In the background of the vintage photo of the Texas Theatre uploaded by Don Lewis can be seen the distinctive side gable of the First Christian Church on Avenue F. With the clue in the newspaper article I cited in my previous comment there is only one location for the Texas Theatre- the southwest corner of Avenue E and the mid-block alley half a block north of 1st Street (U.S.380.)
The Texas Theatre’s site is now a parking lot and a small fenced side yard for the Haskell County Insurance Agency, which is at 103 N. Avenue E. The theater’s address would have been slightly larger, probably 107, assuming that the storefront to the left of the entrance was 105.
The August 27, 1953, issue of The Haskell Free Press had an ad saying that the New Texas Theatre would open on September 9 with the Ray Milland-Jane Wyman picture Let’s Do It Again. The ad boasted that the house would have the “First Wide Screen Installed In West Texas”. The September 3 issue of the paper confirmed the opening date and gave the location of the new house as Avenue E, ½ block from the northwest corner of the town square.
An earlier Texas Theatre had opened in December, 1926, on the south side of the square. It burned in December, 1952. I suspect that kencmcintyre’s comment of February 21, 2009, gave the wrong date for the newspaper article he cited, and it actually referred to the 1952 fire. The second Texas Theatre was still in operation at least as late as December, 1973.
The Cinema Date Project page for the Anchor Theatre says that it was located in the Bowdoin Block. This web page gives that building’s address (as of March 31, 2000) as 56-60 Main Street. I’m not sure the historic building is still standing. The building at that location now has the look of one of those Ye Olde Retro interpretations of an historic style, Colonial Revival in this case. It could be either entirely new construction or an extensive rebuilding of all or part of the historic Bowdoin Block. In any case, there’s no visible clue that there was ever a theater in it.
The Cinema Data Project’s page for the Lyric Theatre describes its location as a “…frame building with cupola on bridge….” I’ve set Street View to the only building fitting that description. This probably is the theater’s building, though the CDP page adds that by the 1990s the auditorium was “…seriously altered or unusable.”
The Cinema Data Project’s page for the Sokokis Theatre adds the information that the house closed on March 2, 1952, citing a document from the National Screen Service Corporation.
Although the Cinema Data Project repeats the MGM report’s claim that the Opera House was located on Main Street, an article published in the spring, 2013 newsletter of the Milbridge Historical Society, “Memories of a Hometown” by Lloyd Holland (PDF here) has this line:
“During my high school years I walked across the bridge, up Bridge Street and into School Street, where the Milbridge High School, the Alumni Hall and the Opera House stood. The Opera House was also referred to as ‘The Rink’ because roller skating was done there for some years.”
This web page makes reference to “…the old roller rink, which was then located where the municipal safety complex is today….” I can’t find an address for the municipal safety complex, but Milbridge’s municipal buildings are indeed consolidated on School Street east of Bridge Street. The Opera House might have been where the fire station is now located in the first building on the north side of School Street. There’s no trace of the high school which Holland mentioned, either, so it has probably been consolidated with a high school in some nearby larger town and its old plant demolished.
The correct name of this house was the Par-K Theatre. According to this web page, the Somerset Theatre Corporation was incorporated on January 1, 1935, and its address was given as the Par-K Theatre, 119 E. Main Street, Somerset.
According to an article in the March 12, 1938, issue of The Record-Argus of Greenville, Pennsylvania, the Blatt Brothers bought the Par-K Theatre from C. B. Pascoe in 1928. The Somerset Theatre Corporation was most likely a subsidiary formed to manage Blatt Brothers holdings in Somerset, where the circuit also operated the Grand Theatre and, later, the Governor Theatre, opened in 1938.
An article about Blatt Brothers Theatres in the March 12, 1938, issue of The Record-Argus of Greenville, Pennsylvania, said that the Blatts took over the Star Theatre, a former opera house, in East Brady, on February 2, 1920. It was their first venture into the theater business. The Star was replaced by the new State Theatre in 1924. Blatt Brothers were still operating the State at least as a late as 1950.
The third partner was Joseph Sturm. The February 10, 1910, issue of The Nickelodeon had this item:
“Los ANGELES, CAL.—J. O. Kaiser, Joseph Sturm and E. J. Talley have leased the property at 266-268 South Main street for ten years at a total rental of about $60,000 and will erect a moving picture theater thereon.”
(E.J. Tally was the brother of Thomas Tally, of Tally’s Electric Theatre.) However, according to Bill Counter’s web site Historic Los Angeles Theatres, when the Liberty opened in early 1911 it was operated by the partnership of Kaiser, Sturm & Hughes, so Tally had apparently dropped out of the partnership by then. Also according to Counter, Sturm had been a partner with Kaiser in the Wonderland Theatre at 315 S. Main Street (listed both at Counter’s site and at Cinema Treasures under its later name, the Jade Theatre.)
The Draper Y.M.C.A. operated two different theaters, and both were in operation in the late 1930s. The house that became the Balmar was the second, and probably opened in 1936. A quarter-page ad in the Y.M.C.A. activities book published that year said that western pictures were featured at the Draper Y.M.C.A. New Theatre “…located across the tracks.” (Complete activities book scan here.)
There are two photos (here and here) of the original Draper “Y” Theatre, both of which also come from the 1936 activities book. A modern caption below one image says that the original “Y” Theatre was located on the site of the current Draper Fire Department, which Google Maps shows to be in the 1400 block of Fieldcrest Road.
An early photo of the Grange Hall can be seen here. The caption says the Rudy Theatre opened in the building in the late 1930s. The building burned down in 1952.
The Grange Hall was also known as the P of H Opera House (the photo caption mistakenly says P&H) which is how it was listed in the 1912-1913 and 1913-1914 Cahn guides, which said it was a second floor house with 378 orchestra seats and 242 balcony seats.
The Grange Hall had to have been built before 1909, as this web page displays a photo postcard of the building which was mailed and was postmarked 17 October, 1907.
The Strand and Idle Hour Theatres are listed in the Moving Picture Theatres section of the 1921 Cahn Guide, each with 500 seats and both operated by B. J. Vought.
The purchase of the Star Theatre in St. Charles, Illinois, by Robert Kremer of Geneva, Illinois, where he operated a house called the Grand Theatre, was noted in the July 8, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World. Kremer formed a partnership with W. J. Bryant, who would manage both the Star and another St. Charles house, the Idle Hour Theatre.
A later owner renamed the house the Strand Theatre, and it was closed and dismantled in 1925, according to this brief item posted at Geneology.com:
“St. Charles (Illinois) Chronicle, Feb. 5, 1925, Strand Theatre Being Torn Out For Store Bldg. While interested in the many fine changes going on along Main street, it is well to note that John Gartner is dismantling the old Star or Strand theatre adjoining his business place. The old picture house is being made over into a place for business. Mr. Gartner states he has made no arrangements as yet for a tenant, but will do so later.”
A few listings in the performing arts section New York Magazine in 1987 give 544 Bloomfield Avenue in Montclair as the address of a house called the Whole Theatre. A quick Googling reveals that a theater group called the Whole Theatre Company was founded at Montclair in 1971 by Olympia Dukakis and her husband, Louis Zorich. They ran the company until 1990. I haven’t been able to discover if the company occupied this building during its entire run as a live theater group, but it does seem likely that the house only became a movie theater sometime in the 1990s.
This web page says that the Eatonville Theatre’s building is still standing across the street from the Visitors Center. The Visitors Center is at 132 Mashell Avenue North, and the theater building is recognizable at 131 Mashell Avenue North. There is a sign on the building reading “The Fit Club,” so I’d guess it is a gym of some sort.
Given how small Mattawamkeag is, and the opening year of 1910 cited in the MGM report, I think it’s possible that the Cameo was the same house that operated earlier as the Bon Ton Theatre, though the Cinema Data Project gives them two different pages (Cameo and Bon Ton.)
The May 14, 1909, issue of the Worthington Advance had this item:
“James Mott has disposed of his interests in the Grand theatre to Will Boddy who will continue to conduct the popular little playhouse along the same progressive lines that have been characteristic of the partnership.”
The Grand changed hands again in 1916, when the July 22 issue of The Moving Picture World reported that new owners Edward McCracken and E. M. Ehlers planned to change policy and run the house as a movie theater.
The April 27, 1912, issue of The Moving Picture News said that the White Elephant Theatre in Camden had been purchased by Schefflin, Payne & Schefflin.
The Clinton Square Theatre occupied a building erected in 1843 for the Third Presbyterian Church. The congregation merged with that of the Second Presbyterian Church around 1910, and the conversion of the building into a theater had taken place by 1916. The house was demolished sometime around 1930.
In the background of the vintage photo of the Texas Theatre uploaded by Don Lewis can be seen the distinctive side gable of the First Christian Church on Avenue F. With the clue in the newspaper article I cited in my previous comment there is only one location for the Texas Theatre- the southwest corner of Avenue E and the mid-block alley half a block north of 1st Street (U.S.380.)
The Texas Theatre’s site is now a parking lot and a small fenced side yard for the Haskell County Insurance Agency, which is at 103 N. Avenue E. The theater’s address would have been slightly larger, probably 107, assuming that the storefront to the left of the entrance was 105.
The August 27, 1953, issue of The Haskell Free Press had an ad saying that the New Texas Theatre would open on September 9 with the Ray Milland-Jane Wyman picture Let’s Do It Again. The ad boasted that the house would have the “First Wide Screen Installed In West Texas”. The September 3 issue of the paper confirmed the opening date and gave the location of the new house as Avenue E, ½ block from the northwest corner of the town square.
An earlier Texas Theatre had opened in December, 1926, on the south side of the square. It burned in December, 1952. I suspect that kencmcintyre’s comment of February 21, 2009, gave the wrong date for the newspaper article he cited, and it actually referred to the 1952 fire. The second Texas Theatre was still in operation at least as late as December, 1973.
The Cinema Date Project page for the Anchor Theatre says that it was located in the Bowdoin Block. This web page gives that building’s address (as of March 31, 2000) as 56-60 Main Street. I’m not sure the historic building is still standing. The building at that location now has the look of one of those Ye Olde Retro interpretations of an historic style, Colonial Revival in this case. It could be either entirely new construction or an extensive rebuilding of all or part of the historic Bowdoin Block. In any case, there’s no visible clue that there was ever a theater in it.
The Cinema Data Project’s page for the Lyric Theatre describes its location as a “…frame building with cupola on bridge….” I’ve set Street View to the only building fitting that description. This probably is the theater’s building, though the CDP page adds that by the 1990s the auditorium was “…seriously altered or unusable.”
The Cinema Data Project’s page for the Sokokis Theatre adds the information that the house closed on March 2, 1952, citing a document from the National Screen Service Corporation.
Although the Cinema Data Project repeats the MGM report’s claim that the Opera House was located on Main Street, an article published in the spring, 2013 newsletter of the Milbridge Historical Society, “Memories of a Hometown” by Lloyd Holland (PDF here) has this line:
This web page makes reference to “…the old roller rink, which was then located where the municipal safety complex is today….” I can’t find an address for the municipal safety complex, but Milbridge’s municipal buildings are indeed consolidated on School Street east of Bridge Street. The Opera House might have been where the fire station is now located in the first building on the north side of School Street. There’s no trace of the high school which Holland mentioned, either, so it has probably been consolidated with a high school in some nearby larger town and its old plant demolished.The correct name of this house was the Par-K Theatre. According to this web page, the Somerset Theatre Corporation was incorporated on January 1, 1935, and its address was given as the Par-K Theatre, 119 E. Main Street, Somerset.
According to an article in the March 12, 1938, issue of The Record-Argus of Greenville, Pennsylvania, the Blatt Brothers bought the Par-K Theatre from C. B. Pascoe in 1928. The Somerset Theatre Corporation was most likely a subsidiary formed to manage Blatt Brothers holdings in Somerset, where the circuit also operated the Grand Theatre and, later, the Governor Theatre, opened in 1938.
An article about Blatt Brothers Theatres in the March 12, 1938, issue of The Record-Argus of Greenville, Pennsylvania, said that the Blatts took over the Star Theatre, a former opera house, in East Brady, on February 2, 1920. It was their first venture into the theater business. The Star was replaced by the new State Theatre in 1924. Blatt Brothers were still operating the State at least as a late as 1950.
The third partner was Joseph Sturm. The February 10, 1910, issue of The Nickelodeon had this item:
(E.J. Tally was the brother of Thomas Tally, of Tally’s Electric Theatre.) However, according to Bill Counter’s web site Historic Los Angeles Theatres, when the Liberty opened in early 1911 it was operated by the partnership of Kaiser, Sturm & Hughes, so Tally had apparently dropped out of the partnership by then. Also according to Counter, Sturm had been a partner with Kaiser in the Wonderland Theatre at 315 S. Main Street (listed both at Counter’s site and at Cinema Treasures under its later name, the Jade Theatre.)tovangar2: The 1910 project at 266 S. Main was the Liberty Theatre.
I’ve found references to the Columbus Theatre being in operation at least as early as April, 1912.
The Draper Y.M.C.A. operated two different theaters, and both were in operation in the late 1930s. The house that became the Balmar was the second, and probably opened in 1936. A quarter-page ad in the Y.M.C.A. activities book published that year said that western pictures were featured at the Draper Y.M.C.A. New Theatre “…located across the tracks.” (Complete activities book scan here.)
There are two photos (here and here) of the original Draper “Y” Theatre, both of which also come from the 1936 activities book. A modern caption below one image says that the original “Y” Theatre was located on the site of the current Draper Fire Department, which Google Maps shows to be in the 1400 block of Fieldcrest Road.
An early photo of the Grange Hall can be seen here. The caption says the Rudy Theatre opened in the building in the late 1930s. The building burned down in 1952.
The Grange Hall was also known as the P of H Opera House (the photo caption mistakenly says P&H) which is how it was listed in the 1912-1913 and 1913-1914 Cahn guides, which said it was a second floor house with 378 orchestra seats and 242 balcony seats.
The Grange Hall had to have been built before 1909, as this web page displays a photo postcard of the building which was mailed and was postmarked 17 October, 1907.
The building that once housed the Metro Theatre burned down in the 1950s according to Konrad Schiecke’s book Historic Movie Theatres in Illinois.
The Strand and Idle Hour Theatres are listed in the Moving Picture Theatres section of the 1921 Cahn Guide, each with 500 seats and both operated by B. J. Vought.
The purchase of the Star Theatre in St. Charles, Illinois, by Robert Kremer of Geneva, Illinois, where he operated a house called the Grand Theatre, was noted in the July 8, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World. Kremer formed a partnership with W. J. Bryant, who would manage both the Star and another St. Charles house, the Idle Hour Theatre.
A later owner renamed the house the Strand Theatre, and it was closed and dismantled in 1925, according to this brief item posted at Geneology.com:
A few listings in the performing arts section New York Magazine in 1987 give 544 Bloomfield Avenue in Montclair as the address of a house called the Whole Theatre. A quick Googling reveals that a theater group called the Whole Theatre Company was founded at Montclair in 1971 by Olympia Dukakis and her husband, Louis Zorich. They ran the company until 1990. I haven’t been able to discover if the company occupied this building during its entire run as a live theater group, but it does seem likely that the house only became a movie theater sometime in the 1990s.
This web page from the Phillips High School Alumni Association says that the 66 Theatre closed in 1949.
This web page says that the Eatonville Theatre’s building is still standing across the street from the Visitors Center. The Visitors Center is at 132 Mashell Avenue North, and the theater building is recognizable at 131 Mashell Avenue North. There is a sign on the building reading “The Fit Club,” so I’d guess it is a gym of some sort.
Given how small Mattawamkeag is, and the opening year of 1910 cited in the MGM report, I think it’s possible that the Cameo was the same house that operated earlier as the Bon Ton Theatre, though the Cinema Data Project gives them two different pages (Cameo and Bon Ton.)
The May 14, 1909, issue of the Worthington Advance had this item:
The Grand changed hands again in 1916, when the July 22 issue of The Moving Picture World reported that new owners Edward McCracken and E. M. Ehlers planned to change policy and run the house as a movie theater.The April 27, 1912, issue of The Moving Picture News said that the White Elephant Theatre in Camden had been purchased by Schefflin, Payne & Schefflin.
The Clinton Square Theatre occupied a building erected in 1843 for the Third Presbyterian Church. The congregation merged with that of the Second Presbyterian Church around 1910, and the conversion of the building into a theater had taken place by 1916. The house was demolished sometime around 1930.
The Colonial Theatre in Albany was mentioned in the January 14, 1922, issue of Exhibitors Trade Review.
The article about the opening of the Capitol Theatre can be seen in this PDF from Fulton History.