Improvements to the Liberty Theatre were planned in 1918, according to this item from the May 18 issue of The Moving Picture World: “MURPHYSBORO, ILL. — Extensive improvements will be made to Liberty theater, costing about $15,000.”
The original Lyric was replaced by a new building in 1918, if this item from the May 18 issue of The Moving Picture World was correct:
“DOUGLAS, ARIZ. — James M. Nulla, manager Lyric theater, plans to erect new building on site of present structure. Also to build an airdome at Favenvo and 8th streets.”
Marcus Loew was oerating the Grand as early as 1918, as reported in the May 18 issue of The Moving Picture World:
“ATLANTA, GA. — Marcus Loew, of New
York, will expend $40,000 for improvements to Grand theater instead of erecting new structure as previously reported. Plans include remodeling gallery, erecting mezzanine floor, stage and marquee; installing $15,000 pipe organ, typhoon fan system, electric equipment, scenery, and hangings. E. A. Schiller is local manager.”
This article about the Hamblen Theatre appeared in The Moving Picture World of May 11, 1918:
“SAN FRANCISCO. — The new Hamblen theater, Park street and Encinal avenue, Alameda, was opened on the evening of April 15. This theater was constructed and will be operated by James Hamblen, formerly of Kansas City, Mo. As this is the first venture in the amusement field he has secured the services as manager of E. V. Clover, for several years connected with the Turner & Dahnken Circuit, and the opening of the house was conducted under the management of the latter.
“This new theater is of substantial brick construction, with a facade of plaster, relieved by a trimming of light-colored brick. It has a seating capacity of 1,500, this being divided about equally between the lower floor and the balcony. The office is on the lower floor, directly off the main entrance, and near the broad stairway leading to the balcony. At the other side of the theater is another stairway, but this leads directly to the street and is designed to be used as an exit. Off the foyer is a small rest room for women, a telephone booth and drinking fountains. The foyer, aisles and stairs are carpeted throughout.
“The entire mezzanine floor is given over to a ladies' rest room and a nursery where there is a maid in attendance. These rooms are very attractively furnished and show much thought on the part of the designer. Here are drinking fountains and free local telephones. The decorations here and throughout the house are of a quiet, but very effective order.
“The theater is equipped with a full stage and it is the plan to present vaudeville attractions each Sunday. The ventilating system is a feature of the house, the air being changed throughout once every twelve minutes. Music is rendered by a seven-piece orchestra, under the direction of Max Amsterdam, of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, and a large Wurlitzer Hope-Jones Unit Orchestra presided over by Miss Irma Falvey. The projection equipment includes two late model Simplex machines installed by the Breck Photo Play Supply Company.
“The opening program included an address by Green Majors, mayor of Alameda, musical numbers by a soldier, a Fairbanks feature "Headin' South.” a Sunshine comedy, a Burton Holmes Travelogue and a Pathe News. The prices of admission are 15 cents for the lower floor and 10 cents for the balcony, with reserved loge seats at 25 cents. At matinees all seats are 10 cents. These prices include the war tax.“
The May 11, 1918, issue of The Moving Picture World had this item about the Princess:
“Princess Theater Will Open in June.
“The interior stucco work for the new Princess theater, Cheyenne, arrived this past week and is being put in place. Manager Todd has issued a statement that the new theater will be ready by the first of June and sooner if possible.”
If, as the newspaper item dontaylor50 cited above said, the Princess was “prosperous” in March of 1918, perhaps the theater opened later in 1918 was the second of that name in Cheyenne.
This comment on our Irving Theatre page says that the Buena Vista Theatre was converted into a live theater venue and rental auditorium after closing as a movie house, but was abandoned when the Irving Arts Center was built (this would have been 1990.)
The comment says Buena Vista was across the street from the high school, and as of 2012 was slated to be demolished for a senior citizens condominium project. This project must have been The Villages on MacArthur, now open at 3443 N MacArthur Blvd, Irving, TX 75062.
Without further information, that’s probably as close as we’ll get to the Buena Vista Theatre’s actual address. The 10-acre Arts Center is located immediately south of the condominium.
The Moving Picture World of May 11, 1918, had this item about the California Theatre, though the project missed the theater’s projected opening date by about over months:
“Miller’s Theater to Open September 15.
“The new Miller theater, now being erected at Eighth and Main streets for Fred Miller and associates, is being rushed to completion in record time. Work was started on the theater on February 11. All the walls are in up to the mezzanine floor and the great concrete slab covering the entire mezzanine floor has been poured; also the two grand stairways on either side of the main entrance, which lead up a gentle incline known as a ‘ramp’ and the main ramp leading to the balcony are a mass of solid concrete reinforced by steel bars.
“To get ready for this operation and to bring the work up to its present condition, it has taken over 250,000 feet of lumber, 70 tons of steel bars, 800 tons of rock, 450 yards of
sand, 4,000 sacks of cement, 100 kegs of nails, three and a
half tons of wire and about fifty tons of miscellaneous materials. The new theater will be ready September 15.”
Having never been inside the California I was unaware that it had ramps. Architect A. B. Rosenthal must have been aware of the theaters designed by architect Henderson Ryan, who first used ramps for balcony access in Seattle’s Liberty Theatre in 1912, and patented a ramp system for theaters in 1916.
I’ve managed to dig up bit (a very little bit) more about Rosenthal. The 1926 Los Angeles city directory lists him as Rosenthal, Alex B., archt. 815 S. Hill rm 709, with his residence at 2401 6th. 815 S. Hill was the Hillstreet Building, the office block which was also occupied by the Junior Orpheum Circuit’s Hillstreet Theatre. Rosenthal’s office had been moved into the building in 1922, the year it was completed.
Alex B. Rosenthal was practicing architecture in Chicago at least as early as 1896 and at least as late as 1904. He opened an office in the Lankershim Building in Los Angeles in 1915.
I’ve seen sources saying that the Liberty opened in 1915, and others saying it was 1916. The book Screening Room: Family Pictures, by M. A. Lightman’s grandson Alan Lightman says 1916, which is more likely correct. However, it appears that Lightman did not control the Liberty continuously, as the April 6, 1918, issue of The Moving Picture World carried this brief notice: “SHEFFIELD, ALA. — M. A. Lightman has taken over Liberty theater.”
Lightman had more than one iron in the fire around this time. In November 1918, Motion Picture News noted that he was President of the Criterion Film Service, a film exchange (distribution company) that had been opened in Atlanta in September.
This article from 2017 says that the Runyon Theatre went dark in December, 2016. It has since reopened as a bar and night club called the Spirit House Cabaret.
The recent opening of the Rialto Theatre at Pueblo was announced in the May 4, 1918, issue of The Moving Picture World. In 2017, Spirit House Cabaret was planning an event to commemorate the theater’s 100th anniversary in March, 2018, so that might be the month in which the theater originally opened.
The Beacon Theatre was designed by architectural engineer Ira Jack Castles, according to the article on display. His Houston-based firm, Castles Design Group, founded in 1952, is still active.
The correct name of the architect of the Palace Theatre is Alfred M. Lublin. A Jewish architect who fled Germany when Hitler came to power, he arrived in the United States in 1936 after practicing in Paris for a couple of years.
After the war his Norfolk-based firm, Lublin, McGaughy & Associates, founded in 1943, established branch offices in Paris and Milan, which Lublin headed. He died at the age of 53 in an airliner crash in 1960, cutting short a very successful career.
Prior to being remodeled in 1940, this house was called the Star Theatre. Plans for the remodeling were by architect Alfred M. Lublin. Eric Ledell Smith’s book African American Theater Buildings says that the Star was an African American house at least as early as 1930.
The Lyric reopened under different ownership later. The June 3, 1916, issue of Motography said that “[t]he Lyric theater, North Fifth street, Beatrice, has been taken over by H. W. Crosson of Hastings.”
Later that year, yet another operator, Hal Kelly, who also operated the Gilbert Theatre, succeeded in getting the City Council to respond positively to a petition he submitted requesting that theaters be allowed to run movies on Sundays. This rare quick success in the industry’s fight against Sunday blue laws was reported in the September 2, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World.
The “History” page of the Sun Theatre’s official web site says the theater was built as an opera house in 1909 and became a movie house in 1926. However, there is this item from the December 27, 1917, issue of Exhibitors Herald:
“Gothenburg, Neb. — Gothenburg’s new Sun Theatre, a motion picture house, was opened to the public recently. Between 1,500 and 2,000 people witnessed the two performances on opening day. Nate Desky of Brush, Colo., is owner.”
That 1917 is when the Opera House was converted into a movie theater called the Sun is confirmed by this notice from the July 21, 1917, issue of The American Contractor:
“Gothenburg, Nebr. — Opera House (rem.): $2,500. 2 sty. 50x92. Archt. Victor F. Beck, North Platte, Nebr. Owner Nat. Desky, Brush, Colo. Taking bids.”
This item about the Roxy Theatre is from the Sunday, May 1, 1932, issue of the Miami Daily News-Record:
“The Roxy theater was opened in Picher Saturday night by Carl Gordon, well known former theater man of the district, in the building formerly occupied by the Gayety theater at 211 South Main street. The new theater quarters have been enlarged and extensively improved. Equipment includes talking picture facilities of the Western Electric company. The theater has a seating capacity of approximately 500. Mr. Gordon has announced that it will be his policy to give the theatergoing public of Picher and vicinity a thoroughly modern playhouse with strictly modern prices.”
Picher had a movie house called the Gayety Theatre at least as early as 1921.
The Globe Theatre was situated on Douglas Avenue, Beaver’s main business street. The March 22, 1917, issue of The Beaver Herald said that the Globe’s operators, Spangler Brothers, who had taken over the house in 1916, had started excavating for a new theater on the lot south of the Herald building.
The July 5 issue of the Herald said that the theater would open in its new location the following night. The new Globe building was 25x120 feet.
Boxoffice of June 11, 1962, reported the recent death of Mrs. A. L. McArthur who had, with her late husband, operated the Beaver Theatre for many years. The McArthurs' granddaughter, Betty Parker, was operating the house.
Adams & Angleton, operators of the Novelty theatre at Forgan, Oklahoma, provided capsule movie reviews to various issues of Exhibitors Herald in 1921.
Forgan’s population never got much above 600, so it’s possible that all three of the movie theaters listed for the town at CinemaTour (Novelty, Alta, and Forgan) were the same house under different names.
I just realized that the house opening on April 15, 1918, means that tomorrow would have been the Hamblen Theatre’s 100th anniversary.
This web page about the Neptune Theatre also has information about its architect, Henderson Ryan, and photos of some of his other works.
Improvements to the Liberty Theatre were planned in 1918, according to this item from the May 18 issue of The Moving Picture World: “MURPHYSBORO, ILL. — Extensive improvements will be made to Liberty theater, costing about $15,000.”
The original Lyric was replaced by a new building in 1918, if this item from the May 18 issue of The Moving Picture World was correct:
Marcus Loew was oerating the Grand as early as 1918, as reported in the May 18 issue of The Moving Picture World:
This article about the Hamblen Theatre appeared in The Moving Picture World of May 11, 1918:
The May 11, 1918, issue of The Moving Picture World had this item about the Princess:
If, as the newspaper item dontaylor50 cited above said, the Princess was “prosperous” in March of 1918, perhaps the theater opened later in 1918 was the second of that name in Cheyenne.This comment on our Irving Theatre page says that the Buena Vista Theatre was converted into a live theater venue and rental auditorium after closing as a movie house, but was abandoned when the Irving Arts Center was built (this would have been 1990.)
The comment says Buena Vista was across the street from the high school, and as of 2012 was slated to be demolished for a senior citizens condominium project. This project must have been The Villages on MacArthur, now open at 3443 N MacArthur Blvd, Irving, TX 75062.
Without further information, that’s probably as close as we’ll get to the Buena Vista Theatre’s actual address. The 10-acre Arts Center is located immediately south of the condominium.
The Moving Picture World of May 11, 1918, had this item about the California Theatre, though the project missed the theater’s projected opening date by about over months:
Having never been inside the California I was unaware that it had ramps. Architect A. B. Rosenthal must have been aware of the theaters designed by architect Henderson Ryan, who first used ramps for balcony access in Seattle’s Liberty Theatre in 1912, and patented a ramp system for theaters in 1916.I’ve managed to dig up bit (a very little bit) more about Rosenthal. The 1926 Los Angeles city directory lists him as Rosenthal, Alex B., archt. 815 S. Hill rm 709, with his residence at 2401 6th. 815 S. Hill was the Hillstreet Building, the office block which was also occupied by the Junior Orpheum Circuit’s Hillstreet Theatre. Rosenthal’s office had been moved into the building in 1922, the year it was completed.
Alex B. Rosenthal was practicing architecture in Chicago at least as early as 1896 and at least as late as 1904. He opened an office in the Lankershim Building in Los Angeles in 1915.
I’ve seen sources saying that the Liberty opened in 1915, and others saying it was 1916. The book Screening Room: Family Pictures, by M. A. Lightman’s grandson Alan Lightman says 1916, which is more likely correct. However, it appears that Lightman did not control the Liberty continuously, as the April 6, 1918, issue of The Moving Picture World carried this brief notice: “SHEFFIELD, ALA. — M. A. Lightman has taken over Liberty theater.”
Lightman had more than one iron in the fire around this time. In November 1918, Motion Picture News noted that he was President of the Criterion Film Service, a film exchange (distribution company) that had been opened in Atlanta in September.
This article from 2017 says that the Runyon Theatre went dark in December, 2016. It has since reopened as a bar and night club called the Spirit House Cabaret.
The recent opening of the Rialto Theatre at Pueblo was announced in the May 4, 1918, issue of The Moving Picture World. In 2017, Spirit House Cabaret was planning an event to commemorate the theater’s 100th anniversary in March, 2018, so that might be the month in which the theater originally opened.
The Beacon Theatre was designed by architectural engineer Ira Jack Castles, according to the article on display. His Houston-based firm, Castles Design Group, founded in 1952, is still active.
The former Thorncliffe Market Place Mall is now called East York Town Centre, and is at 45 Overlea Boulevard.
The Bayne Theatre was demolished in November, 2015. Here is video posted at YouTube by the demolition company.
This article from The Virginian Pilot of December 18, 2015, has an early aerial photo of the Bayne.
The correct name of the architect of the Palace Theatre is Alfred M. Lublin. A Jewish architect who fled Germany when Hitler came to power, he arrived in the United States in 1936 after practicing in Paris for a couple of years.
After the war his Norfolk-based firm, Lublin, McGaughy & Associates, founded in 1943, established branch offices in Paris and Milan, which Lublin headed. He died at the age of 53 in an airliner crash in 1960, cutting short a very successful career.
The Norfolk Building Inspection Department has a set of plans for the Hampton Theatre dated 7/18/1940 and drawn by architect Alfred M. Lublin.
Judging from Google’s street view, Old Dominion University has expanded onto this block and demolished all the old buildings, including the theater.
Prior to being remodeled in 1940, this house was called the Star Theatre. Plans for the remodeling were by architect Alfred M. Lublin. Eric Ledell Smith’s book African American Theater Buildings says that the Star was an African American house at least as early as 1930.
Plans for the Park Moving Picture Theatre were drawn in 1920 by architect A. O. Ferebee. The project was commissioned by E. J. Reass.
The Lyric reopened under different ownership later. The June 3, 1916, issue of Motography said that “[t]he Lyric theater, North Fifth street, Beatrice, has been taken over by H. W. Crosson of Hastings.”
Later that year, yet another operator, Hal Kelly, who also operated the Gilbert Theatre, succeeded in getting the City Council to respond positively to a petition he submitted requesting that theaters be allowed to run movies on Sundays. This rare quick success in the industry’s fight against Sunday blue laws was reported in the September 2, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World.
The “History” page of the Sun Theatre’s official web site says the theater was built as an opera house in 1909 and became a movie house in 1926. However, there is this item from the December 27, 1917, issue of Exhibitors Herald:
That 1917 is when the Opera House was converted into a movie theater called the Sun is confirmed by this notice from the July 21, 1917, issue of The American Contractor:This item about the Roxy Theatre is from the Sunday, May 1, 1932, issue of the Miami Daily News-Record:
Picher had a movie house called the Gayety Theatre at least as early as 1921.The Globe Theatre was situated on Douglas Avenue, Beaver’s main business street. The March 22, 1917, issue of The Beaver Herald said that the Globe’s operators, Spangler Brothers, who had taken over the house in 1916, had started excavating for a new theater on the lot south of the Herald building.
The July 5 issue of the Herald said that the theater would open in its new location the following night. The new Globe building was 25x120 feet.
Boxoffice of June 11, 1962, reported the recent death of Mrs. A. L. McArthur who had, with her late husband, operated the Beaver Theatre for many years. The McArthurs' granddaughter, Betty Parker, was operating the house.
Adams & Angleton, operators of the Novelty theatre at Forgan, Oklahoma, provided capsule movie reviews to various issues of Exhibitors Herald in 1921.
Forgan’s population never got much above 600, so it’s possible that all three of the movie theaters listed for the town at CinemaTour (Novelty, Alta, and Forgan) were the same house under different names.
The first appearance of the Nusho Theatre in the FDY was in 1936, making a 1935 opening very likely.