Here is an item about the opening of the Prairie Theatre from the January 17, 1936, issue of The Film Daily:
“New Nebraska House Opens
“Ogallala, Neb. — The newest theater property in the state, the Prairie here, opened this week and represents the biggest building project of its kind in two years in this area. Owned by A. F. Kehr & Son, it cost $85,000 and seats 552. Kehr will operate the house. He still operates the Princess.”
A thumbnail biography of A. F. Kehr published in 1940 said that he entered the movie theater business in Ogallala in 1912. In 1940 he was still operating two theaters there. Presumably the second house was still the Princess, which dated back to at least as early as 1920.
Here is the brief notice of the opening of the Farmingdale Theatre that appeared in The Nassau Daily Review-Star of Friday, January 30, 1942:
“Theatre Opens Tonight
“The official opening of the new Farmingdale theatre, tonight at 8 o'clock, will feature the attendance of village and town officials who have accepted invitations to be present at the first performance. The theatre, of which Sidney Jacobsen will be managing director, has a seating capacity of 800. It adjoins the Farmingdale Strand, motion picture theatre owned and operated for many years by Mr. Jacobsen. The new theatre is one of the Prudential chain. Only one feature film has been planned for the opening night, in addition to the dedication program.”
DVA Architects was taken over by the Dallas firm 5G Studio Collaborative in 2012. Photos of The Moviehouse and Eatery can now be seen on this page of 5G’s web site.
Cinergy Copperas Cove was one of the multiplexes designed for Cinergy Cinemas by the Atlanta firm DVA Architects which, in 2012, was taken over by the Dallas firm 5G Studio Collaborative.
The Plaza Cinema Cafe was designed by the Atlanta architectural firm DVA Architects, which has since been taken over by the Dallas firm 5G Studio Collaborative. It is one of several cinema projects for which photos are available in the “Entertainment” section of 5G’s web site at this link.
DVA Architects, the Atlanta firm that designed the Cinergy Cinema, was taken over by Dallas-based 5G Studio Collaborative in 2012. Though DVA’s Facebook page hasn’t been updated since then there are still a few photo albums associated with it, and this one has photos of the Cinergy Cinema in Corsicana.
This article from the suburban Daily Herald, dated August 25, 2014, says that the Des Plaines Theatre was closed due to violations of the building code. The owner of the theater would like to reopen but is seeking funds from the city to make repairs. Two other potential operators are also interested in reopening the house, including the operator of the Arvada Theatre in St. Charles, but at the time of the article no deals had been made. I haven’t found any more recent articles.
(My apologies for the broken HTML in the version of this comment I posted yesterday, which turned the comment box into a link. I usually check after I’ve posted a comment, but that one I missed.)
We do need a better picture. The Majestic was in the building to the left of the YMCA. The picture shows just a bit of the original marquee. The building was probably remodeled in later years.
Though miamiguy says the Kentucky Theatre was demolished, from his description of what happened it sounds like it was only dismantled and converted to retail use. The building at 224 W. Main Street looks like it dates from the 1910s or 1920s. Unless the auditorium was behind the building, where there is now a huge parking garage, the building it occupied still exists.
A house called the Kozy Theatre opened in Ludington on July 1, 1914, according to Motography, but it was located on James Street:
“July 1 the Kozy, a new motion picture theater opened in the Zeif building on James street, Ludington. Rudolph Zeber and R. R. Cunningham being the proprietors of the new show house.”
I don’t know when the Kozy moved to its Ludington Avenue location, but it was probably long before the 1942 rebuilding. In addition to the changes noted in the article LouisRugani cited above, the June 4 issue of the paper said that the rebuilt house had a greater pitch to the floor to improve sight lines, and the seating capacity had been increased. The rebuilding had taken eight weeks. The house reopened as the Center Theatre on Saturday, June 6, 1942.
There was a Strand Theatre operating in Norfolk at least as early as 1916, when it was mentioned in The Moving Picture World in both January and February.
The only mention of the Victoria Theatre I’ve found in any theater publications of the period is in the 1912-1913 Cahn guide, which gave no details but said the house was showing vaudeville and pictures.
The June 10, 1911, issue of Engineering Record listed bids that had been received for the construction of the Victoria Theatre in Norfolk. The architect was C. K. Howell of Richmond.
There was an earlier movie house called the New Dixie Theatre across the street from this one. It was listed at 220 Hay Street in the 1909-1910 city directory, operated by S. A. Lambert, who must have been the Steve Lambert who operated the Dixie Theatre at 225 Hay Street until 1919.
According to DocSouth’s “Going to the Show” the theater at 225 Hay Street became the 300-seat Rose Theatre in 1919 and kept that name until 1926.
DocSouth also has a page for the Princess Theatre. Though no address is given for it, it appears in 1927, when it had 333 seats, and operated until at least 1930, when it seated 350. I think there’s a very good chance that Princess is another aka for the Dixie/Rose/Cameo.
Prior to an expansion in 1920, the Rivoli was called the Wilson Theatre. Here is an item about the project from the May 1, 1920, issue of The American Contractor:
“Theater (Wilson, int. alt. & side add.): $400,000. 1 sty. 85x145. 418 E. Balto st. Archt. E. G. Blanke, 213 Calvert st. Mech. engr. not selected. Owner Wilson Theater Co., H. W. Wonders, on prem. Plmg. let to Herr Bros., Lexington bldg. Elec. wiring let to Kingsbury S. Macmuiss Elec. Co., 213 N. Cal st. Not started.”
The Wilson Theatre was in operation prior to 1912, when the January issue of the trade union publication Typographical Journal ran this item:
“For two seasons the Wilson theater, on East Baltimore street, was on the unfair list of the federation of labor. This season the new management employs union performers, union stage employes and union orchestra, and deserves the patronage of all union laboring men and their families. This theater is one of the prettiest and coziest little theaters in Baltimore and the price of admission is always the same, and the courtesy shown the public is much better than at some of the other houses.”
The Wilson Theatre was mentioned quite a few times in The Moving Picture World around 1916, when its manager, Guy L. Wonders, was President of the Maryland Exhibitors League.
The October 7, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World had this item:
“New Theater Proposed.
“Baltimore. Md. — Plans were filed with building inspector J. J. Byrne, by Louis Helldorfer, on Friday, September 15th, for a moving picture theater to be located at 2239-43 East Fayette street. Mr. Helldorfer states that he expects the structure to cost in the neighborhood of $10,000 when it is completed.”
Plans being filed on September 15 means the small house could have been completed before the end of 1916, and was probably open by early 1917 at the latest.
The new Masonic Lodge in Farmington was dedicated on October 9, 1901, according to the November 1 issue of Masonic publication The American Tyler. I haven’t found the Princess Theatre mentioned in early trade publications, but it was listed in the 1921 Cahn guide with 500 seats.
The February 19, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World mentions houses in Farmington called the Lyric and the Strand, both operated by Jesse Chance, Jr., and in 1913 there was a house called the Dreamland. Any of those might have been earlier names for the Princess.
The February 9, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World said that the Hippodrome in Peoria was set to begin its vaudeville season, and shows would include three reels of movies at each performance. The Princess Theatre, under the same management, had just discontinued vaudeville.
cobeal: If you look on the “Photos” page for this theater (click the link above the photo displayed on this page) you’ll find an interior photo and a scan of a newspaper article about the opening of the house. The newspaper spelled the owner’s name Goshay. As he was interviewed and photographed for the article that is probably the correct spelling.
The article notes that the Acorn Theatre had a Lamella roof, so it was definitely not a quonset hut, but the method created a similar barrel vaulted structure, as can be seen in the interior photo on our Photos page.
There is no date on the article, but the text says the Acorn was scheduled to open on March 10. As it was listed in the 1955-1956 Theatre Catalog, which would have been published prior to the end of 1955, and, according to the article, when the Acorn opened it was equipped for movies made in both CinemaScope and VistaVision processes, it must have opened 1955. CinemaScope first appeared in 1953, but VistaVision, developed by Fox rival Paramount Pictures, premiered at Radio City Music Hall on October 14, 1954. Thus the March 10 opening of the Acorn had to have been in 1955.
JoJo_M: This comment by rebaanders of the Capitol Theater Foundation says “We are fortunate to have the original blue prints from Carl A Nelson.” (Carl A. Nelson was the original construction company.) I’d advise using the contact information on the theater’s official web site. If anybody knows where the blueprints are now it’s likely to be someone from the Foundation.
This excerpt from an article in the January 21, 1932, issue of The Daily Star, Long Island City, suggests that the Arion Theatre was actually built around 1915:
“The tearing down this week of the New Columbia Theater, Grand avenue and Sixty-ninth lane, Maspeth, removed another landmark of the days when the section was a sleepy little village.
“The little theater was marked for demolition following protests by the Maspeth Civic and Improvement Association, and other local organisations that it was a fire menace. It had been closed for six years.
“Old-time residents recalled today how it was built sixteen years ago, shortly after the construction of the Arion Theater near the Atateka Democratic Club. Maspeth felt quite proud of its two theaters, although both would fit comfortably in the present Maspeth Theater and leave some space over”
The Maspeth News column of the November 4, 1922, issue of The Newtown Register had this item:
“Mr. Robert Kunze is making extensive alterations to his moving picture theatre located on the ground floor of the Arion building.”
Another newspaper item of the period says that the Arion Theatre was next door to the Arion Building. There was also a place called Arion Hall, and one item referred to Robert Kunze as the proprietor of the Arion Hall and Moving Picture Theatre.
As Somerset no longer uses one and two-digit addresses, the Park Theatre was probably at modern 107 E. Main, although there’s no guarantee that the last digits of new addresses would match up perfectly with the old addresses. This is one of the places we could really use a Sanborn map, or at least some old photos.
Here is an item about the opening of the Prairie Theatre from the January 17, 1936, issue of The Film Daily:
A thumbnail biography of A. F. Kehr published in 1940 said that he entered the movie theater business in Ogallala in 1912. In 1940 he was still operating two theaters there. Presumably the second house was still the Princess, which dated back to at least as early as 1920.Here is the brief notice of the opening of the Farmingdale Theatre that appeared in The Nassau Daily Review-Star of Friday, January 30, 1942:
Photos of the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Lubbock can be seen on this page at the web site of the architects, 5G Studio Collaborative.
DVA Architects was taken over by the Dallas firm 5G Studio Collaborative in 2012. Photos of The Moviehouse and Eatery can now be seen on this page of 5G’s web site.
Dallas architectural firm 5G Studio Collaborative acquired Atlanta’s DVA Architects in 2012.
Cinergy Copperas Cove was one of the multiplexes designed for Cinergy Cinemas by the Atlanta firm DVA Architects which, in 2012, was taken over by the Dallas firm 5G Studio Collaborative.
The Plaza Cinema Cafe was designed by the Atlanta architectural firm DVA Architects, which has since been taken over by the Dallas firm 5G Studio Collaborative. It is one of several cinema projects for which photos are available in the “Entertainment” section of 5G’s web site at this link.
DVA Architects, the Atlanta firm that designed the Cinergy Cinema, was taken over by Dallas-based 5G Studio Collaborative in 2012. Though DVA’s Facebook page hasn’t been updated since then there are still a few photo albums associated with it, and this one has photos of the Cinergy Cinema in Corsicana.
This article from the suburban Daily Herald, dated August 25, 2014, says that the Des Plaines Theatre was closed due to violations of the building code. The owner of the theater would like to reopen but is seeking funds from the city to make repairs. Two other potential operators are also interested in reopening the house, including the operator of the Arvada Theatre in St. Charles, but at the time of the article no deals had been made. I haven’t found any more recent articles.
(My apologies for the broken HTML in the version of this comment I posted yesterday, which turned the comment box into a link. I usually check after I’ve posted a comment, but that one I missed.)
We do need a better picture. The Majestic was in the building to the left of the YMCA. The picture shows just a bit of the original marquee. The building was probably remodeled in later years.
Though miamiguy says the Kentucky Theatre was demolished, from his description of what happened it sounds like it was only dismantled and converted to retail use. The building at 224 W. Main Street looks like it dates from the 1910s or 1920s. Unless the auditorium was behind the building, where there is now a huge parking garage, the building it occupied still exists.
A house called the Kozy Theatre opened in Ludington on July 1, 1914, according to Motography, but it was located on James Street:
I don’t know when the Kozy moved to its Ludington Avenue location, but it was probably long before the 1942 rebuilding. In addition to the changes noted in the article LouisRugani cited above, the June 4 issue of the paper said that the rebuilt house had a greater pitch to the floor to improve sight lines, and the seating capacity had been increased. The rebuilding had taken eight weeks. The house reopened as the Center Theatre on Saturday, June 6, 1942.The Alhambra Theatre can be marked as demolished. A liquor store and its parking lot now occupy the site of this theater.
There was a Strand Theatre operating in Norfolk at least as early as 1916, when it was mentioned in The Moving Picture World in both January and February.
The only mention of the Victoria Theatre I’ve found in any theater publications of the period is in the 1912-1913 Cahn guide, which gave no details but said the house was showing vaudeville and pictures.
The June 10, 1911, issue of Engineering Record listed bids that had been received for the construction of the Victoria Theatre in Norfolk. The architect was C. K. Howell of Richmond.
There was an earlier movie house called the New Dixie Theatre across the street from this one. It was listed at 220 Hay Street in the 1909-1910 city directory, operated by S. A. Lambert, who must have been the Steve Lambert who operated the Dixie Theatre at 225 Hay Street until 1919.
According to DocSouth’s “Going to the Show” the theater at 225 Hay Street became the 300-seat Rose Theatre in 1919 and kept that name until 1926.
DocSouth also has a page for the Princess Theatre. Though no address is given for it, it appears in 1927, when it had 333 seats, and operated until at least 1930, when it seated 350. I think there’s a very good chance that Princess is another aka for the Dixie/Rose/Cameo.
Prior to an expansion in 1920, the Rivoli was called the Wilson Theatre. Here is an item about the project from the May 1, 1920, issue of The American Contractor:
The Wilson Theatre was in operation prior to 1912, when the January issue of the trade union publication Typographical Journal ran this item:The Wilson Theatre was mentioned quite a few times in The Moving Picture World around 1916, when its manager, Guy L. Wonders, was President of the Maryland Exhibitors League.The October 7, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World had this item:
Plans being filed on September 15 means the small house could have been completed before the end of 1916, and was probably open by early 1917 at the latest.The new Masonic Lodge in Farmington was dedicated on October 9, 1901, according to the November 1 issue of Masonic publication The American Tyler. I haven’t found the Princess Theatre mentioned in early trade publications, but it was listed in the 1921 Cahn guide with 500 seats.
The February 19, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World mentions houses in Farmington called the Lyric and the Strand, both operated by Jesse Chance, Jr., and in 1913 there was a house called the Dreamland. Any of those might have been earlier names for the Princess.
The February 9, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World said that the Hippodrome in Peoria was set to begin its vaudeville season, and shows would include three reels of movies at each performance. The Princess Theatre, under the same management, had just discontinued vaudeville.
cobeal: If you look on the “Photos” page for this theater (click the link above the photo displayed on this page) you’ll find an interior photo and a scan of a newspaper article about the opening of the house. The newspaper spelled the owner’s name Goshay. As he was interviewed and photographed for the article that is probably the correct spelling.
The article notes that the Acorn Theatre had a Lamella roof, so it was definitely not a quonset hut, but the method created a similar barrel vaulted structure, as can be seen in the interior photo on our Photos page.
There is no date on the article, but the text says the Acorn was scheduled to open on March 10. As it was listed in the 1955-1956 Theatre Catalog, which would have been published prior to the end of 1955, and, according to the article, when the Acorn opened it was equipped for movies made in both CinemaScope and VistaVision processes, it must have opened 1955. CinemaScope first appeared in 1953, but VistaVision, developed by Fox rival Paramount Pictures, premiered at Radio City Music Hall on October 14, 1954. Thus the March 10 opening of the Acorn had to have been in 1955.
JoJo_M: This comment by rebaanders of the Capitol Theater Foundation says “We are fortunate to have the original blue prints from Carl A Nelson.” (Carl A. Nelson was the original construction company.) I’d advise using the contact information on the theater’s official web site. If anybody knows where the blueprints are now it’s likely to be someone from the Foundation.
This excerpt from an article in the January 21, 1932, issue of The Daily Star, Long Island City, suggests that the Arion Theatre was actually built around 1915:
The Maspeth News column of the November 4, 1922, issue of The Newtown Register had this item:Another newspaper item of the period says that the Arion Theatre was next door to the Arion Building. There was also a place called Arion Hall, and one item referred to Robert Kunze as the proprietor of the Arion Hall and Moving Picture Theatre.I found the Park Theatre at Somerset mentioned in the September 23, 1932, issue of The Bedford Gazette from Bedford, Pennsylvania.
Linkrot repair: The photos of the remodeled Community Theatre in the October 22, 1955, issue of Boxoffice are now at this link.
As Somerset no longer uses one and two-digit addresses, the Park Theatre was probably at modern 107 E. Main, although there’s no guarantee that the last digits of new addresses would match up perfectly with the old addresses. This is one of the places we could really use a Sanborn map, or at least some old photos.