program included an organ concert, an International News Reel, an “Our Gang” comedy, and the MGM feature “The Midshipman” starring Ramon Navarro.
The new theater had been designed by Peoria architect Hamilton Bogart Dox.
The Novelty was the only house listed at King City in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. The Reel Joy is the only King City house I’ve found mentioned in a trade journal, and that not until November, 1921.
A capsule movie review by Leslie Hables of the Reel Joy Theatre in King City was published in the November 5, 1921 issue of Moving Picture World. A 1914 newspaper article noted Leslie Hables as the owner of a bowling alley in King City.
This item that appeared in the February 7, 1914 issue of Motography might have been related to the remodeling that included the closure of the house’s second entrance: “The Elite theater, in the Houghton building, Red Oak, opened recently.”
I would imagine that the airdome in this item from Moving Picture World of July 1, 1916, was affiliated with this house: “Red Oak, Ia.—The Beardsley airdome has opened with vaudeville and pictures.”
The 1926 FDY lists a 400-seat Star Theatre in Colusa, along with the 550-seat Gem. An ad for the Strand in the March 16, 1926 Colusa Herald bears the notation “Formerly Star Theatre.”
Arbuckle had a movie house at least by 1914, when the AMPD listed it under the (probably generic) name M. P. Theatre. And then this brief item from the October 3, 1914 issue of Moving Picture World also failed to provide a name for the house: “J. Dunnigan has purchased the interests of E. J. Miller in the moving picture house conducted at Arbuckle, Cal.”
A list of independent vaudeville houses published in the November 7, 1914 issue of The Billboard included the 350-seat Opera, Arbuckle, California, managed by E. J. Miller. It might be that the Opera was not the picture house involved in the transaction between Miller and Dunnigan. E. J. Miller was still being noted as a theater operator at Arbuckle in the March 16, 1926 issue of the Colusa Herald.
The 1924 City Directory lists a New Nadeau Theatre just down the block at 1913 Nadeau Street. Wrong though it seems, the Nadeau must have replaced the New Nadeau. I wonder if there was an even earlier Nadeau Theatre that the New Nadeau replaced?
The shop on this theater’s site today, Not Another Pottery Studio, uses the address 5052 Eagle Rock Blvd. The parcel viewer at the L.A. County Assessors Office website is no longer functional on any of my web browsers, so I can’t find out when the current building was built, but It is known that the United Theatre, last known as the Sierra Theatre, opened just up the block at 5058 Eagle Rock in 1922, and the Family Theatre, if it was still open then, most likely closed at that time.
The 1924 L.A. City Directory, the first edition to include listings for newly-annexed Eagle Rock, lists a Central Avenue Garage at 5052 Eagle Rock Boulevard. The garage had obviously been opened before Los Angeles annexed Eagle Rock and changed the name of Central Avenue to Eagle Rock Boulevard, so the theater probably vacated the space by 1923 at the latest.
An article in the Dunlap Reporter of April 17, 1914 notes that Dunlap then had two movie theaters, “…the Hupp Theater, conducted by E. G. Hunter, and Beck’s Picture Show, conducted by Mrs. L. R. Beck.” I’ve found Mrs. Beck and her theater mentioned in a trade journal as early as December, 1913.
The PDF about the building at 701 Iowa Avenue is not clear about the years of operation of the house there, and mentions the Hupp only briefly, but the 1945 FDY lists three theaters in Dunlap. They were the 250-seat Dunlap Theatre, the 264 seat Royal Theatre, and a house called the Miller Theatre, listed only as closed. As the bank on the Hupp’s site is of a style characteristic of the 1970s or 1980s, I wonder if the Hupp survived for a long time and became one of those three houses? I’ve found the Royal mentioned in Boxoffice as late as 1951 and the Dunlap Theatre as late as 1957.
This PDF file is about the building at 701-703 Iowa Avenue in Dunlap, which was indeed the location of the Idle Hour Theatre during the 1920s into the 1940s. The document has quite a few newspaper clippings about the theater, including one with a photo of the front. There are also a couple of non-clipping photos which show the original arched front of the theater portion of the building.
The building, erected in 1909, housed a furniture store on the ground floor of the two-story section for more than half a century, but the document doesn’t say when the theater opened. One reminiscence says that the theater closed for a while and was occupied by a bowling alley, but in the early 1920s the bowling alley moved into the second floor above the furniture store, where there had been a dance hall, and the theater was restored.
The document doesn’t give the closing date of the theater either, though it indicates that in the 1950s the theater’s space came to be occupied by a business called Gorham Motors. The last reference that is probably to the Idle Hour Theatre I’ve found in trade journals is from the September 3, 1949 Boxoffice, which simply says “John Broaderick, exhibitor at Dunlap, Iowa, is vacationing.”
A document about the building at 701-703 Iowa Avenue, which once housed the Idle Hour Theatre, mentions in passing a second theater in Dunlap, “…located in the area which is now the drive-in of the new bank.” That must have been this house. It was called the Hupp Theatre. The June 27, 1914 issue of The Billboard mentions “E. G. Hunter & Son, of Dunlap, Ia., proprietors of the Hupp Theater and Roller Rink…”
I am wondering if a “Willup” Theatre at Dunlap in the AMPD could have been an error, perhaps an accidental displacement of the Willup Theatre in Woodbine? I’ve found no other references linking the name Willup to Dunlap. The March 10, 1916 issue of the Estherville Iowa Opera House Reporter, mentions both the Idle Hour Theatre in Dunlap and the Willup Theatre in Woodbine.
The May 5, 1923 Moving Picture World had this item, which might reveal another aka for this house: “The Playhouse, Hermiston, Oregon, formerly operated by J. L. Morfitt, has been reported closed.”
However, I’m skeptical of the 1910 opening date. This item is from the September 11, 1920 Exhibitors Herald: “HERMISTON, ORE.— A new, modern $12,000 motion picture house, built by local capital, is nearing completion here.” If a town as small as Hermiston (the population never topped 1000 until the 1940s) already had a substantial theater built in 1910, I doubt another would have been built in 1920.
The 1927 FDY lists for Hermiston only a 300-seat house called the Legion Theatre, probably also an aka for this place. Given the name it also seems likely that the house doubled as the local American Legion hall.
The May 5, 1923 issue of Moving Picture World had this item about the first Hayward Theatre: “The Hayward Theatre, Hayward, Cal. has been reopened, following rebuilding operations that have cost almost $100,000. The house is finished in semi-Egyptian style and is one of the finest in the east-bay region. A pipe organ is a feature.”
Andrew Barrett probably isn’t following this page anymore, but just in case, the Smith organ he mentioned in the comment above was undoubtedly installed in the first Hayward Theatre, which closed when this house opened and was later reopened as the State Theatre, which has its own listing at Cinema Treasures. The first Hayward was extensively (and expensively) remodeled in 1923, which is probably when the Smith organ was installed there.
The September 5, 1925 Moving Picture World had this item: “James J. Wood, whose theatre at Red Bluff, Cal., was badly damaged by fire recently, is making use of a small theatre until a decision can be reached in regard to whether the Orpheum Theatre will be repaired or whether a new house will be necessary.”
The Orpheum theatre that had been damaged was the aka Red Bluff Opera House, later the first State Theatre, finally destroyed by another fire in 1944. The small theater referenced in the item was probably the Granada.
The Logan theatre at Logan, Iowa is mentioned in the July 13, 1935 issue of Motion Picture Herald. The Manager was named L. H. Ireland. Evidence that the Logan might have been the Pastime is found in this item from the October 15, 1927 issue of Movie Age: “Mr. and Mrs. L. H. Ireland of the Pastime Theatre at Logan, Ia., were visitors at the Exchange Bldg., last week.”
The Logan was in operation at least as late as 1961, when this notice appeared in the July 24 issue of Boxoffice: “Ken Moore has closed his Logan Theatre at Logan, Iowa, but he will reopen in September.” The august 14 issue of the same journal noted that Mr. Moore had been hospitalized due to a heart condition. The August 28 issue said that Mr. Moore had gone to Ireland to recuperate from a heart attack. The September issue had no news about either Mr. Moore or the theater, so I don’t know if he managed to reopen it or not.
The brief history on the genealogy web site says “Mr. and Mrs. Bill Noyes operated a two story Hotel on the corner where Keith’s store is today [the history was written in 1968]. Next to this was a meat market owned by John Crewdson. Later there was a Harness Shop, Drug Store, and Klutts Opera House built in this section of the street.” A link at the bottom of the page once led to information about the Wallis family, but the url has been highjacked by a gambling site.
Still, a Flickr photo of the Wallis building shows it was once occupied by Keith’s Store, so it appears that the Opera House was not in the Wallis building itself, but was nearby. It might be that the Opera House building was lost sometime between 1925 and 1935.
The FAQs section of the Bohm Theatre’s web site attributes the design of the house to architect Christian W. Brandt. Brandt had been preparing plans for a thousand-seat house in Albion since as early as 1925, when the November 29 issue of Moving Picture World mentioned the project.
The Bell Theatre suffered $25,000 damage from a fire in late 1948, according to the item in Boxoffice of December 11 that year. The damage included the loss of the building’s roof, though the 500 seats suffered only water damage. The owners of the house at that time were Leon Kaplan and Nathan Fadim.
Ralph Todd’s sale of the Diana Theatre and its equipment to Willis J. Ford of Peoria was noted in the December 11, 1948 issue of Boxoffice. Ford was slated to take control of the house around January 1.
A December 11, 1948 Boxoffice item noted that work had begun on Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Baker’s new, 500-seat theater at Bunker Hill, Illinois. The Bakers' earlier house, the 350-seat Lincoln Theatre, had been “blown over” by a tornado on March 19, though “[l]ater it was righted and repaired, reopening for business in May.” The 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory lists only a house called the Lyric Theatre at Bunker Hill, and the 1926 FDY has only a theater called the Opera House. No details were provided for either, so there are no clues if either was the Lincoln under earlier name.
The Sidney Theatre at Sidney Iowa was on a list of movie houses that was published in the April 7, 1958 issue of Boxoffice under the heading “Theatres Reopened During First Quarter of 1958.” The headline of the accompanying article noted that 114 theaters in 39 states had been relit since January 1, many having been renovated as well. Another item in the same issue said that Quentin Chapman had taken over the Sidney Theatre from Earl Cowden, who had operated the house for many years.
The August 20, 1927 issue of Movie Age said that “[t]he old Opera House at Sidney, Iowa, which has been used lately as a picture house is being torn down.” The Opera House might have gotten a reprieve, as it is listed one last time in the 1929 FDY, though this could easily be one of the FDY’s frequent errors.
Colchester’s original Princess Theatre was in operation by 1921, as the November 12 issue of Exhibitors Herald that year published a letter from the manager, T. H. Smith. Colchester had not been listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory.
An article about the Princess in the spring, 1998 issue of the Colchester Area Historical Society Newsletter reveals that the first Princess was at a different location than its 1926 replacement. The new theater’s site had been occupied by a building that burned, but it had housed a retail store. Thomas Smith moved his Princess Theater into its new building on April 22, 1926. The opening program included an organ concert, an International News Reel, an “Our Gang” comedy, and the MGM feature “The Midshipman” starring Ramon Navarro.
The new theater had been designed by Peoria architect Hamilton Bogart Dox.
The Novelty was the only house listed at King City in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. The Reel Joy is the only King City house I’ve found mentioned in a trade journal, and that not until November, 1921.
A capsule movie review by Leslie Hables of the Reel Joy Theatre in King City was published in the November 5, 1921 issue of Moving Picture World. A 1914 newspaper article noted Leslie Hables as the owner of a bowling alley in King City.
This item that appeared in the February 7, 1914 issue of Motography might have been related to the remodeling that included the closure of the house’s second entrance: “The Elite theater, in the Houghton building, Red Oak, opened recently.”
I would imagine that the airdome in this item from Moving Picture World of July 1, 1916, was affiliated with this house: “Red Oak, Ia.—The Beardsley airdome has opened with vaudeville and pictures.”
The 1926 FDY lists a 400-seat Star Theatre in Colusa, along with the 550-seat Gem. An ad for the Strand in the March 16, 1926 Colusa Herald bears the notation “Formerly Star Theatre.”
Arbuckle had a movie house at least by 1914, when the AMPD listed it under the (probably generic) name M. P. Theatre. And then this brief item from the October 3, 1914 issue of Moving Picture World also failed to provide a name for the house: “J. Dunnigan has purchased the interests of E. J. Miller in the moving picture house conducted at Arbuckle, Cal.”
A list of independent vaudeville houses published in the November 7, 1914 issue of The Billboard included the 350-seat Opera, Arbuckle, California, managed by E. J. Miller. It might be that the Opera was not the picture house involved in the transaction between Miller and Dunnigan. E. J. Miller was still being noted as a theater operator at Arbuckle in the March 16, 1926 issue of the Colusa Herald.
The 1924 City Directory lists a New Nadeau Theatre just down the block at 1913 Nadeau Street. Wrong though it seems, the Nadeau must have replaced the New Nadeau. I wonder if there was an even earlier Nadeau Theatre that the New Nadeau replaced?
The shop on this theater’s site today, Not Another Pottery Studio, uses the address 5052 Eagle Rock Blvd. The parcel viewer at the L.A. County Assessors Office website is no longer functional on any of my web browsers, so I can’t find out when the current building was built, but It is known that the United Theatre, last known as the Sierra Theatre, opened just up the block at 5058 Eagle Rock in 1922, and the Family Theatre, if it was still open then, most likely closed at that time.
The 1924 L.A. City Directory, the first edition to include listings for newly-annexed Eagle Rock, lists a Central Avenue Garage at 5052 Eagle Rock Boulevard. The garage had obviously been opened before Los Angeles annexed Eagle Rock and changed the name of Central Avenue to Eagle Rock Boulevard, so the theater probably vacated the space by 1923 at the latest.
An article in the Dunlap Reporter of April 17, 1914 notes that Dunlap then had two movie theaters, “…the Hupp Theater, conducted by E. G. Hunter, and Beck’s Picture Show, conducted by Mrs. L. R. Beck.” I’ve found Mrs. Beck and her theater mentioned in a trade journal as early as December, 1913.
The PDF about the building at 701 Iowa Avenue is not clear about the years of operation of the house there, and mentions the Hupp only briefly, but the 1945 FDY lists three theaters in Dunlap. They were the 250-seat Dunlap Theatre, the 264 seat Royal Theatre, and a house called the Miller Theatre, listed only as closed. As the bank on the Hupp’s site is of a style characteristic of the 1970s or 1980s, I wonder if the Hupp survived for a long time and became one of those three houses? I’ve found the Royal mentioned in Boxoffice as late as 1951 and the Dunlap Theatre as late as 1957.
This PDF file is about the building at 701-703 Iowa Avenue in Dunlap, which was indeed the location of the Idle Hour Theatre during the 1920s into the 1940s. The document has quite a few newspaper clippings about the theater, including one with a photo of the front. There are also a couple of non-clipping photos which show the original arched front of the theater portion of the building.
The building, erected in 1909, housed a furniture store on the ground floor of the two-story section for more than half a century, but the document doesn’t say when the theater opened. One reminiscence says that the theater closed for a while and was occupied by a bowling alley, but in the early 1920s the bowling alley moved into the second floor above the furniture store, where there had been a dance hall, and the theater was restored.
The document doesn’t give the closing date of the theater either, though it indicates that in the 1950s the theater’s space came to be occupied by a business called Gorham Motors. The last reference that is probably to the Idle Hour Theatre I’ve found in trade journals is from the September 3, 1949 Boxoffice, which simply says “John Broaderick, exhibitor at Dunlap, Iowa, is vacationing.”
A document about the building at 701-703 Iowa Avenue, which once housed the Idle Hour Theatre, mentions in passing a second theater in Dunlap, “…located in the area which is now the drive-in of the new bank.” That must have been this house. It was called the Hupp Theatre. The June 27, 1914 issue of The Billboard mentions “E. G. Hunter & Son, of Dunlap, Ia., proprietors of the Hupp Theater and Roller Rink…”
I am wondering if a “Willup” Theatre at Dunlap in the AMPD could have been an error, perhaps an accidental displacement of the Willup Theatre in Woodbine? I’ve found no other references linking the name Willup to Dunlap. The March 10, 1916 issue of the Estherville Iowa Opera House Reporter, mentions both the Idle Hour Theatre in Dunlap and the Willup Theatre in Woodbine.
The May 5, 1923 Moving Picture World had this item, which might reveal another aka for this house: “The Playhouse, Hermiston, Oregon, formerly operated by J. L. Morfitt, has been reported closed.”
However, I’m skeptical of the 1910 opening date. This item is from the September 11, 1920 Exhibitors Herald: “HERMISTON, ORE.— A new, modern $12,000 motion picture house, built by local capital, is nearing completion here.” If a town as small as Hermiston (the population never topped 1000 until the 1940s) already had a substantial theater built in 1910, I doubt another would have been built in 1920.
The 1927 FDY lists for Hermiston only a 300-seat house called the Legion Theatre, probably also an aka for this place. Given the name it also seems likely that the house doubled as the local American Legion hall.
The May 5, 1923 issue of Moving Picture World had this item about the first Hayward Theatre: “The Hayward Theatre, Hayward, Cal. has been reopened, following rebuilding operations that have cost almost $100,000. The house is finished in semi-Egyptian style and is one of the finest in the east-bay region. A pipe organ is a feature.”
Andrew Barrett probably isn’t following this page anymore, but just in case, the Smith organ he mentioned in the comment above was undoubtedly installed in the first Hayward Theatre, which closed when this house opened and was later reopened as the State Theatre, which has its own listing at Cinema Treasures. The first Hayward was extensively (and expensively) remodeled in 1923, which is probably when the Smith organ was installed there.
The September 5, 1925 Moving Picture World had this item: “James J. Wood, whose theatre at Red Bluff, Cal., was badly damaged by fire recently, is making use of a small theatre until a decision can be reached in regard to whether the Orpheum Theatre will be repaired or whether a new house will be necessary.”
The Orpheum theatre that had been damaged was the aka Red Bluff Opera House, later the first State Theatre, finally destroyed by another fire in 1944. The small theater referenced in the item was probably the Granada.
The Coalfield Jamboree website link is dead. They still have a Facebook page, but it hasn’t been updated since November 2, 2024.
The Logan theatre at Logan, Iowa is mentioned in the July 13, 1935 issue of Motion Picture Herald. The Manager was named L. H. Ireland. Evidence that the Logan might have been the Pastime is found in this item from the October 15, 1927 issue of Movie Age: “Mr. and Mrs. L. H. Ireland of the Pastime Theatre at Logan, Ia., were visitors at the Exchange Bldg., last week.”
The Logan was in operation at least as late as 1961, when this notice appeared in the July 24 issue of Boxoffice: “Ken Moore has closed his Logan Theatre at Logan, Iowa, but he will reopen in September.” The august 14 issue of the same journal noted that Mr. Moore had been hospitalized due to a heart condition. The August 28 issue said that Mr. Moore had gone to Ireland to recuperate from a heart attack. The September issue had no news about either Mr. Moore or the theater, so I don’t know if he managed to reopen it or not.
The brief history on the genealogy web site says “Mr. and Mrs. Bill Noyes operated a two story Hotel on the corner where Keith’s store is today [the history was written in 1968]. Next to this was a meat market owned by John Crewdson. Later there was a Harness Shop, Drug Store, and Klutts Opera House built in this section of the street.” A link at the bottom of the page once led to information about the Wallis family, but the url has been highjacked by a gambling site.
Still, a Flickr photo of the Wallis building shows it was once occupied by Keith’s Store, so it appears that the Opera House was not in the Wallis building itself, but was nearby. It might be that the Opera House building was lost sometime between 1925 and 1935.
The FAQs section of the Bohm Theatre’s web site attributes the design of the house to architect Christian W. Brandt. Brandt had been preparing plans for a thousand-seat house in Albion since as early as 1925, when the November 29 issue of Moving Picture World mentioned the project.