Just got back from Santo Domingo yesterday. The Olimpia is now a TV production center. The facade looks good, well taken care of.
Another great cinema of the same era, the Elite, in the residential section of Gazcue, is also a TV production center. The city is full of multiplexes owned by Caribbean Cinemas, a Puerto Rican company who are the biggest movie chain in Puerto Rico. They also have cinemas in Trinidad and other Caribbean islands.
Ian;Thanks for trusting me! As I state in the opening text, ‘seating was provided for 2,117 in a stadium plan’. The 1,755 seating figure was at the end of its life.
Further details I have found on the history of the Ritz Cinema:
The building was built in 1882 and first showed film in 1919, but was not a full time cinema. It was converted into the Ritz Cinema in 1935 with seating for 720 in stalls and circle. In 1971 Star Cinemas took over the operation and converted the stalls into a bingo hall and split the balcony into two cinemas seating 75 seats each. It is this area which has now been re-opened as the Ritz Cinema. I believe bingo still operates in the former stalls area.
Originally built as the Town Hall & Law Court (the name Belper Public Hall is engraved in the stonework on top of the buildings facade). It opened as the Ritz Cinema (around 1939 I believe) with a seating capacity of 720 (later reduced to 555). It had rear projection with the projection box being located behind the screen.
In 1971 it was split into two screens, each seating 75 persons. The twin cinema operated until October 1991 when it was closed.
On 3rd November 2006, the Ritz Cinema re-opened as a single screen cinema following a £250,000 refurbishment. It boasts 100 luxury seats.
The North Star Theatre is listed in the American Motion Picture Directory 1914-1915 at 1250 Fifth Avenue, Manhattan. The 1926 edition of Film Daily Yearbook gives the same address with a seating capacity of 1,000. It has gone from listings by 1931 (the next edition of F.D.Y. that I have) and I don’t see a theatre listed at that address in subsequent F.D.Y.’s that I have (1941, 1943, 1950, 1957).
The Mars Theatre is listed in the 1950 edition of Film Daily Yearbook, but no seating capacity is given. This generally means that the theatre has recently opened and details have not been passed on to the editors.
Thanks ziggy. Mystery solved! The Ohio Theatre, Columbus, OH is listed in the 1941 F.D.Y. as being a United Artists Theatre Circuit theatre, operated as the Loew’s Ohio Theatre.
Well it’s not the Los Angeles United Artists Theatre for sure. In the 1941 edition of Film Daily Yearbook it states that Loew’s Inc. operates several theatres in association with United Artists Theater Circuit, which theaters are designated in the list of United Artists hodings.
There is no Loew’s United Artist Theatre in that list of of U.A. holdings. So we have a mystery theatre!
I would say it is in the New York area, as the photograpgh comes from the Billy Rose Theatre Collection which deals mainly with New York theatres.
The Theatres Trust ‘Guide to British Theatres’ 1750-1950 lists an Empire Theatre aka Pardoes Theatre Royal operating on Corporation Street, Middleton, Lancashire pre-1910, but states it was demolished after 1912. I believe this did not happen, and it may have just been closed.
In 1919 a new company Empire Theatre & Palace of Varieties was registered and Kinematograph Yearbooks show the Empire Theatre open as a cinema from at least 1924 and operated by Victory Pictures (Manchester) Ltd who were part of the H.D. Moorhouse circuit. It closed as a cinema in 1963 as the Empire Theatre (I can’t find any reference to it being called the Hippodrome Theatre, although it was called Hippo’s Disco when it was a nightclub that closed in 1993)
Located at 636 Washington Street, Canton where today a wedding video/photography business operates from. Could it be from the old theatre building or was that demolished and replaced?
The Strand Theatre is listed with a seating capacity of 572 in 1941 and 500 seats in 1950.
The 1950 edition of Film Daily Yearbook also lists the 350 seat Memorial Theatre as the only theatre in Oxford. In the 1941 & 1943 editions of F.D.Y. the Town Hall is listed as the only theatre in the town with a seating capacity given as 300.
Ian, The ‘add a photo’ facility has been off for well over a year now. Even if and when it does come back, it will only place one photo on the top of each page. The best way to share your photographs is to open a free Flickr or Webshots account and download your photos to that and then link on to Cinematreasures pages as lostmemory or Ian did above.
It was still listed as the Cecile Theatre in the 1941 edition of Film Daily Yearbook. In the 1943 edition of F.D.Y. it is the Cokato Theatre.
Plenty of photographs and images of the Apollo Theatre (text in German) here:
View link
Another message sent to me by Andres G. Roura;
Just got back from Santo Domingo yesterday. The Olimpia is now a TV production center. The facade looks good, well taken care of.
Another great cinema of the same era, the Elite, in the residential section of Gazcue, is also a TV production center. The city is full of multiplexes owned by Caribbean Cinemas, a Puerto Rican company who are the biggest movie chain in Puerto Rico. They also have cinemas in Trinidad and other Caribbean islands.
Ian;Thanks for trusting me! As I state in the opening text, ‘seating was provided for 2,117 in a stadium plan’. The 1,755 seating figure was at the end of its life.
Further details I have found on the history of the Ritz Cinema:
The building was built in 1882 and first showed film in 1919, but was not a full time cinema. It was converted into the Ritz Cinema in 1935 with seating for 720 in stalls and circle. In 1971 Star Cinemas took over the operation and converted the stalls into a bingo hall and split the balcony into two cinemas seating 75 seats each. It is this area which has now been re-opened as the Ritz Cinema. I believe bingo still operates in the former stalls area.
Originally built as the Town Hall & Law Court (the name Belper Public Hall is engraved in the stonework on top of the buildings facade). It opened as the Ritz Cinema (around 1939 I believe) with a seating capacity of 720 (later reduced to 555). It had rear projection with the projection box being located behind the screen.
In 1971 it was split into two screens, each seating 75 persons. The twin cinema operated until October 1991 when it was closed.
On 3rd November 2006, the Ritz Cinema re-opened as a single screen cinema following a £250,000 refurbishment. It boasts 100 luxury seats.
Listed in the early 1940’s and 1950’s as the 600 seat Beacon Theatre.
The North Star Theatre is listed in the American Motion Picture Directory 1914-1915 at 1250 Fifth Avenue, Manhattan. The 1926 edition of Film Daily Yearbook gives the same address with a seating capacity of 1,000. It has gone from listings by 1931 (the next edition of F.D.Y. that I have) and I don’t see a theatre listed at that address in subsequent F.D.Y.’s that I have (1941, 1943, 1950, 1957).
A view of the listed facade of the MK2 Gambetta, as photographed in September 2006:
http://flickr.com/photos/gamatron/324666408/
A 2006 exterior photograph of the Cinema Paris:
http://flickr.com/photos/anacoreta/162479595/
Yes…This is a great exterior photograph of the magnificent Forum Theatre (ex State), Melbourne
The Mars Theatre is listed in the 1950 edition of Film Daily Yearbook, but no seating capacity is given. This generally means that the theatre has recently opened and details have not been passed on to the editors.
Thanks ziggy. Mystery solved! The Ohio Theatre, Columbus, OH is listed in the 1941 F.D.Y. as being a United Artists Theatre Circuit theatre, operated as the Loew’s Ohio Theatre.
Well it’s not the Los Angeles United Artists Theatre for sure. In the 1941 edition of Film Daily Yearbook it states that Loew’s Inc. operates several theatres in association with United Artists Theater Circuit, which theaters are designated in the list of United Artists hodings.
There is no Loew’s United Artist Theatre in that list of of U.A. holdings. So we have a mystery theatre!
I would say it is in the New York area, as the photograpgh comes from the Billy Rose Theatre Collection which deals mainly with New York theatres.
The architectural firm of Horsfall and Sons were the designers of the Palace Theatre in 1909.
The Theatres Trust ‘Guide to British Theatres’ 1750-1950 lists an Empire Theatre aka Pardoes Theatre Royal operating on Corporation Street, Middleton, Lancashire pre-1910, but states it was demolished after 1912. I believe this did not happen, and it may have just been closed.
In 1919 a new company Empire Theatre & Palace of Varieties was registered and Kinematograph Yearbooks show the Empire Theatre open as a cinema from at least 1924 and operated by Victory Pictures (Manchester) Ltd who were part of the H.D. Moorhouse circuit. It closed as a cinema in 1963 as the Empire Theatre (I can’t find any reference to it being called the Hippodrome Theatre, although it was called Hippo’s Disco when it was a nightclub that closed in 1993)
Lost Memory; You are correct. K.V. Vitchum was an architect based in Chicago.
Located at 636 Washington Street, Canton where today a wedding video/photography business operates from. Could it be from the old theatre building or was that demolished and replaced?
The Strand Theatre is listed with a seating capacity of 572 in 1941 and 500 seats in 1950.
The Alhambra Cinema closed in April 1960.
The 1950 edition of Film Daily Yearbook also lists the 350 seat Memorial Theatre as the only theatre in Oxford. In the 1941 & 1943 editions of F.D.Y. the Town Hall is listed as the only theatre in the town with a seating capacity given as 300.
Opened in around 1965 and closed as a regular movie theatre in around 1975.
Here is a photograph I took of the Cinema Atlas in April 2007:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kencta/475705096/
Lost Memory; Yes, it is the correct cinema. The address on the Flickr photo is incorrect.
Ian, The ‘add a photo’ facility has been off for well over a year now. Even if and when it does come back, it will only place one photo on the top of each page. The best way to share your photographs is to open a free Flickr or Webshots account and download your photos to that and then link on to Cinematreasures pages as lostmemory or Ian did above.
Looking forward to your input!
Details and photgraphs of the February 2007 demoltion of the Gaumont Dalston:
http://www.opendalston.blogspot.com/
Here is the official website of the Hyde Park Picture House:-
http://www.hydeparkpicturehouse.co.uk/