The El Tovar Theatre opened as an all-sound theater with the installations of RCA Photophone. The El Tovar opened its doors with Alice White in “Broadway Babies” along with Edward Van appearing live on-stage performing “A Night In Spain” and Billy Sweitzer’s performance on the Wurlitzer organ.
50sSNIPES
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Vixenon
Apr 15, 2023 at 8:30 am
The Empire Theatre opened with a one-day showing of Hazel Daly in “The Little Rowdy” along with Fatty Arbuckle in “Fatty And The Broadway Stars”.
During its later years, the Polk Theatre was operated by the Plitt Theatres chain. The Polk ended its first-run movie-house run on September 23, 1984 with “Muppets Take Manhattan” following a short closure after its run. The Polk Theatre reopened on October 15, 1984 as a performing arts house. The Polk later screened back movies years later under the independent and foreign category.
Yep, it looks like it did close on November 8, 1990. And thanks to the Lakeland Ledger archives, I was able to find more Lakeland Mall Twin showings from later than 1985. In the late-1980s, the Lakeland Mall Twin went towards a sub-run dollar house.
The Tampa Tribune did not show every single Lakeland Mall Twin showing in portions of the mid-1980s (although it did made a short comeback in some 1988 Tampa Tribune issues for a time during its last days as a first-run theater before becoming sub-run dollar).
The Meadowbrook Drive-In’s opening date in the 1950s has not been found yet, but it looks like it closed on August 12, 1982 with “E.T.” and “Smokey And The Bandit”.
Taunton did had a Hoyts (former United Artists) eight-screen theater on 290 Winthrop Street before the Silver City Galleria 10 launched in 1992. Both theaters compete each other until the Hoyts Taunton Cinema 8 (formerly known as the Route 24 Cinema) closed in July 1997 after a nearly 20+ year run.
Edited from my April 28, 2022 comment: The Lewiston Drive-In Opened Its Gates On July 1, 1949 With “Coroner Creek” And Abboott And Costello’s “Pardon My Strong” Along With Two Unnamed Cartoons (And A Special Fireworks Show Only On Grand Opening).
It Was First Operated By John F. Murray Of Boston, Who Also Operated Waterville’s Opera House, And Had His First Theater Connection In Fall River, MA. The Theater Actually Opened Privately To 500 People The Day Prior To Opening. The Original Planned Capacity (Before Reaching Its 1000-Capacity Goal) Was 600 And The Original Screen Was Measured 50x50 Before CinemaScope. A Deal Went Through On May 26, 1949 In The Offices Of A.A. Lamarre Agency of Park Street whereby a local real estate dealers had transferred to Boston’s Lockwood & Gordon Enterprises where 10 acres of the historic Dulac Farm (site of some of the first locally developed agricultural land being acquired by Adelard Dulac in 1937. Adelard was also a plumber and heater at the time with his own business in town of 12 Lowell Street) on Sabattus Road being the site with the purchase price of $5,000.
New information: The Lewiston Drive-In closed for the final time on Labor Day 1985 with “Gremlins” and “Oh God You Devil”.
The Vue Dale Drive-In grand opening advertisement was found, but I cannot read the newspaper date because on how freaking blurry the picture is, so its opening date was partially found but was lost still. The theater opened as a single-screener with “I’ll See You In My Dreams” and “The Rose Bowl Story” with no extra short subjects, and was twinned sometime in the 1970s.
The Clarksville Drive-In closed for the final time with a triple feature on September 30, 1984 with “The Jungle Book” (the reissue of the 1967 Disney classic), “Splash”, and “Mr. Mom” as its final films.
The theater I believe was still mostly abandoned right after the adjacent Walmart opened south of the former drive-in on October 18, 1994. So I believe that Walmart did not purchased the drive-in property and decided to buy it south of it.
The Lexington Drive-In became statewide headlines in its last year of operation after a 24-year-old man was shot there right after the Lexington Drive-in reopened for the 1987 season. The suspect, 22-year-old Stephen Michael Jones, was later charged with first-degree murder.
The New Albany Drive-In opened its gates on July 9, 1954 with Jeff Hunter in “Three Young Texans”, William Holden in “Escape From Fort Bravo”, and John Wayne in “Island In The Sky” with no extra short subjects.
The New Albany Drive-In looks like it closed for the final time on September 5, 1994 with “Jurassic Park” and “Forrest Gump” as its final films. A 1995 article said that the drive-in didn’t reopen in mid-1995.
Opened on January 1, 1988 and closed on February 21, 2010.
Opened in 1950, closed in 1972, demolished later that decade.
The El Tovar Theatre opened as an all-sound theater with the installations of RCA Photophone. The El Tovar opened its doors with Alice White in “Broadway Babies” along with Edward Van appearing live on-stage performing “A Night In Spain” and Billy Sweitzer’s performance on the Wurlitzer organ.
The Empire Theatre opened with a one-day showing of Hazel Daly in “The Little Rowdy” along with Fatty Arbuckle in “Fatty And The Broadway Stars”.
The Polk Theatre also previously operated under the ABC Florida State Theatres chain before Plitt took over from the chain in November/December 1978.
Opened as early as 1952, closed in the 1980s.
Yes, and the answer is a yet another roller-coaster.
During its later years, the Polk Theatre was operated by the Plitt Theatres chain. The Polk ended its first-run movie-house run on September 23, 1984 with “Muppets Take Manhattan” following a short closure after its run. The Polk Theatre reopened on October 15, 1984 as a performing arts house. The Polk later screened back movies years later under the independent and foreign category.
Yep, it looks like it did close on November 8, 1990. And thanks to the Lakeland Ledger archives, I was able to find more Lakeland Mall Twin showings from later than 1985. In the late-1980s, the Lakeland Mall Twin went towards a sub-run dollar house.
The Tampa Tribune did not show every single Lakeland Mall Twin showing in portions of the mid-1980s (although it did made a short comeback in some 1988 Tampa Tribune issues for a time during its last days as a first-run theater before becoming sub-run dollar).
Opened with “Rawhide” and “Call Me Mister” with no extra short subjects.
Later known as the “Cinema 3”. The theater is still running into as late as the mid-1990s.
The Meadowbrook Drive-In’s opening date in the 1950s has not been found yet, but it looks like it closed on August 12, 1982 with “E.T.” and “Smokey And The Bandit”.
Taunton did had a Hoyts (former United Artists) eight-screen theater on 290 Winthrop Street before the Silver City Galleria 10 launched in 1992. Both theaters compete each other until the Hoyts Taunton Cinema 8 (formerly known as the Route 24 Cinema) closed in July 1997 after a nearly 20+ year run.
Edited from my April 28, 2022 comment: The Lewiston Drive-In Opened Its Gates On July 1, 1949 With “Coroner Creek” And Abboott And Costello’s “Pardon My Strong” Along With Two Unnamed Cartoons (And A Special Fireworks Show Only On Grand Opening).
It Was First Operated By John F. Murray Of Boston, Who Also Operated Waterville’s Opera House, And Had His First Theater Connection In Fall River, MA. The Theater Actually Opened Privately To 500 People The Day Prior To Opening. The Original Planned Capacity (Before Reaching Its 1000-Capacity Goal) Was 600 And The Original Screen Was Measured 50x50 Before CinemaScope. A Deal Went Through On May 26, 1949 In The Offices Of A.A. Lamarre Agency of Park Street whereby a local real estate dealers had transferred to Boston’s Lockwood & Gordon Enterprises where 10 acres of the historic Dulac Farm (site of some of the first locally developed agricultural land being acquired by Adelard Dulac in 1937. Adelard was also a plumber and heater at the time with his own business in town of 12 Lowell Street) on Sabattus Road being the site with the purchase price of $5,000.
New information: The Lewiston Drive-In closed for the final time on Labor Day 1985 with “Gremlins” and “Oh God You Devil”.
Opened on June 10, 1950 with a one-day showing of “The Big Cat” with no extra short subjects.
The Vue Dale Drive-In grand opening advertisement was found, but I cannot read the newspaper date because on how freaking blurry the picture is, so its opening date was partially found but was lost still. The theater opened as a single-screener with “I’ll See You In My Dreams” and “The Rose Bowl Story” with no extra short subjects, and was twinned sometime in the 1970s.
The Clarksville Drive-In closed for the final time with a triple feature on September 30, 1984 with “The Jungle Book” (the reissue of the 1967 Disney classic), “Splash”, and “Mr. Mom” as its final films.
Opened in 1956, closed in the 1980s.
The LeRose Theatre suffered a Christmas Eve fire in 1923, so this probably opened sometime in the late-1910s or early-1920s.
The theater I believe was still mostly abandoned right after the adjacent Walmart opened south of the former drive-in on October 18, 1994. So I believe that Walmart did not purchased the drive-in property and decided to buy it south of it.
The Lexington Drive-In became statewide headlines in its last year of operation after a 24-year-old man was shot there right after the Lexington Drive-in reopened for the 1987 season. The suspect, 22-year-old Stephen Michael Jones, was later charged with first-degree murder.
Second screen added in 1996.
Early July 1994.
The New Albany Drive-In opened its gates on July 9, 1954 with Jeff Hunter in “Three Young Texans”, William Holden in “Escape From Fort Bravo”, and John Wayne in “Island In The Sky” with no extra short subjects.
The New Albany Drive-In looks like it closed for the final time on September 5, 1994 with “Jurassic Park” and “Forrest Gump” as its final films. A 1995 article said that the drive-in didn’t reopen in mid-1995.
It was demolished right after the 2021 season.