The Lyric Theatre building has been demolished. Historic aerial photos show the building that probably once housed the Lyric still standing just south of the Grand Theatre as late as 1966, but the next aerial available is from 1998, and the site had become a parking lot by then.
The Fox Kettering was one of a pair of almost identical houses opened by National General in December, 1966, the first having been the Fox Valley Circle Theatre in San Diego,opened on December 23.
These theaters were designed by Harold W. Levitt & Associates, with William H. Farwell and Ernest W. LeDuc, and at least two more were later built on the same plan: the Fox Northwest Plaza in Dayton, Ohio, opened in December, 1967, and the Mark Twain Theatre, Sunset Hills, Missouri, opened in August, 1968.
The Davison Theatre, having been opened in 1911, must have been the project at Beaver Dam noted in the July 2, 1910, issue of The American Contractor. This was to be a two-story theater, 46x100 feet. It was being designed by architects Ellerbe & Round of St Paul. Beaver Dam’s only other old theater, the Odeon, was already in existence as the Opera House by 1900.
Histories of Ellerbe Architects say that Olin Round joined Franklin Ellerbe’s firm in 1911, but this item indicates that the partnership began at least a year earlier. Round left the firm in 1915.
The grass-covered site of the Grand Theatre is roughly across the street from the building currently occupied by Byrd Watson Medical Equipment, which is at 123 N. Locust. The Grand’s address was probably about 124 N.Locust.
The Broadway Theatre probably opened before the end of 1910. The September 17 issue of The American Contractor said that the contracts had been let for gas and plumbing, electrical work, plastering, painting, and roofing had been let. The project at Broadway and St. Charles Street for the St. Charles Amusement Company was one of two Duggan & Huff-designed houses under way in St.Louis in the summer of 1910, the other being the Union Theatre.
The August, 1911, issue of Motography had this item:
“The E. H. Pipe Realty Company, which is erecting a moving picture theater on Olive street, between Vandeventer avenue and Sarah street, has leased the same to the Olive Theater Company for twenty-five years at $2,000 a year.”
The September 3, 1910, issue of The American Contractor said that the theater to be built at Olive and Sarah Streets in St. Louis was being designed by architects Clymer & Drischler.
I see that one of the courtesy ads in the newspaper rivest266 uploaded is from architect Frank L. Sutter, though it says only “Supt. of the New Ideal Theater” and the article text says that “[t]he architectural work was in charge of Horace B. Sutter.”
The Internet provides many references to Frank L. Sutter, who had practiced architecture in Dayton for decades. Horace B. was presumably a younger relative, as Frank Sutter was born in 1832 and would have been at least 80 years old when the Ideal was built. I can’t find any other references to Horace B. Sutter, so if he was an architect too his career must have been very short.
This vintage photo gives a glimpse of the State’s marquee on the left. This is the 100 block of East Broadway, and I believe the most likely address of the State is 117. The building just east of it at 119 is now occupied by The Entourage Salon. The building at (probably) 117 doesn’t have the number on it, or any signage, and it’s impossible to tell what might be in it, assuming it isn’t vacant. It has a very plain, modernized front, and might or not be the same building the State was in.
The Royal has not been demolished, but the theater is surely dismantled. It looks like the building has been used for offices. In the current Google street view there’s a “For Sale by Owner” sign on the front.
The Capitol Theatre first appears in the 1927 FDY with 750 seats. It is possible that the Capitol was a project noted in the April 11, 1925, issue of The Moving Picture World. The planned house was a bit smaller than the Capitol, but a decision to expand the project might account for some delay in its construction, resulting in an opening too late for its inclusion in the 1926 FDY:
“Giesecke & Harris, architects, are erecting a new theatre at New Braunsfels, Texas, seating 600.”
The Capitol must have been in operation at least as late as 1969. That year the April 17 issue of the New Braunfels Herald published a map and list of public fallout shelters in the city, one of them being the Capitol Theatre, 351 Plaza.
I do not believe the Capitol Theatre has been demolished. If you zoom in on Google’s satellite view you can see the building near the west end of the south side of the plaza, with its tall brick stage house still recognizable. In street view you can zoom in on the front and and make out the name “Capitol Plaza” above the entrance doors. The building appears to be in use as retail and office space.
The Palace of Pictures appears to have been replaced by a new, larger house called simply the Palace Theatre. This page from a virtual walking tour of New Braunfels says the Palace opened December 23, 1924, and closed in 1932.
This item from the March 14, 1925 issue of The Moving Picture World gives the address of the theater underway in Berwyn as 6330-44 Roosevelt Road, but I’m guessing that either that was a mistake or that the odd and even numbers were later switched from one side of the street to the other, as the project description otherwise fits the Ritz quite well, and the timingis right. One other oddity is that the projected name of the new house was the Oakwyn, a name that was later used for a different Berwyn house.
“Work has started on a $500,000 theatre block in Berwyn at 6330-44 Roosevelt road, between Cuyler and Ridgeland, just across the boundary line from Oak Park. It will be called the Oakwyn and will have a 2,250-seat movie with complete stage. There will also be six stores and eleven apartments. Hooper & Janusch are the architects. James I. Biba and John J. Lynch, who took title to the 161x125 site, will operate the Oakwyn.
William T. Hooper and Fred W. Janusch were the principals of the fairly well-known firm of Hooper & Janusch. Though best known for several high rise apartment blocks, the firm designed at least three other theaters, but as far as I’ve been able to determine, of those three only the Manor Theatre in Chicago was actually completed.
This item is from the March 7, 1925 issue of The Moving Picture World:
“Queens Village Has Theatre
“The Community Theatre, Queens Village, Long Island, was opened to the public last week. It is a well-appointed picture-house and has a seating capacity of more than one thousand. Music is furnished by a five-piece orchestra, under the direction of Fred Dressel, and a $12,000 organ. The program is changed every two days. The theatre is controlled by the Citizens' Community House, Inc. The house is under the management of Joseph Merck. The performance is continuous from 1:30 until 11 P. M.”
The article at Comfortably Cool’s link identifies R. Thomas Short as the architect.
Was the Hub Theatre in the building that now houses Anytime Fitness? That building looks like it could have been a theater or a church, or perhaps both in succession.
The Argyle Theatre now has an official web site. The first event scheduled is a Donna Summer tribute show on April 21, followed by a comedy showcase on May 5. The first extended run stage show to be mounted will be “Guys and Dolls” running from May 10 to June 17.
It seems very unlikely that Mr. M. Minkus would have gone to the expense of hiring George E. Lubin to draw plans for an 800 seat theater building at 2014 E. First Street in 1913 had there been a 1200 seat theater designed by E. J. Borgmeyer the previous year already standing on the same lot. The most likely explanation is that the 1912 project fell through, and it was Lubin’s 1913 project that got built and opened as the Olympus Theatre.
It’s interesting that in 1912 the property was under lease to an outfit called the Boyle Heights Picture Garden Company. That sounds like the name of an airdome theater, though no such business is listed for that address in the city directories for 1910, 1911, 1912, or 1913. This might have been an earlier theater project that also never came to fruition.
In 1950 the Stoddard was operated by Skouras Theaters, and was the site of the American premier of the Danish film “Red Meadows” on January 18, according to the January 21 issue of Boxoffice. Danish Ambassador Henrik DeKaufman and his wife were in attendance, along with members of the consulate staff and a number of literary celebrities.
This page about the world premier of Warner Brothers movie “Montana” at the Marlow Theatre on January 10, 1950, appeared in the January 21 issue of Boxoffice.
The opening ad says that the New Don Theatre had been “…entirely rebuilt and redecorated….” The possibility remains that the Don was in the old Orpheum building. The Orpheum might also have been called the Hartwig Theatre, which was listed in many editions of the FDY in the late 1920s and 1930s, though never with its seating capacity given.
Emil DonTigny (or Don Tigny or Dontigny- the latter is the standard spelling of the name but Emil seems to have often capitalized the “T” for some reason) arrived in East Helena in 1946, after having worked as a projectionist in Havre. He soon returned to Havre where, according to the “1949 Drive-In Theatre Survey” published in the January 21, 1950, issue of Boxoffice he opened a 400-car drive-in in partnership with Clarence Golder.
Although it gives the location of the new house as Main Street, this item from The Moving Picture World of July 5, 1919, is about the Connollee Theatre:
“A new theatre building is being erected at a cost of approximately $75,000, on Main street, Eastland, Texas. It will be known as the Connellee Theatre.”
The Connollee was either replaced or substantially rebuilt in 1925. A drawing of the new Connollee is in the lower left corner of this page of Exhibitors Herald of July 4, 1925. The caption notes that the project was designed by San Antonio architect Henry T. Phelps, though it misspells his surname.
The Lyric Theatre building has been demolished. Historic aerial photos show the building that probably once housed the Lyric still standing just south of the Grand Theatre as late as 1966, but the next aerial available is from 1998, and the site had become a parking lot by then.
Thanks, Mike. I’ll note that in a comment on the Kettering Cinemas page.
The Fox Kettering was one of a pair of almost identical houses opened by National General in December, 1966, the first having been the Fox Valley Circle Theatre in San Diego,opened on December 23.
These theaters were designed by Harold W. Levitt & Associates, with William H. Farwell and Ernest W. LeDuc, and at least two more were later built on the same plan: the Fox Northwest Plaza in Dayton, Ohio, opened in December, 1967, and the Mark Twain Theatre, Sunset Hills, Missouri, opened in August, 1968.
The July 23, 1910, issue of The American Contractor carried this item:
The Davison Theatre, having been opened in 1911, must have been the project at Beaver Dam noted in the July 2, 1910, issue of The American Contractor. This was to be a two-story theater, 46x100 feet. It was being designed by architects Ellerbe & Round of St Paul. Beaver Dam’s only other old theater, the Odeon, was already in existence as the Opera House by 1900.
Histories of Ellerbe Architects say that Olin Round joined Franklin Ellerbe’s firm in 1911, but this item indicates that the partnership began at least a year earlier. Round left the firm in 1915.
The grass-covered site of the Grand Theatre is roughly across the street from the building currently occupied by Byrd Watson Medical Equipment, which is at 123 N. Locust. The Grand’s address was probably about 124 N.Locust.
The Broadway Theatre probably opened before the end of 1910. The September 17 issue of The American Contractor said that the contracts had been let for gas and plumbing, electrical work, plastering, painting, and roofing had been let. The project at Broadway and St. Charles Street for the St. Charles Amusement Company was one of two Duggan & Huff-designed houses under way in St.Louis in the summer of 1910, the other being the Union Theatre.
The August, 1911, issue of Motography had this item:
The September 3, 1910, issue of The American Contractor said that the theater to be built at Olive and Sarah Streets in St. Louis was being designed by architects Clymer & Drischler.Harry Pruitt, Centralia exhibitor, was mentioned in the November 4, 1922, issue of Motion Picture News.
I see that one of the courtesy ads in the newspaper rivest266 uploaded is from architect Frank L. Sutter, though it says only “Supt. of the New Ideal Theater” and the article text says that “[t]he architectural work was in charge of Horace B. Sutter.”
The Internet provides many references to Frank L. Sutter, who had practiced architecture in Dayton for decades. Horace B. was presumably a younger relative, as Frank Sutter was born in 1832 and would have been at least 80 years old when the Ideal was built. I can’t find any other references to Horace B. Sutter, so if he was an architect too his career must have been very short.
This vintage photo gives a glimpse of the State’s marquee on the left. This is the 100 block of East Broadway, and I believe the most likely address of the State is 117. The building just east of it at 119 is now occupied by The Entourage Salon. The building at (probably) 117 doesn’t have the number on it, or any signage, and it’s impossible to tell what might be in it, assuming it isn’t vacant. It has a very plain, modernized front, and might or not be the same building the State was in.
Konrad Schiecke’s Historic Movie Theatres in Illinois says that the Illinois Theatre opened in 1921.
From 1929 into the early 1940s, the Centralia Evening Sentinel usually refers to the house as the Fox Illinois Theatre.
The Royal has not been demolished, but the theater is surely dismantled. It looks like the building has been used for offices. In the current Google street view there’s a “For Sale by Owner” sign on the front.
The Capitol Theatre first appears in the 1927 FDY with 750 seats. It is possible that the Capitol was a project noted in the April 11, 1925, issue of The Moving Picture World. The planned house was a bit smaller than the Capitol, but a decision to expand the project might account for some delay in its construction, resulting in an opening too late for its inclusion in the 1926 FDY:
The Capitol must have been in operation at least as late as 1969. That year the April 17 issue of the New Braunfels Herald published a map and list of public fallout shelters in the city, one of them being the Capitol Theatre, 351 Plaza.I do not believe the Capitol Theatre has been demolished. If you zoom in on Google’s satellite view you can see the building near the west end of the south side of the plaza, with its tall brick stage house still recognizable. In street view you can zoom in on the front and and make out the name “Capitol Plaza” above the entrance doors. The building appears to be in use as retail and office space.
The Palace of Pictures appears to have been replaced by a new, larger house called simply the Palace Theatre. This page from a virtual walking tour of New Braunfels says the Palace opened December 23, 1924, and closed in 1932.
This item from the March 14, 1925 issue of The Moving Picture World gives the address of the theater underway in Berwyn as 6330-44 Roosevelt Road, but I’m guessing that either that was a mistake or that the odd and even numbers were later switched from one side of the street to the other, as the project description otherwise fits the Ritz quite well, and the timingis right. One other oddity is that the projected name of the new house was the Oakwyn, a name that was later used for a different Berwyn house.
William T. Hooper and Fred W. Janusch were the principals of the fairly well-known firm of Hooper & Janusch. Though best known for several high rise apartment blocks, the firm designed at least three other theaters, but as far as I’ve been able to determine, of those three only the Manor Theatre in Chicago was actually completed.AutoZone is actually a chain auto parts and accessories retailer, not a repair shop.
This item is from the March 7, 1925 issue of The Moving Picture World:
The article at Comfortably Cool’s link identifies R. Thomas Short as the architect.Was the Hub Theatre in the building that now houses Anytime Fitness? That building looks like it could have been a theater or a church, or perhaps both in succession.
The Argyle Theatre now has an official web site. The first event scheduled is a Donna Summer tribute show on April 21, followed by a comedy showcase on May 5. The first extended run stage show to be mounted will be “Guys and Dolls” running from May 10 to June 17.
It seems very unlikely that Mr. M. Minkus would have gone to the expense of hiring George E. Lubin to draw plans for an 800 seat theater building at 2014 E. First Street in 1913 had there been a 1200 seat theater designed by E. J. Borgmeyer the previous year already standing on the same lot. The most likely explanation is that the 1912 project fell through, and it was Lubin’s 1913 project that got built and opened as the Olympus Theatre.
It’s interesting that in 1912 the property was under lease to an outfit called the Boyle Heights Picture Garden Company. That sounds like the name of an airdome theater, though no such business is listed for that address in the city directories for 1910, 1911, 1912, or 1913. This might have been an earlier theater project that also never came to fruition.
In 1950 the Stoddard was operated by Skouras Theaters, and was the site of the American premier of the Danish film “Red Meadows” on January 18, according to the January 21 issue of Boxoffice. Danish Ambassador Henrik DeKaufman and his wife were in attendance, along with members of the consulate staff and a number of literary celebrities.
This page about the world premier of Warner Brothers movie “Montana” at the Marlow Theatre on January 10, 1950, appeared in the January 21 issue of Boxoffice.
The opening ad says that the New Don Theatre had been “…entirely rebuilt and redecorated….” The possibility remains that the Don was in the old Orpheum building. The Orpheum might also have been called the Hartwig Theatre, which was listed in many editions of the FDY in the late 1920s and 1930s, though never with its seating capacity given.
Emil DonTigny (or Don Tigny or Dontigny- the latter is the standard spelling of the name but Emil seems to have often capitalized the “T” for some reason) arrived in East Helena in 1946, after having worked as a projectionist in Havre. He soon returned to Havre where, according to the “1949 Drive-In Theatre Survey” published in the January 21, 1950, issue of Boxoffice he opened a 400-car drive-in in partnership with Clarence Golder.
Although it gives the location of the new house as Main Street, this item from The Moving Picture World of July 5, 1919, is about the Connollee Theatre:
The Connollee was either replaced or substantially rebuilt in 1925. A drawing of the new Connollee is in the lower left corner of this page of Exhibitors Herald of July 4, 1925. The caption notes that the project was designed by San Antonio architect Henry T. Phelps, though it misspells his surname.