The Goodrich Riverview 14 is featured on this page of the web site of Paradigm Design, architects of the project. Interestingly, Paradigm also designed this theater’s nearby competitor, the Xscape Riverview.
Architects for the Xscape Theaters Blankenbaker 16 as well as two other projects for Xscape at Riverview, Florida, and Northgate, Ohio, are Paradigm Design. Paradigm have no photos of this particular project on their web site, but the construction company, BosseMattingly, provide this slide show with four images.
I don’t think this link will last very long as it is from an ebay auction page, but it shows interesting little item, being a small metal (possibly silver plated) souvenir stamped with an image of the Crystal Theatre, probably dating from either the time of its original opening in 1903 or its re-opening after the 1905 rebuilding. The back is stamped with the mark of the Geo. H. Bowman Co., which was located in Cleveland, Ohio.
In its early years this house was known as the New Loveland Theatre, the name under which it is listed in both Julius Cahn’s guides and Henry’s Official Western Theatrical Guide. The name Majestic Theatre was in use by 1911, the year History of Larimer County, Colorado, by Ansel Watrous, was published by The Courier Printing & Publishing Company of Fort Collins. Watrous quotes this information from John N. Gordon, secretary of the Loveland Chamber of Commerce:
“The first public place of amusement, known as the Bartholf Opera House, was built and opened in 1884 and it is still used for that purpose. The new Loveland theatre was built in 1903 and is known as the Majestic Theatre.”
Here is the theater’s description from the 1907-1908 Henry’s guide:
“New Loveland Theatre. R. P. Penney, mgr. Capacity, 700. Illum., electric. Stage opening, 26 ft.; height, 33 ft; depth, 25 ft.; wall to wall, 38. Upstairs.”
The NRHP Registration Form for the Downtown Sterling Historic District says that the Lyric Theatre Building is at 107 Main Street. It was built in 1915. The building has been substantially altered and is not considered a contributing resource to the historic district.
The only identifying mark on the plain, beige building today is “LA-Z-BOY” on one of the windows, so it is probably part of the mattress shop in the building next door which shares the same paint job.
The August 2, 1913, issue of The Moving Picture World said that the editors had received from W. J. Sergei of the Rex Theatre, Buhl, Idaho, a copy of the first issue of the theater’s program, The Rex News.
Polk’s 1914 Idaho directory lists the Rex Theatre in Buhl followed by (Chas J. Kalina, Willard J. Sergei), so they must have been partners in the operation.
By 1916, Sergei was managing the Orpheum Theatre in Burley, Idaho, and an item about him in the May 6 issue of The Moving Picture World said that he had been “…with a house that went on the rocks through the desire of the owner to play vaudeville, too….” If that house was the Rex, its failure was temporary, as it was mentioned in the August 17, 1918, issue of MPW.
I believe the correct address of the Fox must have been 115 Broadway, as it was next door to the Ramona Theatre. The building is currently occupied by a hair salon.
The July 7, 1917, issue of Exhibitors Herald had this brief item dateline Buhl, Idaho: “Work has been started on a new motion picture theater here.” As the Fox opened by 1918, it was most likely that new theater.
Universal Pictures' house organ, Universal Weekly mentioned M. Neilson of the Fox Theatre in Buhl, Idaho, in its issue of June 3, 1922.
The NRHP Registration Form for the Alliance Commercial Historic District says that the Alliance Theatre was designed by Denver architect Walter H. Simon.
The NRHP Registration Form for the Downtown Sterling Historic District says that the Fox Theatre opened on November 30, 1938. It was converted into a twin in the 1990s, and the conversion to a five-screen operation took place in the 2000s. Both the original theater building and the adjacent building annexed for the project were expanded at the rear at that time.
The Boxoffice article I linked to twice before has been moved again, and I’m having trouble finding it. In the meantime, here’s a three page article from Motion Picture Herald of March 5, 1955, which has not only photos of the remodeling by John J. McNamara, but a couple of “before” photos showing Douglas Pairman Hall’s original design.
Unless the original building was demolished and a new theater built on the site, this house opened in 1905 as the Crystal Theatre. This article is from the January 20, 1905, issue of The Wichita Eagle:
“NEW VAUDEVILLE HOUSE
“Crystal Theater to Open on East Douglas Avenue.
“The building at 310 East Douglas avenue is being remodeled for the purpose of a playhouse. The work has been going on at the building for some time, and is rapidly nearing completion. The building will be occupied by the Crystal Theater and will be used entirely for vaudeville purposes. The theater will be owned and operated by the Crystal Theater company, with main offices in Denver and San Francisco.”
A brief article (link, probably temporary) in Boxoffice of May 1, 1971, concerns a theater then called the Astro which was located at the north end of the station’s waiting room. Prior to 1969, the house had been called the Circle Theatre. If the article is correct about the location, the theater was most likely in the space now occupied by the model train exhibit. Does anyone know anything about this lost theater?
A trade paper called The First National Franchise, published for exhibitors of movies produced and distributed by the First National studio, had this item about the rebuilding of Streator’s Majestic Theatre in its issue of September 1, 1921:
“Brayton Rebuilds Streator Majestic
“June 15th, marked the last show to be given at the Majestic Theatre, Streator, Illinois. Bradford Brayton, manager of this theatre in the busily growing city of 17,000 people, has long wished to rebuild. During the winter and spring it hardly
seemed feasible with a steadily growing line of patrons before the box office, but when summer arrived, Mr. Brayton decided to close the show and to employ that time in carrying out his ideas along the line of the theatre beautiful, with artistically arranged stage that will house many prologues for Associated First National attractions.
“Mr. Brayton plans to make the new Majestic one of the leaders of cinema theatres in Illinois. The opening date will be about September 1.”
The Park Theatre changed hands in 1946, noted in the July 13 issue of Motion Picture Herald:
“Norman C. Adams, Robert M. Stocker of Chester, Vt. and Frank Deane of Manchester, Vt. have purchased the Park theatre, Chester, Vt. Arthur R. Cole is manager.”
In the mid-1920s, Chester had a house called the Town Hall Theatre, which most likely was situated in the actual Town Hall, something that was not uncommon in Small New England towns.
On September 11, 1922, a Columbiana County newspaper called The Buckeye State ran an item that noted Samuel Moranz & Son as operators of the Grand Theatre and the Opera House in Lisbon.
bottlejim: Your Capitol Theatre Cup sounds like an interesting item, but as Mike Rivest has found that this theater didn’t become the Capitol until 1927, your 1922 cup must not be related to it. I did find that a Peter Maffeo was a member of the Nanaimo Board of School Trustees in 1922, so the two other trustees named must also have been members of that board.
Googling Capitol Theatre Cup, I found that there were cups of that name awarded in Winnipeg and Regina, as well, during the 1920s and 1930s. There were also Capitol Theatre Cups in Pennsylvania and North Carolina, the latter at least as late as 1964. I also found references to an Empress Theatre Cup (Edmonton, 1916) a Strand Theatre Cup (Emporia, Kansas, 1925) and a Fairbanks-Stillman Theatre Cup (Cleveland, 1926.)
Awarding cups was recommended as a public relations gambit in a 1927 Chalmers Publishing Company book called Building Theatre Patronage, by John F, Barry and Epes W. Sargent. As some theaters awarded cups earlier, this was not an original idea from the authors, but something that was likely fairly common already.
As for your cup, it’s possible that there was an earlier Capitol Theatre in Nanaimo that we haven’t found out about yet, or it might have been from a theater somewhere else in British Columbia. The only Capitol Theatre that we have listed as open prior to 1922 in BC is the one in Vancouver, a Famous Players circuit house opened in 1918, but it’s always possible that there was one closer to Nanaimo that we haven’t yet identified.
Boxoffice of January 26, 1952, reported that the former Majestic Theatre at Fairbury, which had been closed for some time, had been renovated and reopened in late 1951 as the Woods Theatre. Seating had been reduced to 468. The item noted that the house was across from something called Pla-Mor, but failed to say what Pla-Mor was. It turns out that Pla-Mor is a bowling alley and cafe, still in operation, having now outlasted the theater by about six decades.
I haven’t been able to determine the closing date of the Woods Theatre, but it was in operation at least as late as February, 1955, when it was showing Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window. I’ve found a reference to a two-week revival meeting being held at the Woods in 1958, so it had possibly closed by then, but had not yet been dismantled. By June, 1959, the theater had been converted to offices for the Jefferson County Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation committee, the formal opening taking place that month.
The March 22, 1919, issue of The Moving Picture World had an item about the operators of the Majestic:
“Bartlett & Son Are Progressive.
“C. W. Bartlett & Son, proprietors of the Majestic Theatre, seating 700, and another smaller house in Fairbury, Neb., keep a high average of regular business by sending out specially prepared house organs to a mailing list of 1,500 people living in Fairbury, in the surrounding country and in nearby towns. The Bartlett paper is run on the style of the city newspaper moving picture sections, with reviews of the coming pictures and some interesting material about stars known to the Bartlett patrons. The papers are sent out regularly, and are eagerly looked for. They were used to send out coupons addressed to the state senator and representative from that district protesting against the censorship bill proposed in Nebraska.”
It has little information about the theater itself, but this article from Boxoffice of November 17, 1951, focused on the Roxy’s manager, Wilton Gross, is an interesting look into the small town theater business of the period.
This article from June, 2011, gives the address of the Roxy Theatre as 120 N. Market Street. It had just been bought by the local Chamber of Commerce after having been owned by Berean Bible Church since 1985. The article also notes that the house had for a time been called the Mohawk Theatre, though it has now returned to the name Roxy.
“The longtime fixture has taken on many reincarnations through the years. From its heyday as the Roxy Theater, where crowds of people lined up along the sidewalk under its marquee, to being renamed the Mohawk Theater in the 1960s, to becoming a church in the ’80s. In 2011, the Minerva Area Chamber of Commerce acquired the building and has refurbished its roughly 180-seat theater as well as restored the Roxy name to the marquee, which now boasts an electronic display that advertises community activities. Now used for music performances, theater groups and other community and business events, it also is rented for private functions.”
Because some people claim to have seen a Sasquatch in the area, Minerva hosts a “Monster Day” event which is depicted in this weblog post. It includes a few photos of Market Street in which the Roxy can be seen, and one photo of the theater’s interior. There is a screen in the auditorium, but it looks portable, and when movies are shown they are probably from DVDs. As the church that occupied the building for over a quarter of a century did considerable remodeling it’s likely that the original movie equipment was removed long ago, and modern digital equipment is probably beyond the budget of a small house that is used mostly for live events.
Trade journals from the 1920s mention a movie house in Minerva called the Dreamland Theatre. I haven’t been able to determine if this was an earlier name for the Roxy, but the Roxy’s building looks old enough to have been in use then.
Architects Paradigm Design provide this web page with ten photos of the Hamilton 16.
The Goodrich Riverview 14 is featured on this page of the web site of Paradigm Design, architects of the project. Interestingly, Paradigm also designed this theater’s nearby competitor, the Xscape Riverview.
This web page from Paradigm Design, architects of the Marquee Cinemas Pinnacle 12, features a dozen photos of the project.
Here is a page about Southbridge Crossing Cinema, with many photos, from the web site of the architects for the project, Paradigm Design.
Architects for the Xscape Theaters Blankenbaker 16 as well as two other projects for Xscape at Riverview, Florida, and Northgate, Ohio, are Paradigm Design. Paradigm have no photos of this particular project on their web site, but the construction company, BosseMattingly, provide this slide show with four images.
I don’t think this link will last very long as it is from an ebay auction page, but it shows interesting little item, being a small metal (possibly silver plated) souvenir stamped with an image of the Crystal Theatre, probably dating from either the time of its original opening in 1903 or its re-opening after the 1905 rebuilding. The back is stamped with the mark of the Geo. H. Bowman Co., which was located in Cleveland, Ohio.
In its early years this house was known as the New Loveland Theatre, the name under which it is listed in both Julius Cahn’s guides and Henry’s Official Western Theatrical Guide. The name Majestic Theatre was in use by 1911, the year History of Larimer County, Colorado, by Ansel Watrous, was published by The Courier Printing & Publishing Company of Fort Collins. Watrous quotes this information from John N. Gordon, secretary of the Loveland Chamber of Commerce:
Here is the theater’s description from the 1907-1908 Henry’s guide:The NRHP Registration Form for the Downtown Sterling Historic District says that the Lyric Theatre Building is at 107 Main Street. It was built in 1915. The building has been substantially altered and is not considered a contributing resource to the historic district.
The only identifying mark on the plain, beige building today is “LA-Z-BOY” on one of the windows, so it is probably part of the mattress shop in the building next door which shares the same paint job.
The August 2, 1913, issue of The Moving Picture World said that the editors had received from W. J. Sergei of the Rex Theatre, Buhl, Idaho, a copy of the first issue of the theater’s program, The Rex News.
Polk’s 1914 Idaho directory lists the Rex Theatre in Buhl followed by (Chas J. Kalina, Willard J. Sergei), so they must have been partners in the operation.
By 1916, Sergei was managing the Orpheum Theatre in Burley, Idaho, and an item about him in the May 6 issue of The Moving Picture World said that he had been “…with a house that went on the rocks through the desire of the owner to play vaudeville, too….” If that house was the Rex, its failure was temporary, as it was mentioned in the August 17, 1918, issue of MPW.
I believe the correct address of the Fox must have been 115 Broadway, as it was next door to the Ramona Theatre. The building is currently occupied by a hair salon.
The July 7, 1917, issue of Exhibitors Herald had this brief item dateline Buhl, Idaho: “Work has been started on a new motion picture theater here.” As the Fox opened by 1918, it was most likely that new theater.
Universal Pictures' house organ, Universal Weekly mentioned M. Neilson of the Fox Theatre in Buhl, Idaho, in its issue of June 3, 1922.
The NRHP Registration Form for the Alliance Commercial Historic District says that the Alliance Theatre was designed by Denver architect Walter H. Simon.
The NRHP Registration Form for the Downtown Sterling Historic District says that the Fox Theatre opened on November 30, 1938. It was converted into a twin in the 1990s, and the conversion to a five-screen operation took place in the 2000s. Both the original theater building and the adjacent building annexed for the project were expanded at the rear at that time.
The Boxoffice article I linked to twice before has been moved again, and I’m having trouble finding it. In the meantime, here’s a three page article from Motion Picture Herald of March 5, 1955, which has not only photos of the remodeling by John J. McNamara, but a couple of “before” photos showing Douglas Pairman Hall’s original design.
Click on “Michener L110” on this page to see some more photos of Lindou Auditorium.
Unless the original building was demolished and a new theater built on the site, this house opened in 1905 as the Crystal Theatre. This article is from the January 20, 1905, issue of The Wichita Eagle:
A brief article (link, probably temporary) in Boxoffice of May 1, 1971, concerns a theater then called the Astro which was located at the north end of the station’s waiting room. Prior to 1969, the house had been called the Circle Theatre. If the article is correct about the location, the theater was most likely in the space now occupied by the model train exhibit. Does anyone know anything about this lost theater?
A trade paper called The First National Franchise, published for exhibitors of movies produced and distributed by the First National studio, had this item about the rebuilding of Streator’s Majestic Theatre in its issue of September 1, 1921:
The Park Theatre changed hands in 1946, noted in the July 13 issue of Motion Picture Herald:
In the mid-1920s, Chester had a house called the Town Hall Theatre, which most likely was situated in the actual Town Hall, something that was not uncommon in Small New England towns.On September 11, 1922, a Columbiana County newspaper called The Buckeye State ran an item that noted Samuel Moranz & Son as operators of the Grand Theatre and the Opera House in Lisbon.
bottlejim: Your Capitol Theatre Cup sounds like an interesting item, but as Mike Rivest has found that this theater didn’t become the Capitol until 1927, your 1922 cup must not be related to it. I did find that a Peter Maffeo was a member of the Nanaimo Board of School Trustees in 1922, so the two other trustees named must also have been members of that board.
Googling Capitol Theatre Cup, I found that there were cups of that name awarded in Winnipeg and Regina, as well, during the 1920s and 1930s. There were also Capitol Theatre Cups in Pennsylvania and North Carolina, the latter at least as late as 1964. I also found references to an Empress Theatre Cup (Edmonton, 1916) a Strand Theatre Cup (Emporia, Kansas, 1925) and a Fairbanks-Stillman Theatre Cup (Cleveland, 1926.)
Awarding cups was recommended as a public relations gambit in a 1927 Chalmers Publishing Company book called Building Theatre Patronage, by John F, Barry and Epes W. Sargent. As some theaters awarded cups earlier, this was not an original idea from the authors, but something that was likely fairly common already.
As for your cup, it’s possible that there was an earlier Capitol Theatre in Nanaimo that we haven’t found out about yet, or it might have been from a theater somewhere else in British Columbia. The only Capitol Theatre that we have listed as open prior to 1922 in BC is the one in Vancouver, a Famous Players circuit house opened in 1918, but it’s always possible that there was one closer to Nanaimo that we haven’t yet identified.
Boxoffice of January 26, 1952, reported that the former Majestic Theatre at Fairbury, which had been closed for some time, had been renovated and reopened in late 1951 as the Woods Theatre. Seating had been reduced to 468. The item noted that the house was across from something called Pla-Mor, but failed to say what Pla-Mor was. It turns out that Pla-Mor is a bowling alley and cafe, still in operation, having now outlasted the theater by about six decades.
I haven’t been able to determine the closing date of the Woods Theatre, but it was in operation at least as late as February, 1955, when it was showing Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window. I’ve found a reference to a two-week revival meeting being held at the Woods in 1958, so it had possibly closed by then, but had not yet been dismantled. By June, 1959, the theater had been converted to offices for the Jefferson County Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation committee, the formal opening taking place that month.
The March 22, 1919, issue of The Moving Picture World had an item about the operators of the Majestic:
It has little information about the theater itself, but this article from Boxoffice of November 17, 1951, focused on the Roxy’s manager, Wilton Gross, is an interesting look into the small town theater business of the period.
This article from June, 2011, gives the address of the Roxy Theatre as 120 N. Market Street. It had just been bought by the local Chamber of Commerce after having been owned by Berean Bible Church since 1985. The article also notes that the house had for a time been called the Mohawk Theatre, though it has now returned to the name Roxy.
This web page has a paragraph about the Roxy:
Because some people claim to have seen a Sasquatch in the area, Minerva hosts a “Monster Day” event which is depicted in this weblog post. It includes a few photos of Market Street in which the Roxy can be seen, and one photo of the theater’s interior. There is a screen in the auditorium, but it looks portable, and when movies are shown they are probably from DVDs. As the church that occupied the building for over a quarter of a century did considerable remodeling it’s likely that the original movie equipment was removed long ago, and modern digital equipment is probably beyond the budget of a small house that is used mostly for live events.Trade journals from the 1920s mention a movie house in Minerva called the Dreamland Theatre. I haven’t been able to determine if this was an earlier name for the Roxy, but the Roxy’s building looks old enough to have been in use then.