There is a ca.1951 photo of the Joy Theatre on this web page, along with a few reminiscences by locals. The rest of the page is mostly about the Joy Drive-In.
Map web sites can’t find a Palton Street in Minden. This web page mentions the Cozy only briefly, even though it is titled “Cozy Theater and Me”, but does say that the theater “…was located behind the stores on back street.” Map sites can’t find Back Street, either, but Lost Minden, by John A. Agan (Google Books preview) says that Back Street was long the name of the street that is now called Broadway Street.
I don’t think the theater’s address would be 112 Broadway, though, as that’s an area where three streets come together and it doesn’t look as though there would have been room for stores with a theater behind them at that spot. Possibly Palton Street was an alley which has been removed.
It’s not unusual for a building housing both a theater and offices or other uses to have two architects. J.B. White was a well known local architect in Ardmore, and so would have been a logical choice to handle a major local project, but had probably never designed a theater.
Leonard H. Bailey was an Oklahoma City architect who had experience designing theaters, and was probably brought in by the owners to handle that portion of the project. White, being local, was most likely also the supervising architect who oversaw the construction.
The architect’s name as given in the 1922 Manufacturers Record item I cited in my previous comment (Bruce Mitchell) was surely erroneous. One of the area’s noted architects during the period when the Palms was built was Bruce P. Kitchell. He was a master of the Spanish Colonial Revival style, and designed at least one other West Palm Beach theater, the Stanley (later the Palace.) It was most likely Kitchell who designed the Palms.
The March 5, 1923, issue of Motion Picture News ran a long article about the Stanley Theatre. The house, which had opened on November 11, 1922, was designed in the Spanish style by architect Bruce P. Kitchell. Kitchell, who originally practiced in Newark, New Jersey, later moved to Palm Beach and was for a while an associate of Addison Mizner.
Here is a scan of the article from the Internet Archive. Scroll down to see three additional photos of the house on the subsequent page of the magazine.
terrywade: This page is devoted to the original Bay Theatre, demolished and replaced by the Majestic Bay Theatres which opened on the same site in 2000. Click on the “Majestic Bay Theatres” link in the “Nearby Theatres” field on the right hand side of this page to open the page dedicated to the new theaters.
The Little Book of Wexford, by Nicky Rossiter, says that the Abbey Cinema opened on January 18, 1947, and originally had 1,000 seats. Seating was reduced when the balcony was closed in 1976.
This weblog post by Annemarie O'Connor reminisces about the Abbey Cinema, and says that it closed in the early 1990s.
The Little Book of Wexford, by Nicky Rossiter, says that the Capitol Cinema opened on February 15, 1931. The building had previously been occupied by a furniture store. An article published in November, 2002, announcing that the premises of the Capitol Cinema were being renovated for a return to retail use noted that the theater had been closed for eighteen years, so it closed around 1984.
The Little Book of Wexford, by Nicky Rossiter, says that the Cinema Palace officially opened on December 7, 1914, in an existing building that had been altered for use as a cinema. It closed in 1970.
Here is a larger version of an image on this theater’s photo page, the Marr and Colton organ company’s 1928 ad illustrated with a couple of images of the Gennesee Theatre.
this page of the January 21, 1928, issue of Exhibitors Herald and Moving Picture World features three photos of the recently opened Chateau-Dodge Theatre.
The La Harte Theatre was mentioned in the April 24, 1948, issue of Showmen’s Trade Review. The owner was named Ed M. Hart. Anton was developed in 1924, and Ed Hart was the first assistant sales manager of the development company, later becoming its general manager. He also owned the local drug store.
The two storefronts that replaced the Colonial Theatre are currently occupied by a bail bondsman’s office and a tattoo parlor. Page 86 of George T. Henry, Mark W. Hunter’s book Cedar Rapids: Downtown and Beyond features a photo of the Colonial in its early days (Google Books preview.)
The mail deamon might be set to reject emails over a certain size, or with files attached. Try sending a plain request without the photos. The theater editor, Ken Roe, might have another address you could send the photos to, or might be able to reset the program to accept the files from your specific email address, though I’m not sure exactly how the system works. But it might be quicker if you could just upload them directly to the photo page yourself.
In the January 10, 1935, issue of The Seminole Sentinel of Seminole, Texas, Dr. J. D. Burleson, dentist, advertised his location as “Palace Theatre Bldg. Lamesa.” The building in the photo has only one floor now, but might have had a second floor with offices that has since been removed.
The Palace was mentioned in the July 6, 1929, issue of Exhibitors Herald-World. RCA Photophone sound equipment had been installed. The house was in operation at least as late as 1973, when it was still advertising in the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.
The Palace Theatre, originally seating only 400, was expanded to accommodate 896 seats in 1950 when it was remodeled with a streamlined interior. The August 5 issue of Boxoffice had a brief article with two photos (lower part of left page.)
Soledad_Theatre_2: The theater your dad managed had to have been the second Soledad Theatre, located on Kidder Street, not this one (the first Soledad.) You’ll find a link to the second Soledad’s Cinema Treasures page in the “Nearby Theaters” field on the right side of this page. There is also a link to the page for the Rio Theatre.
You can upload digitized photos to Cinema Treasures. See the “Photos” section on the FAQ page for instructions.
I’m assuming that Gary, or someone else, has set the Google street view to the correct location of the (still standing) Greenfield Theatre. The building certainly looks like a former theater, with the wide entrance now closed up. As the flanking storefronts display the addresses 237 and 241, the theater must have been at 239 El Camino Real. The zip code is 93927.
The theater’s auditorium appears to have been fenestrated and divided into a couple of retail shops, entered from the side of the building. One is an ice cream parlor and the other sells drinking water. Ah, California.
At the top of this page we’re currently displaying a photo of the second Soledad Theatre on Kidder Street, not the Rio. The Rio was in the building at 325 Front Street, now housing a grocery store. Google street view has been set to the correct location, but the pin icon on the map is a block off.
Linkrot repair: The August 5, 1950, Boxoffice article about the construction techniques used in building the Soledad Theatre is now at this link (I hope. The web site to which the magazine has moved its online archive is cranky as hell.)
The January 3, 1932, issue of The Film Daily said that an Ultraphone sound system had recently been installed in the Sheridan Theatre at North Chicago.
The papers of the Minneapolis architectural firm Kees & Colburn, part of the Northwest Architectural Archives at the Elmer Anderson Library of the University of Minnesota, include a set of blueprints for the Blue Mouse Theatre, dated 1920. I don’t know if Kees & Colburn had any hand in designing the house, or if the firm just acted as supervising architects for the out-of-town designer, Harry Lawrie. I do know that Kees & Colburn’s style tended toward Classical/Beaux Arts rather than the Gothic look of the Blue Mouse.
There is a ca.1951 photo of the Joy Theatre on this web page, along with a few reminiscences by locals. The rest of the page is mostly about the Joy Drive-In.
Map web sites can’t find a Palton Street in Minden. This web page mentions the Cozy only briefly, even though it is titled “Cozy Theater and Me”, but does say that the theater “…was located behind the stores on back street.” Map sites can’t find Back Street, either, but Lost Minden, by John A. Agan (Google Books preview) says that Back Street was long the name of the street that is now called Broadway Street.
I don’t think the theater’s address would be 112 Broadway, though, as that’s an area where three streets come together and it doesn’t look as though there would have been room for stores with a theater behind them at that spot. Possibly Palton Street was an alley which has been removed.
The State Theatre’s entrance was on Beale Street, so its address should be 304 Beale.
It’s not unusual for a building housing both a theater and offices or other uses to have two architects. J.B. White was a well known local architect in Ardmore, and so would have been a logical choice to handle a major local project, but had probably never designed a theater.
Leonard H. Bailey was an Oklahoma City architect who had experience designing theaters, and was probably brought in by the owners to handle that portion of the project. White, being local, was most likely also the supervising architect who oversaw the construction.
The architect’s name as given in the 1922 Manufacturers Record item I cited in my previous comment (Bruce Mitchell) was surely erroneous. One of the area’s noted architects during the period when the Palms was built was Bruce P. Kitchell. He was a master of the Spanish Colonial Revival style, and designed at least one other West Palm Beach theater, the Stanley (later the Palace.) It was most likely Kitchell who designed the Palms.
The March 5, 1923, issue of Motion Picture News ran a long article about the Stanley Theatre. The house, which had opened on November 11, 1922, was designed in the Spanish style by architect Bruce P. Kitchell. Kitchell, who originally practiced in Newark, New Jersey, later moved to Palm Beach and was for a while an associate of Addison Mizner.
Here is a scan of the article from the Internet Archive. Scroll down to see three additional photos of the house on the subsequent page of the magazine.
terrywade: This page is devoted to the original Bay Theatre, demolished and replaced by the Majestic Bay Theatres which opened on the same site in 2000. Click on the “Majestic Bay Theatres” link in the “Nearby Theatres” field on the right hand side of this page to open the page dedicated to the new theaters.
The Little Book of Wexford, by Nicky Rossiter, says that the Abbey Cinema opened on January 18, 1947, and originally had 1,000 seats. Seating was reduced when the balcony was closed in 1976.
This weblog post by Annemarie O'Connor reminisces about the Abbey Cinema, and says that it closed in the early 1990s.
The Little Book of Wexford, by Nicky Rossiter, says that the Capitol Cinema opened on February 15, 1931. The building had previously been occupied by a furniture store. An article published in November, 2002, announcing that the premises of the Capitol Cinema were being renovated for a return to retail use noted that the theater had been closed for eighteen years, so it closed around 1984.
The Little Book of Wexford, by Nicky Rossiter, says that the Cinema Palace officially opened on December 7, 1914, in an existing building that had been altered for use as a cinema. It closed in 1970.
Here is a larger version of an image on this theater’s photo page, the Marr and Colton organ company’s 1928 ad illustrated with a couple of images of the Gennesee Theatre.
this page of the January 21, 1928, issue of Exhibitors Herald and Moving Picture World features three photos of the recently opened Chateau-Dodge Theatre.
The La Harte Theatre was mentioned in the April 24, 1948, issue of Showmen’s Trade Review. The owner was named Ed M. Hart. Anton was developed in 1924, and Ed Hart was the first assistant sales manager of the development company, later becoming its general manager. He also owned the local drug store.
The two storefronts that replaced the Colonial Theatre are currently occupied by a bail bondsman’s office and a tattoo parlor. Page 86 of George T. Henry, Mark W. Hunter’s book Cedar Rapids: Downtown and Beyond features a photo of the Colonial in its early days (Google Books preview.)
Replacing an earlier comment which suffered linkrot:
Hanns Teichert’s November 4, 1950, Boxoffice article about the State Theatre can be seen here.
The mail deamon might be set to reject emails over a certain size, or with files attached. Try sending a plain request without the photos. The theater editor, Ken Roe, might have another address you could send the photos to, or might be able to reset the program to accept the files from your specific email address, though I’m not sure exactly how the system works. But it might be quicker if you could just upload them directly to the photo page yourself.
CinemaTour has a photo.
In the January 10, 1935, issue of The Seminole Sentinel of Seminole, Texas, Dr. J. D. Burleson, dentist, advertised his location as “Palace Theatre Bldg. Lamesa.” The building in the photo has only one floor now, but might have had a second floor with offices that has since been removed.
The Palace was mentioned in the July 6, 1929, issue of Exhibitors Herald-World. RCA Photophone sound equipment had been installed. The house was in operation at least as late as 1973, when it was still advertising in the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.
The Palace Theatre, originally seating only 400, was expanded to accommodate 896 seats in 1950 when it was remodeled with a streamlined interior. The August 5 issue of Boxoffice had a brief article with two photos (lower part of left page.)
Soledad_Theatre_2: The theater your dad managed had to have been the second Soledad Theatre, located on Kidder Street, not this one (the first Soledad.) You’ll find a link to the second Soledad’s Cinema Treasures page in the “Nearby Theaters” field on the right side of this page. There is also a link to the page for the Rio Theatre.
You can upload digitized photos to Cinema Treasures. See the “Photos” section on the FAQ page for instructions.
I’m assuming that Gary, or someone else, has set the Google street view to the correct location of the (still standing) Greenfield Theatre. The building certainly looks like a former theater, with the wide entrance now closed up. As the flanking storefronts display the addresses 237 and 241, the theater must have been at 239 El Camino Real. The zip code is 93927.
The theater’s auditorium appears to have been fenestrated and divided into a couple of retail shops, entered from the side of the building. One is an ice cream parlor and the other sells drinking water. Ah, California.
At the top of this page we’re currently displaying a photo of the second Soledad Theatre on Kidder Street, not the Rio. The Rio was in the building at 325 Front Street, now housing a grocery store. Google street view has been set to the correct location, but the pin icon on the map is a block off.
Yay, my link worked. And so nobody will have to hunt them down, this link should take you to the page with the final four paragraphs of the article.
Linkrot repair: The August 5, 1950, Boxoffice article about the construction techniques used in building the Soledad Theatre is now at this link (I hope. The web site to which the magazine has moved its online archive is cranky as hell.)
The January 3, 1932, issue of The Film Daily said that an Ultraphone sound system had recently been installed in the Sheridan Theatre at North Chicago.
The papers of the Minneapolis architectural firm Kees & Colburn, part of the Northwest Architectural Archives at the Elmer Anderson Library of the University of Minnesota, include a set of blueprints for the Blue Mouse Theatre, dated 1920. I don’t know if Kees & Colburn had any hand in designing the house, or if the firm just acted as supervising architects for the out-of-town designer, Harry Lawrie. I do know that Kees & Colburn’s style tended toward Classical/Beaux Arts rather than the Gothic look of the Blue Mouse.