The Ideal Theatre was discussed in the November 3, 1917, issue of The Moving Picture World:
“Dayton News Letter
“By Paul J. Gray. Alhambra Theater Building, Dayton, Ohio.
“Making Patrons for Ideal Theatre.
“DAYTON, OHIO. — John Seifert. who was with the Pathe. working from Cincinnati, and who made quite a success with that company, is now in Dayton to stay. He is managing the Ideal theater in this city as well as the East Majestic, a neighborhood house.
“Mr. Seifert controlled a chain of eight theaters on the Pacific coast before going to the Pathe people and is well known in the west. He has already started plans for the complete remodeling of the Ideal. Mr. Seifert converted a house known as a ‘filler for a program’ into a legitimate ‘Feature.’ inasmuch as the Standard Film one-reel picture, ‘The Zeppelin Raids over London,’ was advertised strong in the newspapers and did a big business while at the Ideal.
“George Wilson, of the Standard exchange in Cincinnati, says that bookings are coming in fast through the running of the picture at the Ideal with such remarkable success. This task is even harder when one stops to think that B. F. Keith’s theater, only two blocks away, was playing ‘The Retreat of the Germans’ to big houses as an extra feature with a vaudeville show.
“Mr. Seifert claims the East Majestic is also doing well under his management and he is to completely remodel this house also.”
So far I’ve been unable to identify the neighborhood house called the East Majestic Theatre.
Here is a bit of information about the operation of the Auditorium Theatre during the period before the fire that destroyed the house, from the April 1, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World:
“The New Auditorium is a ‘duplex’ theater. There are two 500 seat auditoriums, one above the other, the operating room of the lower being under the stage of the upper. The lower theater begins the day, and when the first two reels are finished they are sent upstairs and the show is started in the upper auditorium, thereafter the show continues for the day with the lower theater two laps ahead of the upper. There are three operators employed. The projectors are Power’s Six A’s. Projection is in charge of S. Howell, P. Willoughby and W. Stoker.
“The lobby of the New Auditorium is very spacious, is decorated in pale blue and is fitted up with wicker chairs, stand lamps and cozy corners — a beautiful, commodious rest room. The house is owned by the Auditorium Amusement Company, of which that wideawake, pleasant gentleman, Gill Burrows, is manager. We had an extended talk with Neighbor Burrows; also met Mr. Elmer Rauh, president and treasurer of the company.”
Papers in the Pretzinger Architectural Collection reveal that Albert Pretzinger’s firm did some work on the Strand Theatre in 1924. There is no indication of the nature of the work or its extent.
The records of Hugh J. Baker & Company of Indianapolis, fabricator of structural and reinforcing steel and concrete, indicate that they provided materials for the construction of the Liberty Theatre at Terre Haute in 1918.
Numerous sources indicate that the architect of Zaring’s Egyptian Theatre was Frank Baldwin Hunter, brother of Edgar Otis Hunter. Though Frank Hunter, who had studied art but had no formal architectural training, had apprenticed with Preston Rubush, he established his own practice in 1907, becoming quite successful as a residential architect. After designing numerous houses, he began designing commercial projects, including Zaring’s Egyptian and the Fountain Square Theatre.
The records of Hugh J. Baker & Company, fabricator of structural and reinforcing steel and concrete, list Vonnegut, Bohn & Meuller as the architects of the Apollo. The firm’s co-founder (with Arthur Bohn), Bernard Vonnegut, died in 1908, and his son, Kurt Vonnegut Sr., became a principal of the firm in 1910. O. N. Mueller joined the firm later. Vonnegut Sr. was the lead architect on most of the firms projects.
The records of Hugh J. Baker & Company, fabricator of structural and reinforcing steel and concrete, indicate that the Alhambra Theatre was built in 1913.
This post from the Historic Indianapolis web site has, along with some pictures of the Apollo Theatre, a photo of the Alhambra’s building shortly before it and its neighbors were demolished in 1990.
Gerald, as you are the most frequent contributor to pages for Providence theaters maybe you can solve this puzzle. I found this item in The Moving Picture World of October 21, 1922:
“Fred Lovett, manager of the Palace in the Olneyville section of Providence, believes in seeing every picture before booking it. The result has been that this house has been consistently making money, while similar houses who have booked on hearsay, have had a somewhat up and down career.”
As we don’t have a Palace Theatre listed in Olneyville, I’m puzzled. Are Cinema Treasures' listings missing a theater? Did the magazine get the location wrong, or the name? Is Palace a missing aka for one of the other theaters in the neighborhood? I don’t know what to make of it.
In addition to its location outside Providence’s main shopping and theater district, the Capitol had a design issue that probably contributed to the difficulty of operating it as a movie theater. The 1909-1910 Cahn guide describes The Imperial’s seating arrangement as 484 in the orchestra, 388 in the balcony, 40 in boxes, and a whopping 800 in the gallery.
As the stage, though 40 feet deep from footlights to back wall, was only 65 feet between side walls, the whole theater must have been fairly narrow, but the limited seating capacity of the orchestra suggests that the main floor was not very deep, either. The enormous gallery must have been high and steep, and considerably deeper than the main floor, and thus poorly suited for watching a screen set within the 35-foot wide proscenium. The lower seating capacity in the theater’s later years must have resulted from the closing of the gallery, or at least the greater part of it.
I haven’t been able to determine if the firm designed the Uptown Theatre itself, but the Schuster Building was designed by architects Nevin, Wischmeyer & Morgan (Hugh Nevin, Herman Wischmeyer and Frederick Morgan.)
After leaving the firm, Wischmeyer worked on the Louisville Scottish Rite Temple, photos of which can be found on the Internet, so he at least was certainly capable of creating the sort of restrained, elegant auditorium that both the Temple and the Uptown Theatre possess.
The Pima and Maricopa tribes developed the Talking Stick Entertainment District, and must have chosen the name for it. I would assume there is some tribal self-assertion in the choice.
For a couple hundred years the Indians were denigrated or ignored by the dominant culture, but now the tribes have learned how to work the system to their advantage, and we will have to pay attention to them for a change. They have the talking stick now.
Don’t comment unless you are holding the talking stick. It should really be a rule in all theaters (and a cellphone does not count as a talking stick.)
An article about George Bolling, Sr. in the October 13, 2017, issue of The Coalfield Progress says that his father, R. H. Bolling, built four theaters in the region. Another of these was the Coeburn Theatre, opened in 1947 at Coeburn, Virginia.
The Emporis page for the Grandin Theatre attributes the design of the project to the local architectural and construction firm Eubank & Caldwell.
According to the City of Roanoke’s official plan for the Greater Raleigh Court neighborhood, the Grandin opened as the Community Theatre on March 26, 1932.
On February 25, 1912, Will Rogers appeared on the stage of the Grand Theatre at Augusta in a production of the musical show The Wall Street Girl. This must have been an out-of-town tryout for the show, which ran at George M. Cohan’s Theatre in New York from April 15 to June 1 that year, with Rogers doing what is listed as “a specialty number”.
There is also a reference to a New Grand Theatre at Augusta in
Henry T. Sampson’s Blacks in Blackface: A Sourcebook on Early Black Musical Shows. Reviewing an appearance at the New Grand of the Kenner & Williams stock company, the Indianapolis Freeman of April 13, 1912, called the house “…one of the finest colored playhouses in the South” and added that it was owned by “…Messrs Evans and Cook.” I don’t know if this marked a sudden change in policy for the Grand Theatre or if the New Grand was a different house. I’ve been unable to find any other references to the New Grand or to Evans and Cook.
After the Grand Theatre burned in 1922, there were plans to replace it, noted in the October 12 issue of Manufacturers Record. Although the architect had already prepared plans and a contractor had been chosen, it appears that the $50,000 project was never carried out.
At the time the Lincoln Theatre opened in July, 1929, its lessee, R. W. Sherrill, had been operating the Marion Theatre since the middle of the previous winter, according to an article in the June 27 issue of The Smyth County News (PDF of the entire issue.) Sherrill intended to keep the Marion open, on a six-day schedule, and would show mostly westerns. At this time it was the only other theater operating in Marion.
This PDF of the June 27, 1929, issue of The Smyth County News contains several pages with items pertaining to the Lincoln Theatre, which was scheduled to open on July 1.
The papers of Louisville architectural firm D. X. Murphy & Bro. (Dennis Xavier Murphy and James Cornelius Murphy) include material relating to their work on the Buckingham Theatre in 1898-99 and in 1911, but with the address given as 223-227 W. Jefferson. The 1898-99 project is listed as “Buckingham Theatre, New” so its possible the Grand Opera House listed in the Cahn guide of 1897-98 was closed and replaced. The Buckingham Theatre was originally opened as a burlesque house by John Henry Whallen in 1880.
The Baxter Theatre dates to the early 1920s. The October 12, 1922, issue of Manufacturers Record had this item:
“Ky, – Louisville – Baxter Amusement Co.: $40,000 theater on Bardstown Rd.; 57x100 ft. fireproof; composition roof; concrete floors; metal doors; steel sash and trim; wire glass; ventilators; seating capacity 1000; D.X. Murphy & Bro., Archts., Louisville Trust Bldg.; J.F. Russell Contr., Marion E. Taylor Bldg.”
Architects Dennis Xavier Murphy and James Cornelius Murphy designed at least two other theaters in Louisville; the Buckingham Theatre, 223-227 West Jefferson Street, 1898-99 and 1911, and the Olympic Moving Picture Theatre, 326 East Market Street, 1911. The firm is best known for designing the iconic grandstand building at Churchill Downs race track. Their successor firm, Luckett & Farley, is still in existence.
The April 30, 1914, issue of theatrical paper The New York Age said that “Gaston & Jackson and Susie Sutton are at the Boston Theatre, Roanoke.” I’ve found references to both of these acts being on the African-American vaudeville circuit during this period. I haven’t found anything about Gaston & Jackson, but Susie Sutton appears to have been quite successful in vaudeville from 1910 through 1915, and later she appeared in movies and on stage, even having her own company of players in the mid-1920s.
The June 3, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World had this item about the Boston Theatre:
“The Boston to Be Enlarged.
“Roanoke, Va. — The Boston, the only colored theater here, now having a seating capacity of three hundred and fifty, is soon to be enlarged to a size that will give, it is reported, a seating capacity of approximately one thousand. This house is owned by A. Andrews and is managed by S. Andrews, they catering to the colored population of Roanoke.”
I haven’t found any follow-up items confirming that this expansion plan was actually carried out.
Here is an item from the June 3, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World:
“Buys Pastime to Close It.
“Marion, Va. — The Pastime theater has been acquired by C. B. Eccles, who operates the Marion, and has been closed up. The Pastime was the first theater in the field here, but it has been supplanted by the Marion, a new and very attractive one. The town is not large enough to support two such theaters and one had to go.”
The July 13, 1929, issue of Motion Picture News had this announcement: “R. W. Sherrill has a lease on the Lincoln, Marion, Va., opened July 1, and is operating it.”
Premier Cinemas' web site has this page about the addition of an IMAX screen to their Temple, Texas location. Two smaller theaters were combined and extended upward to create the space for the new room.
The Ideal Theatre was discussed in the November 3, 1917, issue of The Moving Picture World:
So far I’ve been unable to identify the neighborhood house called the East Majestic Theatre.Here is a bit of information about the operation of the Auditorium Theatre during the period before the fire that destroyed the house, from the April 1, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World:
Papers in the Pretzinger Architectural Collection reveal that Albert Pretzinger’s firm did some work on the Strand Theatre in 1924. There is no indication of the nature of the work or its extent.
The records of Hugh J. Baker & Company of Indianapolis, fabricator of structural and reinforcing steel and concrete, indicate that they provided materials for the construction of the Liberty Theatre at Terre Haute in 1918.
Numerous sources indicate that the architect of Zaring’s Egyptian Theatre was Frank Baldwin Hunter, brother of Edgar Otis Hunter. Though Frank Hunter, who had studied art but had no formal architectural training, had apprenticed with Preston Rubush, he established his own practice in 1907, becoming quite successful as a residential architect. After designing numerous houses, he began designing commercial projects, including Zaring’s Egyptian and the Fountain Square Theatre.
The records of Hugh J. Baker & Company, fabricator of structural and reinforcing steel and concrete, list Vonnegut, Bohn & Meuller as the architects of the Apollo. The firm’s co-founder (with Arthur Bohn), Bernard Vonnegut, died in 1908, and his son, Kurt Vonnegut Sr., became a principal of the firm in 1910. O. N. Mueller joined the firm later. Vonnegut Sr. was the lead architect on most of the firms projects.
The records of Hugh J. Baker & Company, fabricator of structural and reinforcing steel and concrete, indicate that the Alhambra Theatre was built in 1913.
This post from the Historic Indianapolis web site has, along with some pictures of the Apollo Theatre, a photo of the Alhambra’s building shortly before it and its neighbors were demolished in 1990.
Gerald, as you are the most frequent contributor to pages for Providence theaters maybe you can solve this puzzle. I found this item in The Moving Picture World of October 21, 1922:
As we don’t have a Palace Theatre listed in Olneyville, I’m puzzled. Are Cinema Treasures' listings missing a theater? Did the magazine get the location wrong, or the name? Is Palace a missing aka for one of the other theaters in the neighborhood? I don’t know what to make of it.In addition to its location outside Providence’s main shopping and theater district, the Capitol had a design issue that probably contributed to the difficulty of operating it as a movie theater. The 1909-1910 Cahn guide describes The Imperial’s seating arrangement as 484 in the orchestra, 388 in the balcony, 40 in boxes, and a whopping 800 in the gallery.
As the stage, though 40 feet deep from footlights to back wall, was only 65 feet between side walls, the whole theater must have been fairly narrow, but the limited seating capacity of the orchestra suggests that the main floor was not very deep, either. The enormous gallery must have been high and steep, and considerably deeper than the main floor, and thus poorly suited for watching a screen set within the 35-foot wide proscenium. The lower seating capacity in the theater’s later years must have resulted from the closing of the gallery, or at least the greater part of it.
I haven’t been able to determine if the firm designed the Uptown Theatre itself, but the Schuster Building was designed by architects Nevin, Wischmeyer & Morgan (Hugh Nevin, Herman Wischmeyer and Frederick Morgan.)
After leaving the firm, Wischmeyer worked on the Louisville Scottish Rite Temple, photos of which can be found on the Internet, so he at least was certainly capable of creating the sort of restrained, elegant auditorium that both the Temple and the Uptown Theatre possess.
The Pima and Maricopa tribes developed the Talking Stick Entertainment District, and must have chosen the name for it. I would assume there is some tribal self-assertion in the choice.
For a couple hundred years the Indians were denigrated or ignored by the dominant culture, but now the tribes have learned how to work the system to their advantage, and we will have to pay attention to them for a change. They have the talking stick now.
Don’t comment unless you are holding the talking stick. It should really be a rule in all theaters (and a cellphone does not count as a talking stick.)
An article about George Bolling, Sr. in the October 13, 2017, issue of The Coalfield Progress says that his father, R. H. Bolling, built four theaters in the region. Another of these was the Coeburn Theatre, opened in 1947 at Coeburn, Virginia.
The May 10, 1947, issue of Boxoffice said “R. H. Bolling opened his new theatre at Coeburn, Va., May 1.”
The Emporis page for the Grandin Theatre attributes the design of the project to the local architectural and construction firm Eubank & Caldwell.
According to the City of Roanoke’s official plan for the Greater Raleigh Court neighborhood, the Grandin opened as the Community Theatre on March 26, 1932.
Here is another PDF with the NRHP registration form for the Lincoln Theatre. It includes floor plans and a longitudinal section of the auditorium.
On February 25, 1912, Will Rogers appeared on the stage of the Grand Theatre at Augusta in a production of the musical show The Wall Street Girl. This must have been an out-of-town tryout for the show, which ran at George M. Cohan’s Theatre in New York from April 15 to June 1 that year, with Rogers doing what is listed as “a specialty number”.
There is also a reference to a New Grand Theatre at Augusta in Henry T. Sampson’s Blacks in Blackface: A Sourcebook on Early Black Musical Shows. Reviewing an appearance at the New Grand of the Kenner & Williams stock company, the Indianapolis Freeman of April 13, 1912, called the house “…one of the finest colored playhouses in the South” and added that it was owned by “…Messrs Evans and Cook.” I don’t know if this marked a sudden change in policy for the Grand Theatre or if the New Grand was a different house. I’ve been unable to find any other references to the New Grand or to Evans and Cook.
After the Grand Theatre burned in 1922, there were plans to replace it, noted in the October 12 issue of Manufacturers Record. Although the architect had already prepared plans and a contractor had been chosen, it appears that the $50,000 project was never carried out.
At the time the Lincoln Theatre opened in July, 1929, its lessee, R. W. Sherrill, had been operating the Marion Theatre since the middle of the previous winter, according to an article in the June 27 issue of The Smyth County News (PDF of the entire issue.) Sherrill intended to keep the Marion open, on a six-day schedule, and would show mostly westerns. At this time it was the only other theater operating in Marion.
This PDF of the June 27, 1929, issue of The Smyth County News contains several pages with items pertaining to the Lincoln Theatre, which was scheduled to open on July 1.
The papers of Louisville architectural firm D. X. Murphy & Bro. (Dennis Xavier Murphy and James Cornelius Murphy) include material relating to their work on the Buckingham Theatre in 1898-99 and in 1911, but with the address given as 223-227 W. Jefferson. The 1898-99 project is listed as “Buckingham Theatre, New” so its possible the Grand Opera House listed in the Cahn guide of 1897-98 was closed and replaced. The Buckingham Theatre was originally opened as a burlesque house by John Henry Whallen in 1880.
The Baxter Theatre dates to the early 1920s. The October 12, 1922, issue of Manufacturers Record had this item:
Architects Dennis Xavier Murphy and James Cornelius Murphy designed at least two other theaters in Louisville; the Buckingham Theatre, 223-227 West Jefferson Street, 1898-99 and 1911, and the Olympic Moving Picture Theatre, 326 East Market Street, 1911. The firm is best known for designing the iconic grandstand building at Churchill Downs race track. Their successor firm, Luckett & Farley, is still in existence.The April 30, 1914, issue of theatrical paper The New York Age said that “Gaston & Jackson and Susie Sutton are at the Boston Theatre, Roanoke.” I’ve found references to both of these acts being on the African-American vaudeville circuit during this period. I haven’t found anything about Gaston & Jackson, but Susie Sutton appears to have been quite successful in vaudeville from 1910 through 1915, and later she appeared in movies and on stage, even having her own company of players in the mid-1920s.
The June 3, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World had this item about the Boston Theatre:
I haven’t found any follow-up items confirming that this expansion plan was actually carried out.Here is an item from the June 3, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World:
The July 13, 1929, issue of Motion Picture News had this announcement: “R. W. Sherrill has a lease on the Lincoln, Marion, Va., opened July 1, and is operating it.”
Premier Cinemas' web site has this page about the addition of an IMAX screen to their Temple, Texas location. Two smaller theaters were combined and extended upward to create the space for the new room.