According to The Vindicator “The Big Fisherman” ran for almost three months at the State – 1959-60. The last four weeks were discounted and didn’t require advanced purchase of tickets. Opened October 31, 1959 at the State. Shown in Panavision 70 on the Todd-A-O screen. The firat showing of the picture started exactly at 8:30 P.M.
It’s a great resource for those who are into the technical side of the industry but as a historian of Youngstown, Ohio, its overload and doesn’t provide the kind of information I need … specific information on local theaters.
For a number of other theaters here at CT there are lists of movies that ran at those theaters along with the year they ran and that is the kind of data I need for the Warner; State; Palace; and Paramount.
As for the Vindicator at Googlenews it’s a hit and miss thing since many of the issues are not there, and others are incomplete making the finding of specific material difficult so I have to spend many hours at the Public Library which does have a complete collection of all the Youngstown newspapers. But without dates that means spending many hours in vane.
The library doesn’t have much information and few pictures of the local theaters, and while the historical society can supply pictures of local theaters, they charge a fee for them and the pictures are copywritten so I cannot afford to use that resource.
If I can get a complete list of th 70mm movies that were shown at the State, hopefully I can also find articles about the State in connection with the Todd-A-O process.
Thanks for your memories of the State, but I really need month and year that these films were shown. I did find “The Big Fisherman” but a list in chronological order is really what I’m looking for so that I can find and save the opening ad and review for each film for my collection.
Need some expert help in finding out which Todd-A-O films the State ran and the date they ran. Trying to search through over 1000 newspapers on a hit and miss basis is a daunting task that I’m not up to, but if I had dates – month and year – it would make the task much easier.
Thanks in advance for any help that can be provided.
Its understandable that you would have only gone to the Palace, State, Warner and Paramount since you would have been too young to go to the Park which was a mere shaddow of its former glory and was reduced to being an adults onlt theater, but in its best days it brought in so many great shows both on stage and screen.
Thanks for the kind words Wayne. The history of Youngstown and its institutions is a project that I have devoted many hours, nay week, months and years to, and our theater history is an important part of it.
My Webshots site has over 1000 pictures, and I contribute historical information at mahoningvalley.info to preserve our local history.
The Warner and Palace as well as the Park played key roles in local theatrical history, and by the way, the State did have 70mm Todd-A-O and I recall the long lines waiting to buy tickets.
Today at 72, I guess I have more than my share of nostelga (sp) for Youngstown’s glory days.
It was removed and the Rosette was installed. The chandelier is currently in storage.
No offense intended but it seems that you are degrading Powers solely in the basis if that one item.
The Warner family who is the best judge of the matter applauded the auditorium officials for their efforts in preserving the auditorium, and by the way there is nothing “new” save the Rosette which was to inhance the sound quality.
As I said before, I worked there for two years, on a daily basis, and I can safely assure you that the greatest care was maintained in bringing it up to what it is today even to the point of bringing in experts in paint matching and plastering where needed including folks from the company that built the building in the first place.
As youth, our vision of a theater isn’t what it is for an adult. I know that my view of the Palace Theater was different than when I was older.
Youngstown was known as a tough theater town where audiences were very demanding.
The theaters that brought in live shows were the Hippodrome, the Park Theatre and the Palace.
The Palace featured Broadway plays, vaudeville and big bands; and movies the Park brought in plays, opera, symphonies, vaudeville, burlesque, movies and ballets; and the Hippodrome brought in vaudeville and movies.
In one of the Broadway theaters dressing room someone wrote on the wall: “If you think you’re good, try playing Youngstown, Ohio.”
Oh, and by the way, the idea that the theater is “a shadow of the beauty it once had” certainly is not true since hunfreds of thousands of dollars were spent in preserving its original beauty, and experts in historic preservation were brought in to oversee the work.
Warners first theater was located in New Castle and is now a museum dedecated to the Warner Brothers.
As to the interior, the photos speak for themselves.
All of the furnishings are still there that were there when it was the Warner Theater including bronze statues that are extremely valuable and original oil paintings.
The only changes that were made was in the auditorium proper. Two rows of seats were removed to make it handicap accessable on the main floor (see seating charts).
The mirrors and chandeliers in the lobby are still there, and are well cared for.
In a word the theater that was the Warner has been well preserved in its original state, aside from the new portions that were alled when it became Powers, but the space taken up by the additions wer not part of the original theater. The new box office and offices while in the original building are remodled stores.
As to renaming this site to Warner Theater, since Powers still has all the equipment for showing movies in working condition and occassionally uses it, I see no reason for a name change.
Froggy allow me to describe the stage area for you:
Orchestra Pit has a removeable floor so that a large orchestra could be placed there. This pit was built in such a way as to project the sound clearly throughout the auditorium.
Stage Level – Stage Managers office and loading dock as well as the lighting switchboard.
Stage Left and Right – Three floors of dressing rooms.
Below stage – Mechanics – Green Room – two dressing rooms and prop storage as well as restrooms, music library and a kitchenet.
Quite possably the organ could have been located on the lower level of the Orchestra pit but on stage left are a bank of ropes for backdrops etc. and the wall is solid save for doors on the second level.
Where the pipes etc were located is a mystery to me and I worked there for 2 years.
I wish that someone who had better knowledge about the Warner than I could tell us where the organ sat when it was still there because as many times as I went to the Warner as a kid, I don’t recall ever seeing an organ where you would expect to see it, and where were the pipes, because I’m quite familiar with back stage, and didn’t see where they could have been located.
By the way, the large screen is still there and could be lowered to show movies according to Powers stage tec specs, so I wish that the powers that be would once in a while have film fests rather than to allow the theater to set empty so much of the time.
Each summer Youngstown sponsores a program of showing movies outdoors at the arena, and its well attended.
Indeed it was Fred Childress, a very good friend, and the Shagrin name goes way back in Youngstown theater history, running a number of local theaters over the years. One I believe was associated with the Warner Brothers.
That last comment should have read:
During most of its life as the Warner Theater, Frank Savage was the manager, and upon his death, his assistant, Miss Marie Wollitz who had held a number of positions over the years was named manager. She held that position until the theater closed.
When the Warner became Powers Auditorium, Mr. Jack Hines former manager of the Paramount Theater was named General Manager.
I’ve noticed that some folks confuse this Palace with two other Palace Theaters that were in Youngstown. The first theater by this name was on East Federal Street and was long gone by the time the Keith Albee opened, and the other was on Market Street and was not related to the Wick Avenue theater and was a small burlesque/adult films theater that was shut down by the city.
It was recently announced that Barry Manilow will be making a four city tour with members of the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra who call Powers home base. Two of the cities are in the U.S. and two are in Canada.
Thanks Mr, Vogel, that a good starting point. Unfortunately the early theaters didn’t run ads on a regular basis here in the early years so its a hit or miss job of trying to identify them. I know that I’ve found some 30 downtown theaters that came and went almost equally divided on East and West Federal Street between 1901 and about 1915 but only a very small number got a writeup in the paper that could furnish any data.
Also unfortunately, Googlenews only has the Vindicator and not the Youngstown Telegram which was also a daily paper here until it was sold to the Vindicator in the 1930’s.
According to The Vindicator “The Big Fisherman” ran for almost three months at the State – 1959-60. The last four weeks were discounted and didn’t require advanced purchase of tickets. Opened October 31, 1959 at the State. Shown in Panavision 70 on the Todd-A-O screen. The firat showing of the picture started exactly at 8:30 P.M.
It’s a great resource for those who are into the technical side of the industry but as a historian of Youngstown, Ohio, its overload and doesn’t provide the kind of information I need … specific information on local theaters.
For a number of other theaters here at CT there are lists of movies that ran at those theaters along with the year they ran and that is the kind of data I need for the Warner; State; Palace; and Paramount.
As for the Vindicator at Googlenews it’s a hit and miss thing since many of the issues are not there, and others are incomplete making the finding of specific material difficult so I have to spend many hours at the Public Library which does have a complete collection of all the Youngstown newspapers. But without dates that means spending many hours in vane.
The library doesn’t have much information and few pictures of the local theaters, and while the historical society can supply pictures of local theaters, they charge a fee for them and the pictures are copywritten so I cannot afford to use that resource.
If I can get a complete list of th 70mm movies that were shown at the State, hopefully I can also find articles about the State in connection with the Todd-A-O process.
Thanks for your memories of the State, but I really need month and year that these films were shown. I did find “The Big Fisherman” but a list in chronological order is really what I’m looking for so that I can find and save the opening ad and review for each film for my collection.
Need some expert help in finding out which Todd-A-O films the State ran and the date they ran. Trying to search through over 1000 newspapers on a hit and miss basis is a daunting task that I’m not up to, but if I had dates – month and year – it would make the task much easier.
Thanks in advance for any help that can be provided.
Its understandable that you would have only gone to the Palace, State, Warner and Paramount since you would have been too young to go to the Park which was a mere shaddow of its former glory and was reduced to being an adults onlt theater, but in its best days it brought in so many great shows both on stage and screen.
Thanks for the kind words Wayne. The history of Youngstown and its institutions is a project that I have devoted many hours, nay week, months and years to, and our theater history is an important part of it.
My Webshots site has over 1000 pictures, and I contribute historical information at mahoningvalley.info to preserve our local history.
The Warner and Palace as well as the Park played key roles in local theatrical history, and by the way, the State did have 70mm Todd-A-O and I recall the long lines waiting to buy tickets.
Today at 72, I guess I have more than my share of nostelga (sp) for Youngstown’s glory days.
It was removed and the Rosette was installed. The chandelier is currently in storage.
No offense intended but it seems that you are degrading Powers solely in the basis if that one item.
The Warner family who is the best judge of the matter applauded the auditorium officials for their efforts in preserving the auditorium, and by the way there is nothing “new” save the Rosette which was to inhance the sound quality.
As I said before, I worked there for two years, on a daily basis, and I can safely assure you that the greatest care was maintained in bringing it up to what it is today even to the point of bringing in experts in paint matching and plastering where needed including folks from the company that built the building in the first place.
As youth, our vision of a theater isn’t what it is for an adult. I know that my view of the Palace Theater was different than when I was older.
Youngstown was known as a tough theater town where audiences were very demanding.
The theaters that brought in live shows were the Hippodrome, the Park Theatre and the Palace.
The Palace featured Broadway plays, vaudeville and big bands; and movies the Park brought in plays, opera, symphonies, vaudeville, burlesque, movies and ballets; and the Hippodrome brought in vaudeville and movies.
In one of the Broadway theaters dressing room someone wrote on the wall: “If you think you’re good, try playing Youngstown, Ohio.”
Six new pictures have been added.
Oh, and by the way, the idea that the theater is “a shadow of the beauty it once had” certainly is not true since hunfreds of thousands of dollars were spent in preserving its original beauty, and experts in historic preservation were brought in to oversee the work.
Warners first theater was located in New Castle and is now a museum dedecated to the Warner Brothers.
As to the interior, the photos speak for themselves.
All of the furnishings are still there that were there when it was the Warner Theater including bronze statues that are extremely valuable and original oil paintings.
The only changes that were made was in the auditorium proper. Two rows of seats were removed to make it handicap accessable on the main floor (see seating charts).
The mirrors and chandeliers in the lobby are still there, and are well cared for.
In a word the theater that was the Warner has been well preserved in its original state, aside from the new portions that were alled when it became Powers, but the space taken up by the additions wer not part of the original theater. The new box office and offices while in the original building are remodled stores.
As to renaming this site to Warner Theater, since Powers still has all the equipment for showing movies in working condition and occassionally uses it, I see no reason for a name change.
Froggy allow me to describe the stage area for you:
Orchestra Pit has a removeable floor so that a large orchestra could be placed there. This pit was built in such a way as to project the sound clearly throughout the auditorium.
Stage Level – Stage Managers office and loading dock as well as the lighting switchboard.
Stage Left and Right – Three floors of dressing rooms.
Below stage – Mechanics – Green Room – two dressing rooms and prop storage as well as restrooms, music library and a kitchenet.
Quite possably the organ could have been located on the lower level of the Orchestra pit but on stage left are a bank of ropes for backdrops etc. and the wall is solid save for doors on the second level.
Where the pipes etc were located is a mystery to me and I worked there for 2 years.
Someone once asked about Youngstown Drive-In’s.
There were 4 Drive-In’s:
Southside Drive-In – Youngstown
Northside Drive-In – Youngstown
Westside Drive-In – Youngstown
Sky-Hi Drive-In – Youngstown
Unfortunately I have no detais about them except for the fact that they are closed.
The Sky-Hi which was on the city’s East Side is now a church complex.
Thank you Chuck for correcting the link.
I wish that someone who had better knowledge about the Warner than I could tell us where the organ sat when it was still there because as many times as I went to the Warner as a kid, I don’t recall ever seeing an organ where you would expect to see it, and where were the pipes, because I’m quite familiar with back stage, and didn’t see where they could have been located.
By the way, the large screen is still there and could be lowered to show movies according to Powers stage tec specs, so I wish that the powers that be would once in a while have film fests rather than to allow the theater to set empty so much of the time.
Each summer Youngstown sponsores a program of showing movies outdoors at the arena, and its well attended.
Fred Childress on the closing of the Warner Theater
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=WeBRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ZoQMAAAAIBAJ&pg=785%2C4266950
The official closing was February 28, 1968
The article also talks about the Warner Pipe Organ which seems to have still been there when the theater closed.
Indeed it was Fred Childress, a very good friend, and the Shagrin name goes way back in Youngstown theater history, running a number of local theaters over the years. One I believe was associated with the Warner Brothers.
Given the quality of films that ran in the Foster’s glory days, your father would not approve of what it is today.
The area around the Foster today is a war zone … murders, drugs and the like.
Would you happen to have any photos of the Foster’s interior?
That last comment should have read: During most of its life as the Warner Theater, Frank Savage was the manager, and upon his death, his assistant, Miss Marie Wollitz who had held a number of positions over the years was named manager. She held that position until the theater closed.
When the Warner became Powers Auditorium, Mr. Jack Hines former manager of the Paramount Theater was named General Manager.
As an aside, Mr. Savage who was Dome Manager during the Warner era was transfered to the new Warner Theater, a position he held til his death.
I’ve noticed that some folks confuse this Palace with two other Palace Theaters that were in Youngstown. The first theater by this name was on East Federal Street and was long gone by the time the Keith Albee opened, and the other was on Market Street and was not related to the Wick Avenue theater and was a small burlesque/adult films theater that was shut down by the city.
The Warners ran the Dome from 1930 to 1936.
Peter Wellman, owner of a chain of local theaters owned the Palace in Hubbard,along with theaters in Youngstown, Niles, Girard and Campbell, Ohio.
It was recently announced that Barry Manilow will be making a four city tour with members of the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra who call Powers home base. Two of the cities are in the U.S. and two are in Canada.
What is so sad is the fact that this could have been the Palace Theatre’s rebirth had the folks in Youngstown had the vision that saved the Warner.
Thanks Mr, Vogel, that a good starting point. Unfortunately the early theaters didn’t run ads on a regular basis here in the early years so its a hit or miss job of trying to identify them. I know that I’ve found some 30 downtown theaters that came and went almost equally divided on East and West Federal Street between 1901 and about 1915 but only a very small number got a writeup in the paper that could furnish any data.
Also unfortunately, Googlenews only has the Vindicator and not the Youngstown Telegram which was also a daily paper here until it was sold to the Vindicator in the 1930’s.