Comments from kencmcintyre

Here is an item from the Charleston Daily Mail dated 2/11/36, which conflicts with the 1942 opening date in the introduction.

POINT PLEASANT, Feb. 11.â€"Announcement has been made of the sale of State theater, to Alpine Theater company, owner of a chain of theaters in Ohio and West Virginia. The new concern will take over the theater Wednesday. New sound equipment will be installed. The deal involved the property, the fixtures and the equipment. Ross Filson, who sold the theater, has retained an option on the apartment above the theater for a year.

Here is an item in the Winona (MN) Republican-Herald dated 1/22/48:

Blair, Wis, â€"(Special)â€" In a deal completed last week the Century theater was sold to Frank Lesmeister, Martin, N.D., who purchased equipment, business and building from Ralph Andrews and George Johnson. The new owner, who has been in business for several years, will be assisted by his wife and son, who will come here as soon as living quarters are available.

Johnson and Andrews purchased the theater about a year and a half ago from La Vern Kostner, Arcadia. Andrews has been located here as manager for the past year. Johnson recently purchased a theater at Braham, Minn., and Mr. and Mrs. Andrews expect to go to Mission, Texas, to visit her parents and may eventually settle in that state.

Here is the Atlas as seen on Google:
http://tinyurl.com/ckv58r

Here is a more recent view from Google maps:
http://tinyurl.com/c795nf

Here are photos from 1974, 1977 and 1983:
http://tinyurl.com/dkq96t
http://tinyurl.com/d4jycm
http://tinyurl.com/dfhfay

Here is a 1959 ad from the LA Times:
http://tinyurl.com/c7nwaj

Tower is the Newsreel in this 1958 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/c2v5sp

In December 1938 they were staging basketball games on the theater stage, according to this LA Times ad:
http://tinyurl.com/dzjzv4

Here is a July 1923 item that was in the Fresno Bee:

Adolph Ramish of the West Coast Theater Company, Inc., a subsidiary of Paramount Pictures Corporation, announced in Los Angeles to-day that he expects to close a lease on the Hippodrome Theater property in Fresno within a week or ten days. The deal, which Ramish says is virtually closed, will give the West Coast Company a lease which is to be followed by the expenditure of a large sum in remodeling and refitting the theater, converting it into a modern, attractive theater.

Following the announcement from Bakersfield that the Hippodrome in Fresno had been purchased came the statement from Ramish that the deal only contemplates a lease, not a sale of the property. The West Coast Theater Company now has control of 210 theaters on the Pacific Coast, its operations including the California Theater in Bakersfield, Loew’s Warfield in San Francisco, Loew’s State in Los Angeles, Tivoli in San Francisco, T & D Theaters in Oakland and Berkeley, and formerly affiliated theaters in Sacramento, Stockton and Watsonville.

Here is a 1986 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/c6uqbz

Here is a 1981 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/c9mhay

Here is an item from the Fresno Bee in December 1946:

All estimates were exceeded by the crowds of smiling, carefree children who filled theaters in Kingsburg, Orange Cove and Orosi Wednesday at the last of a series of 28 free Christmas theater parties in 17 San Joaquin Valley communities.

“Amazingly well behaved” was the tribute earned from Manager William George of the American Theater in Kingsburg by the crowd of 800 (200 more than was expected) at the final theater party Wednesday afternoon. The party was given by the theater manager, Kingsburg Post No. 191 of the American Legion and the Fresno Bee.