Another theater building lost to neglect. Googling for news reports about the event (but finding none) I came across this page at a site called arch-ive.org (apparently not related to archive.org) which features three photos of the closed Showboat and a 1943 Sanborn map showing its site. Judging from the first photo, the birds of Freeport have lost a splendid communal perch.
Yes, I now think Drive-Ins.com got the dates wrong. I’ve found reliable sources saying that the tornado which destroyed the Sedalia Drive-In happened in 1980, not 1976. My guess would be that the theater reopened as the Sedalia Drive-In in 1976, the year Drive-Ins.com mistakenly said it was destroyed by the tornado.
Web sites recording major weather events in the area don’t list any tornadoes at Sedalia in 1976, but they do list the one in 1980. The site of the Sedalia Drive-In was probably vacant from 1980 until the Galaxy 8 was built on it in 1998.
The official web site says “CLOSED as of 12/7/2015 UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE” As the web site is still up, they probably plan to reopen the theater at some point, but such plans don’t always work out. I can’t find anything on the Internet about why the house is closed.
At some point two more screens were added to this multiplex. It is now called the Galaxy 10. The Galaxy 8 was built in 1998 by the Wagenknecht family. Margie Wagenknecht donated the Uptown Theatre, which had been built in 1936 by her father, J. T. Ghosen, to Sedalia Downtown Development, Inc., in 2006. The Uptown is now undergoing restoration.
Tp is correct. The drive-in at 4104 W. Main Street closed as the Sedalia Drive-In. According to Drive-Ins.com, it opened in 1949 as the 50 Hi-Way Drive-In, became simply the 50 Drive-In in 1955, was closed following a destruction tornado in 1976, and was reopened in 1990 as the Sedalia Drive-In. It has since been demolished and its site is now the location of the indoor Galaxy 10 Cinema, which was built as an 8-screen house in 1998.
CinemaTour lists the Starzz Drive-In on Whitfield Road as the Diamond Drive-In, with Starzz as an aka. Adam Martin posted photos of it.
The September 17, 1938, issue of Motion Picture Herald said that C. B. King, who had recently opened the Lincoln Theatre in Mobile, was also the operator of the Pike Theatre in that city.
The September 17, 1938, issue of Motion Picture Herald said that Central States Theatres had opened their new Clarion Theatre at Clarion. The $50,000 project had been designed by Des Moines architects Wetherell & Harrison.
Some way down This web page is some information about this building, and several photos. The building was designed by architect Fred J. James, and was built for the Sicilian Club in 1928-29. The theater was first called the Sicilia, and then became the Cazin, but one vintage photo on the page shows the facade with a small vertical sign reading Cazin Theatre, but the name Cazin Sicilia on the front of the marquee, and the name New Sicilian in portable letters on the end attraction board. Several other photos also show the vertical and marquee front names.
The September 17, 1938, issue of Motion Picture Herald said that Albert Coppell was reopening the Sun Theatre in Denver under the name Mexico Theatre, with the intention of showing Spanish language movies.
The Criterion Theatre in St. Louis was being remodeled, with plans by architect O. W. Stiegemeyer, according to the September 17, 1938, issue of Motion Picture Herald.
The September 17, 1938, issue of Motion Picture Herald said that a new front on the Peoples Theatre (the name on the marquee had no apostrophe) had been designed by Robert Boller.
The September 17, 1938, issue of Motion Picture Herald said that David Supowitz had acted as consulting architect for the Warner Theatre, then under construction in Wilmington.
The Empire Theatre in Freeport was listed in the 1906-1907 Cahn guide as a vaudeville house. No details were given. It had not been listed in the 1899-1900 guide. Freeport’s main theater, listed in both editions, was the 862-seat Grand Opera House.
The April 3, 1920, issue of Motion Picture News said that the Rio Theatre on upper Broadway had opened “…a few days ago.” It was originally operated by David B. Picker, who I believe was the grandfather of the producer David V. Picker who has, in recent decades, been at various times the head of Paramount, United Artists, and Columbia Pictures.
I’ve found quite a few references to the Apex Theatre, dating as far back as its opening on December 27, 1912, but the sources all give the address as 302 Kansas Avenue. It must have had two different locations, but the second one, on Fourth Street, must have opened sometime between 1928 and 1933, when the photo currently displayed above was taken.
This entry from the 1928 Topeka Colored Directory tells of Mr B. F. Payne, operator of the Apex:
“Apex Theater, 302 Kansas Avenue, has now been in operation for 15 years, and was formerly owned by the late H. E. Sheppard. Mr. B. F. Payne, the present owner, bought over the theater November 1st, 1927. To this date this is the only theater owned and operated by a colored man in the state of Kansas. Mr. Payne has done considerable improving to the equipment, etc., and is hoping that in the near future should business justify, to remodel and expand. He books the very best pictures obtainable for his many customers without any advancement in the price of admission. The theater goers of Topeka should be proud of this enterprise as there is no other Topeka theater that colored people can go to without being segregated. The pictures shown by Mr. Payne are the same as shown by other high class theaters and some are first run, meaning the first picture to be shown in Topeka. Mr. Payne gives employment to 5 the year round and two temporarily and books a Topeka orchestra regularly. Mr. Payne is an accomplished business man, a Spanish-American veteran, a member of the Masonic and all the auxiliaries and is strictly a Topeka product, having been born here.”
The original Apex was also mentioned in an article about Topeka in the June 27, 1914, issue of The African-American newspaper The Freeman, which said: “The Apex Theatre, on the main street, in the very heart of the business district, is a pretty and finely appointed Negro enterprise which Mrs. Wright manages.”
According to an article at a site called Comic Book Resources, “…4DX theaters… provide environmental effects synced with the movie, including ‘motion-activated seats, wind, fog, rain, lightning, vibration, snow, and scents.’” To me it sounds like it would be more annoying than engaging, but then not being a big fan of action movies maybe I’m just missing the subtle allure of such gimicks.
Regal opened the first 4DX auditorium in the U.S. (100 seats) at its L.A. Live multiplex in 2014, and another was opened in Chicago last year. The New York City venues will apparently be the third and fourth, so the system hasn’t exactly set the industry alight. At an extra eight bucks a pop (over 3D prices, not regular movie prices) I’m not surprised. I’d be unlikely to spend an extra eight dollars just to get my arse jiggled, my clothes dampened, and my nostrils assailed, and I suspect not many other people will go for it either. Though I do wonder how much Axe Body Spray they will release into the air every time Henry Cavill appears on screen.
The organ most likely went to this theater, the Palace/Wade/City. The wade family did have a connection to Morehead City theaters, as in 1936 Duffy and Francis Wade built a house called the Royal Theatre (The Beaufort News, January 26, 1936.) the Morehead Theatre, according to NightHawk1’s earlier comment, wasn’t built until 1954.
The February 27, 1941, issue of issue of The Beaufort News features and ad for both Wades Theatre and the Royal Theatre. Stewart-Everett bought both houses from the Royal Operating Company in 1946 (The Film Daily, July 12.) The Royal Theatre and City Theatre are mentioned in the paper in 1948, so they probably renamed the Wades Theatre not long after buying it.
joe1751: The bartender at the Smokehouse was mistaken. Look at Google’s satellite view of the block and you can see the roof of the auditorium extending toward Crescent Street, to the left of the theater entrance. The Smokehouse is in what appears to be former retail space. Its building’s roof is much lower than the theater’s roof was.
The October 23, 1926, issue of The Universal Weekly said that Michel Strogoff had been the first movie shown at the Mercedes Palast when it opened in September.
The Thursday, August 31, 1911, issue of The Emporia Weekly Gazette said that P. J. Concannon’s Electric Theatre had opened for the fall and winter season the previous Saturday, and that it had been redecorated over the summer. A thumbnail biography of Concannon published in 1918 said that he had come to Emporia in 1910. It doesn’t say if he began operating the theater that year, or if he was the original owner of the house.
An article in the June 26, 1981, issue of The Daily News of Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, said that the former Aldine Theatre, which had shown its last movie on September 15, 1978, was being remodeled for use as a dental clinic. The Aldine had opened on Christmas Day, 1935, and was a rebuild of a theater half its size, the Liberty, which had been destroyed by a fire on June 26, 1935. T. J. Hickes was the owner and operator of both the old and the new theaters.
The dental clinic has since moved on, and the Aldine Theatre building is now occupied by a church. The style and construction of the brick building would have been quite old fashioned for 1935, so I suspect that the outer walls of the building survived the fire and were reused. The Liberty, which was in operation at least as early as 1922, most likely began life as a storefront theater taking up half the building, while the Aldine occupied the entire width of the rebuilt structure.
The Linda Theatre’s location in a planned shopping center built in 1943 (I believe the theater opened a bit later) made it one of the earliest shopping center theaters in the United States. Linda Vista Plaza was a Federal government project influenced by the ideas of Britain’s New Towns movement, and originally featured a greensward down the middle and a large building that served as a multi-=purpose community activities center.
The activities center appears to be the only original structure remaining in the center, and today has been re-purposed as a skating rink, Great Skate of San Diego, and a couple of ancillary businesses. The Linda Theatre was located a couple hundred feet north of that building, with its back facing Linda Vista Road and its entrance facing the communal green. It had a small stage, but no fly loft, the roof of the stage house actually being lower than that of the auditorium.
This page from the City of San Diego has two aerial views of the Plaza, one of which clearly shows the theater and its relationship to the Community Activities Building. Comparing it to modern Google satellite view it can be seen that the back of the theater was about where the rebuilt shopping center’s entrance sign and an adjacent fast food structure are now located.
Plain though the Linda Theatre was, it still had an architectural style, which was a combination of elements of the Streamline Modern and the emerging Midcentury Modern.
“Joe Markowitz, Solana Theatre at Solana Beach, was on Filmrow booking and buying” said an item in the Los Angeles news column of the January 25, 1965, issue of Boxoffice.
The new theater at Paradise that was noted in this item from the May 24, 1924, issue of The Moving Picture World was probably the El Rey:
“A picture theatre has been opened at Paradise, Cal., by the J. B. Case Company, this being the first in the community. The equipment was furnished by Walter G. Preddey of San Francisco.”
Another theater building lost to neglect. Googling for news reports about the event (but finding none) I came across this page at a site called arch-ive.org (apparently not related to archive.org) which features three photos of the closed Showboat and a 1943 Sanborn map showing its site. Judging from the first photo, the birds of Freeport have lost a splendid communal perch.
Yes, I now think Drive-Ins.com got the dates wrong. I’ve found reliable sources saying that the tornado which destroyed the Sedalia Drive-In happened in 1980, not 1976. My guess would be that the theater reopened as the Sedalia Drive-In in 1976, the year Drive-Ins.com mistakenly said it was destroyed by the tornado.
Web sites recording major weather events in the area don’t list any tornadoes at Sedalia in 1976, but they do list the one in 1980. The site of the Sedalia Drive-In was probably vacant from 1980 until the Galaxy 8 was built on it in 1998.
The official web site says “CLOSED as of 12/7/2015 UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE” As the web site is still up, they probably plan to reopen the theater at some point, but such plans don’t always work out. I can’t find anything on the Internet about why the house is closed.
At some point two more screens were added to this multiplex. It is now called the Galaxy 10. The Galaxy 8 was built in 1998 by the Wagenknecht family. Margie Wagenknecht donated the Uptown Theatre, which had been built in 1936 by her father, J. T. Ghosen, to Sedalia Downtown Development, Inc., in 2006. The Uptown is now undergoing restoration.
Tp is correct. The drive-in at 4104 W. Main Street closed as the Sedalia Drive-In. According to Drive-Ins.com, it opened in 1949 as the 50 Hi-Way Drive-In, became simply the 50 Drive-In in 1955, was closed following a destruction tornado in 1976, and was reopened in 1990 as the Sedalia Drive-In. It has since been demolished and its site is now the location of the indoor Galaxy 10 Cinema, which was built as an 8-screen house in 1998.
CinemaTour lists the Starzz Drive-In on Whitfield Road as the Diamond Drive-In, with Starzz as an aka. Adam Martin posted photos of it.
The September 17, 1938, issue of Motion Picture Herald said that C. B. King, who had recently opened the Lincoln Theatre in Mobile, was also the operator of the Pike Theatre in that city.
The September 17, 1938, issue of Motion Picture Herald said that Central States Theatres had opened their new Clarion Theatre at Clarion. The $50,000 project had been designed by Des Moines architects Wetherell & Harrison.
Some way down This web page is some information about this building, and several photos. The building was designed by architect Fred J. James, and was built for the Sicilian Club in 1928-29. The theater was first called the Sicilia, and then became the Cazin, but one vintage photo on the page shows the facade with a small vertical sign reading Cazin Theatre, but the name Cazin Sicilia on the front of the marquee, and the name New Sicilian in portable letters on the end attraction board. Several other photos also show the vertical and marquee front names.
The recent opening of the Howard Theatre in West Tampa by operator Butler Gore was noted in the September 17, 1938, issue of Motion Picture Herald.
The September 17, 1938, issue of Motion Picture Herald said that Albert Coppell was reopening the Sun Theatre in Denver under the name Mexico Theatre, with the intention of showing Spanish language movies.
The Criterion Theatre in St. Louis was being remodeled, with plans by architect O. W. Stiegemeyer, according to the September 17, 1938, issue of Motion Picture Herald.
The September 17, 1938, issue of Motion Picture Herald said that a new front on the Peoples Theatre (the name on the marquee had no apostrophe) had been designed by Robert Boller.
The September 17, 1938, issue of Motion Picture Herald said that David Supowitz had acted as consulting architect for the Warner Theatre, then under construction in Wilmington.
The Empire Theatre in Freeport was listed in the 1906-1907 Cahn guide as a vaudeville house. No details were given. It had not been listed in the 1899-1900 guide. Freeport’s main theater, listed in both editions, was the 862-seat Grand Opera House.
The April 3, 1920, issue of Motion Picture News said that the Rio Theatre on upper Broadway had opened “…a few days ago.” It was originally operated by David B. Picker, who I believe was the grandfather of the producer David V. Picker who has, in recent decades, been at various times the head of Paramount, United Artists, and Columbia Pictures.
I’ve found quite a few references to the Apex Theatre, dating as far back as its opening on December 27, 1912, but the sources all give the address as 302 Kansas Avenue. It must have had two different locations, but the second one, on Fourth Street, must have opened sometime between 1928 and 1933, when the photo currently displayed above was taken.
This entry from the 1928 Topeka Colored Directory tells of Mr B. F. Payne, operator of the Apex:
The original Apex was also mentioned in an article about Topeka in the June 27, 1914, issue of The African-American newspaper The Freeman, which said: “The Apex Theatre, on the main street, in the very heart of the business district, is a pretty and finely appointed Negro enterprise which Mrs. Wright manages.”According to an article at a site called Comic Book Resources, “…4DX theaters… provide environmental effects synced with the movie, including ‘motion-activated seats, wind, fog, rain, lightning, vibration, snow, and scents.’” To me it sounds like it would be more annoying than engaging, but then not being a big fan of action movies maybe I’m just missing the subtle allure of such gimicks.
Regal opened the first 4DX auditorium in the U.S. (100 seats) at its L.A. Live multiplex in 2014, and another was opened in Chicago last year. The New York City venues will apparently be the third and fourth, so the system hasn’t exactly set the industry alight. At an extra eight bucks a pop (over 3D prices, not regular movie prices) I’m not surprised. I’d be unlikely to spend an extra eight dollars just to get my arse jiggled, my clothes dampened, and my nostrils assailed, and I suspect not many other people will go for it either. Though I do wonder how much Axe Body Spray they will release into the air every time Henry Cavill appears on screen.
The organ most likely went to this theater, the Palace/Wade/City. The wade family did have a connection to Morehead City theaters, as in 1936 Duffy and Francis Wade built a house called the Royal Theatre (The Beaufort News, January 26, 1936.) the Morehead Theatre, according to NightHawk1’s earlier comment, wasn’t built until 1954.
The February 27, 1941, issue of issue of The Beaufort News features and ad for both Wades Theatre and the Royal Theatre. Stewart-Everett bought both houses from the Royal Operating Company in 1946 (The Film Daily, July 12.) The Royal Theatre and City Theatre are mentioned in the paper in 1948, so they probably renamed the Wades Theatre not long after buying it.
joe1751: The bartender at the Smokehouse was mistaken. Look at Google’s satellite view of the block and you can see the roof of the auditorium extending toward Crescent Street, to the left of the theater entrance. The Smokehouse is in what appears to be former retail space. Its building’s roof is much lower than the theater’s roof was.
The October 23, 1926, issue of The Universal Weekly said that Michel Strogoff had been the first movie shown at the Mercedes Palast when it opened in September.
The Thursday, August 31, 1911, issue of The Emporia Weekly Gazette said that P. J. Concannon’s Electric Theatre had opened for the fall and winter season the previous Saturday, and that it had been redecorated over the summer. A thumbnail biography of Concannon published in 1918 said that he had come to Emporia in 1910. It doesn’t say if he began operating the theater that year, or if he was the original owner of the house.
An article in the June 26, 1981, issue of The Daily News of Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, said that the former Aldine Theatre, which had shown its last movie on September 15, 1978, was being remodeled for use as a dental clinic. The Aldine had opened on Christmas Day, 1935, and was a rebuild of a theater half its size, the Liberty, which had been destroyed by a fire on June 26, 1935. T. J. Hickes was the owner and operator of both the old and the new theaters.
The dental clinic has since moved on, and the Aldine Theatre building is now occupied by a church. The style and construction of the brick building would have been quite old fashioned for 1935, so I suspect that the outer walls of the building survived the fire and were reused. The Liberty, which was in operation at least as early as 1922, most likely began life as a storefront theater taking up half the building, while the Aldine occupied the entire width of the rebuilt structure.
The Linda Theatre’s location in a planned shopping center built in 1943 (I believe the theater opened a bit later) made it one of the earliest shopping center theaters in the United States. Linda Vista Plaza was a Federal government project influenced by the ideas of Britain’s New Towns movement, and originally featured a greensward down the middle and a large building that served as a multi-=purpose community activities center.
The activities center appears to be the only original structure remaining in the center, and today has been re-purposed as a skating rink, Great Skate of San Diego, and a couple of ancillary businesses. The Linda Theatre was located a couple hundred feet north of that building, with its back facing Linda Vista Road and its entrance facing the communal green. It had a small stage, but no fly loft, the roof of the stage house actually being lower than that of the auditorium.
This page from the City of San Diego has two aerial views of the Plaza, one of which clearly shows the theater and its relationship to the Community Activities Building. Comparing it to modern Google satellite view it can be seen that the back of the theater was about where the rebuilt shopping center’s entrance sign and an adjacent fast food structure are now located.
Plain though the Linda Theatre was, it still had an architectural style, which was a combination of elements of the Streamline Modern and the emerging Midcentury Modern.
“Joe Markowitz, Solana Theatre at Solana Beach, was on Filmrow booking and buying” said an item in the Los Angeles news column of the January 25, 1965, issue of Boxoffice.
The new theater at Paradise that was noted in this item from the May 24, 1924, issue of The Moving Picture World was probably the El Rey: