The NRHP registration form for the North Shore Historic District (PDF here), which includes the Surf Theatre, says that the house was designed by architect Robert E. Collins, who also designed Herman Weingarten’s Cameo Theatre.
bsneed45: Are you sure it was the Isis, at 505 State Street, which became the Shelby Theatre, and not the State Theatre, which was next door at 503 State Street? A document from the Library of Virginia (online here) lists correspondence from the State Theatre in 1958, and from the Shelby Theatre in 1958-1962. That sounds as though there might have been a name change in 1958.
John Houze: I don’t know if you’ve seen this one or not, but your grandfather was also in a group photo of five theater men that was published in the December 13, 1913, issue of The Moving Picture World (scan at Google Books.) I’ve seen many photos of theater managers from that period and most of them look like the sort of toughs you wouldn’t want to run into in a dark alley, but your grandfather was a notable exception to the rule. I’ll bet many of the young ladies of Oshkosh went to the Lyric just to get a look at him. He was quite a handsome fellow.
The Garrick was one of a large number of theaters taken over by the Sullivan & Considine vaudeville circuit and renamed Empress in the early 1910s. Most Sullivan & Considine houses were equipped to show movies, and the San Diego operation was no exception. The 1911 San Diego directory has a listing for a Mr. F. Earl Nelson, giving his profession as moving picture operator (projectionist) at the Empress Theatre.
Among the acts that appeared on vaudeville bills at the Empress were Fred Karno’s London Comedians, with headliners Charles Chaplin and Stan Laurel. The troupe appeared at the San Diego Empress at least three times from 1911 to 1913, the last only a few weeks before Chaplin left the company to join Mack Sennett’s Keystone Film Company.
Thanks, csmindspring. As Steve McQueen’s movie was released in October, 1968, and I believe it opened nationwide, and the Regency was a first-run house, the theater must have opened in late 1968. Exorcist was released in December, 1973, so the twinning must have taken place in early 1974. Living int he west I never got to attend any of ABC’s Ultravision theaters, but I’ll bet they were very impressive.
The NRHP Registration Form for the Bristol Commercial Historic District says that the Columbia Theatre was designed by architect Thomas S. Brown, who practiced in Bristol from 1911 to 1915.
The NRHP Registration Form for the Bristol Commercial Historic District, which includes the Paramount, attributes the design of the theater to an Atlanta firm called McDonald & Company.
The Colonial was one of four theaters in Watertown that had paid a $5.00 Public Building License Fee for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1921, according to the Annual Report of the Commissioner of Insurance to the Governor of South Dakota published that year. The other three houses were the Lyric, Metropolitan and Foto Play.
The finding aid for the Liebenberg & Kaplan papers notes that the firm worked on the Colonial Theatre in 1930. There’s no indication of the extent of this project.
The finding aid for the Liebenberg & Kaplan papers indicate that the firm did work for the State Theatre in Watertown twice, first in 1937 and again in 1941.
The finding aid for the Liebenberg & Kaplan papers list two projects for the Plaza Theatre in Watertown, one being dated 1948-49 (maybe the original construction) and the other dated 1954 (perhaps alterations to accommodate a CinemaScope screen.)
The finding aid for the Liebenberg & Kaplan papers indicates that the firm did work on the Lyric Theatre in Watertown in 1931, 1935, and 1937. The extent of the projects is not given.
The Lyric was mentioned in the March 30, 1918, issue of Motography. It was then being operated by a firm called McCarthy Brothers, who also had the Rialto and Lyric Theatres in Aberdeen and had just purchased the Grand Theatre in Grand forks.
The nearest movie theater to Racine is in the outlying village of Sturtevant, and the next nearest is in Kenosha. It does seem odd that a city of almost 80,000 would be entirely without a movie theater of its own while Sturtevant, with only about 6,000 people, would have a large, modern multiplex.
My guess would be that Sturtevant has been very aggressive at attracting businesses, probably through large tax subsidies. If Racine wants a movie theater it will probably have to cough up a hefty subsidy itself to convince an exhibitor to compete with the Marcus Theatres venue in Sturtevant. Marcus itself probably won’t want to open another multiplex so close to the one it already runs.
Neal Cassady’s autobiographical book The First Third mentions the Zaza Theatre several times. Several books about Cassady give the address of the Zaza as 1727 Larimer, right next door to the barber shop where Cassady’s father worked. On page 65 of Cassady’s book he says that the Zaza was later renamed the Kiva Theatre (Google Books preview.)
Confirmation of the name change can be found in an item in the November 28, 1942, issue of The Billboard headed “Tab Show For Denver” (scan at Google Books) which says that the 400-seat Zaza Theatre had been renamed the Kiva and reopened with a new policy of tab shows (tabloid shows, which were live performances of excerpts from popular musicals, the shows usually lasting no more than an hour) and movies.
It’s possible that the name Zaza (or Zazza) was added to the Jazz Theatre after the original Zaza became the Kiva. I think we must be dealing with two different theaters, though, the Zaza at 1727 Larimer and the Jazz at 1751 Larimer.
Here are some additional links to photos of the Springfield Cinemas 3 and its predecessors:
Maclay Architects, designers of the rebuilding project after the 2008 fire, have this page featuring several photos of the neo-vintage decor of the entrance and lobby, and some photos of the reconfigured auditoriums (as the Springfield Theater, the house had only two screens.)
This page from Film-Tech Cinema Systems has several photos of the Springfield Theater as it looked around the time of the premier of The Simpsons Movie in 2007.
The web site of photographer William Lashua has four pages of photos of Springfield taken between 1940 and 1970 by his father, Bernie Lashua. Among them are several photos of this house as the Avon Theatre and later as the Ellis Theatre (you have to hunt them down among the thumbnails, but they aren’t too hard to find for a practiced eye.) The collection includes several interior shots. There are also a few photos showing the now-demolished Ideal Theatre. Access the collection from this web page.
I haven’t yet discovered the name under which this house operated prior to closing in 1931, but it might be found in a FDY from the period.
Linkrot repair: The photos of the Avon Theatre in Boxoffice of September 19, 1936, to which Gerald DeLuca linked earlier, can now be found at this link.
The article says that the theater that became the Avon had been closed since 1931, but doesn’t give the name under which it had operated previously. After extensive renovations it reopened as the Avon on August 14, 1936. Both the Avon and the nearby Ideal Theatre were operated by Joseph Mathieu.
The Cinema Data Project has a page for the Avon, but it doesn’t mention the theater’s earlier history or earlier name.
Linkrot repair: The Heywood-Wakefield ad with the photo of the Regent’s remodeled auditorium, from the September 19, 1936, issue of Boxoffice, can now be seen at this link.
I’ve seen sources saying that the Loma Theatre was on the est side of the Plaza, the south side of the Plaza, and the west side of the Plaza. I think west side must be correct, though. A 1956 newspaper report about the fire that destroyed the theater and three other buildings said that it was on the same block as the Park Hotel, and other sources indicate that the Park Hotel was on the location now occupied by the Post Office, which is at the west end of the Plaza.
Granola’s link is the official web site of the State Theatre. This page of the web site says the house was rebuilt as a quonset hut in 1948, which I would take to mean that the new State Theatre that was opened that year was on the same site as the old house that opened in 1927 as the Scenic.
The Roxy must have been operating by the late 1930s. This line is from the obituary of a one-time employee, Dorothy Schlomer:
“While a junior in high school, Dorothy held a job at J.C. Penney’s and she also worked as an usher at the Rose Theater and later at the Roxy Theater, receiving 50 cents a night. She graduated from Colfax High School in 1937.”
(Full obituary at Spokesman-Review web site.) It goes on to say that Dorothy married in December, 1938 and soon moved away from Colfax, so her job at the Roxy must have been no later than 1938, and no later than 1937 and perhaps as early as 1936 if she worked there while in high school. The architectural details of the building are certainly characteristic of the 1930s.
The house that later became the Ritz opened as the Hollywood Theatre in 1923 or 1924. It was located at 1921 Hollywood Boulevard. According to A Guide to Historic Hollywood: A Tour Through Place and Time, by Joan Mickelson (Google Books preview) it was renamed the Ritz in 1935. This was after a new Hollywood Theatre (later the Hollywood Cinema) was opened on Harrison Street. The Ritz operated at least into the 1940s. It has been demolished.
Prior to 1933 this house was called the College Theatre. The name change was noted in the “Theater Changes” column of the January 31 issue of The Film Daily that year.
The Capitol Theatre’s short-lived predecessor was called the Marvell Theatre. The October 4, 1937, issue of The Film Daily announced that the Marvell had recently opened. It was in operation only a little over half a year, and was destroyed by an arson fire on April 8, 1938. The Capitol was most likely built in the Marvell Theatre’s shell.
The NRHP registration form for the North Shore Historic District (PDF here), which includes the Surf Theatre, says that the house was designed by architect Robert E. Collins, who also designed Herman Weingarten’s Cameo Theatre.
bsneed45: Are you sure it was the Isis, at 505 State Street, which became the Shelby Theatre, and not the State Theatre, which was next door at 503 State Street? A document from the Library of Virginia (online here) lists correspondence from the State Theatre in 1958, and from the Shelby Theatre in 1958-1962. That sounds as though there might have been a name change in 1958.
John Houze: I don’t know if you’ve seen this one or not, but your grandfather was also in a group photo of five theater men that was published in the December 13, 1913, issue of The Moving Picture World (scan at Google Books.) I’ve seen many photos of theater managers from that period and most of them look like the sort of toughs you wouldn’t want to run into in a dark alley, but your grandfather was a notable exception to the rule. I’ll bet many of the young ladies of Oshkosh went to the Lyric just to get a look at him. He was quite a handsome fellow.
The Garrick was one of a large number of theaters taken over by the Sullivan & Considine vaudeville circuit and renamed Empress in the early 1910s. Most Sullivan & Considine houses were equipped to show movies, and the San Diego operation was no exception. The 1911 San Diego directory has a listing for a Mr. F. Earl Nelson, giving his profession as moving picture operator (projectionist) at the Empress Theatre.
Among the acts that appeared on vaudeville bills at the Empress were Fred Karno’s London Comedians, with headliners Charles Chaplin and Stan Laurel. The troupe appeared at the San Diego Empress at least three times from 1911 to 1913, the last only a few weeks before Chaplin left the company to join Mack Sennett’s Keystone Film Company.
Thanks, csmindspring. As Steve McQueen’s movie was released in October, 1968, and I believe it opened nationwide, and the Regency was a first-run house, the theater must have opened in late 1968. Exorcist was released in December, 1973, so the twinning must have taken place in early 1974. Living int he west I never got to attend any of ABC’s Ultravision theaters, but I’ll bet they were very impressive.
The NRHP Registration Form for the Bristol Commercial Historic District says that the Columbia Theatre was designed by architect Thomas S. Brown, who practiced in Bristol from 1911 to 1915.
The NRHP Registration Form for the Bristol Commercial Historic District, which includes the Paramount, attributes the design of the theater to an Atlanta firm called McDonald & Company.
The Colonial was one of four theaters in Watertown that had paid a $5.00 Public Building License Fee for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1921, according to the Annual Report of the Commissioner of Insurance to the Governor of South Dakota published that year. The other three houses were the Lyric, Metropolitan and Foto Play.
The finding aid for the Liebenberg & Kaplan papers notes that the firm worked on the Colonial Theatre in 1930. There’s no indication of the extent of this project.
The finding aid for the Liebenberg & Kaplan papers indicate that the firm did work for the State Theatre in Watertown twice, first in 1937 and again in 1941.
The finding aid for the Liebenberg & Kaplan papers list two projects for the Plaza Theatre in Watertown, one being dated 1948-49 (maybe the original construction) and the other dated 1954 (perhaps alterations to accommodate a CinemaScope screen.)
The finding aid for the Liebenberg & Kaplan papers indicates that the firm did work on the Lyric Theatre in Watertown in 1931, 1935, and 1937. The extent of the projects is not given.
The Lyric was mentioned in the March 30, 1918, issue of Motography. It was then being operated by a firm called McCarthy Brothers, who also had the Rialto and Lyric Theatres in Aberdeen and had just purchased the Grand Theatre in Grand forks.
The nearest movie theater to Racine is in the outlying village of Sturtevant, and the next nearest is in Kenosha. It does seem odd that a city of almost 80,000 would be entirely without a movie theater of its own while Sturtevant, with only about 6,000 people, would have a large, modern multiplex.
My guess would be that Sturtevant has been very aggressive at attracting businesses, probably through large tax subsidies. If Racine wants a movie theater it will probably have to cough up a hefty subsidy itself to convince an exhibitor to compete with the Marcus Theatres venue in Sturtevant. Marcus itself probably won’t want to open another multiplex so close to the one it already runs.
Neal Cassady’s autobiographical book The First Third mentions the Zaza Theatre several times. Several books about Cassady give the address of the Zaza as 1727 Larimer, right next door to the barber shop where Cassady’s father worked. On page 65 of Cassady’s book he says that the Zaza was later renamed the Kiva Theatre (Google Books preview.)
Confirmation of the name change can be found in an item in the November 28, 1942, issue of The Billboard headed “Tab Show For Denver” (scan at Google Books) which says that the 400-seat Zaza Theatre had been renamed the Kiva and reopened with a new policy of tab shows (tabloid shows, which were live performances of excerpts from popular musicals, the shows usually lasting no more than an hour) and movies.
It’s possible that the name Zaza (or Zazza) was added to the Jazz Theatre after the original Zaza became the Kiva. I think we must be dealing with two different theaters, though, the Zaza at 1727 Larimer and the Jazz at 1751 Larimer.
Here are some additional links to photos of the Springfield Cinemas 3 and its predecessors:
Maclay Architects, designers of the rebuilding project after the 2008 fire, have this page featuring several photos of the neo-vintage decor of the entrance and lobby, and some photos of the reconfigured auditoriums (as the Springfield Theater, the house had only two screens.)
This page from Film-Tech Cinema Systems has several photos of the Springfield Theater as it looked around the time of the premier of The Simpsons Movie in 2007.
The web site of photographer William Lashua has four pages of photos of Springfield taken between 1940 and 1970 by his father, Bernie Lashua. Among them are several photos of this house as the Avon Theatre and later as the Ellis Theatre (you have to hunt them down among the thumbnails, but they aren’t too hard to find for a practiced eye.) The collection includes several interior shots. There are also a few photos showing the now-demolished Ideal Theatre. Access the collection from this web page.
I haven’t yet discovered the name under which this house operated prior to closing in 1931, but it might be found in a FDY from the period.
Linkrot repair: The photos of the Avon Theatre in Boxoffice of September 19, 1936, to which Gerald DeLuca linked earlier, can now be found at this link.
The article says that the theater that became the Avon had been closed since 1931, but doesn’t give the name under which it had operated previously. After extensive renovations it reopened as the Avon on August 14, 1936. Both the Avon and the nearby Ideal Theatre were operated by Joseph Mathieu.
The Cinema Data Project has a page for the Avon, but it doesn’t mention the theater’s earlier history or earlier name.
Linkrot repair: The Heywood-Wakefield ad with the photo of the Regent’s remodeled auditorium, from the September 19, 1936, issue of Boxoffice, can now be seen at this link.
I’ve seen sources saying that the Loma Theatre was on the est side of the Plaza, the south side of the Plaza, and the west side of the Plaza. I think west side must be correct, though. A 1956 newspaper report about the fire that destroyed the theater and three other buildings said that it was on the same block as the Park Hotel, and other sources indicate that the Park Hotel was on the location now occupied by the Post Office, which is at the west end of the Plaza.
Granola’s link is the official web site of the State Theatre. This page of the web site says the house was rebuilt as a quonset hut in 1948, which I would take to mean that the new State Theatre that was opened that year was on the same site as the old house that opened in 1927 as the Scenic.
Linkrot repair: Roosevelt Theatre photos from Boxoffice of August 5, 1950.
The Roxy must have been operating by the late 1930s. This line is from the obituary of a one-time employee, Dorothy Schlomer:
(Full obituary at Spokesman-Review web site.) It goes on to say that Dorothy married in December, 1938 and soon moved away from Colfax, so her job at the Roxy must have been no later than 1938, and no later than 1937 and perhaps as early as 1936 if she worked there while in high school. The architectural details of the building are certainly characteristic of the 1930s.The house that later became the Ritz opened as the Hollywood Theatre in 1923 or 1924. It was located at 1921 Hollywood Boulevard. According to A Guide to Historic Hollywood: A Tour Through Place and Time, by Joan Mickelson (Google Books preview) it was renamed the Ritz in 1935. This was after a new Hollywood Theatre (later the Hollywood Cinema) was opened on Harrison Street. The Ritz operated at least into the 1940s. It has been demolished.
The Playhouse in Centralia was listed as a new theater in the “Theater Changes” column of the March 2, 1933, issue of The Film Daily.
Prior to 1933 this house was called the College Theatre. The name change was noted in the “Theater Changes” column of the January 31 issue of The Film Daily that year.
The Folly and Royal Theatres at Pauls Valley, both operaed by L. E. Brewer, were mentioned in the January 27, 1933, issue of The Film Daily.
The Capitol Theatre’s short-lived predecessor was called the Marvell Theatre. The October 4, 1937, issue of The Film Daily announced that the Marvell had recently opened. It was in operation only a little over half a year, and was destroyed by an arson fire on April 8, 1938. The Capitol was most likely built in the Marvell Theatre’s shell.