This item datelined Garfield, New Jersey, appeared in the November 4, 1953 issue of Exhibitor: “The Ritz, a closed house that has been refurbished and redecorated, will have a gala opening on Nov. 5 with local city, church, and veteran groups cooperating. The opening attraction will be ‘Stalag 17’ and ‘Safari Drums.’ Deon De Titta, former chief projectionist, 20th-Fox home office, will manage the 800-seat house for Marjoel, Inc., of which L. Nocerino is president. Liggett-Florm will buy and book. The Holy Name Cadet and Bugle Corps, Garfield Post, American Legion, five times national champions, is scheduled to help out with the festivities.”
I wonder if the photo we have depicts that event?
CinemaTour gives the aka’s Garden Theatre and Garfield Auditorium for this house. I haven’t found any references to Garden Theatre, but Garfield Auditorium was the site of boxing matches in 1929. Garfield has nothing listed in the FDYs for 1926 or 1928, and I don’t think this house was a movie theater at that time. The façade of the building is clearly quite old, perhaps even 19th century, and it’s a bit frustrating being unable to find any references to the place earlier than 1929.
The June 29, 1960 issue of Boxoffice listed the Park Theatre at Pelican Bay among Minnesota houses that had recently closed. It had been operated by Ivan Johnson of Fergus Falls.
This article from the Santa Maria Times of March 5, 1946 gives some early history of the Commercial Hotel and its theater. They were both owned by the Campodonico brothers, and both opened in 1912. The premises were originally leased to other operators, but Charles Campodonico bought out one of the leasing partners in 1913 and the other in 1914, and thereafter operated at least the hotel by himself until selling the property in 1946.
As noted in the MPW item cited in my previous comment, the Campodonico brothers were operating the theater themselves by 1922 (but probably much earlier.) Most likely the house closed when the Royal Theatre opened nearby in 1940. The Times article makes reference to “[t]he Campodonico Theatre….” presenting movies, vaudeville and travelling shows in the period leading up to WWI, so that might have been an aka in the early years.
A brief history of Gaylord’s American Legion post in the April 8, 2017 issue of the Mankato Free Press said that the post took over operation of the Hub theatre in 1933, and acquired another building for renovation into the Legion theatre in 1938.
The September 16, 1922 issue of Moving Picture World mentions Guadalupe, though it doesn’t give a theater name. It said that Campadonica [sic] Brothers, Guadalupe, Cal. were among those who had recently bought Simplex projection equipment from the Los Angeles offices of Argus Enterprises, Inc.. (The correct spelling of the family name is Campodonico. That family’s patriarch, Stephen Francis Campodonico, had been in Guadalupe since at least 1895, when he opened a store. The town today still has a Campodonico Street.)
The October 1, 1938 issue of Boxoffice published this item “from the Boxoffice files,” dated September 23, 1924: “Mark C. Read has taken over the Jefferson at Coffeyville, Kas., which he will convert from a road show to an exclusive motion picture house.” (I originally posted this comment with a typo reading 1929 instead of 1924. It became a movie house in 1924. I’m sorry for any confusion this caused.)
This item from the Iowa news column of the February 1, 1913 issue of Motography is probably about this house. The Auditorium’s absence from the 1914-1915 directory might be either oversight or intermittent operation as a movie house during its early years: “Justice C. H. Jackson has leased the Auditorium at Mount Pleasant from the owner, Dennis Moreny, and will operate a moving picture show.” It looks as though the conversion of the church to a theater took place some time between 1909 and 1913, before it first began to operate as a movie house.
The February 1, 1913 issue of Motography had news of this theater: “Manager Krauth of the Germania Opera House at Denison said the opera house would be converted into a motion picture theater.”
The February 1, 1913 issue of Motography had this item about the new theater under construction in Hutchinson: “The new Umstot building, which is being erected at 103 North Main street, Hutchinson, for a theater building, has been leased by E. Wayne Martin who will conduct the playhouse. The theater will be nicely arranged for both motion picture purposes and as a vaudeville house. There will be a large stage, a sloping main floor, and a balcony for overflow purposes.”
Two related events in Coffeyville were noted in the June 16, 1923 issue of Exhibitor’s Trade Review: “Columbian Theatre, Coffeyville, Kan., purchased by J. Perry from Stanley Koch.”
“Odeon Theatre, Coffeyville, Kan., owned by J. Perry, to be closed.”
As this house was replaced by the Tackett Theatre, it is undoubtedly the airdome that John Tackett was reportedly building at 8th and Maple in 1910. The earliest report on the project I’ve found in the trade Journals was in the July 9 issue of Moving Picture World. The indoor Tackett Theatre was built in 1918.
A September 7, 1918 Moving Picture World item (with typo) says “Coffeyville, Kans.—The Taskett theatre is nearing completion and will be opened early this fall.” In late 1923, the November 24 MPW noted that among recent visitors to the film exchanges in Kansas City “John Tackett, Tackett Theatre, Coffeyville, Kas.” This theater was on the site of an airdome built by John Tackett in 1910, reported in the July 9 MPW that year. I would imagine that the airdome was meant to be a summer location for the first Tackett Theatre at 7th and Maple.
Another item about this house, from the January 9, 1939 Motion Picture Herald: “JAMES W. GRANTHAM who owns and manages the New Baxter Theatre in Baxter Springs, Kansas, had a very good reason for entering showbusiness. It seems he owned the lot where the theatre stands and after having a couple of buildings there decided to build a DeLuxe house and so nine years ago up went the New Baxter. This was leased to Fox and others but finally, in 1935, Jim, himself, took over and is right proud of the way the theatre is going over, undoubtedly due to his efforts, say we.”
According to the October 11, 1929 issue of Motion Picture News “J. D. Wineland, New Baxter, Baxter Springs, Kans.” was one of the out-of-town exhibitors recently visiting film row in Kansas City.
A letter from E. M. Bannister, manager of the Airdome, was published in the September 26, 1914 issue of Moving Picture World. It read in part “This is the third season of the airdome, which seats 40O and cost $1,500 to fit up, as we had the best of everything, including weatherproof opera chairs and pitched floor.” A November, 1916 Sanborn map of Saugatuck shows the Airdome at what was then 313 Water Street, but today has the approximate address 326 Water Street. The location is actually south of the old Pavilion, not north.
The July 4, 1914 Moving Picture World mentioned plans of the owner of the Willis Theatre: “B. L. Murrell, owner of the Willis Theater at Nevada, Mo., has purchased the Photoplay, and will operate both theaters in the future. L. H. Haggard, the former owner of the Photoplay, probably will re-enter the business in Kansas City.” If Mr. Haggard did move to Kansas City at that time, by 1921 he was back in Nevada, operating the Star Theatre.
The March 11, 1922 issue of Motion Picture News said that a partnership of Sears and Jones had purchased all the movie theaters in Nevada, then numbering six. By 1926, the only house listed at Nevada in the FDY was the 800-seat Star.
The Family Theatre was also mentioned in MPW in 1914, when the September 26 issue said that “[t]he Family theater of Nevada opened its doors for the fall and winter season August 29, with service from the General Film Company.”
In 1914, Nevada also had a house called the Photoplay, which the July 4 issue of Moving Picture World said had just been sold by L. H. Haggard to B. L. Murrell, owner of the Willis Theatre. Murrell planned too keep both houses in operation.
Eleven years after the previous citation, the January 7, 1939 Motion Picture Herald said that “Ray Walsh, operator of the Mainstreet at Chanute, Kan., is reseating and redecorating his house.”
The January 7, 1928 issue of Motion Picture News had this item: “A NEW deal in Kansas City, effective immediately, is one between
Universal Theatres and Midland Theatre and Realty Company, through which the latter acquires a 50 per cent interest in 24 Missouri and Kansas theaters.” The Peoples Theatre and Main Street Theatre in Chanute were noted as being among the Universal houses in which Midland had acquired an interest.
A Grand may have opened in 1925, but Chanute had a Grand Theatre at least as early as 1918. I’ve though it might be that Grand was the opening name of the house that later operated as the Main Street, though both names were in use simultaneously by 1926. I haven’t found the Main Street mentioned before the mid-1920s.
I haven’t found the Williams Opera House mentioned in movie theater trade journals, but the March 10, 1906 issue of The Billboard has an item about the closing of the Williams. It was apparently unable to compete against the newer Hetrick. It might be that the closed Williams was taken over as a movie venue for a while, and being the only theater in town for many years (it was built in 1880) it almost certainly hosted early exhibitions of moving pictures either as stand-alone entertainments or as adjuncts of travelling vaudeville shows. But so far I’ve found no evidence it ever operated as a regular movie house.
This item is from the June 9, 1923 issue of Exhibitors Trade Review: “Hedrick Opera House, Chanute, Kas., remodeled by Mark Wilson, will be re-opened soon.” The Hetrick had been operating as a movie house earlier though, as the following item from the August 2, 1919 issue of Moving Picture World indicates: “Chanute Theatres Under One Control.
“M. C. Wilson, of Chanute, Kansas, has bought out the Barker interests in the People’s Theatre. This purchase gives Mr. Wilson, who is already owner of the Hetrick and Grand, control of all the moving picture houses in Chanute.”
Chanute still had three movie houses in 1926, though the Hetrick had burned down. The FDY lists the Peoples, the Grand and the Main Street that year. Facebook posts indicate that the Main Street was at 122-124 W. Main, a location that housed a movie theater on the 1924 Sanborn, and that it lasted at least into the 1950s. The remains of the box office, just a protrusion on the façade, can still be seen on Google street view. I’ve been unable to track down the location of the Grand. Sanborn fell down on the job with the 1924 map, which has many buildings that lack any information about what they housed. One of those might have been the Grand.
This item datelined Garfield, New Jersey, appeared in the November 4, 1953 issue of Exhibitor: “The Ritz, a closed house that has been refurbished and redecorated, will have a gala opening on Nov. 5 with local city, church, and veteran groups cooperating. The opening attraction will be ‘Stalag 17’ and ‘Safari Drums.’ Deon De Titta, former chief projectionist, 20th-Fox home office, will manage the 800-seat house for Marjoel, Inc., of which L. Nocerino is president. Liggett-Florm will buy and book. The Holy Name Cadet and Bugle Corps, Garfield Post, American Legion, five times national champions, is scheduled to help out with the festivities.”
I wonder if the photo we have depicts that event?
CinemaTour gives the aka’s Garden Theatre and Garfield Auditorium for this house. I haven’t found any references to Garden Theatre, but Garfield Auditorium was the site of boxing matches in 1929. Garfield has nothing listed in the FDYs for 1926 or 1928, and I don’t think this house was a movie theater at that time. The façade of the building is clearly quite old, perhaps even 19th century, and it’s a bit frustrating being unable to find any references to the place earlier than 1929.
The June 29, 1960 issue of Boxoffice listed the Park Theatre at Pelican Bay among Minnesota houses that had recently closed. It had been operated by Ivan Johnson of Fergus Falls.
This article from the Santa Maria Times of March 5, 1946 gives some early history of the Commercial Hotel and its theater. They were both owned by the Campodonico brothers, and both opened in 1912. The premises were originally leased to other operators, but Charles Campodonico bought out one of the leasing partners in 1913 and the other in 1914, and thereafter operated at least the hotel by himself until selling the property in 1946.
As noted in the MPW item cited in my previous comment, the Campodonico brothers were operating the theater themselves by 1922 (but probably much earlier.) Most likely the house closed when the Royal Theatre opened nearby in 1940. The Times article makes reference to “[t]he Campodonico Theatre….” presenting movies, vaudeville and travelling shows in the period leading up to WWI, so that might have been an aka in the early years.
A brief history of Gaylord’s American Legion post in the April 8, 2017 issue of the Mankato Free Press said that the post took over operation of the Hub theatre in 1933, and acquired another building for renovation into the Legion theatre in 1938.
The September 16, 1922 issue of Moving Picture World mentions Guadalupe, though it doesn’t give a theater name. It said that Campadonica [sic] Brothers, Guadalupe, Cal. were among those who had recently bought Simplex projection equipment from the Los Angeles offices of Argus Enterprises, Inc.. (The correct spelling of the family name is Campodonico. That family’s patriarch, Stephen Francis Campodonico, had been in Guadalupe since at least 1895, when he opened a store. The town today still has a Campodonico Street.)
The October 1, 1938 issue of Boxoffice published this item “from the Boxoffice files,” dated September 23, 1924: “Mark C. Read has taken over the Jefferson at Coffeyville, Kas., which he will convert from a road show to an exclusive motion picture house.” (I originally posted this comment with a typo reading 1929 instead of 1924. It became a movie house in 1924. I’m sorry for any confusion this caused.)
That’s supposed to read “S. E. Pirtle” but the page is not rendering properly.
This item from the Iowa news column of the February 1, 1913 issue of Motography is probably about this house. The Auditorium’s absence from the 1914-1915 directory might be either oversight or intermittent operation as a movie house during its early years: “Justice C. H. Jackson has leased the Auditorium at Mount Pleasant from the owner, Dennis Moreny, and will operate a moving picture show.” It looks as though the conversion of the church to a theater took place some time between 1909 and 1913, before it first began to operate as a movie house.
The February 1, 1913 issue of Motography had news of this theater: “Manager Krauth of the Germania Opera House at Denison said the opera house would be converted into a motion picture theater.”
The February 1, 1913 issue of Motography had this item about the new theater under construction in Hutchinson: “The new Umstot building, which is being erected at 103 North Main street, Hutchinson, for a theater building, has been leased by E. Wayne Martin who will conduct the playhouse. The theater will be nicely arranged for both motion picture purposes and as a vaudeville house. There will be a large stage, a sloping main floor, and a balcony for overflow purposes.”
Two related events in Coffeyville were noted in the June 16, 1923 issue of Exhibitor’s Trade Review: “Columbian Theatre, Coffeyville, Kan., purchased by J. Perry from Stanley Koch.”
“Odeon Theatre, Coffeyville, Kan., owned by J. Perry, to be closed.”
As this house was replaced by the Tackett Theatre, it is undoubtedly the airdome that John Tackett was reportedly building at 8th and Maple in 1910. The earliest report on the project I’ve found in the trade Journals was in the July 9 issue of Moving Picture World. The indoor Tackett Theatre was built in 1918.
A September 7, 1918 Moving Picture World item (with typo) says “Coffeyville, Kans.—The Taskett theatre is nearing completion and will be opened early this fall.” In late 1923, the November 24 MPW noted that among recent visitors to the film exchanges in Kansas City “John Tackett, Tackett Theatre, Coffeyville, Kas.” This theater was on the site of an airdome built by John Tackett in 1910, reported in the July 9 MPW that year. I would imagine that the airdome was meant to be a summer location for the first Tackett Theatre at 7th and Maple.
Another item about this house, from the January 9, 1939 Motion Picture Herald: “JAMES W. GRANTHAM who owns and manages the New Baxter Theatre in Baxter Springs, Kansas, had a very good reason for entering showbusiness. It seems he owned the lot where the theatre stands and after having a couple of buildings there decided to build a DeLuxe house and so nine years ago up went the New Baxter. This was leased to Fox and others but finally, in 1935, Jim, himself, took over and is right proud of the way the theatre is going over, undoubtedly due to his efforts, say we.”
According to the October 11, 1929 issue of Motion Picture News “J. D. Wineland, New Baxter, Baxter Springs, Kans.” was one of the out-of-town exhibitors recently visiting film row in Kansas City.
A letter from E. M. Bannister, manager of the Airdome, was published in the September 26, 1914 issue of Moving Picture World. It read in part “This is the third season of the airdome, which seats 40O and cost $1,500 to fit up, as we had the best of everything, including weatherproof opera chairs and pitched floor.” A November, 1916 Sanborn map of Saugatuck shows the Airdome at what was then 313 Water Street, but today has the approximate address 326 Water Street. The location is actually south of the old Pavilion, not north.
The July 1, 1947 Film Daily mentioned the Arbo as a house that was then being operated by Fox Midwest.
The July 4, 1914 Moving Picture World mentioned plans of the owner of the Willis Theatre: “B. L. Murrell, owner of the Willis Theater at Nevada, Mo., has purchased the Photoplay, and will operate both theaters in the future. L. H. Haggard, the former owner of the Photoplay, probably will re-enter the business in Kansas City.” If Mr. Haggard did move to Kansas City at that time, by 1921 he was back in Nevada, operating the Star Theatre.
The March 11, 1922 issue of Motion Picture News said that a partnership of Sears and Jones had purchased all the movie theaters in Nevada, then numbering six. By 1926, the only house listed at Nevada in the FDY was the 800-seat Star.
The Family Theatre was also mentioned in MPW in 1914, when the September 26 issue said that “[t]he Family theater of Nevada opened its doors for the fall and winter season August 29, with service from the General Film Company.”
In 1914, Nevada also had a house called the Photoplay, which the July 4 issue of Moving Picture World said had just been sold by L. H. Haggard to B. L. Murrell, owner of the Willis Theatre. Murrell planned too keep both houses in operation.
Eleven years after the previous citation, the January 7, 1939 Motion Picture Herald said that “Ray Walsh, operator of the Mainstreet at Chanute, Kan., is reseating and redecorating his house.”
The January 7, 1928 issue of Motion Picture News had this item: “A NEW deal in Kansas City, effective immediately, is one between Universal Theatres and Midland Theatre and Realty Company, through which the latter acquires a 50 per cent interest in 24 Missouri and Kansas theaters.” The Peoples Theatre and Main Street Theatre in Chanute were noted as being among the Universal houses in which Midland had acquired an interest.
A Grand may have opened in 1925, but Chanute had a Grand Theatre at least as early as 1918. I’ve though it might be that Grand was the opening name of the house that later operated as the Main Street, though both names were in use simultaneously by 1926. I haven’t found the Main Street mentioned before the mid-1920s.
I haven’t found the Williams Opera House mentioned in movie theater trade journals, but the March 10, 1906 issue of The Billboard has an item about the closing of the Williams. It was apparently unable to compete against the newer Hetrick. It might be that the closed Williams was taken over as a movie venue for a while, and being the only theater in town for many years (it was built in 1880) it almost certainly hosted early exhibitions of moving pictures either as stand-alone entertainments or as adjuncts of travelling vaudeville shows. But so far I’ve found no evidence it ever operated as a regular movie house.
This item is from the June 9, 1923 issue of Exhibitors Trade Review: “Hedrick Opera House, Chanute, Kas., remodeled by Mark Wilson, will be re-opened soon.” The Hetrick had been operating as a movie house earlier though, as the following item from the August 2, 1919 issue of Moving Picture World indicates: “Chanute Theatres Under One Control.
“M. C. Wilson, of Chanute, Kansas, has bought out the Barker interests in the People’s Theatre. This purchase gives Mr. Wilson, who is already owner of the Hetrick and Grand, control of all the moving picture houses in Chanute.”
Chanute still had three movie houses in 1926, though the Hetrick had burned down. The FDY lists the Peoples, the Grand and the Main Street that year. Facebook posts indicate that the Main Street was at 122-124 W. Main, a location that housed a movie theater on the 1924 Sanborn, and that it lasted at least into the 1950s. The remains of the box office, just a protrusion on the façade, can still be seen on Google street view. I’ve been unable to track down the location of the Grand. Sanborn fell down on the job with the 1924 map, which has many buildings that lack any information about what they housed. One of those might have been the Grand.