Ted Horton of Lawton architected the $500,000 theater, Lawton’s first since 1947, to be operated by the Tanscontinental Theatres Circuit. It was designed as a road show house with continental seating for 600, 70mm projection capability, and a 22x50' screen. “Funny Girl” opened the single screener on October 24, 1969.
The Kiva opened with “The Circus Queen Murder” on June 30, 1933 as part of the Westland Theatre Circuit in a repurposed former retail store. The American Indian atmospheric architecture was intriguing and had a western flavor though sometimes falling over into kitsch including the wagon wheel chandelier and totem poles outside the theater as well as an Indian chief’s head in the logo of the theater’s advertisement and coming attraction boxes. The alliterative “Kiva: Kool and Komfortable” was a tagline. The Theater likely had a 20-year lease closing 20 years after its open on March 29, 1953 with the films, “Raiders of Sunset Pass” and “Cattle Town.” The theater returned to retail on July 9, 1953 as a Lee Jewelry store that would become a Zales operating for the next 23 years.
The Hillside Mall launched with its first store on Nov. 11, 1969 but theatre-less. The 420-seat Hillside Theater was added to the shopping center with “The Ra Expeditions” on February 23, 1972. The theater was built for the Midwest Shopping Center Theatre Circuit. The theater had a 15x34' screen and was located at the Hillside Mall between Woolco and next door to Furr’s Cafeteria and would be joined by a gym as its neighbor. The Savard family of the Greeley Drive-In would take on the theater soon after the theater’s grand opening and had a huge hits with films including 1972’s “The Godfather” and with “Jaws” in 1975. On February 23, 1977, Cooper-Highland took on the Hillside.
On July 4, 1977 and a sign of the times, the Hillside reported a streaker running through the theater. The Hillside Mall 250,000 square foot facility was too small to ever become a mall and the space was given a minor tweak and when expanded in 1980 was often referred to the Hillside Shopping Center interchangeably with the Hillside Mall. The theater would leave well before the name change to University Square in 2000 which corresponded with neighboring University of Northern Colorado.
The 425-space Greeley Drive-In launched August 14, 1948 by Rudolph W. Meyer. In 1953, Westland Theatres took on the Greeley. By 1956 Emmett and Ethel Savard were the owners of the theater and the operation was under the creative Cactus Jack. The theater adopted a rural-theme which included Rooster Catch Night when roosters were turned loose in the lot and you could keep any you caught. The concession area was called the Chuck House and the box office was called the Ticket Chute. Drive-up church services and car washes were offered during the run of the veteran ozoner.
On June 15, 1956, the original screen was knocked over in a wind storm. The screen was replaced by an improved 105' CinemaScope capable widescreen. capacity increased to 600 cars. The theater’s biggest success came with 1970’s “Airport” which played for a month as did “The Godfather.” The theater lasted into the home video era of the 1980s before being replaced by a Wal-Mart store.
Announced in February of 1977, this $170,000 theater was constructed at the right time. On June 29th, 1977, Cooper-Highland opened its new theater, the Greeley Mall Cinema 1 & 2 inside of the four year old mall. They hit a home run out of the chute with “Star Wars” as one of the opening films. And the theater was open during the mall’s halcyon days. However, the mall would fade and need a major rehab in 2004 with the cinema and many tenants — including three of five anchors — having long-since departed. Cinemark would open in the former Montgomery Ward’s spot with a 12-screen theater and multiple attempts were made to keep the mall competitive as of the mid-2010s including the filling another one of the vacant anchor spots.
The original Tivoli was at 110 E. Third St. opened June 26, 1930 likely on a ten-year lease. C.E. “Doc” Cook had both worked for and was the third and final owner of the Fern Theater in Maryville which had opened in 1910. The diminutive theater was advertised as “Joe Cook’s Cozy Tivoli.” Not only was the theater undersized but it was potentially unsafe. With no exits on the side due to the proximity of neighboring businesses and no functional exit at the rear, the inescapable conclusion was that the theater – if packed – would be inescapable in the event of a fire. So Doc imagined an improved location which would eventually have seven exits. That became the “new” Tivoli at 117 W. Third St.
The original Tivoli was supposed to have closed Sept. 26, 1939 with the film “Four Feathers” but would actually close Sept. 30, 1939 to honor a contract for the film, “Honor of the West.” A grocery store just up the block would take over the original Tivoli converted it for retail purposes. That building was a retail shoe store was of the mid-2010s.
The new Tivoli would launch Sept. 28, 1939 showing “Blondie Takes a Vacation” plus the “March of Time” newsreel and a Donald Duck cartoon. The new Tivoli had a large stage, seating for 800, and a dance lounge. The Tivoli Building also had retail neighbors in the Tivoli Fashion Shop and an ice cream shop. The theater would be converted to widescreen to accommodate CinemaScope in 1954. The Tivoli operated continuously until 1973.
Cinema Entertainment Theatres Brian Wunder and Gregg Brunk re-opened the theater just months later operating it until summer of 1976 before closing again. Cinema Entertainment would go on to operate the Missouri Theatre in downtown and create the South Cinema Drive-In in 1977. At the Tivoli, all was not lost as Roach and Roach Theaters took on the theater in September of 1976 and operated it until its closure years later.
The Starlite Dude Ranch Drive-In Theatre launched June 30, 1950 with “The Younger Brothers,” a Bugs Bunny cartoon and “Calgary Stampede.” The 53' high tower with its distinctive rustic log cabin / Old West theme had a 33'x40' viewing area. The Chuck House was the nickname for the concession stand and rest room area which also housed the projection booth and a display room with farm-related relics. Employees dressed in ranch-style garb. Ten ramps provided parking for 350 cars and veteran Tivoli / Fern owner C.E. “Doc” Cook was the operator. The lot was modernized along with a larger screen to accommodate widescreen in 1958. By that time there were now 150 wagon wheels on the premises making it the most wagon wheels at any U.S. drive-in theater. And live animals were on the premises including “Peso” the burro, Polish chickens and monkeys.
The Starlight Dude Ranch D-I would pass to son, Jim Cook who would close up shop in 1976. The theater was also home to 26 consecutive years of church services with the tagline, “Bring your own popcorn.” But in late March of 1977, it was all over as the Chuck House and Drive-In were razed for the building of a K-Mart. When the drive-in closed for the season on October 5, 1976 the last feature ever at the Dude Ranch — appropriately enough — was “The Great American Cowboy.”
On its January 16, 1930 Grand Opening, Mayor D.L. Dempsey launched the theater prior to the feature “The Lady Lies.” The atmospheric Spanish architectural themed Valencia Theatre was off to a great start until the feature started. So bad was the sound system that the theater shut down for six weeks to improve the sound system relaunching February 28, 1930. Six years later, the theater installed a new sound system, new projection, and a new gold screen hoping to have a better presentation. On December 1, 1956, the theater closed down showing a double feature of “Dakota Incident” and “Flame of the Islands”.
Architected by R. Warren Roberts who got to convert the 1895 Masonic Temple into the Ritz, the theater’s grand opening was June 3, 1931. It launched with “The Millionaire” and its first operator was billionaire Howard Hughes and his Hughes-Franklin circuit. But the Hughes-Franklin midwestern circuit would be dissolved in November of 1931 and Clarence Shultz was the new operator.
The Ritz received an air conditioning system in 1940. On May 29, 1955, the theater closed for regular business opening for Tuesday “Shopper Matinees” in the summer and closing as kids went back to school. Commonwealth Theaters of Kansas City bought the Ritz and the Ben Bolt in Chillicothe late in 1957. However, the circuit appears to decide against re-opening the Ritz. But the theater would get one more shot at cinematic glory. The Ritz re-opened April 12, 1985 with “Missing in Action 2” on screen one and “Dune” on screen two. And the Ritz closed as a twin shut down by the city on May 24, 1985 with “Gymkata” and “Just One of the Guys.”
W.P. Cuff had the Empire Theater in downtown Chillicothe and wanted to one-up the veteran house. Cuff would convert a feed store to create his Strand Theatre. The Strand opened November 30, 1920 with the film, “The Bird of Paradise.” The $10,000 lighting system produced audience-pleasing effects and the theater was popular at the outset. Cuff would team up with two Kansas City investors in Johnny Kling and Haley Reed to increase their holdings. The popular Strand Theater eventually attracted a new buyer in the fast-growing Missouri/Kansas/Illinois Dickinson Theatre Circuit which bought the Empire and Strand from Kling in April of 1941. Dickinson would spend $50,000 on the Strand including a new sign and featuring its new name, the Dickinson Theatre. The theater was said to be the only one with an air conditioning system between St. Louis and Kansas City at a cost of $20,000.
Business dealings with the Dickinson Circuit including the Griffiths buying half-interest in Dickinson. So a contest was held to change the name of the no longer appropriate Dickinson. The winner was the Grand Theatre. The Grand was massively renovated into a rustic log cabin inspired theater in 1949. But the theater was limping into the TV era. Entering the 1950s under MidCentral Theatres, the Grand was only open on weekends beginning on May 10, 1952 and then, when MidCentral took on the Ritz, the Grand was not open year round, closing in the summer and then closing as a movie theater for good that year. The theater was re-opened for American Legion and other special events through 1954 before being repurposed for retail in 1955.
Angelo Saccaro and Merl Jones opened the 65 Drive-In on April 25, 1950 with “Oh, You Beautiful Doll” on the big screen. The 45x40' tower with a 27'x38' image was in for the long haul remaining in place until being torn down in 1987, just a year after its 27th and final season completed. Sacarro bought out Jones in 1959 and the theater stayed in the Saccaro family until the final showing. Annual “Mud-a-thons”, Sunday morning drive-in church services, and Kool Kart go-cart racing were just some of the additional features at the 65.
The Saccaros added a car wash in the drive-in’s 16th season to increase revenues which was a good idea as the fortunes of the 65 faded in the 1980s. At the very end, the 65 had turned to X-rated fare and closed with Hyapatia Lee’s “Let’s Get Physical” on September 13, 1986. The announcement of the non-opening in 1987 didn’t come until June of 1987 when the decision was made to not only not open but to raze the 65 occurring that October.
Grand opening for the Northwest Arkansas Plaza was March 2, 1972 and Malco Theatres Circuit was ready to go with its third Fayetteville twin theater in just two years. The first was the Malco Twin Cinema I & II and the second was dividing the thirty year old U•ARK into a two-screen complex. And, finally, was the Malco Mall Twin Cinema I & II launching along with Sears, J.C. Penney, Dillard’s, Woolworth’s and The Boston Store. Seating in the identical auditoria were for 210 each or 420 total. The glass-front lobby had its entrance from the side of the plaza and said to be decorated in a Spanish style. Automated equipment set the masking, opened the curtains, dimmed the lights, and started the film. Its opening films were “The Cowboys” and “$.”
An incredible survivor, Malco operated the Mall Twin for more than 37 years closing on June 17, 2009. A remarkable run with the Malco circuit concentrating on the expansion of the Razorback theater across the street which was undergoing a major expansion to 16 screens. The Mall Twin property taken over by Gymnastic Joe’s which as of the mid-2010s was still going strong and still had one of the Malco’s curtained-screens.
The actual name of this theater was the Malco Twin Cinema I & II. It launched August 26, 1970 rather auspiciously with the box office failures “Paint Your Wagon” and “A Walk in the Spring Rain.” The identical auditoria each sat 210 for a total of 420 patrons and was the first twin in Northwest Arkansas as well as Malco’s first of four twins in Fayetteville. Fayetteville Mayor Garland Melton Jr. joined Malco President M.A. Lightman Jr. for the ribbon cutting.
Fayetteville is home to the University of Arkansas. When Paul Young Jr. of Fayetteville architected the unnamed, forthcoming $100,000 showplace in 1940, William F. Sonneman decided on the name, the UARK Theatre. It launched at 649 W. Dickson on January 16, 1941 with the film Hunted Honeymoon. (Within the UARK Building were two retailers: Harkey’s fashion store at 647 West Dickson operating almost 12 years and Scharmm’s The Campus Grill with its soda fountain at 651 West Dickson opertaing for almost 28 years. And apartments were above these three spots.)
The 640-seat UARK had a 15x20’ Da-Lite screen with RCA’s “Magic Voice of the Screen” multi-cellular sound system. Its Barton pipe organ was played by Gladys Cosnell Sonneman. The theater was owned by Bill Sonneman and was his seventh in his Arkanas theatre circuit along with Fayetteville’s Ozark, Royal and Palace. The Malco Theatre Circuit purchased the four Fayetteville theaters from Sonneman in june of 1948.
As the era of the single-screen theater began to wane, Malco started to look for locations for twin screen theaters offering free parking and more options at the end of the 1960s. This would change the face of Fayetteville moviegoing forever. But Malco gave the UARK one more chance. Following the November 25, 1970 showing of “Fantasia,” Malco briefly closed the UARK to twin the theater. It relaunched as the UARK Twin Cinema 1&2 on January 22, 1971 with 2001: A Space Odyssey” and “Gone with the Wind.” But the conversion wasn’t lucrative enough for Malco which would shutter the operation just after three years following the May 5, 1974 showings of “The King & I” and “O’ Lucky Man.”
There was life after Malco as Jeffrey Seidensticker and Richard Sherin subleased the theater from Malco and reopened the UARK. After more than a year of being dark, the pair repositioned the UARK as a repertory house and some art / porno chic on the front house launching with “Citizen Kane” on December 7, 1975 and live events on the back house. The theater housed a disco (42d Street) and a new wave club (Colonel Smuckers) before ending as the UARK Arts Center in 1981. The building continued to host retailers over the next three decades looking on the exterior pretty much the same although without its marquee.
The Lee was architected by Frank Bail with an initial budget of $52,000 and was built for the Cojac Theatre Circuit that was a subsidiary of Warner Brothers in the pre-Paramount decision years. Construction began on Feb. 3, 1941.
The Front Street locale was home to the first entertainment space designed in Traverse City for the showing of moving pictures called the Dreamland Theatre. The space also had vaudeville. Though attributed the George Lote Silver as the original owner, he and his family were the third operators coming aboard in 1910. The regular feature films stop in 1926 and the building is home to a photographer in the early 1930s. W.S. Butterfield Theatre Circuit (part of the Publix-Paramount operation) reimagines the property creating the all new Tra-Bay Theatre opening in May of 1935. The 700-seat theater joins the Lyric as Butterfield’s Traverse City theaters to be joined in 1941 by the Michigan Theatre.
The Tra-Bay ends quietly on August 2, 1954 just shy of its 20th anniversary closing with “On Top of Old Smoky” and “ The Glass Wall.” The theater apparently sat vacant until purchased by Butterfield as a clearance sale room for Milliken’s furniture in November of 1955. The building would be swapped for another property with longtime Tra-Bay neighbor, Hamilton’s, to expand that clothing store into the Tra-Bay in 1958. The theater is dismantled. At that point, Butterfield Theatres returns but only to remove its projection equipment and donates it to the Traverse City State Hospital which had 1923-era antiquated projection equipment. Though the Tra-Bay building would be razed, that address on Front Street will be remembered for providing around five decades of entertainment for Traverse City residents and tourists.
This o-zoner opened in May of 1946 as Drive-In Theatre aka Burlington Drive-In Theatre with an antiquated sound system and substandard grounds. The theatre closed for a major remodeling in 1948 re-opening June 4, 1948 with John Wayne’s “Pittsburgh.” The improved theater now had individual speakers, a concession stand and updated rest rooms. On October 29, 1949, the theatre changed its name to the Hi-Way 70 East Drive-In Theatre and then on July 16, 1951, the theater name was shortened to the East 70 Drive-In Theatre which it held on to until being destroyed in a storm closing to rebuild on June 8, 1969.
As the single-screen East 70 Drive-In, the theatre had many highlights including North Carolina’s first 3D showings on April 12, 1953 and giving away a 12-foot boot while celebrating the theater’s 10th anniversary in May of 1956. Plans were developed in 1969 to add a second screen and mother nature assisted that when the theater was decimated by a June 8, 1969 storm toppling its tower. The theater was closed until re-emerging as the 70 Twin Drive-In Theatre with “True Grit” and “Hello Down There” on Screen 1 and “Gone With the Wind” on re-issue on Screen 2.
The then-30 screen operation by Consolidated Theatre Circuit spent $500,000 on the twin. It would feature a game room with ten pinball machines, a pitch-and-bat arcade game, and a shuffle puck bowler. Pizza was added to the expanded concession area. And four-lane ticket booth added as the theater went from seeing fewer than 500 cars to around 1,100 on both lots. The 100' high and 60' wide metal screens had projection from X6000 Xenon lamp equipped “computerized” projectors.
The twins would stay in operation until reportedly closing in 1980 prior to the theater’s 35th anniversary. The space also hosted a weekend flea market that was popular in the area. The theaters were vandalized becoming an eyesore d until their demolition in 1991. Just traces of the roadway remained in the 2010s as a retail facility replaced the venerable o-zoner.
The Pastime Theatre did not open in 1934. It opened on December 1, 1911 as the first theater in Lumberton built for photo plays and managed by Wade S. Wishart. (Though his obituary says the Pastime Theatre opened in 1910, there are no listings, mentions or bookings at the theater prior to the opening date in 1911.) The Pastime was remodeled soon thereafter celebrated another grand opening playing films such as “Birth of a Nation” and its sequel. It transitioned to a low cost theater during WW I Owner H.H. Anderson took over the theater in 1917 installing new Simplex film projectors.
Anderson sold out to Mr. and Mrs. J.W. Griffin in 1926 who sold to a fourth owner in 1929, Joe Caudell who installed Movietone sound with its first talkie with “Abie’s Irish Rose” May 24, 1929. The Carolina ownership, The Lumberton Theatre Company, took over the Pastime September 23, 1929 and with its Vitaphone sound system showed the “Jazz Singer” October 2, 1929 for its first Vitaphone screening in Lumberton. But by late November, the Lumberton Theatre Company rented the theater out for sporadic events including live singing, vaudeville and boxing and no longer used it for theatrical bookings. Obviously, the company worried about the onset of the Depression and its toll on Lumberton moviegoers.
Wishart who had managed the Lyric and Star and then would leave town only to return trying in 1931 in vain to re-establish the Pastime as a regular feature film location. (He would cashier at the Caroline and then on to run the Riverdale for seemingly ever and retiring at 80 back at the Carolina.)
The seldom-used Pastime was updated with RCA sound as it transfers from Lumberton Theatre Company in August of 1934 by the Anderson Theatre Circuit on a five-year lease. Anderson ran into major problems when it altered its balcony policies from all Indian to cater to the high number of American Indians in the area to an all African American balcony policy leaving out the Indians. In March 15, 1939 the Pastime had a grand re-opening as that year H.F. Kincey takes on both of Lumberton Theatre Circuit’s Lumberton holdings in the Carolina and Pastime on ten-year leases. That formation would be the Wilby-Kincey circuit which would steer the Pastime to its closure on March 25, 1949 going dark. Jimmy Adams purchases the building housing the theater on March 2, 1950 and apparently disassembles the theater starting with the lobby ending its cinematic service at just over 37 years.
The Morris LeGendre theater was his 11th opening April 2d, 1939 with “Topper Takes a Trip.” It had three ticket booths, one for Caucasian audiences who could sit in the 500 seat main floor and then 250 seats in a split balcony with 125 for Lumberton’s large American Indian population in the East Gallery and 125 for African Americans in the West Gallery. The exploitation film, “Mom and Dad” set records to that point for the theater with the sold-out shows snarling traffic, leading to ticket scalping, and having five women faint. J. Paul Lewis was the Riverside’s manager from 1939 until its temporary closure in 1976. He said that “Vanishing Point” was the theater’s highest grossing film along with “Patton” and “Gone with the Wind.”
Lewis would help launch and manage the Town & Country 1-2 when it opened in 1977. Lewis also was the independent operator of the Riverside from 1961-1964 when LeGendre dropped the theater. On June 1, 1964, H.B. Meiselman Circuit added the Riverside to its portfolio.Meiselman changed everything in the theater including marquee, screen, projection, and 400 new seats. The theater was the stepchild to the superior Carolina though superior to the Pastime which closed decades earlier.
Under Eastern Federal Theatres Circuit in the mid-1970s, the theater would go for adult films while launching a more family-centric twin screen theater. With a twin screen and a three-screen operation supplying plenty of nearby free parking, the writing was on the wall for the aging downtown theaters. The Riverside would close at the the end of March 1977 and the Carolina would shutter just two months later ending a long run of downtown cinema history. And while the Carolina would be saved as a live performance venue, the Riverside would be razed.
Newman Bower Architects designed the Town & Country 1-2 Theatres as a twin-screen theatre in which both 350-seat auditoria were identical and shared the same, automated projection booth. On April 6, 1977, the theater had its official Grand Opening for the Eastern Federal Theatre Circuit’s 41st theater. They launched with the films, “Rocky” and “The Crater Lake Monster.” J. Paul Lewis, the opening manager of the Riverside Theater when it opened in 1939 in downtown was the T&C’s first manager. At that point, the Riverside was in Eastern Federal control but closed where it would be reopened closing out as an adult venue. The Town & Country would become a four-screen operation and is still going into the mid-2010s as part of 701 Cinemas.
The 211 Drive-In Opened on April 24, 1952 with “Treasure of Lost Canyon.” It closed in early summer of 1985 for a good run of 33 years including 9 years of adult operation at the end and a brief turn back to family entertainment in its final months.
The Crosscreek Cinemas 1•2•3 in Greenwood Mall launched July 17, 1981 with “Stripes,” “The Great Muppet Caper” and “Endless Love.” Consolidated Theatres Inc. Circuit operated the theater likely on a 25-year lease. The 600-seat theater became part of Carmike in 1990 when Consolidated was purchased. The Carmike Triple Crosscreek Cinemas at Greenwood Mall closed Sept. 24, 2006 with “Jackass: Number Two,” “Flyboys,” and Everyone’s “Hero”. (Technically, this three screener – 200 seats per auditorium – was always three-screens and known as the Crosscreek Cinema and not the Greenwood Mall Cinemas. However, the generic Mall Cinema was what was above the exterior entrance door which could explain the entry’s title.)
Lyman A. Hamrick’s $60,000 “New Theatre” architected by Charles Collins Benton had 780 seats at its April 12, 1930 launch playing, “Fast Company” on its 19'x28' screen and Gaffney Mayor Victor Lipscomb dedicating the theatre. On June 10, 1930, the theatre began advertising as the Hamrick Theatre which it retained until closing on January 4, 1969. Many preservation efforts were made up until the theater’s demolition in May of 1988. But with a large hole in its roof, the building’s neglect for nearly twenty years was too extensive to overcome.
At opening, the cream colored deco building with green trim stood out with the bronze lettering spelling out “Comedy” and “Drama” at left (see photo) and “Music” and “Art” at right. The theater’s Spanish Renaissance interior had a rough quality to it. The theater was designed with Vitaphone sound in mind and would also feature Western Electric sound on film from the outset. The adjoining Chatterbox Soda Fountain was where snacks for the movie would be purchased until an interior concession stand was added in 1954. Also in 1954, the theater played its first 3D show in “The Creature from the Black Lagoon.”
The theater only had two managers with its second manager, G.G. Humphries managing it for more than 35 years and one employee in Jim Gibson who was there for almost the entire theater run of nearly 39 years. A festive last day on January 4, 1969 had films, “A Twist of Sand,” “Five Million Years to Earth,” and “The Viking Queen” along with live music on the stage of “The Fantastic Five.” The theater was neglected after its closing as the roof over the auditorium developed leaks that would hamper the many attempts to salvage the building. A desperate preservation plan was scuttled in April of 1988 and the building razed in May of 1988.
Architected at 1,000 seats by L. Cosby Bernard, the $65,000 Hohman Theater had a Christmas Day 1936 opening with a 20-year lease that it didn’t make it to the end of. First feature was “Laughing Irish Eyes”
Ted Horton of Lawton architected the $500,000 theater, Lawton’s first since 1947, to be operated by the Tanscontinental Theatres Circuit. It was designed as a road show house with continental seating for 600, 70mm projection capability, and a 22x50' screen. “Funny Girl” opened the single screener on October 24, 1969.
The Kiva opened with “The Circus Queen Murder” on June 30, 1933 as part of the Westland Theatre Circuit in a repurposed former retail store. The American Indian atmospheric architecture was intriguing and had a western flavor though sometimes falling over into kitsch including the wagon wheel chandelier and totem poles outside the theater as well as an Indian chief’s head in the logo of the theater’s advertisement and coming attraction boxes. The alliterative “Kiva: Kool and Komfortable” was a tagline. The Theater likely had a 20-year lease closing 20 years after its open on March 29, 1953 with the films, “Raiders of Sunset Pass” and “Cattle Town.” The theater returned to retail on July 9, 1953 as a Lee Jewelry store that would become a Zales operating for the next 23 years.
The Hillside Mall launched with its first store on Nov. 11, 1969 but theatre-less. The 420-seat Hillside Theater was added to the shopping center with “The Ra Expeditions” on February 23, 1972. The theater was built for the Midwest Shopping Center Theatre Circuit. The theater had a 15x34' screen and was located at the Hillside Mall between Woolco and next door to Furr’s Cafeteria and would be joined by a gym as its neighbor. The Savard family of the Greeley Drive-In would take on the theater soon after the theater’s grand opening and had a huge hits with films including 1972’s “The Godfather” and with “Jaws” in 1975. On February 23, 1977, Cooper-Highland took on the Hillside.
On July 4, 1977 and a sign of the times, the Hillside reported a streaker running through the theater. The Hillside Mall 250,000 square foot facility was too small to ever become a mall and the space was given a minor tweak and when expanded in 1980 was often referred to the Hillside Shopping Center interchangeably with the Hillside Mall. The theater would leave well before the name change to University Square in 2000 which corresponded with neighboring University of Northern Colorado.
The 425-space Greeley Drive-In launched August 14, 1948 by Rudolph W. Meyer. In 1953, Westland Theatres took on the Greeley. By 1956 Emmett and Ethel Savard were the owners of the theater and the operation was under the creative Cactus Jack. The theater adopted a rural-theme which included Rooster Catch Night when roosters were turned loose in the lot and you could keep any you caught. The concession area was called the Chuck House and the box office was called the Ticket Chute. Drive-up church services and car washes were offered during the run of the veteran ozoner.
On June 15, 1956, the original screen was knocked over in a wind storm. The screen was replaced by an improved 105' CinemaScope capable widescreen. capacity increased to 600 cars. The theater’s biggest success came with 1970’s “Airport” which played for a month as did “The Godfather.” The theater lasted into the home video era of the 1980s before being replaced by a Wal-Mart store.
Announced in February of 1977, this $170,000 theater was constructed at the right time. On June 29th, 1977, Cooper-Highland opened its new theater, the Greeley Mall Cinema 1 & 2 inside of the four year old mall. They hit a home run out of the chute with “Star Wars” as one of the opening films. And the theater was open during the mall’s halcyon days. However, the mall would fade and need a major rehab in 2004 with the cinema and many tenants — including three of five anchors — having long-since departed. Cinemark would open in the former Montgomery Ward’s spot with a 12-screen theater and multiple attempts were made to keep the mall competitive as of the mid-2010s including the filling another one of the vacant anchor spots.
The original Tivoli was at 110 E. Third St. opened June 26, 1930 likely on a ten-year lease. C.E. “Doc” Cook had both worked for and was the third and final owner of the Fern Theater in Maryville which had opened in 1910. The diminutive theater was advertised as “Joe Cook’s Cozy Tivoli.” Not only was the theater undersized but it was potentially unsafe. With no exits on the side due to the proximity of neighboring businesses and no functional exit at the rear, the inescapable conclusion was that the theater – if packed – would be inescapable in the event of a fire. So Doc imagined an improved location which would eventually have seven exits. That became the “new” Tivoli at 117 W. Third St.
The original Tivoli was supposed to have closed Sept. 26, 1939 with the film “Four Feathers” but would actually close Sept. 30, 1939 to honor a contract for the film, “Honor of the West.” A grocery store just up the block would take over the original Tivoli converted it for retail purposes. That building was a retail shoe store was of the mid-2010s.
The new Tivoli would launch Sept. 28, 1939 showing “Blondie Takes a Vacation” plus the “March of Time” newsreel and a Donald Duck cartoon. The new Tivoli had a large stage, seating for 800, and a dance lounge. The Tivoli Building also had retail neighbors in the Tivoli Fashion Shop and an ice cream shop. The theater would be converted to widescreen to accommodate CinemaScope in 1954. The Tivoli operated continuously until 1973.
Cinema Entertainment Theatres Brian Wunder and Gregg Brunk re-opened the theater just months later operating it until summer of 1976 before closing again. Cinema Entertainment would go on to operate the Missouri Theatre in downtown and create the South Cinema Drive-In in 1977. At the Tivoli, all was not lost as Roach and Roach Theaters took on the theater in September of 1976 and operated it until its closure years later.
The Starlite Dude Ranch Drive-In Theatre launched June 30, 1950 with “The Younger Brothers,” a Bugs Bunny cartoon and “Calgary Stampede.” The 53' high tower with its distinctive rustic log cabin / Old West theme had a 33'x40' viewing area. The Chuck House was the nickname for the concession stand and rest room area which also housed the projection booth and a display room with farm-related relics. Employees dressed in ranch-style garb. Ten ramps provided parking for 350 cars and veteran Tivoli / Fern owner C.E. “Doc” Cook was the operator. The lot was modernized along with a larger screen to accommodate widescreen in 1958. By that time there were now 150 wagon wheels on the premises making it the most wagon wheels at any U.S. drive-in theater. And live animals were on the premises including “Peso” the burro, Polish chickens and monkeys.
The Starlight Dude Ranch D-I would pass to son, Jim Cook who would close up shop in 1976. The theater was also home to 26 consecutive years of church services with the tagline, “Bring your own popcorn.” But in late March of 1977, it was all over as the Chuck House and Drive-In were razed for the building of a K-Mart. When the drive-in closed for the season on October 5, 1976 the last feature ever at the Dude Ranch — appropriately enough — was “The Great American Cowboy.”
On its January 16, 1930 Grand Opening, Mayor D.L. Dempsey launched the theater prior to the feature “The Lady Lies.” The atmospheric Spanish architectural themed Valencia Theatre was off to a great start until the feature started. So bad was the sound system that the theater shut down for six weeks to improve the sound system relaunching February 28, 1930. Six years later, the theater installed a new sound system, new projection, and a new gold screen hoping to have a better presentation. On December 1, 1956, the theater closed down showing a double feature of “Dakota Incident” and “Flame of the Islands”.
Architected by R. Warren Roberts who got to convert the 1895 Masonic Temple into the Ritz, the theater’s grand opening was June 3, 1931. It launched with “The Millionaire” and its first operator was billionaire Howard Hughes and his Hughes-Franklin circuit. But the Hughes-Franklin midwestern circuit would be dissolved in November of 1931 and Clarence Shultz was the new operator.
The Ritz received an air conditioning system in 1940. On May 29, 1955, the theater closed for regular business opening for Tuesday “Shopper Matinees” in the summer and closing as kids went back to school. Commonwealth Theaters of Kansas City bought the Ritz and the Ben Bolt in Chillicothe late in 1957. However, the circuit appears to decide against re-opening the Ritz. But the theater would get one more shot at cinematic glory. The Ritz re-opened April 12, 1985 with “Missing in Action 2” on screen one and “Dune” on screen two. And the Ritz closed as a twin shut down by the city on May 24, 1985 with “Gymkata” and “Just One of the Guys.”
W.P. Cuff had the Empire Theater in downtown Chillicothe and wanted to one-up the veteran house. Cuff would convert a feed store to create his Strand Theatre. The Strand opened November 30, 1920 with the film, “The Bird of Paradise.” The $10,000 lighting system produced audience-pleasing effects and the theater was popular at the outset. Cuff would team up with two Kansas City investors in Johnny Kling and Haley Reed to increase their holdings. The popular Strand Theater eventually attracted a new buyer in the fast-growing Missouri/Kansas/Illinois Dickinson Theatre Circuit which bought the Empire and Strand from Kling in April of 1941. Dickinson would spend $50,000 on the Strand including a new sign and featuring its new name, the Dickinson Theatre. The theater was said to be the only one with an air conditioning system between St. Louis and Kansas City at a cost of $20,000.
Business dealings with the Dickinson Circuit including the Griffiths buying half-interest in Dickinson. So a contest was held to change the name of the no longer appropriate Dickinson. The winner was the Grand Theatre. The Grand was massively renovated into a rustic log cabin inspired theater in 1949. But the theater was limping into the TV era. Entering the 1950s under MidCentral Theatres, the Grand was only open on weekends beginning on May 10, 1952 and then, when MidCentral took on the Ritz, the Grand was not open year round, closing in the summer and then closing as a movie theater for good that year. The theater was re-opened for American Legion and other special events through 1954 before being repurposed for retail in 1955.
Angelo Saccaro and Merl Jones opened the 65 Drive-In on April 25, 1950 with “Oh, You Beautiful Doll” on the big screen. The 45x40' tower with a 27'x38' image was in for the long haul remaining in place until being torn down in 1987, just a year after its 27th and final season completed. Sacarro bought out Jones in 1959 and the theater stayed in the Saccaro family until the final showing. Annual “Mud-a-thons”, Sunday morning drive-in church services, and Kool Kart go-cart racing were just some of the additional features at the 65.
The Saccaros added a car wash in the drive-in’s 16th season to increase revenues which was a good idea as the fortunes of the 65 faded in the 1980s. At the very end, the 65 had turned to X-rated fare and closed with Hyapatia Lee’s “Let’s Get Physical” on September 13, 1986. The announcement of the non-opening in 1987 didn’t come until June of 1987 when the decision was made to not only not open but to raze the 65 occurring that October.
Grand opening for the Northwest Arkansas Plaza was March 2, 1972 and Malco Theatres Circuit was ready to go with its third Fayetteville twin theater in just two years. The first was the Malco Twin Cinema I & II and the second was dividing the thirty year old U•ARK into a two-screen complex. And, finally, was the Malco Mall Twin Cinema I & II launching along with Sears, J.C. Penney, Dillard’s, Woolworth’s and The Boston Store. Seating in the identical auditoria were for 210 each or 420 total. The glass-front lobby had its entrance from the side of the plaza and said to be decorated in a Spanish style. Automated equipment set the masking, opened the curtains, dimmed the lights, and started the film. Its opening films were “The Cowboys” and “$.”
An incredible survivor, Malco operated the Mall Twin for more than 37 years closing on June 17, 2009. A remarkable run with the Malco circuit concentrating on the expansion of the Razorback theater across the street which was undergoing a major expansion to 16 screens. The Mall Twin property taken over by Gymnastic Joe’s which as of the mid-2010s was still going strong and still had one of the Malco’s curtained-screens.
The actual name of this theater was the Malco Twin Cinema I & II. It launched August 26, 1970 rather auspiciously with the box office failures “Paint Your Wagon” and “A Walk in the Spring Rain.” The identical auditoria each sat 210 for a total of 420 patrons and was the first twin in Northwest Arkansas as well as Malco’s first of four twins in Fayetteville. Fayetteville Mayor Garland Melton Jr. joined Malco President M.A. Lightman Jr. for the ribbon cutting.
Fayetteville is home to the University of Arkansas. When Paul Young Jr. of Fayetteville architected the unnamed, forthcoming $100,000 showplace in 1940, William F. Sonneman decided on the name, the UARK Theatre. It launched at 649 W. Dickson on January 16, 1941 with the film Hunted Honeymoon. (Within the UARK Building were two retailers: Harkey’s fashion store at 647 West Dickson operating almost 12 years and Scharmm’s The Campus Grill with its soda fountain at 651 West Dickson opertaing for almost 28 years. And apartments were above these three spots.)
The 640-seat UARK had a 15x20’ Da-Lite screen with RCA’s “Magic Voice of the Screen” multi-cellular sound system. Its Barton pipe organ was played by Gladys Cosnell Sonneman. The theater was owned by Bill Sonneman and was his seventh in his Arkanas theatre circuit along with Fayetteville’s Ozark, Royal and Palace. The Malco Theatre Circuit purchased the four Fayetteville theaters from Sonneman in june of 1948.
As the era of the single-screen theater began to wane, Malco started to look for locations for twin screen theaters offering free parking and more options at the end of the 1960s. This would change the face of Fayetteville moviegoing forever. But Malco gave the UARK one more chance. Following the November 25, 1970 showing of “Fantasia,” Malco briefly closed the UARK to twin the theater. It relaunched as the UARK Twin Cinema 1&2 on January 22, 1971 with 2001: A Space Odyssey” and “Gone with the Wind.” But the conversion wasn’t lucrative enough for Malco which would shutter the operation just after three years following the May 5, 1974 showings of “The King & I” and “O’ Lucky Man.”
There was life after Malco as Jeffrey Seidensticker and Richard Sherin subleased the theater from Malco and reopened the UARK. After more than a year of being dark, the pair repositioned the UARK as a repertory house and some art / porno chic on the front house launching with “Citizen Kane” on December 7, 1975 and live events on the back house. The theater housed a disco (42d Street) and a new wave club (Colonel Smuckers) before ending as the UARK Arts Center in 1981. The building continued to host retailers over the next three decades looking on the exterior pretty much the same although without its marquee.
The Lee was architected by Frank Bail with an initial budget of $52,000 and was built for the Cojac Theatre Circuit that was a subsidiary of Warner Brothers in the pre-Paramount decision years. Construction began on Feb. 3, 1941.
The Front Street locale was home to the first entertainment space designed in Traverse City for the showing of moving pictures called the Dreamland Theatre. The space also had vaudeville. Though attributed the George Lote Silver as the original owner, he and his family were the third operators coming aboard in 1910. The regular feature films stop in 1926 and the building is home to a photographer in the early 1930s. W.S. Butterfield Theatre Circuit (part of the Publix-Paramount operation) reimagines the property creating the all new Tra-Bay Theatre opening in May of 1935. The 700-seat theater joins the Lyric as Butterfield’s Traverse City theaters to be joined in 1941 by the Michigan Theatre.
The Tra-Bay ends quietly on August 2, 1954 just shy of its 20th anniversary closing with “On Top of Old Smoky” and “ The Glass Wall.” The theater apparently sat vacant until purchased by Butterfield as a clearance sale room for Milliken’s furniture in November of 1955. The building would be swapped for another property with longtime Tra-Bay neighbor, Hamilton’s, to expand that clothing store into the Tra-Bay in 1958. The theater is dismantled. At that point, Butterfield Theatres returns but only to remove its projection equipment and donates it to the Traverse City State Hospital which had 1923-era antiquated projection equipment. Though the Tra-Bay building would be razed, that address on Front Street will be remembered for providing around five decades of entertainment for Traverse City residents and tourists.
This o-zoner opened in May of 1946 as Drive-In Theatre aka Burlington Drive-In Theatre with an antiquated sound system and substandard grounds. The theatre closed for a major remodeling in 1948 re-opening June 4, 1948 with John Wayne’s “Pittsburgh.” The improved theater now had individual speakers, a concession stand and updated rest rooms. On October 29, 1949, the theatre changed its name to the Hi-Way 70 East Drive-In Theatre and then on July 16, 1951, the theater name was shortened to the East 70 Drive-In Theatre which it held on to until being destroyed in a storm closing to rebuild on June 8, 1969.
As the single-screen East 70 Drive-In, the theatre had many highlights including North Carolina’s first 3D showings on April 12, 1953 and giving away a 12-foot boot while celebrating the theater’s 10th anniversary in May of 1956. Plans were developed in 1969 to add a second screen and mother nature assisted that when the theater was decimated by a June 8, 1969 storm toppling its tower. The theater was closed until re-emerging as the 70 Twin Drive-In Theatre with “True Grit” and “Hello Down There” on Screen 1 and “Gone With the Wind” on re-issue on Screen 2.
The then-30 screen operation by Consolidated Theatre Circuit spent $500,000 on the twin. It would feature a game room with ten pinball machines, a pitch-and-bat arcade game, and a shuffle puck bowler. Pizza was added to the expanded concession area. And four-lane ticket booth added as the theater went from seeing fewer than 500 cars to around 1,100 on both lots. The 100' high and 60' wide metal screens had projection from X6000 Xenon lamp equipped “computerized” projectors.
The twins would stay in operation until reportedly closing in 1980 prior to the theater’s 35th anniversary. The space also hosted a weekend flea market that was popular in the area. The theaters were vandalized becoming an eyesore d until their demolition in 1991. Just traces of the roadway remained in the 2010s as a retail facility replaced the venerable o-zoner.
The Pastime Theatre did not open in 1934. It opened on December 1, 1911 as the first theater in Lumberton built for photo plays and managed by Wade S. Wishart. (Though his obituary says the Pastime Theatre opened in 1910, there are no listings, mentions or bookings at the theater prior to the opening date in 1911.) The Pastime was remodeled soon thereafter celebrated another grand opening playing films such as “Birth of a Nation” and its sequel. It transitioned to a low cost theater during WW I Owner H.H. Anderson took over the theater in 1917 installing new Simplex film projectors.
Anderson sold out to Mr. and Mrs. J.W. Griffin in 1926 who sold to a fourth owner in 1929, Joe Caudell who installed Movietone sound with its first talkie with “Abie’s Irish Rose” May 24, 1929. The Carolina ownership, The Lumberton Theatre Company, took over the Pastime September 23, 1929 and with its Vitaphone sound system showed the “Jazz Singer” October 2, 1929 for its first Vitaphone screening in Lumberton. But by late November, the Lumberton Theatre Company rented the theater out for sporadic events including live singing, vaudeville and boxing and no longer used it for theatrical bookings. Obviously, the company worried about the onset of the Depression and its toll on Lumberton moviegoers.
Wishart who had managed the Lyric and Star and then would leave town only to return trying in 1931 in vain to re-establish the Pastime as a regular feature film location. (He would cashier at the Caroline and then on to run the Riverdale for seemingly ever and retiring at 80 back at the Carolina.)
The seldom-used Pastime was updated with RCA sound as it transfers from Lumberton Theatre Company in August of 1934 by the Anderson Theatre Circuit on a five-year lease. Anderson ran into major problems when it altered its balcony policies from all Indian to cater to the high number of American Indians in the area to an all African American balcony policy leaving out the Indians. In March 15, 1939 the Pastime had a grand re-opening as that year H.F. Kincey takes on both of Lumberton Theatre Circuit’s Lumberton holdings in the Carolina and Pastime on ten-year leases. That formation would be the Wilby-Kincey circuit which would steer the Pastime to its closure on March 25, 1949 going dark. Jimmy Adams purchases the building housing the theater on March 2, 1950 and apparently disassembles the theater starting with the lobby ending its cinematic service at just over 37 years.
S.S. Dixon of Fayetteville was the theater’s architect.
The Morris LeGendre theater was his 11th opening April 2d, 1939 with “Topper Takes a Trip.” It had three ticket booths, one for Caucasian audiences who could sit in the 500 seat main floor and then 250 seats in a split balcony with 125 for Lumberton’s large American Indian population in the East Gallery and 125 for African Americans in the West Gallery. The exploitation film, “Mom and Dad” set records to that point for the theater with the sold-out shows snarling traffic, leading to ticket scalping, and having five women faint. J. Paul Lewis was the Riverside’s manager from 1939 until its temporary closure in 1976. He said that “Vanishing Point” was the theater’s highest grossing film along with “Patton” and “Gone with the Wind.”
Lewis would help launch and manage the Town & Country 1-2 when it opened in 1977. Lewis also was the independent operator of the Riverside from 1961-1964 when LeGendre dropped the theater. On June 1, 1964, H.B. Meiselman Circuit added the Riverside to its portfolio.Meiselman changed everything in the theater including marquee, screen, projection, and 400 new seats. The theater was the stepchild to the superior Carolina though superior to the Pastime which closed decades earlier.
Under Eastern Federal Theatres Circuit in the mid-1970s, the theater would go for adult films while launching a more family-centric twin screen theater. With a twin screen and a three-screen operation supplying plenty of nearby free parking, the writing was on the wall for the aging downtown theaters. The Riverside would close at the the end of March 1977 and the Carolina would shutter just two months later ending a long run of downtown cinema history. And while the Carolina would be saved as a live performance venue, the Riverside would be razed.
Newman Bower Architects designed the Town & Country 1-2 Theatres as a twin-screen theatre in which both 350-seat auditoria were identical and shared the same, automated projection booth. On April 6, 1977, the theater had its official Grand Opening for the Eastern Federal Theatre Circuit’s 41st theater. They launched with the films, “Rocky” and “The Crater Lake Monster.” J. Paul Lewis, the opening manager of the Riverside Theater when it opened in 1939 in downtown was the T&C’s first manager. At that point, the Riverside was in Eastern Federal control but closed where it would be reopened closing out as an adult venue. The Town & Country would become a four-screen operation and is still going into the mid-2010s as part of 701 Cinemas.
The 211 Drive-In Opened on April 24, 1952 with “Treasure of Lost Canyon.” It closed in early summer of 1985 for a good run of 33 years including 9 years of adult operation at the end and a brief turn back to family entertainment in its final months.
The Crosscreek Cinemas 1•2•3 in Greenwood Mall launched July 17, 1981 with “Stripes,” “The Great Muppet Caper” and “Endless Love.” Consolidated Theatres Inc. Circuit operated the theater likely on a 25-year lease. The 600-seat theater became part of Carmike in 1990 when Consolidated was purchased. The Carmike Triple Crosscreek Cinemas at Greenwood Mall closed Sept. 24, 2006 with “Jackass: Number Two,” “Flyboys,” and Everyone’s “Hero”. (Technically, this three screener – 200 seats per auditorium – was always three-screens and known as the Crosscreek Cinema and not the Greenwood Mall Cinemas. However, the generic Mall Cinema was what was above the exterior entrance door which could explain the entry’s title.)
Lyman A. Hamrick’s $60,000 “New Theatre” architected by Charles Collins Benton had 780 seats at its April 12, 1930 launch playing, “Fast Company” on its 19'x28' screen and Gaffney Mayor Victor Lipscomb dedicating the theatre. On June 10, 1930, the theatre began advertising as the Hamrick Theatre which it retained until closing on January 4, 1969. Many preservation efforts were made up until the theater’s demolition in May of 1988. But with a large hole in its roof, the building’s neglect for nearly twenty years was too extensive to overcome.
At opening, the cream colored deco building with green trim stood out with the bronze lettering spelling out “Comedy” and “Drama” at left (see photo) and “Music” and “Art” at right. The theater’s Spanish Renaissance interior had a rough quality to it. The theater was designed with Vitaphone sound in mind and would also feature Western Electric sound on film from the outset. The adjoining Chatterbox Soda Fountain was where snacks for the movie would be purchased until an interior concession stand was added in 1954. Also in 1954, the theater played its first 3D show in “The Creature from the Black Lagoon.”
The theater only had two managers with its second manager, G.G. Humphries managing it for more than 35 years and one employee in Jim Gibson who was there for almost the entire theater run of nearly 39 years. A festive last day on January 4, 1969 had films, “A Twist of Sand,” “Five Million Years to Earth,” and “The Viking Queen” along with live music on the stage of “The Fantastic Five.” The theater was neglected after its closing as the roof over the auditorium developed leaks that would hamper the many attempts to salvage the building. A desperate preservation plan was scuttled in April of 1988 and the building razed in May of 1988.
Architected at 1,000 seats by L. Cosby Bernard, the $65,000 Hohman Theater had a Christmas Day 1936 opening with a 20-year lease that it didn’t make it to the end of. First feature was “Laughing Irish Eyes”