Here is an item about this house from the June 7, 1930 issue of The Billboard: “BURLINGTON, Ia. The old Jewel Theater has been completely renovated, including a new curtain, sound machinery, new seats and carpets, and has been reopened under the name of the Iowa Theater. An electric sign also has been installed. K. C. Thompson is managing the house for the Cohn interests.”
The June 7, 1930 issue of The Billboard had an item about this house: “JOHNSTON CITY, Ill. -The Fox-American opened recently with a silent picture policy.” William Fox lost control of his theater chain in 1930, but I haven’t been able to find if that was before or after the opening of this house. Money must have been short for whoever opened in though, if it opened as a silent house so far into the sound era.
The takeover of this house by Dickinson must have been a last minute event. The June 7, 1930 issue of The Billboard had this item: “MARCELINE, Mo.-June 15 has been set as the opening date for the Cantwell Theater, now under construction in this city.” In reality, it opened five days after June 15 as the Dickinson theatre.
The September 12, 1914 issue of The American Contractor Had another notice about the Orpheum Theatre project in Atchison, when it was about a month from completion, with the roof on and interior finishing and equipping underway:
“Moving Picture Theater: 1 sty. & bas. 70x150. $40M. Seventh & Commercial st., Atchison. Archt. J. G. Johnson, 611 Edemond st., St. Joseph, Mo. Owner North St. Joseph Real Estate & Investment Co., 611 Edemond st., St. Joseph. Lessee Standard Amusement Co., care Orpheum Theater, St. Joseph. Roof on. Gen. Contr. North St. Joseph Real Estate & Improvement Co., St. Joseph. Furnace let to the Hobart Hot Air Htg. Co., Atchison. Plastering to Linville, The Plasterer, Atchison. Gen. contr. desires bids at once on ptg. let to T. H. Johns, at $28M. Struct. iron or steel to Thayer Fudry, Atchison. Cut stone to J. Frommer. Asbestos shingle rf. to Chas. Weinmann. Plastering F to O'Neil & Torbett. Ptg. to J. H. Thaden, Atchison Elec. Co., all of Atchison. Bids in on stm. ht. & olmg. Will soon let contr.”
This house had been given the name Dean Theatre within a week of opening. It was the result of a promotional “name the theater” contest and, not surprisingly, the name chosen was that of the theater’s owner.
The earliest mention of the Amusu I’ve been able to find in The Butler Herald is this item from the July 4, 1918 issue:
“Opera Chairs Being installed at the Amusu.
“All Reynolds will hail with delight the announcement that Mr. J. T. Barrow is equipping the opera house, better known as the Amusu Theatre, with handsome opera chairs, and making and making other improvements to the building that will be admired and appreciated by hundreds of people who visit his place every week, and who have learned to appreciate the attractions that he presents securing as he does only the best and most interesting. On account of the house being in disorder while the work is in progress there will be no attractions at the Amusu this week nor next week, but as soon as the workmen have completed the building attractions will be resumed, when visitors will be greeted with a modern opera house, and the best picture money can procure will be reproduced.”
I’ve been unable to find any other references to an Opera House at Reynolds. The last ad in the Herald for the Amusu was July 29, 1920, and it said that the house would be closed for remodeling the next week, and would reopen on January 1, 1921. I’ve found no evidence that it ever reopened. By 1926 the only theater listed at Reynolds in the FDY was a 300-seat house called the Grand. The Grand’s first mention in the Herald was on June 24, 1920, about a month before the Amusu’s last ad, a contraindication that the Grand was an aka for the Amusu at that time, although it could have moved into the Amusu’s location later.
The Grand was still in operation in 1951. A 1927 Sanborn map of Reynolds shows “Moving Pictures” in a building that was then numbered 112 Marion Street, north side between Winston and Macon streets, but the lots have since been renumbered and all the old buildings on that block are gone in any case, so if the Grand and the Amusu were the same house, it’s been demolished. No building labeled Opera House appears on this map, so if the Opera House/Amusu was in a different location it was gone by 1927. No other Sanborn maps of Reynolds are available.
This item about the Ellaville Theatre was in the Thursday, September 2, 1943 issue of The Butler Herald from nearby Butler, Georgia:
“New Theatre Opens In Ellaville Friday; Three Shows A Week
“Ellaville, Ga., Aug. 29- The Ellaville Theatre, first moving picture house ever installed in Ellaville, opened Friday night. Owners of the theater are W. W. and B. C. Crowell of Doerun. The house is attractive and comfortable, although the management was compelled to eliminate many improvements because of wartime restrictions. Three films will be shown each week, the first Monday and Tuesday, the second Wednesday and Thursday, and the third Friday and Saturday. There will be no Sunday shows.”
Friday, September 27, 1943 was the opening date for the Ellaville Theatre.
By the time the Rancho Theatre was being built in 1949, the Arvin Theatre was operated by James Banducci, according to an item in Boxoffice of January 15, 1949. At that time the new house that opened later in 1949 as the Rancho Theatre was to be called the Arvin, and the Boxoffice item about the proposed $175,000 house said that Banducci was “…owner of the River Theatre in Bakersfield and the present Arvin Theatre.”
The second paragraph of the current description is thus erroneous. The rebuilt Arvin opened in late 1939 or early 1940, as noted in the Boxoffice item cited by Michael Kilgore in the previous comment. The attribution to the architects is probably wrong also, as sources indicate that Clifford Balch was responsible for the original 1937 design and the 1939 rebuilding of the Arvin Theatre. William Balch and Louis Bryan did design the Rancho Theatre, opened in 1949.
The November 18, 1949 issue of Boxoffice ran a construction notice about this project. Architects were listed as O. M. Durham and C. O. Stewart. I’ve been unable to find much about them, and a search on “Durham & Stewart) and variations brings no results, so they must not have used it as a firm name. I found a few other references to Durham, including another Boxoffice item from 1950 saying he was associated with Sterling Theatres and was designing a drive-in for the chain at Lewiston, Idaho.
This is the notice that appeared in the “Theatre Construction” section of the November 18, 1949 issue of Boxoffice: “East Palo Alto, Calif.– 1,400 seat Palo Theatre underway for Westland Theatres. Located on University Avenue and Bayshore Drive.”
The house probably opened in 1950, but not early enough for inclusion in that year’s FDY. As it was built for Harvey Rotta’s Westland Theatres chain, I think it very likely that it was designed by Cantin & Cantin, who worked for the chain regularly in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
The March 29, 1952 issue of Boxoffice said that the Colonial and Junction theaters at Junction City were being remodeled by their operator, Midcentral Theatres of Manhattan, Kansas. New seats and carpeting, and repainting, were among the projects being carried out. In addition, the Colonial had already had new guttering installed.
The March 29, 1952 issue of Boxoffice said that the Junction and Colonial theaters at Junction City were being remodeled by their operator, Midcentral Theatres of Manhattan, Kansas. New seats and carpeting, and repainting, were among the projects being carried out.
The December 16, 1950 issue of Boxoffice noted the opening of the Center Theatre in Pueblo, Colorado, by the Westland Theatres chain. This was Westland Theatres, Inc., based in Denver and not related to the Westland Theatres chain founded in San Francisco and later headquartered in Stockton, California during the same period.
The NRHP form for the Midland Theatre notes that the Midland, Tackett and Ismo Theatres were all operated by Fox corporation until 1953, when the chain was forced to divest some of its holdings. The Tackett was sold and the Ismo closed at that time. Fox did not own the Midland and Tackett theater buildings at that time, as an article in Boxoffice of April 13, 1957 said that Fox was then buying the Midland building from the Tackett estate.
The same 1957 article noted that Tal Richardson was at that time leasing the Tackett Theatre from the estate. Though the article doesn’t mention it, he might have first acquired the Tackett’s lease during Fox’s 1953 divestiture. Richardson’s obituary in the July 12, 1976 Boxoffice noted that while the operator of two drive-ins he had acquired the Midland and Tackett Theatres and “…operated both of the hardtops until the Tackett closed some years ago.” From this it seems likely that the Richardsons operated the Tackett at least into the mid-1960s.
The December 26, 1935 issue of The Grand Saline Sun reported that S. G. Fry had purchased the Palace Theatre from W. H. Spencer and planned to close the house for extensive remodeling after the end of December. The Palace was listed in the 1926 FDY with 230 seats. The only theater listed at Grand Saline in the 1914-1915 AMPD was called the Princess, and was at 19 W. Frank Street.
The May 16, 1930 issue of the The Canton Herald from Canton, Texas, had an ad announcing the re-opening of Fry’s Victor Theatre “with the very latest talkie movie equipment.” I haven’t seen any theaters other than the Royal (in Canton) and the Majestic (in Wills Point) advertised earlier in 1930 or in 1928. The local newspapers from 1929 are not available, but the theater was most likely opened no earlier than that year, when the town underwent an oil-related boom. It would almost certainly have been located on Main Street, which remains the only commercial street in town to this day.
The October 11, 1924 Exhibitor’s Trade Review had this brief (and late) item about an Orpheum theatre in Mexico. As the Grand presented Orpheum vaudeville, might it have used the circuit name as an aka? “The Orpheum Theatre, Mexico, Mo., opens Saturday September 27, and will show pictures and vaudeville. Putney & Clay are the owners.”
The Grand had been mentioned in the September 13 issue of the same journal that year, in an item saying that Buddy Paul planned to reopen the house on Labor Day (this announcement was also late, as Labor Day is the first Monday of September) “…with feature pictures and tab musical sets.”
The October 4, 1924 issue of Exhibitors Trade Review had this item about the project that would become the Venetian Theatre: “Hugh McCredie of Portland has plans for a $65,000 suburban house and store building. The theatre will be of Italian architecture and will seat 750. It will be of concrete construction with tile and stucco exterior. Edward Miller is architect.”
The Venetian Theatre opened on March 14, 1925. It was renamed St. Johns Theatre by a new owner in 1936.
Multiple sources indicate that Geller’s Theatre was designed by architect Edward A. Miller. Geller’s theatre opened on Dec 25, 1927 and operated under its original name through Dec 31, 1934. Since then it has been known as the Aladdin.
Maybe my post was not clear enough. The Colonial Theatre, not the Roxy, was at 1650 S. Broad Street. The Roxy was somewhere in the 1600 block of Elm Street, which is across the railroad tracks from the Colonial’s location on Broad Street.
When the Roxy was first listed in the FDY, in 1935, it had only 275 seats, but in 1937 it began to be listed with 400.
The 1922 and 1932 Sanborn maps of Commerce show a movie theater, the Colonial, at 1650 S. Broad Street. In the early to mid 1930s, the new Roxy Theatre was built into a former livery stable building on S. Elm Street, which is actually the other half of Broad Street, on the other side of the railroad tracks that divide them two names.
I have a suspicion (but only circumstantial evidence) that Ritz was simply a new name for the re-opened Colonial Theatre. The Colonial was last listed in the 1934 FDY with 250 seats. The 1935 FDY lists a 250-seat house called the Cynderella and the 275-seat Roxy. The same listings appear in 1936, and the name Ritz first appears in 1937, when it still has 250 seats. The Roxy is later listed (by 1938) with 400 seats, but I think the 250-seat Colonial, Cynderella and Ritz are all the same house with name changes.
1650 Broad Street is the center bay of three in an impressive brick building that was built in 1907 with an Opera House on its upper floor. An early photo, probably from the 1910s judging from the parked cars, shows the storefront theater in the center bay. Either the Opera House, or the storefront show (maybe both) was called the Ellida Theatre, and was listed in the 1914-1915 AMPD. The Ellida was also listed in the 1914 Gus Hill guide, with 800 seats, which is why I suspect it was the upstairs Opera House. The storefront was just too small. The name Colonial was in use for the storefront house by 1921.
A rather confusing blog post about Commerce reveals that the Roxy Theatre was on S. Elm Street, but the exact location is not made clear. As near as I can puzzle out it was between Pine Street and Central Avenue, which would place it roughly across the street from the Colonial Theatre on S. Broad Street (Elm and Broad are the same street, with a railroad running down the middle and different names for each side of the street.) I believe the Colonial was at modern address 1650 S. Broad, a space which is now occupied by a bar and grill. The Colonial appears on both the 1922 1and 1932 Sanborn maps of Commerce.
Here is an item about this house from the June 7, 1930 issue of The Billboard: “BURLINGTON, Ia. The old Jewel Theater has been completely renovated, including a new curtain, sound machinery, new seats and carpets, and has been reopened under the name of the Iowa Theater. An electric sign also has been installed. K. C. Thompson is managing the house for the Cohn interests.”
The June 7, 1930 issue of The Billboard had an item about this house: “JOHNSTON CITY, Ill. -The Fox-American opened recently with a silent picture policy.” William Fox lost control of his theater chain in 1930, but I haven’t been able to find if that was before or after the opening of this house. Money must have been short for whoever opened in though, if it opened as a silent house so far into the sound era.
The takeover of this house by Dickinson must have been a last minute event. The June 7, 1930 issue of The Billboard had this item: “MARCELINE, Mo.-June 15 has been set as the opening date for the Cantwell Theater, now under construction in this city.” In reality, it opened five days after June 15 as the Dickinson theatre.
The September 12, 1914 issue of The American Contractor Had another notice about the Orpheum Theatre project in Atchison, when it was about a month from completion, with the roof on and interior finishing and equipping underway:
“Moving Picture Theater: 1 sty. & bas. 70x150. $40M. Seventh & Commercial st., Atchison. Archt. J. G. Johnson, 611 Edemond st., St. Joseph, Mo. Owner North St. Joseph Real Estate & Investment Co., 611 Edemond st., St. Joseph. Lessee Standard Amusement Co., care Orpheum Theater, St. Joseph. Roof on. Gen. Contr. North St. Joseph Real Estate & Improvement Co., St. Joseph. Furnace let to the Hobart Hot Air Htg. Co., Atchison. Plastering to Linville, The Plasterer, Atchison. Gen. contr. desires bids at once on ptg. let to T. H. Johns, at $28M. Struct. iron or steel to Thayer Fudry, Atchison. Cut stone to J. Frommer. Asbestos shingle rf. to Chas. Weinmann. Plastering F to O'Neil & Torbett. Ptg. to J. H. Thaden, Atchison Elec. Co., all of Atchison. Bids in on stm. ht. & olmg. Will soon let contr.”
This house had been given the name Dean Theatre within a week of opening. It was the result of a promotional “name the theater” contest and, not surprisingly, the name chosen was that of the theater’s owner.
The earliest mention of the Amusu I’ve been able to find in The Butler Herald is this item from the July 4, 1918 issue:
“Opera Chairs Being installed at the Amusu.
“All Reynolds will hail with delight the announcement that Mr. J. T. Barrow is equipping the opera house, better known as the Amusu Theatre, with handsome opera chairs, and making and making other improvements to the building that will be admired and appreciated by hundreds of people who visit his place every week, and who have learned to appreciate the attractions that he presents securing as he does only the best and most interesting. On account of the house being in disorder while the work is in progress there will be no attractions at the Amusu this week nor next week, but as soon as the workmen have completed the building attractions will be resumed, when visitors will be greeted with a modern opera house, and the best picture money can procure will be reproduced.”
I’ve been unable to find any other references to an Opera House at Reynolds. The last ad in the Herald for the Amusu was July 29, 1920, and it said that the house would be closed for remodeling the next week, and would reopen on January 1, 1921. I’ve found no evidence that it ever reopened. By 1926 the only theater listed at Reynolds in the FDY was a 300-seat house called the Grand. The Grand’s first mention in the Herald was on June 24, 1920, about a month before the Amusu’s last ad, a contraindication that the Grand was an aka for the Amusu at that time, although it could have moved into the Amusu’s location later.
The Grand was still in operation in 1951. A 1927 Sanborn map of Reynolds shows “Moving Pictures” in a building that was then numbered 112 Marion Street, north side between Winston and Macon streets, but the lots have since been renumbered and all the old buildings on that block are gone in any case, so if the Grand and the Amusu were the same house, it’s been demolished. No building labeled Opera House appears on this map, so if the Opera House/Amusu was in a different location it was gone by 1927. No other Sanborn maps of Reynolds are available.
This item about the Ellaville Theatre was in the Thursday, September 2, 1943 issue of The Butler Herald from nearby Butler, Georgia:
“New Theatre Opens In Ellaville Friday; Three Shows A Week
“Ellaville, Ga., Aug. 29- The Ellaville Theatre, first moving picture house ever installed in Ellaville, opened Friday night. Owners of the theater are W. W. and B. C. Crowell of Doerun. The house is attractive and comfortable, although the management was compelled to eliminate many improvements because of wartime restrictions. Three films will be shown each week, the first Monday and Tuesday, the second Wednesday and Thursday, and the third Friday and Saturday. There will be no Sunday shows.”
Friday, September 27, 1943 was the opening date for the Ellaville Theatre.
By the time the Rancho Theatre was being built in 1949, the Arvin Theatre was operated by James Banducci, according to an item in Boxoffice of January 15, 1949. At that time the new house that opened later in 1949 as the Rancho Theatre was to be called the Arvin, and the Boxoffice item about the proposed $175,000 house said that Banducci was “…owner of the River Theatre in Bakersfield and the present Arvin Theatre.”
The second paragraph of the current description is thus erroneous. The rebuilt Arvin opened in late 1939 or early 1940, as noted in the Boxoffice item cited by Michael Kilgore in the previous comment. The attribution to the architects is probably wrong also, as sources indicate that Clifford Balch was responsible for the original 1937 design and the 1939 rebuilding of the Arvin Theatre. William Balch and Louis Bryan did design the Rancho Theatre, opened in 1949.
The November 18, 1949 issue of Boxoffice ran a construction notice about this project. Architects were listed as O. M. Durham and C. O. Stewart. I’ve been unable to find much about them, and a search on “Durham & Stewart) and variations brings no results, so they must not have used it as a firm name. I found a few other references to Durham, including another Boxoffice item from 1950 saying he was associated with Sterling Theatres and was designing a drive-in for the chain at Lewiston, Idaho.
This is the notice that appeared in the “Theatre Construction” section of the November 18, 1949 issue of Boxoffice: “East Palo Alto, Calif.– 1,400 seat Palo Theatre underway for Westland Theatres. Located on University Avenue and Bayshore Drive.”
The house probably opened in 1950, but not early enough for inclusion in that year’s FDY. As it was built for Harvey Rotta’s Westland Theatres chain, I think it very likely that it was designed by Cantin & Cantin, who worked for the chain regularly in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
The March 29, 1952 issue of Boxoffice said that the Colonial and Junction theaters at Junction City were being remodeled by their operator, Midcentral Theatres of Manhattan, Kansas. New seats and carpeting, and repainting, were among the projects being carried out. In addition, the Colonial had already had new guttering installed.
The March 29, 1952 issue of Boxoffice said that the Junction and Colonial theaters at Junction City were being remodeled by their operator, Midcentral Theatres of Manhattan, Kansas. New seats and carpeting, and repainting, were among the projects being carried out.
The December 16, 1950 issue of Boxoffice noted the opening of the Center Theatre in Pueblo, Colorado, by the Westland Theatres chain. This was Westland Theatres, Inc., based in Denver and not related to the Westland Theatres chain founded in San Francisco and later headquartered in Stockton, California during the same period.
The NRHP form for the Midland Theatre notes that the Midland, Tackett and Ismo Theatres were all operated by Fox corporation until 1953, when the chain was forced to divest some of its holdings. The Tackett was sold and the Ismo closed at that time. Fox did not own the Midland and Tackett theater buildings at that time, as an article in Boxoffice of April 13, 1957 said that Fox was then buying the Midland building from the Tackett estate.
The same 1957 article noted that Tal Richardson was at that time leasing the Tackett Theatre from the estate. Though the article doesn’t mention it, he might have first acquired the Tackett’s lease during Fox’s 1953 divestiture. Richardson’s obituary in the July 12, 1976 Boxoffice noted that while the operator of two drive-ins he had acquired the Midland and Tackett Theatres and “…operated both of the hardtops until the Tackett closed some years ago.” From this it seems likely that the Richardsons operated the Tackett at least into the mid-1960s.
The New Tackett Theatre would open on Monday, September 17, 1928, according to the previous Saturday’s issue of the Coffeyville Daily Journal.
I wonder if the Van was a new name for the Victor? FDY was known to double-list theaters that had changed names, sometimes for many years.
Owner S. G. Fry had installed a wide screen at the Grand Theatre, and had the house repainted inside and out, according to Boxoffice of May 15, 1954.
The December 26, 1935 issue of The Grand Saline Sun reported that S. G. Fry had purchased the Palace Theatre from W. H. Spencer and planned to close the house for extensive remodeling after the end of December. The Palace was listed in the 1926 FDY with 230 seats. The only theater listed at Grand Saline in the 1914-1915 AMPD was called the Princess, and was at 19 W. Frank Street.
The May 16, 1930 issue of the The Canton Herald from Canton, Texas, had an ad announcing the re-opening of Fry’s Victor Theatre “with the very latest talkie movie equipment.” I haven’t seen any theaters other than the Royal (in Canton) and the Majestic (in Wills Point) advertised earlier in 1930 or in 1928. The local newspapers from 1929 are not available, but the theater was most likely opened no earlier than that year, when the town underwent an oil-related boom. It would almost certainly have been located on Main Street, which remains the only commercial street in town to this day.
The October 11, 1924 Exhibitor’s Trade Review had this brief (and late) item about an Orpheum theatre in Mexico. As the Grand presented Orpheum vaudeville, might it have used the circuit name as an aka? “The Orpheum Theatre, Mexico, Mo., opens Saturday September 27, and will show pictures and vaudeville. Putney & Clay are the owners.”
The Grand had been mentioned in the September 13 issue of the same journal that year, in an item saying that Buddy Paul planned to reopen the house on Labor Day (this announcement was also late, as Labor Day is the first Monday of September) “…with feature pictures and tab musical sets.”
The October 4, 1924 issue of Exhibitors Trade Review had this item about the project that would become the Venetian Theatre: “Hugh McCredie of Portland has plans for a $65,000 suburban house and store building. The theatre will be of Italian architecture and will seat 750. It will be of concrete construction with tile and stucco exterior. Edward Miller is architect.”
The Venetian Theatre opened on March 14, 1925. It was renamed St. Johns Theatre by a new owner in 1936.
Multiple sources indicate that Geller’s Theatre was designed by architect Edward A. Miller. Geller’s theatre opened on Dec 25, 1927 and operated under its original name through Dec 31, 1934. Since then it has been known as the Aladdin.
Maybe my post was not clear enough. The Colonial Theatre, not the Roxy, was at 1650 S. Broad Street. The Roxy was somewhere in the 1600 block of Elm Street, which is across the railroad tracks from the Colonial’s location on Broad Street.
When the Roxy was first listed in the FDY, in 1935, it had only 275 seats, but in 1937 it began to be listed with 400.
The 1922 and 1932 Sanborn maps of Commerce show a movie theater, the Colonial, at 1650 S. Broad Street. In the early to mid 1930s, the new Roxy Theatre was built into a former livery stable building on S. Elm Street, which is actually the other half of Broad Street, on the other side of the railroad tracks that divide them two names.
I have a suspicion (but only circumstantial evidence) that Ritz was simply a new name for the re-opened Colonial Theatre. The Colonial was last listed in the 1934 FDY with 250 seats. The 1935 FDY lists a 250-seat house called the Cynderella and the 275-seat Roxy. The same listings appear in 1936, and the name Ritz first appears in 1937, when it still has 250 seats. The Roxy is later listed (by 1938) with 400 seats, but I think the 250-seat Colonial, Cynderella and Ritz are all the same house with name changes.
1650 Broad Street is the center bay of three in an impressive brick building that was built in 1907 with an Opera House on its upper floor. An early photo, probably from the 1910s judging from the parked cars, shows the storefront theater in the center bay. Either the Opera House, or the storefront show (maybe both) was called the Ellida Theatre, and was listed in the 1914-1915 AMPD. The Ellida was also listed in the 1914 Gus Hill guide, with 800 seats, which is why I suspect it was the upstairs Opera House. The storefront was just too small. The name Colonial was in use for the storefront house by 1921.
A rather confusing blog post about Commerce reveals that the Roxy Theatre was on S. Elm Street, but the exact location is not made clear. As near as I can puzzle out it was between Pine Street and Central Avenue, which would place it roughly across the street from the Colonial Theatre on S. Broad Street (Elm and Broad are the same street, with a railroad running down the middle and different names for each side of the street.) I believe the Colonial was at modern address 1650 S. Broad, a space which is now occupied by a bar and grill. The Colonial appears on both the 1922 1and 1932 Sanborn maps of Commerce.