Based on the above, I request that this theater’s entry be removed, as it is clear that in spite of the images, there was no Steel Pier Theater per se, though films were shown within the structure.
I found rather odd that this theater had not been enrolled on CT before, as it shows up in many pictures of the Atlantic City Boardwalk before the casino era, especially given its supposedly huge seating capacity. Over five thousand seats would make it one of the largest theaters ever built, and yet there is not much about it, at least from online sources, nor in several books I have about the grand movie palaces of the last century, even those which began their lives as places for vaudeville.
Well, the Pickfair address above is the one for the theater according to the SR Theaters website. The theater is built along one edge of what amounts to a modern take on a town square; a Cathedral City municipal building is almost adjacent to the theater. It is possible that the segment of the drive that runs in front of the theater may have been renamed Pickfair from Civic Center Drive. Having been there, I can assure you that the pictures are indeed of the Pickford Theater.
(Cathedral City, a part of the Greater Palm Springs area, does not really have any real religious significance per se; it was named for Cathedral Canyon, which somewhat resembles a cathedral).
The theater probably will soon be demolished; the Long Beach redevelopment agency will decide on May 3, 2010, but the staff recommendation is that it be razed: http://www.presstelegram.com/news/ci_14986898
According to this article, a Centre Theater at 111 South Bickford sustained some wind damage on April 29, 2010. Is this same theater as the El Caro which the above comment places at 111 North Bickford? View link
A rather awkward name for a theater though; one would think that, at a minimum, something simple such as Highway 90 Cinemas would be less clumsy.
Before UA’s bankruptcy and merger into the Regal chain, the chain, unlike many others, did not always use United Artists or UA to identify its theaters either in directory ads or as a part of a theater’s signage, though the name would appear on door decals, the pre-show filmed segments, etc. A significant number of theaters that the UA circuit opened in the 1970s were simply known as “The Movies at ______”
tlsloews: I did find some additional information about this; you can email me at golgafrinchan48 at att dot net. This discussion is, as you noted, not really on topic.
Just a little from some books I have read; my understanding is that after Marcus Loew died, William Fox wanted to buy Loew’s and the deal was actually announced. But Louis B. Mayer opposed it (remember that at that time Loew’s controlled MGM), and used his influence to press for an anti-trust investigation. Then Fox was injured in an automobile accident, the stock market crashed in 1929, Fox lost control of his holdings, and the deal came to nothing.
Actually, that’s a rather simplified version of the story! The whole version would fill books (and has). UPC originally was a maze of sub-companies because the Paramount-owned theaters were operated through a bunch of subsidiaries including former independent circuits such as Balaban & Katz, United Detroit Theaters, etc. In addition, the UPC-ABC merger had a rough time in the courts before it was approved.
One has to feel sorry for the good folks of Orlando; although undoubtedly some of them saw Cinerama features in other cities, the uninitiated there only got the 70mm version and, with the exception of “2001” and possibly “Khartoum,” got only a few of the weakest of the films in that format. I am sure a lot of people left the Beacham shaking their heads muttering something like, “What’s the big deal with this Cinerama thing?”
d.qualley: Yes, for awhile, the ABC Broadcasting Companies did operate theaters. The story is rooted in the aftermath of the 1949 Paramount Consent Decree and the early struggles of ABC to gain a secure foothold in television in the early 1950s. A company called United Paramount Theaters (UPC) was formed to manage the former Paramount-owned theaters. UPC then acquired ABC, which was having difficulty in firmly establishing its TV network. UPC saw possibilities in the company, renaming UPC as American Broadcasting Company-Paramount Theaters, Inc. This was later shortened to the American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. In the 1970s, the Midwestern group of theaters was sold to a new company headed by Henry Plitt, who had been an executive within the ABC theaters division. About a decade later, Plitt sold the Midwestern group of theaters (which, at least at one time would have included the Brookdale) to Cineplex-Odeon (which in turn was acquired by Sony/Loew’s, which in turn became part of AMC; in the process a number of theaters were closed or sold to other operators). All of this occurred well before the Disney acquisition of ABC or the more recent Paramount TV network.
From an architectural/acoustical point of view, the Hippodrome might well have made a great opera house, but Cleveland (though home to a renowned symphony orchestra) has never really had the same or even a similar opera history as other cities of its size and potential resources. Caruso did appear at the Hippodrome in 1911 during one of the NYC Metropolitan touring performances; the Met also played the Hippodrome the following year.
Historically, Cleveland opera lovers have more or less counted on touring opera companies over the decades, especially the Met, which had a regular run for many years at Public Hall. Since the rebirth of Playhouse Square, a local company has played at the State. But during the time when the Hipp might have been available or ripe for opera house conversion, there really was no local company that would have been able to really make use of it as gargantuan as it was or raise the funds necessary to make it a true opera house.
There may be more going on here than the article reports; first Furlinger sells the Terrace; now, according to this article, the Hippodrome (a former traditional IMAX theater) is not doing well: http://www.wciv.com/news/stories/0410/727713.html
Based on the above, I request that this theater’s entry be removed, as it is clear that in spite of the images, there was no Steel Pier Theater per se, though films were shown within the structure.
I found rather odd that this theater had not been enrolled on CT before, as it shows up in many pictures of the Atlantic City Boardwalk before the casino era, especially given its supposedly huge seating capacity. Over five thousand seats would make it one of the largest theaters ever built, and yet there is not much about it, at least from online sources, nor in several books I have about the grand movie palaces of the last century, even those which began their lives as places for vaudeville.
There is a picture of the closed Virginia Theatre here; scroll down to see it: http://www.steel-pier.com/
There are some pictures of the theater on this webpage; scroll down to see them: http://www.steel-pier.com/
Well, the Pickfair address above is the one for the theater according to the SR Theaters website. The theater is built along one edge of what amounts to a modern take on a town square; a Cathedral City municipal building is almost adjacent to the theater. It is possible that the segment of the drive that runs in front of the theater may have been renamed Pickfair from Civic Center Drive. Having been there, I can assure you that the pictures are indeed of the Pickford Theater.
(Cathedral City, a part of the Greater Palm Springs area, does not really have any real religious significance per se; it was named for Cathedral Canyon, which somewhat resembles a cathedral).
Thanks; I will put the article’s URL where it should be.
The theater probably will soon be demolished; the Long Beach redevelopment agency will decide on May 3, 2010, but the staff recommendation is that it be razed: http://www.presstelegram.com/news/ci_14986898
This theater suffered wind damage on April 29, 2010; article with picture here: View link
According to this article, a Centre Theater at 111 South Bickford sustained some wind damage on April 29, 2010. Is this same theater as the El Caro which the above comment places at 111 North Bickford? View link
The new owners want to add Bollywood fare and change the refreshment stand offerings: View link
A rather awkward name for a theater though; one would think that, at a minimum, something simple such as Highway 90 Cinemas would be less clumsy.
Before UA’s bankruptcy and merger into the Regal chain, the chain, unlike many others, did not always use United Artists or UA to identify its theaters either in directory ads or as a part of a theater’s signage, though the name would appear on door decals, the pre-show filmed segments, etc. A significant number of theaters that the UA circuit opened in the 1970s were simply known as “The Movies at ______”
If $25 million sounds expensive, it was not that long ago that they were saying $40 million.
This theater may re-open if grant funds become available; story here: View link
An article about the theater’s plans for 3-D projection and other upgrades: http://www.ktuu.com/Global/story.asp?S=12372960
When I read the line referred to above, I hear an echo of Lowell Thomas saying, “Ladies and gentlemen: This is Cinerama!”
An article about an attempt to turn this theater into a performing arts center by two people with an apparently dubious track record: View link
tlsloews: I did find some additional information about this; you can email me at golgafrinchan48 at att dot net. This discussion is, as you noted, not really on topic.
Just a little from some books I have read; my understanding is that after Marcus Loew died, William Fox wanted to buy Loew’s and the deal was actually announced. But Louis B. Mayer opposed it (remember that at that time Loew’s controlled MGM), and used his influence to press for an anti-trust investigation. Then Fox was injured in an automobile accident, the stock market crashed in 1929, Fox lost control of his holdings, and the deal came to nothing.
Actually, that’s a rather simplified version of the story! The whole version would fill books (and has). UPC originally was a maze of sub-companies because the Paramount-owned theaters were operated through a bunch of subsidiaries including former independent circuits such as Balaban & Katz, United Detroit Theaters, etc. In addition, the UPC-ABC merger had a rough time in the courts before it was approved.
One has to feel sorry for the good folks of Orlando; although undoubtedly some of them saw Cinerama features in other cities, the uninitiated there only got the 70mm version and, with the exception of “2001” and possibly “Khartoum,” got only a few of the weakest of the films in that format. I am sure a lot of people left the Beacham shaking their heads muttering something like, “What’s the big deal with this Cinerama thing?”
d.qualley: Yes, for awhile, the ABC Broadcasting Companies did operate theaters. The story is rooted in the aftermath of the 1949 Paramount Consent Decree and the early struggles of ABC to gain a secure foothold in television in the early 1950s. A company called United Paramount Theaters (UPC) was formed to manage the former Paramount-owned theaters. UPC then acquired ABC, which was having difficulty in firmly establishing its TV network. UPC saw possibilities in the company, renaming UPC as American Broadcasting Company-Paramount Theaters, Inc. This was later shortened to the American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. In the 1970s, the Midwestern group of theaters was sold to a new company headed by Henry Plitt, who had been an executive within the ABC theaters division. About a decade later, Plitt sold the Midwestern group of theaters (which, at least at one time would have included the Brookdale) to Cineplex-Odeon (which in turn was acquired by Sony/Loew’s, which in turn became part of AMC; in the process a number of theaters were closed or sold to other operators). All of this occurred well before the Disney acquisition of ABC or the more recent Paramount TV network.
An article about the theater, with a picture: View link
The article indicates that the seat count is 137.
From an architectural/acoustical point of view, the Hippodrome might well have made a great opera house, but Cleveland (though home to a renowned symphony orchestra) has never really had the same or even a similar opera history as other cities of its size and potential resources. Caruso did appear at the Hippodrome in 1911 during one of the NYC Metropolitan touring performances; the Met also played the Hippodrome the following year.
Historically, Cleveland opera lovers have more or less counted on touring opera companies over the decades, especially the Met, which had a regular run for many years at Public Hall. Since the rebirth of Playhouse Square, a local company has played at the State. But during the time when the Hipp might have been available or ripe for opera house conversion, there really was no local company that would have been able to really make use of it as gargantuan as it was or raise the funds necessary to make it a true opera house.
Guys, I hate to be a party pooper, but these comments are way off topic.
There may be more going on here than the article reports; first Furlinger sells the Terrace; now, according to this article, the Hippodrome (a former traditional IMAX theater) is not doing well: http://www.wciv.com/news/stories/0410/727713.html