50sSNIPES: The New Era was one of several theaters to operate in Columbus during the early days of the movies. In addition to the New Era and the longer-lived Orpheum and Crump’s Theatre, the town had short-lived houses called the Nicklo, the Lyric, the Palace, the Airdome, and the Theatorium. The Nicklo (operating in 1907) and the Palace (listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory were both located in the Belvedere Block (home of the Belvedere Hotel) and might have been the same theater operating under different names, but the others all appear to have been separate houses.
The Gem Theatre at Greencastle was listed in the 1912-1913 Cahn guide as a ground floor house with 430 seats. The tiny stage was only 26 from the footlights to the back wall, with a six foot apron, and 28 feet between the side walls.
A poster from the State Theatre in Greencastle, advertising the 1946 movie The Bride Wore Boots, was for sale on Worthpoint, and the description included the line “[t]his was originally the Gem Theater built around 1912 at Hotel McLaughlin and then changed to the State Theater in the 1940’s.”
Other sources indicate that the McLaughlin Hotel was built in 1904, and the Gem Theatre was part of an addition built in 1911. H. W. McLaughlin’s intention to build a theater at Greencastle was noted in the April, 1911 issue of Motography.
The Auditorium is listed in the 1905-1906 edition of Julius Cahn’s guide. It is listed as a ground floor house with 1,000 seats, but there is no breakdown of seating by floor. The stage was 60 feet between side walls and 35 feet from the footlights to the back wall, with a proscenium 32 feet wide, so a decent size for road show productions.
10721 Lincoln Highway is the address of the Van Wert Cinemas, the modern multiplex in an outlying neighborhood. The Van Wert Theatre was at 147 E. Main Street, aka 147 Lincoln Highway. Google street view.
The August 22, 1935 issue of the Van Wert Daily Bulletin said that Schine’s Van Wert Theatre, at the corner of Main and Market streets, was in the final stages of construction. The opening was expected to take place in early Septmeber. Schine were also taking over the lease on the Strand Theatre, which would be closed for remodeling after the new house had opened.
More city directories are now available, and a house called the Union Square Theatre is listed at this address in 1911, though not in 1910. 1911 was the first year L.A. directories listed Moving Picture Theatres as a separate category. It’s likely that the Union Square opened in 1910, in time to be included in the 1911 directory, which probably went to press in late 1910. It’s interesting that the successor house built in 1921 eventually reverted to this theater’s original name.
The December 24, 1913 issue of The Houston Post ran an item about a special Christmas Day program to be presented at the new Queen Theatre, and added this brief encomium to the house:
“Since its opening less than a week ago, this beautiful new home of the photo play has been catering to hundreds of Hustonians dally, and all have marveled at the wonderful excellence of its appointments. The ladles retiring room, the smoking loges, the beauty of the theater itself and the many conveniences established in it for the benefit of its patrons, have proved a revelation to all.”
Sorry. I left out the blockquote code in that comment, but CT’s spam filter system won’t let me post a corrected version. Maybe I’ll remember to fix it later.
This article about the Grand Opera House was published in the May 27, 1905 issue of The Billboard:“Contracts were let on the 15th inst. between A. J. Small of Toronto, Can., and the Fuller Claflin Theatre Building Co., occupying the Department of Building of the New York Theatrical Stock Exchange, 1440 Broadway, for what will amount to practically a rebuildng of the Grand Opera House, Hamilton, Ontario. Work is to be started on the 29th inst., and to be finished on August 25th.
“The work will consist of building an enlarged stage in the rear of the present theatre, thereby increasing the present depth of the auditorium about 25 feet. An entirely new and enlarged balcony and gallery will be constructed and the first floor will be entirely rebuilt on modern lines.
“A new steam-heating system and a new electric lighting system will be installed. The reconstruction of the theatre, when completed, will make the Grand Opera House at Hamilton a thoroughly modern and up-to-date structure in every paticular, and equal to the majority of new theatres in the country.
“Mr. Small controls more than a score of theatres in Canada. Present improvements are in line with the progressive policy which he has inaugurated and intends following throughout his entire chain of houses.”A Skyscraper page forum post about Hamilton’s theaters said that this 1905 rebuild expanded the Grand’s seating capacity to 1,780. It seems plausible, though seating was likely reduced again in later years.
Like many houses called the Empress Theatre during this period, Cincinnati’s Empress opened as a Sullivan & Considine vaudeville house. There is thus a fairly high likelihood that the plans for the remodeling of the old building were by Fuller Claflin, who was the circuit’s principal architect, though a Cincinnati architect would probably have been hired to act as supervising architect.
Here is another item from The Moving Picture World, but I don’t think the proposed duplex house in Lansing ever got built:
“December 4, 1915
“LANSING MAY HAVE A DUPLEX THEATER LIKE DETROIT’S.
“Lansing-, Mich., may have a duplex moving picture theater similar to the Grand Boulevard duplex theater in Detroit. Lansing men who are stockholders in the Detroit theater are said to be interested in the project. Fuller Claflin, the Detroit and New York architect, who originated the duplex theater, has been a frequent visitor to Lansing.
“The success of the duplex theater lies in the fact that they have two auditoriums, each one having a picture screen and each one entered from the same lobby. The program for these theaters consists of a run of short pictures, first in one auditorium and then in the other, followed by a feature picture as the program’s main attraction. The patrons are ushered, on their arrival, into which ever auditorium the short pictures may be running, after which the feature film follows in the same auditorium. Doors close on an auditorium the moment a feature film is started, resulting in a disturbance to no one. Regardess of when a patron arrives, he sees the feature picture from start to finish.”
An April 23, 2019 Facebook post from a company called H & H Roofing and Restoration says that they had recently put a new roof on the Burlington Opry’s building. The barriers on the sidewalk in 2018 that SethG mentions might have been related to other renovations of some kind.
However, I can’t explain the disappearance of their web site. I can’t find even a Facebook page for the house. Maybe their renovations left them financially overextended and they had to shut down. But at least the building ought to be in good shape, with a new roof and all.
The May 15, 1948 issue of Boxoffice noted that construction had begun on an 850-seat theater in East Stockton for Rotus Harvey’s Westside Theatres company. For many years the theater was used as a church, but it now appears to be vacant.
Boxoffice of May 15, 1948, said that Rudy Buchanan and Charles Johnston’s Lakeside Theatre in Bijou, California (the original name of this town later absorbed into South Lake Tahoe) would be ready for opening about the middle of June.
There is contradictory information about this house on the Internet. According to a list at Oregon Historic Theatres, the Midway opened in 1930 and has also been known as the Ark Theatre. However, this post at Waymraking calls it the Arc Theatre, and says that it opened as the Midway in 1936. This post also gives the aka Ark, saying “[t]his single-screen theater closed in 1992 but was restored from 1996 to 1998, when it reopened as a mixed-use venue for retail, an art gallery, wine tastings, live theater and concerts called the Ark Historical Theatre and Art Gallery.”
As the facade is a bit advanced for 1930, I’m inclined to go with the 1936 opening date for the Midway, although it’s possible the house opened in 1930 and was remodeled in 1936. And as for the variant spellings of the aka, the building is currently the home of the non-denominational Ark Bible Church, which the Internet tells me was established in 1997, so Ark was probably the spelling of the aka from the beginning. That’s the spelling that’s currently displayed on the building.
Although it gives a drastically different spelling for the owner’s name, the October 14, 1916 issue of Motography also mentions the remodeling project at the Star Theatre:
“H. Heneing is remodeling and adding 75 feet to the Star Theater at Independence. Mr. Heneing recently purchased the Star.”
The October 7 issue of The Moving Picture World also mentioned the project, using the same spelling of the owner’s name.
The Strand was at 234 Main Street. The building is still standing, easily recognizable as a former theater, with the name “Strand” on the floor at the entrance. The building is now occupied by an establishment called Park 5, which bills itself as an “…ice cream parlor for ‘kids’ by day-Park 5 Pub for ‘big kids’ by night.”
“The new Strand Theater in McGregor is nearing completion and will be opened soon” was the notice appearing in the October 14, 1916 issue of Motography.
If this was Hedrick’s only movie house then in 1926 it was called the Gem Theatre. This item is from the September 11 issue of Motion Picture News that year:
“Fire caused considerable damage to the theatre at Hedrick, the Gem, owned by W. J. Jinks. The fire broke out in the booth from burning film. The damage caused is to the interior of the theatre, which was badly smoked, and to the booth. The Gem is closed while the adjustment of the insurance is being made.”
The October 9 issue of the same journal said that the fire-damaged Gem Theatre in Hedrick, Iowa, was undergoing repairs and would reopen soon.
This house must be the project mentioned in the December 12, 1925 issue of Exhibitors Trade Review:
“OMAHA, NEBR.
“Archt : James T. Allen, Brandeis Theatre bldg. Drawing plans on a theatre at 16th & Corby. Owners, Sam & Lewis Epstein, 4932 S. 24th, South Omaha, Nebr.”
Planning for the Deerpath Theatre began nearly three years before it was opened. Here is an item from the November 21, 1925 issue of Exhibitors Trade Review:
“LAKE FOREST, ILL. Archt: Anderson & Ticknor, care Jas. A. Anderson, Deerpath. Drawing plans on theatres, stores, and offices at N. E. Forest and Deerpath. Owner— Estate of Jas. Anderson, Geo. Anderson, trustee.”
The James Anderson Trust, owners of the property, was named for architect Stanley Anderson’s grandfather, a Lake Forest pioneer.
The Hudson Theatre is also listed in the 1927 FDY. The house might have opened in 1926, and it is likely that this item from the November 21, 1925 issue of Exhibitors Trade Review is about the Hudson:
“KEARNY, N. J.
“Archt. W. E. Lehman, 972 Broad st., Newark, N. J. Drawing plans on theatre, stores and offices at 59-69 Kearney ave., Kearney. Owner: Joseph Stern, 207 Market st., Newark, N. J.”
Boxoffice of November 20, 1978 noted the opening of the renovated New Oriental Theatre, formerly the long-closed Strand. Fred McLennan planned to operate the house with a policy of two changes of program a week, featuring both revivals and current movies, with an admission price of $1.50.
Boxoffice of November 20, 1978, said that the 170-seat Cinema Take One in Coral Gables would open that week. The first movie shown would be the 1972 Italian production Indian Summer in its belated American premier. Theater owners Joel Konski and Alan Martin had spent 60,000 to convert a former warehouse building into the cinema.
50sSNIPES: The New Era was one of several theaters to operate in Columbus during the early days of the movies. In addition to the New Era and the longer-lived Orpheum and Crump’s Theatre, the town had short-lived houses called the Nicklo, the Lyric, the Palace, the Airdome, and the Theatorium. The Nicklo (operating in 1907) and the Palace (listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory were both located in the Belvedere Block (home of the Belvedere Hotel) and might have been the same theater operating under different names, but the others all appear to have been separate houses.
The Gem Theatre at Greencastle was listed in the 1912-1913 Cahn guide as a ground floor house with 430 seats. The tiny stage was only 26 from the footlights to the back wall, with a six foot apron, and 28 feet between the side walls.
A poster from the State Theatre in Greencastle, advertising the 1946 movie The Bride Wore Boots, was for sale on Worthpoint, and the description included the line “[t]his was originally the Gem Theater built around 1912 at Hotel McLaughlin and then changed to the State Theater in the 1940’s.”
Other sources indicate that the McLaughlin Hotel was built in 1904, and the Gem Theatre was part of an addition built in 1911. H. W. McLaughlin’s intention to build a theater at Greencastle was noted in the April, 1911 issue of Motography.
The Auditorium is listed in the 1905-1906 edition of Julius Cahn’s guide. It is listed as a ground floor house with 1,000 seats, but there is no breakdown of seating by floor. The stage was 60 feet between side walls and 35 feet from the footlights to the back wall, with a proscenium 32 feet wide, so a decent size for road show productions.
10721 Lincoln Highway is the address of the Van Wert Cinemas, the modern multiplex in an outlying neighborhood. The Van Wert Theatre was at 147 E. Main Street, aka 147 Lincoln Highway. Google street view.
The August 22, 1935 issue of the Van Wert Daily Bulletin said that Schine’s Van Wert Theatre, at the corner of Main and Market streets, was in the final stages of construction. The opening was expected to take place in early Septmeber. Schine were also taking over the lease on the Strand Theatre, which would be closed for remodeling after the new house had opened.
More city directories are now available, and a house called the Union Square Theatre is listed at this address in 1911, though not in 1910. 1911 was the first year L.A. directories listed Moving Picture Theatres as a separate category. It’s likely that the Union Square opened in 1910, in time to be included in the 1911 directory, which probably went to press in late 1910. It’s interesting that the successor house built in 1921 eventually reverted to this theater’s original name.
The December 24, 1913 issue of The Houston Post ran an item about a special Christmas Day program to be presented at the new Queen Theatre, and added this brief encomium to the house:
Sorry. I left out the blockquote code in that comment, but CT’s spam filter system won’t let me post a corrected version. Maybe I’ll remember to fix it later.
This article about the Grand Opera House was published in the May 27, 1905 issue of The Billboard:“Contracts were let on the 15th inst. between A. J. Small of Toronto, Can., and the Fuller Claflin Theatre Building Co., occupying the Department of Building of the New York Theatrical Stock Exchange, 1440 Broadway, for what will amount to practically a rebuildng of the Grand Opera House, Hamilton, Ontario. Work is to be started on the 29th inst., and to be finished on August 25th.
“The work will consist of building an enlarged stage in the rear of the present theatre, thereby increasing the present depth of the auditorium about 25 feet. An entirely new and enlarged balcony and gallery will be constructed and the first floor will be entirely rebuilt on modern lines.
“A new steam-heating system and a new electric lighting system will be installed. The reconstruction of the theatre, when completed, will make the Grand Opera House at Hamilton a thoroughly modern and up-to-date structure in every paticular, and equal to the majority of new theatres in the country.
“Mr. Small controls more than a score of theatres in Canada. Present improvements are in line with the progressive policy which he has inaugurated and intends following throughout his entire chain of houses.”A Skyscraper page forum post about Hamilton’s theaters said that this 1905 rebuild expanded the Grand’s seating capacity to 1,780. It seems plausible, though seating was likely reduced again in later years.
Like many houses called the Empress Theatre during this period, Cincinnati’s Empress opened as a Sullivan & Considine vaudeville house. There is thus a fairly high likelihood that the plans for the remodeling of the old building were by Fuller Claflin, who was the circuit’s principal architect, though a Cincinnati architect would probably have been hired to act as supervising architect.
Here is another item from The Moving Picture World, but I don’t think the proposed duplex house in Lansing ever got built:
An April 23, 2019 Facebook post from a company called H & H Roofing and Restoration says that they had recently put a new roof on the Burlington Opry’s building. The barriers on the sidewalk in 2018 that SethG mentions might have been related to other renovations of some kind.
However, I can’t explain the disappearance of their web site. I can’t find even a Facebook page for the house. Maybe their renovations left them financially overextended and they had to shut down. But at least the building ought to be in good shape, with a new roof and all.
Got it.
The May 15, 1948 issue of Boxoffice noted that construction had begun on an 850-seat theater in East Stockton for Rotus Harvey’s Westside Theatres company. For many years the theater was used as a church, but it now appears to be vacant.
Boxoffice of May 15, 1948, said that Rudy Buchanan and Charles Johnston’s Lakeside Theatre in Bijou, California (the original name of this town later absorbed into South Lake Tahoe) would be ready for opening about the middle of June.
There is contradictory information about this house on the Internet. According to a list at Oregon Historic Theatres, the Midway opened in 1930 and has also been known as the Ark Theatre. However, this post at Waymraking calls it the Arc Theatre, and says that it opened as the Midway in 1936. This post also gives the aka Ark, saying “[t]his single-screen theater closed in 1992 but was restored from 1996 to 1998, when it reopened as a mixed-use venue for retail, an art gallery, wine tastings, live theater and concerts called the Ark Historical Theatre and Art Gallery.”
As the facade is a bit advanced for 1930, I’m inclined to go with the 1936 opening date for the Midway, although it’s possible the house opened in 1930 and was remodeled in 1936. And as for the variant spellings of the aka, the building is currently the home of the non-denominational Ark Bible Church, which the Internet tells me was established in 1997, so Ark was probably the spelling of the aka from the beginning. That’s the spelling that’s currently displayed on the building.
Although it gives a drastically different spelling for the owner’s name, the October 14, 1916 issue of Motography also mentions the remodeling project at the Star Theatre:
The October 7 issue of The Moving Picture World also mentioned the project, using the same spelling of the owner’s name.The Strand was at 234 Main Street. The building is still standing, easily recognizable as a former theater, with the name “Strand” on the floor at the entrance. The building is now occupied by an establishment called Park 5, which bills itself as an “…ice cream parlor for ‘kids’ by day-Park 5 Pub for ‘big kids’ by night.”
Here is a Google street view.
“The new Strand Theater in McGregor is nearing completion and will be opened soon” was the notice appearing in the October 14, 1916 issue of Motography.
If this was Hedrick’s only movie house then in 1926 it was called the Gem Theatre. This item is from the September 11 issue of Motion Picture News that year:
The October 9 issue of the same journal said that the fire-damaged Gem Theatre in Hedrick, Iowa, was undergoing repairs and would reopen soon.This house must be the project mentioned in the December 12, 1925 issue of Exhibitors Trade Review:
Planning for the Deerpath Theatre began nearly three years before it was opened. Here is an item from the November 21, 1925 issue of Exhibitors Trade Review:
The James Anderson Trust, owners of the property, was named for architect Stanley Anderson’s grandfather, a Lake Forest pioneer.The Hudson Theatre is also listed in the 1927 FDY. The house might have opened in 1926, and it is likely that this item from the November 21, 1925 issue of Exhibitors Trade Review is about the Hudson:
Boxoffice of November 20, 1978, said that the 170-seat Cinema Take One in Coral Gables would open that week. The first movie shown would be the 1972 Italian production Indian Summer in its belated American premier. Theater owners Joel Konski and Alan Martin had spent 60,000 to convert a former warehouse building into the cinema.