OTCF is correct. Compare the theater facade in the general view of St. George’s Street I linked to in my previous comment. It’s a different building than the one in the photo Mike_Blakemore uploaded last June. Also the marquee of the Metro in Mike’s photo advertises a 1937 movie, and at that time this house was still called the Plaza.
My Fair Lady was not a Cinerama film. It was filmed in the Super Panavision 70 process, and released in both 70mm and 35mm (anamorphic) formats. The Plaza was a 70mm house.
I’m unable to fetch this theater’s web site, but their Facebook page is still active. Their last event was on May 5, and the next scheduled is June 8, so the place is not in heavy use, at least for public events. I don’t know if they host many weddings or other private events, but the place does bill itself as a performance and event venue. There’s no mention of movies on the Facebook page, so it’s likely they aren’t showing them anymore.
Vintage West Woodland provides this article about the Woodland Theatre. Among other things, it notes that the Kimball organ originally installed in the Woodland is now in the Everett Theatre in Everett, Washington.
The opening of the Woodland was noted in the April 10, 1926, issue of The Moving Picture World:
“H. W. Bruen opened his new Woodland Theatre on March 27 to capacity crowds. If anything, the house surpasses in beauty and good taste Mr. Bruen’s Ridgemont and Arabian Theatre.”
A followup item appeared in the issue of April 17:
“Bruen’s New Woodland Theatre at 65th and West Woodland was opened on March 27 and is a new link in the strong chain of suburban theatres of which Seattle is justly proud. The new Woodland, seating 750, has an unusually warm community spirit surrounding it; indeed, its members waited upon Mr. Bruen to interest him in building a house in their district.”
H. W. Bruen later moved to southern California, where he operated theaters in the Los Angeles suburb of Whittier for many years.
April Fool’s Day, 1926, was a bad day to attend the evening performance at the Starland Theatre, judging from this item in the April 17 issue of The Moving Picture World:
“One of the worst theatre accidents to occur in Canada took place at the Starland Theatre, Winnipeg, Manitoba, during the evening show on April 1 when the ceiling under the balcony suddenly collapsed, burying the people on the ground floor, causing injury to over 20 persons, 14 of whom had to be removed to the hospitals in ambulances which were called out.
“The mass of debris fell in such a manner as to block the main exits leading to the theatre lobby and there was immediately every indication of a panic. An emergency call was sent in to police headquarters and every available officer was rushed to the scene. The theatre employees and police quickly restored order, however, and led the unnerved people to rear and side exits while others attended the wounded.”
The opening of the Capitol Theatre was noted in this item from The Moving Picture World of April 10, 1926:
“Butterfield’s Capitol at Owosso Opens
“THE inaugural performances at Col. Butterfield’s new Capitol Theatre, Owosso, Michigan, were given on Thursday evening, March 4th, to two capacity audiences, and hundreds of people were turned away. The policy consists of three acts of Keith vaudeville together with the best feature pictures and comedies obtainable.”
The Rivoli, originally a single-floor theater with a small stage, was expanded with a balcony and larger stage to accommodate road shows in 1926, according to this article from The Moving Picture World of April 10 that year:
“Remodelling La Crosse Rivoli At Cost of Over $100,000
“P L. KOPPELBERGER, general manager of La Crosse Theatres Company, La Crosse. Wisconsin, sends YOUR EQUIPMENT a personal letter explaining the changes to come about in that live wire company’s Rivoli Theatre.
“‘The Rivoli,’ says Mr. Koppelberger, ‘was constructed in 1920 and cost $300,000.’
“‘The conversion into a playhouse able to accommodate road shows and other attractions, as well as photoplays, will cost $100,000 and more.’
“The plans for the conversion of the house include the enlarging of the stage, to be fully and completely equipped, bringing the proscenium twenty feet further forward and adding a fly loft above it.
“A balcony will be added in the auditorium, increasing the seating capacity. Two thousand seats will be the eventual capacity of the theatre.
“In every detail the equipment will be of the finest and latest pattern.”
Mayer & Schneider’s new Hollywood Theatre was the subject of an article in the left column of page 462 of The Moving Picture World for April 10, 1926. Scan at Internet Archive.
The Olympic Theatre was the last of Watertown’s old theaters still in operation when it was mentioned in an article in the July 3, 1976, issue of the Watertown Daily Times. The Olympic had opened on June 4, 1917.
The July 3, 1976, issue of the Watertown Daily Times (PDF here) says that the Victoria Theatre opened around 1912, and the building it occupied was demolished in 1958.
The July 3, 1976, issue of the Watertown Daily Times (PDF here) has a bit more information about the Wonderland Theatre. The Wonderland opened in August, 1906, and was expanded and renamed the Palace in 1917.
Schine gained control of the house in 1928, then kept it closed until 1933, when it was reopened by an independent operator under a lease. Schine took back the house in 1936, operating it until 1949, when it was sold to Richmor Enterprises, who remodeled and changed the name to the Town Theatre.
The article doesn’t say how long the house operated as the Town, but the building in which it was situated was demolished in 1976. Its site is under the footprint of a large residential building called the Henry Keep Apartments.
An article about Watertown’s theaters in the July 3, 1976, issue of the local Daily Times (PDF here) said that The Opera House was extensively remodeled in 1920 and reopened as the Avon Theatre on July 8 that year.
Vaudeville and stock companies continued as mainstays of the theater for many years, but the last vaudeville show appeared in 1932. Occasional concerts and other live performances were presented after that, but the house was primarily a movie theater until it was closed and demolished in the spring of 1967.
The Palace might have been a replacement for an earlier theater nearby which was mentioned in the May 22, 1915, issue of The Moving Picture World:
“TROY, N. Y.– Fifth Avenue Amusement Co., 2328 Fifth avenue, D. A. Shea, manager, will make alterations to their moving picture theater, to cost $1,500.”
The May 22, 1915, issue of The Moving Picture World said: “Extensive alterations and improvements have been made to the Theatorium on David Street. The house has been renamed the Strand.”
There was a Globe Theatre in St. Louis around 1910, but I haven’t been able to find its location. It was listed in the 1910-1911 Cahn guide as a 500 seat ground floor vaudeville house, with a very small stage only 14 feet from the footlights to the back wall. It sounds like it would have been a very good candidate for conversion to movies, though I’ve found no evidence that it was.
A house called the Globe opened in St. Louis around 1878, but it was located on Morgan Street and is unlikely to be the same Globe that was operating in 1910. The November 22, 1881, issue of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch referred to the Morgan Street house as a “…low variety theater….” which had recently been closed and was unlikely to be able to get a license to reopen.
The Eblon Theatre opened at 1822 Vine Street on November 4, 1923. Movies were accompanied by a live orchestra for the first few years of its operation, but an organ was installed in 1928. In 1933 the theater was closed and the building converted into a night club called the Cherry Blossom, which became the venue at which Count Basie conducted his first orchestra.
In 1984 the building, which had then been vacant for more than two decades, was seriously damaged by a fire. Attempts to save the historic structure failed, but the facade was propped up and still stands today. This weblog post covers the early history of the theater, and has a few photos of the surviving facade.
This web page briefly covers the same history, and has an ad from the Eblon Theatre’s opening. Click on the ad for a larger version, then follow the next two links (right arrow at upper left) to see two 1923 newspaper items about the house.
This was the second location opened by Hometown Cinemas. The first, in Lockhart, Texas, opened in 2008. A 2014 article about the chain said that the Terrell location had been opened “soon after” the Lockhart cinema.
This PDF offering the venue for lease prior to its conversion to offices has some photos. It says the theater opened as the Ford Opera House on October 10, 1904.
Editions of the Cahn Guide as late as 1910 erroneously claimed that the theater was on the first floor. By 1912 a new management was reporting the house as a second floor theater.
A 2014 article about Hometown Cinemas' takeover of the former MovieStar Cinema in Gun Barrel City said that Hometown had started with this six-screen house in Lockhart in 2008. A second location was added soon after in Terrell.
This web page about the murals in Terrell includes a paragraph about the movie poster mural on the back wall of the former Iris Theatre building, and includes this information about the theater’s history:
“The Iris Theatre, built by Leaman Marshall, opened in 1925 and was touted in the newspaper as ‘Terrell’s Finest Theatre’. (In the 1920’s there were three theatres operating in downtown Terrell – The Iris, The Palace, and the Lyric.) The posters include ‘The Lady’, a silent film which was the first movie shown at The Iris. The Iris operated continuously as a movie theatre from 1925 to 2001 when the modern multi-screen theatres in Mesquite drew the crowds away from the historic single screen theatre.”
The September 23, 1922, issue of The Moving Picture World ran a brief item saying “Hunt and Garland, of the Palace Theatre at Terrell, Texas, have purchased a new organ.”
The April 7, 1928, issue of Motion Picture News said that “Gus A. Doering of Southern Pipe Organ Co., has purchased controlling interest in Palace Theatre at Terrell, Texas, from Hunt & Garland.”
OTCF is correct. Compare the theater facade in the general view of St. George’s Street I linked to in my previous comment. It’s a different building than the one in the photo Mike_Blakemore uploaded last June. Also the marquee of the Metro in Mike’s photo advertises a 1937 movie, and at that time this house was still called the Plaza.
Photo of the Capitol Theatre sometime after it was closed.
My Fair Lady was not a Cinerama film. It was filmed in the Super Panavision 70 process, and released in both 70mm and 35mm (anamorphic) formats. The Plaza was a 70mm house.
I’m unable to fetch this theater’s web site, but their Facebook page is still active. Their last event was on May 5, and the next scheduled is June 8, so the place is not in heavy use, at least for public events. I don’t know if they host many weddings or other private events, but the place does bill itself as a performance and event venue. There’s no mention of movies on the Facebook page, so it’s likely they aren’t showing them anymore.
Lincoln Square has the largest IMAX screen in North America at 97x76 feet. The screen at the Chinese is almost as wide but not as tall, at 94x46 feet.
Vintage West Woodland provides this article about the Woodland Theatre. Among other things, it notes that the Kimball organ originally installed in the Woodland is now in the Everett Theatre in Everett, Washington.
The opening of the Woodland was noted in the April 10, 1926, issue of The Moving Picture World:
A followup item appeared in the issue of April 17:H. W. Bruen later moved to southern California, where he operated theaters in the Los Angeles suburb of Whittier for many years.April Fool’s Day, 1926, was a bad day to attend the evening performance at the Starland Theatre, judging from this item in the April 17 issue of The Moving Picture World:
The opening of the Capitol Theatre was noted in this item from The Moving Picture World of April 10, 1926:
The Rivoli, originally a single-floor theater with a small stage, was expanded with a balcony and larger stage to accommodate road shows in 1926, according to this article from The Moving Picture World of April 10 that year:
Mayer & Schneider’s new Hollywood Theatre was the subject of an article in the left column of page 462 of The Moving Picture World for April 10, 1926. Scan at Internet Archive.
Mike: Your most recent upload belongs on the Variety Theatre’s photo page.
The Olympic Theatre was the last of Watertown’s old theaters still in operation when it was mentioned in an article in the July 3, 1976, issue of the Watertown Daily Times. The Olympic had opened on June 4, 1917.
The July 3, 1976, issue of the Watertown Daily Times (PDF here) says that the Victoria Theatre opened around 1912, and the building it occupied was demolished in 1958.
The July 3, 1976, issue of the Watertown Daily Times (PDF here) has a bit more information about the Wonderland Theatre. The Wonderland opened in August, 1906, and was expanded and renamed the Palace in 1917.
Schine gained control of the house in 1928, then kept it closed until 1933, when it was reopened by an independent operator under a lease. Schine took back the house in 1936, operating it until 1949, when it was sold to Richmor Enterprises, who remodeled and changed the name to the Town Theatre.
The article doesn’t say how long the house operated as the Town, but the building in which it was situated was demolished in 1976. Its site is under the footprint of a large residential building called the Henry Keep Apartments.
An article about Watertown’s theaters in the July 3, 1976, issue of the local Daily Times (PDF here) said that The Opera House was extensively remodeled in 1920 and reopened as the Avon Theatre on July 8 that year.
Vaudeville and stock companies continued as mainstays of the theater for many years, but the last vaudeville show appeared in 1932. Occasional concerts and other live performances were presented after that, but the house was primarily a movie theater until it was closed and demolished in the spring of 1967.
The Palace might have been a replacement for an earlier theater nearby which was mentioned in the May 22, 1915, issue of The Moving Picture World:
The May 22, 1915, issue of The Moving Picture World said: “Extensive alterations and improvements have been made to the Theatorium on David Street. The house has been renamed the Strand.”
There was a Globe Theatre in St. Louis around 1910, but I haven’t been able to find its location. It was listed in the 1910-1911 Cahn guide as a 500 seat ground floor vaudeville house, with a very small stage only 14 feet from the footlights to the back wall. It sounds like it would have been a very good candidate for conversion to movies, though I’ve found no evidence that it was.
A house called the Globe opened in St. Louis around 1878, but it was located on Morgan Street and is unlikely to be the same Globe that was operating in 1910. The November 22, 1881, issue of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch referred to the Morgan Street house as a “…low variety theater….” which had recently been closed and was unlikely to be able to get a license to reopen.
Ah, I see the newspaper items have already been uploaded to the photo page.
The Eblon Theatre opened at 1822 Vine Street on November 4, 1923. Movies were accompanied by a live orchestra for the first few years of its operation, but an organ was installed in 1928. In 1933 the theater was closed and the building converted into a night club called the Cherry Blossom, which became the venue at which Count Basie conducted his first orchestra.
In 1984 the building, which had then been vacant for more than two decades, was seriously damaged by a fire. Attempts to save the historic structure failed, but the facade was propped up and still stands today. This weblog post covers the early history of the theater, and has a few photos of the surviving facade.
This web page briefly covers the same history, and has an ad from the Eblon Theatre’s opening. Click on the ad for a larger version, then follow the next two links (right arrow at upper left) to see two 1923 newspaper items about the house.
This was the second location opened by Hometown Cinemas. The first, in Lockhart, Texas, opened in 2008. A 2014 article about the chain said that the Terrell location had been opened “soon after” the Lockhart cinema.
The event center that formerly occupied the second-floor Los Gatos Opera House closed in early 2013. The space was converted into an office in late 2014.
This PDF offering the venue for lease prior to its conversion to offices has some photos. It says the theater opened as the Ford Opera House on October 10, 1904.
Editions of the Cahn Guide as late as 1910 erroneously claimed that the theater was on the first floor. By 1912 a new management was reporting the house as a second floor theater.
A 2014 article about Hometown Cinemas' takeover of the former MovieStar Cinema in Gun Barrel City said that Hometown had started with this six-screen house in Lockhart in 2008. A second location was added soon after in Terrell.
This web page about the murals in Terrell includes a paragraph about the movie poster mural on the back wall of the former Iris Theatre building, and includes this information about the theater’s history:
The September 23, 1922, issue of The Moving Picture World ran a brief item saying “Hunt and Garland, of the Palace Theatre at Terrell, Texas, have purchased a new organ.”
The April 7, 1928, issue of Motion Picture News said that “Gus A. Doering of Southern Pipe Organ Co., has purchased controlling interest in Palace Theatre at Terrell, Texas, from Hunt & Garland.”