Part of an article in the Baltimore Sun in August 2006:
Aug. 26—Lena K. Lee, an educator and attorney who was one of the first African-American women elected to the Maryland General Assembly, died in her sleep Thursday evening in her home in the 1800 block of Madison Ave., where she had lived since 1940. She had celebrated her 100th birthday last month. The daughter of a coal miner, Mrs. Lee taught in the city schools, earned a law degree in her 40s and wasn’t elected to state office until she was 60. But her life and devotion to public service were praised yesterday by a number of political and civic activists. Mrs. Lee was married for many years to Robert R. Lee, a Baltimore businessman who owned the Biddle Theater and died more than 40 years ago.
Enter 128 Washington Avenue on Google and take a look at the building across the street from the church. I don’t have any personal knowledge of this theater, so I would like to know if any locals recognize this as the former Dumont. There is an interesting colonial building up the street, now a Wachovia bank, but I don’t think that was the theater building.
Thanks for the photos, Sam. It looks like the Googlemobile got lost in Premont, as their view doesn’t look remotely like the neighborhood in your photos.
Here is an article from the Raleigh Register dated 4/11/47:
MOUNT HOPE-The Mount Hope Theater, erected in the same location as the Royal, which burned recently, will open today. Owned by a syndicate known as the Oak Hill Theater Company, the new theater is considered one of the best equipped in the states.
Charles Taylor, Jr., of Mount Hope, is serving three one to ten year sentences in the state penitentiary at Moundsville after confessing to setting fire to the Royal Theater, predecessor of the Mount Hope. The Royal Theater building was destroyed by fire early Saturday morning, September 30, 1945, the blaze being the largest in the history of Fayette County.
Construction of the new building started early in 1947. Edward Pasley is the new manager of the theater. Formerly of Bramwell, Pasley assumed managership of the Oak Hill Theater last August following his discharge from the Marine Corps.
Here is an item from the San Antonio Express dated 12/18/69:
Larry Benson, previously manager of the Fox Theater in Amarillo, now is managing National General Corporation’s new 1,500-seat Fox Twin Central Park Theaters in San Antonio. Benson, 28, started his theater career as a marquee and posterboy in Benson years ago while attending high school and worked his way up to doorman and then assistant manager.
He continued working for Fox theaters when he attended the University of Montana and upon graduation, was promoted from assistant manager of the Fox Theater in Missoula, Montana to manager of the Kiva Theater in Durango, Colo., in 1967. He held the Durango post until his transfer to Amarillo last year.
PITTSBURG, Nov. 23-Fire of undetermined origin swept through the new Enean Theater yesterday, causing damage estimated at more than $25,000. The flames damaged the theater balcony and ceiling and melted sound transcription records. The playhouse was constructed five years ago at a cost of $150,000.
A fire which started when some film broke in the projection machine in the Lyceum Theater at 1017 F Street early this afternoon, caused damage estimated at $20.
This is an item dated 12/10/59 from the Waterloo Daily Courier:
VINTON â€" Announcement was made Tuesday by Ernest D. Kammerer, manager of the Vinton Palace theater since 1946, that the theater will be closed after Tuesday night’s show, “The Diary of Anne Frank.” Lack of patronage was given by Kammerer as the reason for closing the theater.
Closing of the movie house marks the first time Vinton has been without a motion picture house in more than 50 years. The Palace Theater is the property of Earl W. Kerr of Pine, Colo. He bought the theater in 1943 from the late H. S. Waldorf. The large brick building on West 4th St. occupied by the theater is the property of Berl G. Alcorn of Vinton. No announcement has been made as to what will be done with the building.
Here is part of a June 6, 1936 article in the Mason City Globe-Gazette:
Between $35,000 and $38,000 will be spent in the Cecil Theater remodeling program which is to include the installation of a complete air conditioning system, new seats, new carpets and other equipment. With the theater closing Friday night, workmen who had started the improvement project began a general renovation of the building.
Here to go over plans with Tom Arthur, manager, was M. N. Blank of the Central States Theaters, Inc. Regarded as the most important of the new equipment, which is to make the Cecil theater as modern as any showhouse in the state, is the installation of the cooling system under the direction of Bert Natkin of Natkin and company, Des Moines, Iowa representative for Westinghouse Air Conditioning.
Other improvements include gold, black and green terra cotta front, new carpets throughout the building and additional lounge rooms. A new terrazzo floor will be laid in the lobby. A new type of large and more comfortable seats will be installed.
The name of the town is misspelled in the caption.
Here is part of an article from the Oelwein Register dated 12/1/88:
OELWEIN – “Theater closed” is not the latest sci-fi thriller featuring a mass murderer who wears a hockey mask meeting a guy named Freddy with long fingernails in a two-out-of-three grudge match. “Theater closed” means exactly what is says, and it says exactly that on the marquee over the Capri Theatre in Oelwein.
Theater manager John Block said the theater is temporarily closed. However, he said the movie rental business is still open. Block said the reason for the theater closing was not due to a lack of interest in attending movies. He said people want to see movies. The problem is that the theater is unable to get the movies people want to see. “It’s no use putting on two movies no one is interested in attending,” Block said.
Charlotte Peterson, co-owner of the theater with her husband Gerald, said they closed the theater in Oelwein and the one in Waverly due to lack of attendance and the lack of availability of an in-demand product. “A company only makes 1000 prints of a film and there are over 30,000 theaters,” Peterson said “By the time it trickles down to us, people feel it (the movie) should be on video.”
Peterson said the video rental business has been the only thing keeping the theaters open. Without that revenue, she said, they would have closed the theaters three or four years ago. She said her husband started in business in 1965 with the theater in Waverly. They purchased the Capri Theatre in Dec. 1975. At one time, she said, they owned 17 screens in 13 communities. She noted that with video tapes and cable TV, people have not shown an interest in going out to the movies.
Here is an item in the Bucks County Courier Times, dated 4/3/69:
The New Strand Theater in Lambertville, N.J. has resurrected itself in a drive-in. The theater, demolished by a fire on March 26, will re-open on Saturday with the same program scheduled for that day. The theater will be using the Ringoes Drive-In theater in Ringoes, N.J. The drive-in has been leased to the theater for the entire summer during which movies originally planned will be shown.
Being shown on Saturday will be “A Thousand Clowns”, with Jason Robards, William Daniels and Barbara Harris and “Murder Czech Style”, a new Czechoslovakian comedy directed by Jiri Weiss. Both will run for four days. On Wednesday, the New Strand will resume its regular schedule with “Hiroshima, Mon Amour” and “To Die in Madrid.â€
This was in the Casa Grande Dispatch on May 1, 1942:
“Sing to Win.”
With that slogan as a shibboleth to bolster the morale of the nation, Music Clubs throughout the United States will launch their annual Music Week program, starting May 3 and continuing through the week to May 8. Not since World War Number One has there been such significant need for special observance of music, “which hath charms to soothe the savage breast.” For those who trod the paths of hatred in that conflict will remember how much music meant to them â€" how it softened the callousness created by their training to kill; yet spurred them on to greater valor by martial strains. They will remember how their weary feet were made to forget that “last, long mile” as the simple, and sometimes ridiculous songs, were sung to the marching strides of men going to the front.
One of the features of the week will be the concert by the Mothersingers at the High School auditorium. On May 6, the Junior Women’s club will feature music on their program. The Chief Theater will present a special music feature May 6 and 7, “Blues in the Nightâ€.
This is the caption to a photo in the Oil City Derrick on 10/10/74:
Ray L. Way and son, Richard L. Way, peer at a remnant of the old Lyric Theater which once occupied the site where a clothing store is now located. The elaborate design which Ray is touching borders the old stage which now serves as a storage and tailoring area in back of the sales section. The store moved into the former Lyric Theater building in 1955. Prior to the Lyric, this site was occupied by the Cameo Theater, before that the Princess Theater and before that the Orpheum Theater. Actually, the Lyric started housing audiences in 1917 at 106-108 Seneca St., moving to 216 Seneca St. in 1927.
Here is part of an article in June 2005 from the Miami Herald. A church is listed at the theater’s address now, but it’s unclear if this theater was in a mall which encompasses several different businesses, or was a stand-alone theater.
THE LANGUAGE OF FILM
In an age when multiplexes and chain cinemas dominate the silver screens, Valentino Cinema is an anomaly. The Westchester theater is family owned, has three screens – and is one of the only places in Miami-Dade County to solely show movies with Spanish subtitles. New releases, too. When Batman Begins rolled out this week in theaters nationwide, Valentino had it – and owner Andres del Campo was there to greet theater-goers, sell them tickets and even flip the switch to get the film…
Part of an article in the Baltimore Sun in August 2006:
Aug. 26—Lena K. Lee, an educator and attorney who was one of the first African-American women elected to the Maryland General Assembly, died in her sleep Thursday evening in her home in the 1800 block of Madison Ave., where she had lived since 1940. She had celebrated her 100th birthday last month. The daughter of a coal miner, Mrs. Lee taught in the city schools, earned a law degree in her 40s and wasn’t elected to state office until she was 60. But her life and devotion to public service were praised yesterday by a number of political and civic activists. Mrs. Lee was married for many years to Robert R. Lee, a Baltimore businessman who owned the Biddle Theater and died more than 40 years ago.
Enter 128 Washington Avenue on Google and take a look at the building across the street from the church. I don’t have any personal knowledge of this theater, so I would like to know if any locals recognize this as the former Dumont. There is an interesting colonial building up the street, now a Wachovia bank, but I don’t think that was the theater building.
Rhonda Fleming was married to Ted Mann.
I think I saw Porky’s at that theater.
If you enter 176 W. Main Street, it takes you right to the theater.
Thanks for the photos, Sam. It looks like the Googlemobile got lost in Premont, as their view doesn’t look remotely like the neighborhood in your photos.
Here is an article from the Raleigh Register dated 4/11/47:
MOUNT HOPE-The Mount Hope Theater, erected in the same location as the Royal, which burned recently, will open today. Owned by a syndicate known as the Oak Hill Theater Company, the new theater is considered one of the best equipped in the states.
Charles Taylor, Jr., of Mount Hope, is serving three one to ten year sentences in the state penitentiary at Moundsville after confessing to setting fire to the Royal Theater, predecessor of the Mount Hope. The Royal Theater building was destroyed by fire early Saturday morning, September 30, 1945, the blaze being the largest in the history of Fayette County.
Construction of the new building started early in 1947. Edward Pasley is the new manager of the theater. Formerly of Bramwell, Pasley assumed managership of the Oak Hill Theater last August following his discharge from the Marine Corps.
I think the Royal was a separate theater that burned down. I wouldn’t agree that Royal was an aka for Mount Hope.
That’s a good one.
Here is an item from the San Antonio Express dated 12/18/69:
Larry Benson, previously manager of the Fox Theater in Amarillo, now is managing National General Corporation’s new 1,500-seat Fox Twin Central Park Theaters in San Antonio. Benson, 28, started his theater career as a marquee and posterboy in Benson years ago while attending high school and worked his way up to doorman and then assistant manager.
He continued working for Fox theaters when he attended the University of Montana and upon graduation, was promoted from assistant manager of the Fox Theater in Missoula, Montana to manager of the Kiva Theater in Durango, Colo., in 1967. He held the Durango post until his transfer to Amarillo last year.
This is from the Modesto Bee, 11/23/40:
PITTSBURG, Nov. 23-Fire of undetermined origin swept through the new Enean Theater yesterday, causing damage estimated at more than $25,000. The flames damaged the theater balcony and ceiling and melted sound transcription records. The playhouse was constructed five years ago at a cost of $150,000.
From the Fresno Bee, 12/13/45:
A fire which started when some film broke in the projection machine in the Lyceum Theater at 1017 F Street early this afternoon, caused damage estimated at $20.
The city is Niagara Falls.
This is an item dated 12/10/59 from the Waterloo Daily Courier:
VINTON â€" Announcement was made Tuesday by Ernest D. Kammerer, manager of the Vinton Palace theater since 1946, that the theater will be closed after Tuesday night’s show, “The Diary of Anne Frank.” Lack of patronage was given by Kammerer as the reason for closing the theater.
Closing of the movie house marks the first time Vinton has been without a motion picture house in more than 50 years. The Palace Theater is the property of Earl W. Kerr of Pine, Colo. He bought the theater in 1943 from the late H. S. Waldorf. The large brick building on West 4th St. occupied by the theater is the property of Berl G. Alcorn of Vinton. No announcement has been made as to what will be done with the building.
Here is part of a June 6, 1936 article in the Mason City Globe-Gazette:
Between $35,000 and $38,000 will be spent in the Cecil Theater remodeling program which is to include the installation of a complete air conditioning system, new seats, new carpets and other equipment. With the theater closing Friday night, workmen who had started the improvement project began a general renovation of the building.
Here to go over plans with Tom Arthur, manager, was M. N. Blank of the Central States Theaters, Inc. Regarded as the most important of the new equipment, which is to make the Cecil theater as modern as any showhouse in the state, is the installation of the cooling system under the direction of Bert Natkin of Natkin and company, Des Moines, Iowa representative for Westinghouse Air Conditioning.
Other improvements include gold, black and green terra cotta front, new carpets throughout the building and additional lounge rooms. A new terrazzo floor will be laid in the lobby. A new type of large and more comfortable seats will be installed.
The name of the town is misspelled in the caption.
Here is part of an article from the Oelwein Register dated 12/1/88:
OELWEIN – “Theater closed” is not the latest sci-fi thriller featuring a mass murderer who wears a hockey mask meeting a guy named Freddy with long fingernails in a two-out-of-three grudge match. “Theater closed” means exactly what is says, and it says exactly that on the marquee over the Capri Theatre in Oelwein.
Theater manager John Block said the theater is temporarily closed. However, he said the movie rental business is still open. Block said the reason for the theater closing was not due to a lack of interest in attending movies. He said people want to see movies. The problem is that the theater is unable to get the movies people want to see. “It’s no use putting on two movies no one is interested in attending,” Block said.
Charlotte Peterson, co-owner of the theater with her husband Gerald, said they closed the theater in Oelwein and the one in Waverly due to lack of attendance and the lack of availability of an in-demand product. “A company only makes 1000 prints of a film and there are over 30,000 theaters,” Peterson said “By the time it trickles down to us, people feel it (the movie) should be on video.”
Peterson said the video rental business has been the only thing keeping the theaters open. Without that revenue, she said, they would have closed the theaters three or four years ago. She said her husband started in business in 1965 with the theater in Waverly. They purchased the Capri Theatre in Dec. 1975. At one time, she said, they owned 17 screens in 13 communities. She noted that with video tapes and cable TV, people have not shown an interest in going out to the movies.
Here is an item in the Bucks County Courier Times, dated 4/3/69:
The New Strand Theater in Lambertville, N.J. has resurrected itself in a drive-in. The theater, demolished by a fire on March 26, will re-open on Saturday with the same program scheduled for that day. The theater will be using the Ringoes Drive-In theater in Ringoes, N.J. The drive-in has been leased to the theater for the entire summer during which movies originally planned will be shown.
Being shown on Saturday will be “A Thousand Clowns”, with Jason Robards, William Daniels and Barbara Harris and “Murder Czech Style”, a new Czechoslovakian comedy directed by Jiri Weiss. Both will run for four days. On Wednesday, the New Strand will resume its regular schedule with “Hiroshima, Mon Amour” and “To Die in Madrid.â€
It looks like Pittsburg wants to allocate 15 million of its stimulus money to renovate the Enean:
http://tinyurl.com/bbhrb5
Here is a February 2009 article about ongoing renovation in La Plata:
http://tinyurl.com/ao3hgs
Here is an April 2004 article about Team Jaffrey:
http://tinyurl.com/dbzvlk
The Park is open. Last year they were showing movies in the summer and also putting on stage plays.
http://tinyurl.com/bdc2ko
The address should be changed to 105 S. Lamar. The Majestic is up the street on North Lamar.
There is a sign on the Lyric that says something about a community theater. I couldn’t read the first word.
This was in the Casa Grande Dispatch on May 1, 1942:
“Sing to Win.”
With that slogan as a shibboleth to bolster the morale of the nation, Music Clubs throughout the United States will launch their annual Music Week program, starting May 3 and continuing through the week to May 8. Not since World War Number One has there been such significant need for special observance of music, “which hath charms to soothe the savage breast.” For those who trod the paths of hatred in that conflict will remember how much music meant to them â€" how it softened the callousness created by their training to kill; yet spurred them on to greater valor by martial strains. They will remember how their weary feet were made to forget that “last, long mile” as the simple, and sometimes ridiculous songs, were sung to the marching strides of men going to the front.
One of the features of the week will be the concert by the Mothersingers at the High School auditorium. On May 6, the Junior Women’s club will feature music on their program. The Chief Theater will present a special music feature May 6 and 7, “Blues in the Nightâ€.
This is the caption to a photo in the Oil City Derrick on 10/10/74:
Ray L. Way and son, Richard L. Way, peer at a remnant of the old Lyric Theater which once occupied the site where a clothing store is now located. The elaborate design which Ray is touching borders the old stage which now serves as a storage and tailoring area in back of the sales section. The store moved into the former Lyric Theater building in 1955. Prior to the Lyric, this site was occupied by the Cameo Theater, before that the Princess Theater and before that the Orpheum Theater. Actually, the Lyric started housing audiences in 1917 at 106-108 Seneca St., moving to 216 Seneca St. in 1927.
Here is part of an article in June 2005 from the Miami Herald. A church is listed at the theater’s address now, but it’s unclear if this theater was in a mall which encompasses several different businesses, or was a stand-alone theater.
THE LANGUAGE OF FILM
In an age when multiplexes and chain cinemas dominate the silver screens, Valentino Cinema is an anomaly. The Westchester theater is family owned, has three screens – and is one of the only places in Miami-Dade County to solely show movies with Spanish subtitles. New releases, too. When Batman Begins rolled out this week in theaters nationwide, Valentino had it – and owner Andres del Campo was there to greet theater-goers, sell them tickets and even flip the switch to get the film…