An article about the Gralyn Theatre starts on page 8 of the July, 1988, issue of The Quarterly, published by the St. Lawrence County Historical Association (PDF here.) It includes one 1988 photo of the front, and a few smaller photos of decorative details in the house. The Gralyn opened on January 30, 1920, and in 1922 was taken over by James Papayanakos, whose family controlled the theater for the next few decades. As of 1988 the theater was open only Friday through Sunday.
The Rialto Theatre was mentioned in the September 20, 1924, issue of The Moving Picture World:
“A big electric sign made its appearance in front of the new Papayanakos house in Potsdam during the past week. Harry Papayanakos will manage the house, which will be known as the Rialto.”
Members of the Papayanakos family still operated the Rialto at least as late as 1952, when Peter Papayanakos was mentioned as its manager in the April 12 issue of Boxoffice.
The September 20, 1924, issue of The Moving Picture World mentions this theater:
“The American Legion post in Wayland certainly deserves much in the way of complimentary expression. Through the sale of stock, the Post has erected a beautiful building which provides quarters for a picture theatre itself, rooms for meeting purposes, the village library and a restroom.”
The project had been built within the previous two years, as indicated by this notice in the March 11, 1922, issue of The American Contractor:
“Center (community): $50,000. 2 sty. & bas. 60x150. Wayland, N. Y. Archt. Carl Ade, 344 East av., Rochester. Owner Theodore R Van Tassel, Post of the American Legion, Thos. Capron, pres., Wayland. Gen. contr. let on percentage basis to A. J. Wordein, Elizabeth St., Dansville, N. Y. Work starts abt. Mar. 20.”
Architect Carl Ade, who died in 1962, specialized in school buildings, designing over 350 of them in New York State. As far as I know, this was the only movie theater of his design, though he did work with Grand Rapids architect E. Eugene Osgood on the Auditorium Theatre in Rochester, though most likely only as supervising architect.
The Massena Theatre was at 65 Main Street. The building has lost its marquee and looks a bit worse for wear, but is still standing, with the storefronts adjacent to the theater entrance still in use.
The September 20, 1924, issue of The Moving Picture World had this item about the Rialto:
“Thomas E. Shean, a well known lawyer in Massena, who is erecting a house to be known as the Rialto in the Pine Grove section of the village, expects to open within the next few weeks. The seats will be in place within two weeks.”
The Euterpa Theatre is mentioned in a few issues of the Altoona Tribune and the Altoona Mirror between September, 1915 and January, 1917. I can’t find it mentioned in any of the trade journals of the period, though. It might have been a short-lived house, or might have undergone a name change.
This story from the Olean Times Herald of October 10, 2015, concerns the Palace Theatre’s vertical sign which was saved from the demolition and has since been in storage.
The article says that the Palace opened on February 19, 1917.
A Facebook photo album for the Washington Theatre, with 100 photos and scans of articles, can be seen at this link. The information in the articles clarifies the theater’s history.
The “second” Washington Theatre, opened on December 21, 1923, was actually just a new auditorium constructed behind the 1910 theater building, and at right angles to the original auditorium. The long, narrow lobby noted in the article cited in my previous comment ran through the 1910 building, and the remainder of the original auditorium was converted to retail space. The airdome next door was not closed, but continued to operate during the summer at least into the late 1920s.
Although the Facebook album doesn’t extend to the period of the fire, it seems very likely that the Streamline Modern entrance at 1349 19th Street dates from the 1946 post-fire remodeling designed by Leo F. Abrams. It was this entrance, not the second auditorium of 1923, that occupied part of the site of the former airdome.
As part of the original theater building was used until 1945 as the entrance and lobby for the new auditorium of 1923 it now seems unnecessary to have a separate page for the original theater built in 1910, but we could add to this page the architects of the 1911 expansion, Charles Pauly & Son, as noted by RetroMike in his comment of June 14, 2011. It’s possible that the firm designed the original theater of 1910 as well.
The September 1, 1923, issue of The Moving Picture World ran this brief article about the second Washington Theatre, then under construction in Granite City:
“Granite City, Ill., Theatre to Seat 3,000, Cost $250,000
“The New Washington Theatre, Nineteenth and E streets, Granite City, 111., will open on the evening of October 5 when a big benefit performance will be put on for its owner-manager, Louis Landau, Jr. The theatre will cost approximately $250,000 and will have 3,000 seats in the parquet and balcony. It will be among the finest amusement houses in Southern Illinois.
“Landau plans to play both pictures and vaudeville. The house will have a stage 65 feet long and a proscenium arch with an opening 35 by 50 feet. The lobby and arcade will measure 18 by 154 feet. There will be several rest rooms for the ladies, smoking rooms for the gents and checking stations, etc. He also is installing a three-manual organ and plans to enlarge his orchestra.”
The claim of 3,000 seats must have been considerably exaggerated, if the reported capacity of 1,750 in the November, 1945 newspaper article about the fire, cited in a comment by kencmcintyre on November 8, 2008, was correct.
The address of the Tokay Theatre was approximately 725 Robert Bush Drive West. The theater building is gone, but the modernistic building on the far left corner of the intersection in the vintage photo is still standing. The building directly across the street from the theater’s site is numbered 724.
The December 4, 1920, issue of The Moving Picture World said that a Franklin Theatre at Franklin, Virginia, was being run by a Mr. M. H. Eppstein of Richmond, Virginia.
It is possible that this theater was replaced in 1921, though I’ve found only one notice about the project, this from the February 26 issue of The American Contractor:
“Suffolk, Va.—Theater (M. P.) & Playhouse: $25,000. 1 sty. 55x90. Franklin. Va. Archt. Riddick & Breeden, Suffolk. Owner Franklin Amusement Corp., J. A. Pretlow, pres., H. H. Eppstein, mgr., Franklin. Sen. contr. let to E. C. Smith, Franklin.”
The September 2, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World had this item about the Acme Theatre:
“J. J. Barrett Buys the Acme.
St. Louis, Mo.—James J. Barrett, of the Chippewa and Knickerbocker theaters, has added the Acme, on 1417-19 Cass avenue, to his string of amusement houses and is getting it in readiness to open within a few weeks. The Acme seats 800 persons, and it is being treated to a set of new furnishings and equipment. Mr. Barrett has made a huge success of his other two houses, and the same system of management will prevail at the Acme.”
The reference to new furnishings and equipment suggests that the house had already been in operation for some time. The 800 given as the seating capacity might have been a typo for 300.
If the Strand was the only theater opened at Oconowomoc in 1921,, then it was probably this project noted in the December 25, 1920, issue of The American Contractor:
“Theatre, Office & Store Bldg.: $25,000. 2 sty. & bas. 68x115. Oconomowoc, Wis. Archt. A. C. Clas. 205 Colby Abbott bldg., Milwaukee. Owner Oconomowoc Theatre Co., H. E. Welch & Philip Binzel. Oconomowoc. Mas. to J. L. Stanage, 144 Oneida St., Milwaukee. Carp. to Gunder Anderson, Oconomowoc. Fdn. in.”
Alfred Charles Clas, previously of the noted architectural firm of Ferry & Clas, had an independent practice in Milwaukee from 1912 to 1932.
This web page has three stories about small towns in Virginia, the last of them being Exmore. It says that the Cameo Theatre opened in 1938 with the Katherine Hepburn-Ginger Rogers film Stage Door. The house closed in the late 1950s.
The building is now occupied by a company called New Ravenna Mosaics, which bills itself as a designer of handcrafted mosaics in glass and stone. The ultimate goal is to restore the Cameo for use as the company’s main showroom.
The Majestic is listed in Frank Cullen’s book Vaudeville Old & New as one of four Reading houses that were at one time or another on the Keith-Albee vaudeville circuit (the other three were the Hippodrome, the Rajah, and Wilmer & Vincent’s Orpheum.)
The March 3, 1923, issue of The Moving Picture World had this item about the original Fairmont Theatre:
“The theatre being erected on Adams street, Fairmont, W. Va., by the West Virginia Amusement Company, will be known as the Fairmont Theatre. The name was decided upon after a contest held among the citizens of the city, to suggest names for the new house.”
The former Cherryvale Mall Cinema’s original, three-screen building is now the home of the GAR South Trampoline Park, operated by Gymnastics Academy of Rockford, so I suppose gymnasium would be the most accurate description of the current use. The trampoline park uses the address 1949 South Bell School Road, but even with that address Google Maps won’t put the pin icon in the proper place.
The building is at the southwest corner of Bell School Road and Mid Mall Drive, at the northeast corner of the mall property. In Google Maps' satellite view the building appears to be in good condition, but street view shows that grass is attempting to reclaim the severely crazed parking lot.
An ad for the Massey Seating Company on this page of Boxoffice, August 2, 1976, features a photo of one of the auditoriums of Plitt’s CherryVale 1-2-3.
The March 13, 1972, issue of Boxoffice said that a free-standing Jerry Lewis Cinema had opened March 1 in Monahans, Texas, at the southwest corner of 2nd and Allen. That’s where the Texan is.
An article about the Gralyn Theatre starts on page 8 of the July, 1988, issue of The Quarterly, published by the St. Lawrence County Historical Association (PDF here.) It includes one 1988 photo of the front, and a few smaller photos of decorative details in the house. The Gralyn opened on January 30, 1920, and in 1922 was taken over by James Papayanakos, whose family controlled the theater for the next few decades. As of 1988 the theater was open only Friday through Sunday.
The Rialto Theatre was mentioned in the September 20, 1924, issue of The Moving Picture World:
Members of the Papayanakos family still operated the Rialto at least as late as 1952, when Peter Papayanakos was mentioned as its manager in the April 12 issue of Boxoffice.The September 20, 1924, issue of The Moving Picture World mentions this theater:
The project had been built within the previous two years, as indicated by this notice in the March 11, 1922, issue of The American Contractor:Architect Carl Ade, who died in 1962, specialized in school buildings, designing over 350 of them in New York State. As far as I know, this was the only movie theater of his design, though he did work with Grand Rapids architect E. Eugene Osgood on the Auditorium Theatre in Rochester, though most likely only as supervising architect.The Massena Theatre was at 65 Main Street. The building has lost its marquee and looks a bit worse for wear, but is still standing, with the storefronts adjacent to the theater entrance still in use.
The September 20, 1924, issue of The Moving Picture World had this item about the Rialto:
CSWalczak’s link is dead. I can’t find an exterior shot of the theater, but this photo of the stage might be the one that went missing.
The Euterpa Theatre is mentioned in a few issues of the Altoona Tribune and the Altoona Mirror between September, 1915 and January, 1917. I can’t find it mentioned in any of the trade journals of the period, though. It might have been a short-lived house, or might have undergone a name change.
This story from the Olean Times Herald of October 10, 2015, concerns the Palace Theatre’s vertical sign which was saved from the demolition and has since been in storage.
The article says that the Palace opened on February 19, 1917.
A Facebook photo album for the Washington Theatre, with 100 photos and scans of articles, can be seen at this link. The information in the articles clarifies the theater’s history.
The “second” Washington Theatre, opened on December 21, 1923, was actually just a new auditorium constructed behind the 1910 theater building, and at right angles to the original auditorium. The long, narrow lobby noted in the article cited in my previous comment ran through the 1910 building, and the remainder of the original auditorium was converted to retail space. The airdome next door was not closed, but continued to operate during the summer at least into the late 1920s.
Although the Facebook album doesn’t extend to the period of the fire, it seems very likely that the Streamline Modern entrance at 1349 19th Street dates from the 1946 post-fire remodeling designed by Leo F. Abrams. It was this entrance, not the second auditorium of 1923, that occupied part of the site of the former airdome.
As part of the original theater building was used until 1945 as the entrance and lobby for the new auditorium of 1923 it now seems unnecessary to have a separate page for the original theater built in 1910, but we could add to this page the architects of the 1911 expansion, Charles Pauly & Son, as noted by RetroMike in his comment of June 14, 2011. It’s possible that the firm designed the original theater of 1910 as well.
The September 1, 1923, issue of The Moving Picture World ran this brief article about the second Washington Theatre, then under construction in Granite City:
The claim of 3,000 seats must have been considerably exaggerated, if the reported capacity of 1,750 in the November, 1945 newspaper article about the fire, cited in a comment by kencmcintyre on November 8, 2008, was correct.The address of the Tokay Theatre was approximately 725 Robert Bush Drive West. The theater building is gone, but the modernistic building on the far left corner of the intersection in the vintage photo is still standing. The building directly across the street from the theater’s site is numbered 724.
The Airdome is long gone, but the Preston Theatre building, much altered, now houses an art gallery and artist’s studio.
The December 4, 1920, issue of The Moving Picture World said that a Franklin Theatre at Franklin, Virginia, was being run by a Mr. M. H. Eppstein of Richmond, Virginia.
It is possible that this theater was replaced in 1921, though I’ve found only one notice about the project, this from the February 26 issue of The American Contractor:
The September 2, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World had this item about the Acme Theatre:
The reference to new furnishings and equipment suggests that the house had already been in operation for some time. The 800 given as the seating capacity might have been a typo for 300.If the Strand was the only theater opened at Oconowomoc in 1921,, then it was probably this project noted in the December 25, 1920, issue of The American Contractor:
Alfred Charles Clas, previously of the noted architectural firm of Ferry & Clas, had an independent practice in Milwaukee from 1912 to 1932.This web page has three stories about small towns in Virginia, the last of them being Exmore. It says that the Cameo Theatre opened in 1938 with the Katherine Hepburn-Ginger Rogers film Stage Door. The house closed in the late 1950s.
The building is now occupied by a company called New Ravenna Mosaics, which bills itself as a designer of handcrafted mosaics in glass and stone. The ultimate goal is to restore the Cameo for use as the company’s main showroom.
The Majestic is listed in Frank Cullen’s book Vaudeville Old & New as one of four Reading houses that were at one time or another on the Keith-Albee vaudeville circuit (the other three were the Hippodrome, the Rajah, and Wilmer & Vincent’s Orpheum.)
The March 3, 1923, issue of The Moving Picture World had this item about the original Fairmont Theatre:
Goodbye to another Palace. CinemaTour has a few exterior photos made in 1989.
The former Cherryvale Mall Cinema’s original, three-screen building is now the home of the GAR South Trampoline Park, operated by Gymnastics Academy of Rockford, so I suppose gymnasium would be the most accurate description of the current use. The trampoline park uses the address 1949 South Bell School Road, but even with that address Google Maps won’t put the pin icon in the proper place.
The building is at the southwest corner of Bell School Road and Mid Mall Drive, at the northeast corner of the mall property. In Google Maps' satellite view the building appears to be in good condition, but street view shows that grass is attempting to reclaim the severely crazed parking lot.
An ad for the Massey Seating Company on this page of Boxoffice, August 2, 1976, features a photo of one of the auditoriums of Plitt’s CherryVale 1-2-3.
Linkrot repair: The August 2, 1976, Boxoffice article about the original Northwest Six can now be found at this link.
Linkrot repair: Large scans of the article about the Plaza Theatre in the August 2, 1976, issue of Boxoffice can now be seen at this link.
Ah, yes, I see that the latticework brick parapet on the former department store building has survived intact.
The March 13, 1972, issue of Boxoffice said that a free-standing Jerry Lewis Cinema had opened March 1 in Monahans, Texas, at the southwest corner of 2nd and Allen. That’s where the Texan is.