Three 2019 photos & description credit Kerry Ray Carman.
“I find old movie theaters the most challenging to get inside, so we were glad to see the Max Theater in Sibley, Iowa was accessible. Opened in 1917 as the Royal Theater and was first in the area to offer A/C. The original name is found throughout, such as the "R” in the original floor tile, the original box office with the plaque from RCA Sound on it. You can find the original pictures, lights and the projection room door and ceiling and walls is lined with tin still (was told that film burns easily and tin was to keep the fire contained). Great visit!"
May 19, 1974. Harlan, Iowa – “I’m setting my standards at the box office”, says Al Woodraska, owner of the Harlan Theater, the only movie house in town. “That’s what pays the bills.”
To help pay the bills, Woodraska is showing X-rated movies once a month. “Midnight Plowboy” did a good business in April. “Teenage Bride” is the next X-rated attraction.
Harlan is a farm town and county seat, community of white houses and front porches pocketed in the gentle hills of western Iowa. The telephone book lists 20 taverns, 28 churches, and 43 farm equipment and feed dealers Last year X-rated movies drew pickets from the local Baptist Church and city counsel condemnation in this town of 4,049. This year there hasn’t been a ripple.
“Last Tango in Paris” critically acclaimed and X-rated set a box office record of $379.90 in four days – at the Harlan Theater in March.
Harlan and its theater are far from unique. With increasing frequency, X-rated films are flashing flesh across the screens in small town America.
Multiple images added.
Below history courtesy Steve Girardin & Debbie McIntyre.
A theatre to rival the movie showplaces of Detroit came to Mount Clemens in 1921, and she was a grand lady indeed. The Macomb Theatre was the brainchild of Frank J. Kendrick of Mount Clemens, who, along with several other local men, saw the need in Mount Clemens for a theatre in addition to the Bijou. The men formed the Macomb Theatre Company with Frank Kendrick as president, Harry M. Widrig as resident manager, and Louis F.
Wolf, William E. Koehler, William Wagner, Jacob Malbin and John Guenther as board members. The companys original intent was to create an additional movie venue in downtown Mount Clemens, with more capacity than the 700-seat Bijou. A site on Walnut street was acquired and plans for a 1,000-seat movie palace were undertaken.
Unsatisfied with the work of a local architect, the company turned to C. Howard Crane of Detroit, the designer of Detroits Orchestra Hall and Radio City Music Hall in New York. Crane and his associates convinced the company to provide a stage for vaudeville acts, and the design of the theatre changed accordingly. The new theatre would seat 1,035 on the main floor and an additional 600 in the balcony.
The stage area was equipped with fly galleries for scenery, dressing rooms for performers, and spot and flood lights of the latest design. A massive Hillgren & Lane pipe organ was specially manufactured for the Macomb Theatre. Local contractors for the construction were Schott Bros. and Weber of Mount Clemens.
L. F. Wolf Hardware installed the plumbing, heating and ventilating apparatus; Modern Electric performed the electrical installation. Carpets were laid by F.
W. Krauseneck, and building materials were supplied by Kendrick & Bruel and R. C. Ullrich Hardware.
The cost of construction was $300,000, with an additional $60,000 spent on furnishings. Decorating was done by Max Goldberg of Detroit, and the Daily Leader marveled at the splendid appointments of the house: Massive pilasters resplendent with rich colorings, and ornate designs, and with bronze caps, support a well-proportioned entablature, on which rests the arched ceiling. Gold pilasters enrich the sides of the theater, the entire color scheme being in blue, green, gold and grey. The ceiling is paneled with plaster relief work and mural paintings by a renowned decorative artist and are inserted in the plaques.
The newspaper further noted that the main curtain was of deep blue silk velour with a huge letter M in gold at the bottom. The Macombs stage was devoted primarily to vaudeville acts at first, but motion pictures and road attractions were also regular features. The opening act on July 25, 1921, was the Jimmie Hodges Musical Comedy Company offering the musical farce Pretty Baby. The movie attraction was Charles Ray in Scrap Iron.
Mount Clemens turned out in great numbers and filled every one of the 1,635 seats for the theatres premiere performance. The Macomb continued to offer vaudeville and road shows well into the 1930s, and in the face of the decline of live theatre became a successful first-run movie house. The theatre was briefly closed in 1953, then was purchased by former usher Robert Vickrey, who operated it as a movie theatre catering to the interests of teenagers for almost three decades. In June, 1980, beset by youthful vandals and stiff competition from multi-screen movie complexes at Lakeside and Macomb Malls, the Macomb rang down its final curtain as a movie house after running its last picture, Kramer vs.
Kramer. An attempt to return the Macomb to its former glory was made when the Macomb Council for the Performing Arts purchased the building in 1981 and restored it for use as a live theatre. The Council was recognized by the federal government for funding the restoration with local donations. Godspell was the inaugural performance at the rejuvenated Macomb Theatre, but its troubles were far from over.
The theatre was closed in June 1984 to restructure its debt, and the Council was forced to offer it for sale in October 1984. Another live theatre project was undertaken in 1987 when the building became the Great Lakes Dinner Playhouse, but that venture folded after only a year. In 1991, new owners of the building converted the once-grand Macomb Theatre to the Club Hollywood nightclub, and in 1997 the nightclubs name was changed to JDs Macomb Theater. The year 2000 saw the buildings restoration and reopening as the Emerald Theatre
In hindsight, the two provinces are 2 hours apart, so since the photo was found on a Remembering Stratford facebook page, it is likely not the Vogue in Leamington.
Undated photo added via Kathy Robinson Vaters.
I believe this to be the Vogue in Leamington, and it was possibly on Ontario Street.
If not the there was a Vogue Theatre in Stratford that there seems to be no record of, even though it was open from prior to the 50s and at least early80s.
Below link mentions other area theatres.
Update, via Michael O'Brien.
Three 2019 photos & description credit Kerry Ray Carman.
“I find old movie theaters the most challenging to get inside, so we were glad to see the Max Theater in Sibley, Iowa was accessible. Opened in 1917 as the Royal Theater and was first in the area to offer A/C. The original name is found throughout, such as the "R” in the original floor tile, the original box office with the plaque from RCA Sound on it. You can find the original pictures, lights and the projection room door and ceiling and walls is lined with tin still (was told that film burns easily and tin was to keep the fire contained). Great visit!"
1953 photo added via Sheryl Polson.
Globe Gazette photo.
Photo and description added via Adrian Brisee.
May 19, 1974. Harlan, Iowa – “I’m setting my standards at the box office”, says Al Woodraska, owner of the Harlan Theater, the only movie house in town. “That’s what pays the bills.”
To help pay the bills, Woodraska is showing X-rated movies once a month. “Midnight Plowboy” did a good business in April. “Teenage Bride” is the next X-rated attraction.
Harlan is a farm town and county seat, community of white houses and front porches pocketed in the gentle hills of western Iowa. The telephone book lists 20 taverns, 28 churches, and 43 farm equipment and feed dealers Last year X-rated movies drew pickets from the local Baptist Church and city counsel condemnation in this town of 4,049. This year there hasn’t been a ripple. “Last Tango in Paris” critically acclaimed and X-rated set a box office record of $379.90 in four days – at the Harlan Theater in March. Harlan and its theater are far from unique. With increasing frequency, X-rated films are flashing flesh across the screens in small town America.
Here is the direct link to the page Joe Vogel posted in 2012.
http://www.iptv.org/iowapathways/mypath/princess-theater-trained-actors?fbclid=IwAR2-xp63IIsH8UbIKjtos1MRQ8Fnzc-4CVJa4T9TelX6dBHlPkNu4QlMHuI
December 30, 1980 photo added credit H. Darr Beiser / Tucson Citizen.
June 1965 photo credit Tucson Citizen Archives.
Four photos added.
Photo #2 in this article has the Roxy on the right, originally Elizabeth Street.
https://www.barrietoday.com/columns/remember-this/the-theatre-block-when-gas-pumps-became-a-menace-4-photos-1622664?fbclid=IwAR1-E3VD5HVphe2UOYy5BUxDdhXRGv2z3EhA3xfAx7qM_bVxFZEZf6zm6Tg
1987 photo added via Roseville Reflections Facebook page. Appears to have already had 4 screens by
87 and not early90s as the Overview states.Facebook post with copyrighted demolition photos in the comments.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10215848509264629&set=gm.1701371029928507&type=3&theater&ifg=1
This St. Clair Shores Public Library link says the address was originally 30609 Jefferson Avenue.
http://www.scslibrary.org/lookingback2014.html?fbclid=IwAR1kkmLPPXFqXxfBTm6q3WQmuhpMZrCKZ4sicqmM3xWnjnGL0g6CwXrTnrg
1950 image as East Detroit Theatre added via Vince Nestico.
Ghost sign added, 9/22/18 photo & description credit Carol Gombert Pietrantoni.
1988 – Roseville Theatre John Margolies Roadside America photograph archive (1972-2008), Library of Congress
Multiple images added. Below history courtesy Steve Girardin & Debbie McIntyre.
A theatre to rival the movie showplaces of Detroit came to Mount Clemens in 1921, and she was a grand lady indeed. The Macomb Theatre was the brainchild of Frank J. Kendrick of Mount Clemens, who, along with several other local men, saw the need in Mount Clemens for a theatre in addition to the Bijou. The men formed the Macomb Theatre Company with Frank Kendrick as president, Harry M. Widrig as resident manager, and Louis F.
Wolf, William E. Koehler, William Wagner, Jacob Malbin and John Guenther as board members. The companys original intent was to create an additional movie venue in downtown Mount Clemens, with more capacity than the 700-seat Bijou. A site on Walnut street was acquired and plans for a 1,000-seat movie palace were undertaken.
Unsatisfied with the work of a local architect, the company turned to C. Howard Crane of Detroit, the designer of Detroits Orchestra Hall and Radio City Music Hall in New York. Crane and his associates convinced the company to provide a stage for vaudeville acts, and the design of the theatre changed accordingly. The new theatre would seat 1,035 on the main floor and an additional 600 in the balcony.
The stage area was equipped with fly galleries for scenery, dressing rooms for performers, and spot and flood lights of the latest design. A massive Hillgren & Lane pipe organ was specially manufactured for the Macomb Theatre. Local contractors for the construction were Schott Bros. and Weber of Mount Clemens.
L. F. Wolf Hardware installed the plumbing, heating and ventilating apparatus; Modern Electric performed the electrical installation. Carpets were laid by F.
W. Krauseneck, and building materials were supplied by Kendrick & Bruel and R. C. Ullrich Hardware.
The cost of construction was $300,000, with an additional $60,000 spent on furnishings. Decorating was done by Max Goldberg of Detroit, and the Daily Leader marveled at the splendid appointments of the house: Massive pilasters resplendent with rich colorings, and ornate designs, and with bronze caps, support a well-proportioned entablature, on which rests the arched ceiling. Gold pilasters enrich the sides of the theater, the entire color scheme being in blue, green, gold and grey. The ceiling is paneled with plaster relief work and mural paintings by a renowned decorative artist and are inserted in the plaques.
The newspaper further noted that the main curtain was of deep blue silk velour with a huge letter M in gold at the bottom. The Macombs stage was devoted primarily to vaudeville acts at first, but motion pictures and road attractions were also regular features. The opening act on July 25, 1921, was the Jimmie Hodges Musical Comedy Company offering the musical farce Pretty Baby. The movie attraction was Charles Ray in Scrap Iron.
Mount Clemens turned out in great numbers and filled every one of the 1,635 seats for the theatres premiere performance. The Macomb continued to offer vaudeville and road shows well into the 1930s, and in the face of the decline of live theatre became a successful first-run movie house. The theatre was briefly closed in 1953, then was purchased by former usher Robert Vickrey, who operated it as a movie theatre catering to the interests of teenagers for almost three decades. In June, 1980, beset by youthful vandals and stiff competition from multi-screen movie complexes at Lakeside and Macomb Malls, the Macomb rang down its final curtain as a movie house after running its last picture, Kramer vs.
Kramer. An attempt to return the Macomb to its former glory was made when the Macomb Council for the Performing Arts purchased the building in 1981 and restored it for use as a live theatre. The Council was recognized by the federal government for funding the restoration with local donations. Godspell was the inaugural performance at the rejuvenated Macomb Theatre, but its troubles were far from over.
The theatre was closed in June 1984 to restructure its debt, and the Council was forced to offer it for sale in October 1984. Another live theatre project was undertaken in 1987 when the building became the Great Lakes Dinner Playhouse, but that venture folded after only a year. In 1991, new owners of the building converted the once-grand Macomb Theatre to the Club Hollywood nightclub, and in 1997 the nightclubs name was changed to JDs Macomb Theater. The year 2000 saw the buildings restoration and reopening as the Emerald Theatre
Address was 87 N. Gratiot Avenue. 1938 Grand Opening as Jewel Theatre print ad added via Vince Nestico.
1932 photo link, credit Dick Whittington, courtesy the Huntington.
https://hdl.huntington.org/digital/collection/p15150coll2/id/3871/
Building sold in October 2018, link below.
https://www.pasadenastarnews.com/2018/10/19/pasadenas-artistry-theater-building-sold-for-5-3-million/
1938 photo added courtesy Los Angeles Historic Facebook page.
Plan to restore the Patio on the CBS 2 Morning News today.
https://chicago.cbslocal.com/video/4148894-new-owner-plans-to-fix-aging-patio-theater-and-damaged-marquee/?fbclid=IwAR1gLBZqPW0Svyvu34qYZMI5LMGKEkib6oukPAEHhdbsLwY5KuSVLBPzidQ
Two images added.
In hindsight, the two provinces are 2 hours apart, so since the photo was found on a Remembering Stratford facebook page, it is likely not the Vogue in Leamington.
Undated photo added via Kathy Robinson Vaters. I believe this to be the Vogue in Leamington, and it was possibly on Ontario Street. If not the there was a Vogue Theatre in Stratford that there seems to be no record of, even though it was open from prior to the
50s and at least early80s. Below link mentions other area theatres.http://images.ourontario.ca/Partners/efp/EFP0106071_004.pdf