This house appears to have opened as the Washington Square Theatre. Click the thumbnail at left for an interior photo on this page with a photo of the front. The May 3, 1924, issue of The Moving Picture World had this item:
“The new Washington Square Theatre,
Quincy, Ill., will open on June 15, according to present plans. ‘If Winter Comes’ will be the opening feature.”
Apparently Charles Toy also owned one of the film distributing companies in his building. This item about the closing of the theater, but which also mentions the exchange, is from the May 3, 1924, issue of The Moving Picture World:
“The Toy Theatre, located on Second street, just north of Milwaukee’s main street, has been closed by Charles Toy, its owner, and will be remodeled shortly into a store. The house had the distinction of being Milwaukee’s smallest downtown film theatre, it being equipped with only 425 seats. For some time it has been considered a losing proposition, and with the opening of the Wisconsin by the Saxe interests the going became even harder. George Beyer, manager of the place for six years, has accepted a position with the Midwest Distributing Co., also operated by Toy, the Chinese cafe and theatre owner.”
The 1921 edition of Polk’s Wisconsin State Gazetteer and Business Directory has this entry: “Mid-West Distributing Co, Moy B Toy pres, D G Stover sec-treas, film exchange 174 2d.” (Milwaukee underwent some drastic address renumbering in the 1930s, and 174 2nd was the old address of the Toy Building.)
A 1921 book called Visual Education lists two film-related businesses in the Toy Building: the Mid-West Distributing Corp. and Educational Films Services. The 1920 Blue Book of Audio-visual Materials has Associated First National Pictures listed at 402 Toy Building, and the Milwaukee office of the Universal Film Exchange, Inc., at 174 2nd Street.
The 1922-1923 FDY lists five exchanges in the Toy Building on page 394: Wisconsin Film Corp., 403 Toy Bldg.; Walter A. Baier Film Co., 412 Toy Bldg.; Kay Bee Dist. Co., Toy Bldg.; Exhibitors Film Exchange, Toy Bldg.; and Toy’s own Mid-West Distributing Co..
That’s all I’ve dug up about the exchanges so far.
The Ritz Theatre opened in April, 1924, according to this item from the May 3 issue of The Moving Picture World:
“W. P. McCartney, whose newest theatre, the Ritz, at Indiana, was opened three weeks ago, was in town a few days ago and stated that standing room only has been the rule at this beautiful new house. The Ritz seats 1,300.”
The building through which the Manos Theatre’s entrance ran is still standing, but is nowhere near big enough to have held a theater seating over 1,000, so the auditorium must have been behind it on the space now occupied by a parking lot. It has definitely been demolished.
This web page has multiple photos showing the house both as the Ritz and as the Manos.
According to a articles in the Indiana Evening News, W. Penn McCartney acquired the site of the Ritz Theatre in 1919. Plans for the new theater, originally to have been called the Rialto, were completed by the Punxsutawney firm of Powell & Justus in 1920, and construction was expected to begin soon, but there were apparently numerous delays.
Announcements of the imminent construction of the theater appeared in the newspaper in 1921 and 1922. Later announcements gave the name of the architectural firm as Powell Bros. (perhaps Mr. Justus died while waiting for the project to begin.) Reports in construction trade journals in 1922 also named Powell Bros. as architects for the project.
I’ve been unable to find any articles about the project from 1923, or from 1924, when it was finally built, but if Mr. McCartney was having trouble getting financing for the theater (the most likely cause of the delays) then it’s unlikely that he would have been able to afford entirely new plans for the project, and the original plans by Powell & Justus, perhaps updated by Powell Bros., were probably used.
An August 8, 1966, Indiana Evening News article said that Michael Manos' Monessen Amusement Co. took over the Ritz Theatre in 1933. A full page ad in the February 7, 1937, issue of the paper touted the second anniversary of the Manos Theatre, so the renaming must have taken place in early 1935.
A story about Indiana’s theaters in the August 8, 1966, issue of the Indiana Evening News said that the Indiana Theatre opened on July 16, 1924. The rear portion of an existing building had been demolished to provide room for the auditorium, and the entrance was run though the existing structure. The Indiana Theatre had a two-manual Marr & Colton organ.
In 1933, the Indiana Theatre was sold to Michael Manos' Monessen Amusement Company, who also took over the Ritz Theatre the same year. As the Indiana was a Manos house, it is almost certain that the remodeling of the theater in the 1930s was designed by Victor A. Rigaumont, who as far as I can determine designed all the Manos houses built or remodeled during that period.
The May 3, 1924, issue of The Moving Picture World had this item:
“W. G. Maute opened his new 800-seat Maute Theatre at Irwin on April 21, and the house is one of the finest for its size to be found anywhere. Several of the local film exchange men attended the opening. Maute also owns the Grand in the same town.”
The May 10 issue of the same publication had this follow-up item:
“W. G. Maute, who has for some time conducted the Grand Theatre at Irwin, on April 21 opened his newest house in the same town and which he has named the Maute. The new house seats 800 and is as pretty a small theatre as can be found anywhere. Opening night saw capacity crowds anxious to get their first glimpse at the new picture house, where ‘Boy of Mine’ and an Educational-Mermaid comedy were the initial attraction.”
Here is a colorized photo of the Wilt Theatre taken around 1919. The Wilt was in operation by 1918, as it was mentioned in The Moving Picture World that year. It might have opened in 1917, when the March issue of Electrical Record and Buyer’s Reference ran an item listing several theaters recently wired by contractor W. G. Dunseath of Irwin, Pennsylvania, which included a theater for R. A. Wilt in Ligonier. The list specified that Dunseath’s work for a Lyric Theatre in Irwin had been a rewiring job, but as it didn’t specify rewiring for any of the other theaters on the list perhaps it can be assumed that they were all new houses.
It was Thomas Henneberry who renamed the Majestic the Empress Theatre in 1917. In addition to the Empress Theatres at Osawatomie and at Paola, he also had an Empress Theatre at Eastland, Texas, which he sold in 1919.
A house called the Majestic Theatre was being mentioned The Osawatomie Graphic at least as early as 1910, but in 1917 it was renamed the Empress Theatre, and then a New Empress Theatre was built in 1921. I’ve found nothing about what then became of the old Majestic/Empress.
The 1927 FDY lists two theaters at Osawatomie: The 295-seat Empress and the 250-seat Peoples. In 1935, a house called the Zephyr Theatre opened in Osawatomie. Later that year the Zephyr was renamed the Kansan. There is always the possibility that the Majestic became the Peoples, and then maybe the Zephyr/Kansan as well, but I haven’t been able to establish a connection. For now I’d have to say that the Majestic/first Empress might have closed permanently in 1921.
Prior to 1939, when it was remodeled by Corgan & Moore and renamed, the Osawa Theatre was called the Dickinson Theatre. What I have not been able to determine is whether the Dickinson, which is mentioned in The Film Daily as early as 1932, was the house originally opened in 1921 as the New Empress Theatre, which had vanished from the listings by the time the Dickinson appeared. If the Dickinson was the former Empress then it was expanded at some point, as the Empress had only 295 seats and the Dickinson was listed with 566.
The February 23, 1955, issue of The Film Bulletin said that the world premier of the movie Seven Angry Men would take place in Osawatomie, but didn’t give the name of the theater. It was most likely the Osawa, though, as the Kansan, if it was even still open at that time, was considerably smaller.
The Marvel Cinema in Carlinville ran its last movies on February 27, 2014, according to an article in the Macoupin County-Carlinville Daily Enquirer-Democrat of March 6 that year. The last operator, Dougherty Theatres, made the decision to close the house as it was unable to pay for operations and upkeep with the level of patronage the theater was getting. The Paul family still owns the Marvel building, and it might be sold or leased at some future date.
Daugherty, which operates theaters in Jerseyville and Litchfield, plans an expansion of their two-screen Stadium Theatre in Jerseyville. The Marvel was remodeled by Dougherty Theatres in 2011, and digital equipment was installed, but the equipment might belong to Dougherty Theatres. If it does, I’d expect it to be removed to be used in the new Jerseyville auditorium, which would reduce the already slim likelihood of the Marvel ever reopening.
The Westside Cinema is operated by Dougherty Theatres, which also operates the Stadium Theatre in Jerseyville. Here is the Westside’s web site. A 2009 article in the Litchfiled Journal-News said that ground was broken for the Westside Cinema in 1985, at the time the Capitol Theatre was being demolished. The house opened as the Westside Twin Cinema.
The Stadium Theatre is now operated by Dougherty Theatres, also operating the Westside Cinema in Litchfield. The company is planning to add a third screen to the Stadium.
The December 25, 1926, issue of The Reel Journalhad a story about the fire at the Marvel Theatre:
“TO INVESTIGATE SHOW FIRE IN
CARLINVILLE
“The Illinois State Fire Marshall’s office will probably conduct an investigation into the fire which destroyed the Marvel Theatre in Carlinville, Ill., on December 18. The loss was placed at $60,000.
“It is suspected that the fire was of incendiary origin. Three years ago an attempt was made to set a fire to the theatre but the blaze was discovered before it could do serious damage.
“The Marvel owned and operated by Mrs. Freda Paul was supposedly of fireproof construction and was one of the finest theatres in that section of Illinois. It seated about 900 persons.
“Mrs. Paul plans to re-open her Grand Theatre until such time as the Marvel can be reconstructed.”
The current home of the Franklin Institute (its third) opened in 1934 and was designed by architect John T. Windrim, who died that same year. I haven’t been able to find any details specifically about the Stearns Science Auditorium, but that it was renovated in 2003, and the name Franklin Theatre was adopted some time after that. Judging from the photo of the auditorium on the Franklin Institute’s web site, I’d guess the seating capacity to be no more than 250, all stadium style.
A promotional booklet published by the Federal Cement Tile Co. of Chicago has a photo of the auditorium of the Metropolitan Theatre in Denver under construction at center left on this page. The caption attributes the design to architect William N. Bowman. He apparently designed the building the theater was in, while Rapp & Rapp designed the theater interior.
Broan’s link to the drawing of the Lerner Theatre is dead, so here is a fresh link. A photo of the Lerner appears at the bottom of this page of a promotional booklet published in the late 1920s by the Federal Cement Tile Co. of Chicago.
Photos of the Colonial are apparently scarce, but one corner of the auditorium is shown at upper left on this page of a promotional booklet published in the late 1920s by the Federal Cement Tile Co. of Chicago.
A photo of the Michigan Theatre can be seen at the bottom of this page of a promotional booklet published in the late 1920s by the Federal Cement Tile Co. of Chicago. The Michigan Theatre was designed by architect Otto J. Kreig.
The May 10, 1924, issue of The Moving Picture World said that the Capitol Theatre in Cheyenne had opened recently.
This house appears to have opened as the Washington Square Theatre. Click the thumbnail at left for an interior photo on this page with a photo of the front. The May 3, 1924, issue of The Moving Picture World had this item:
The Cozy is mentioned (with a variant spelling) in the May 3, 1924, issue of The Moving Picture World:
Apparently Charles Toy also owned one of the film distributing companies in his building. This item about the closing of the theater, but which also mentions the exchange, is from the May 3, 1924, issue of The Moving Picture World:
The 1921 edition of Polk’s Wisconsin State Gazetteer and Business Directory has this entry: “Mid-West Distributing Co, Moy B Toy pres, D G Stover sec-treas, film exchange 174 2d.” (Milwaukee underwent some drastic address renumbering in the 1930s, and 174 2nd was the old address of the Toy Building.)A 1921 book called Visual Education lists two film-related businesses in the Toy Building: the Mid-West Distributing Corp. and Educational Films Services. The 1920 Blue Book of Audio-visual Materials has Associated First National Pictures listed at 402 Toy Building, and the Milwaukee office of the Universal Film Exchange, Inc., at 174 2nd Street.
The 1922-1923 FDY lists five exchanges in the Toy Building on page 394: Wisconsin Film Corp., 403 Toy Bldg.; Walter A. Baier Film Co., 412 Toy Bldg.; Kay Bee Dist. Co., Toy Bldg.; Exhibitors Film Exchange, Toy Bldg.; and Toy’s own Mid-West Distributing Co..
That’s all I’ve dug up about the exchanges so far.
The Ritz Theatre opened in April, 1924, according to this item from the May 3 issue of The Moving Picture World:
The building through which the Manos Theatre’s entrance ran is still standing, but is nowhere near big enough to have held a theater seating over 1,000, so the auditorium must have been behind it on the space now occupied by a parking lot. It has definitely been demolished.This web page has multiple photos showing the house both as the Ritz and as the Manos.
According to a articles in the Indiana Evening News, W. Penn McCartney acquired the site of the Ritz Theatre in 1919. Plans for the new theater, originally to have been called the Rialto, were completed by the Punxsutawney firm of Powell & Justus in 1920, and construction was expected to begin soon, but there were apparently numerous delays.
Announcements of the imminent construction of the theater appeared in the newspaper in 1921 and 1922. Later announcements gave the name of the architectural firm as Powell Bros. (perhaps Mr. Justus died while waiting for the project to begin.) Reports in construction trade journals in 1922 also named Powell Bros. as architects for the project.
I’ve been unable to find any articles about the project from 1923, or from 1924, when it was finally built, but if Mr. McCartney was having trouble getting financing for the theater (the most likely cause of the delays) then it’s unlikely that he would have been able to afford entirely new plans for the project, and the original plans by Powell & Justus, perhaps updated by Powell Bros., were probably used.
An August 8, 1966, Indiana Evening News article said that Michael Manos' Monessen Amusement Co. took over the Ritz Theatre in 1933. A full page ad in the February 7, 1937, issue of the paper touted the second anniversary of the Manos Theatre, so the renaming must have taken place in early 1935.
A story about Indiana’s theaters in the August 8, 1966, issue of the Indiana Evening News said that the Indiana Theatre opened on July 16, 1924. The rear portion of an existing building had been demolished to provide room for the auditorium, and the entrance was run though the existing structure. The Indiana Theatre had a two-manual Marr & Colton organ.
In 1933, the Indiana Theatre was sold to Michael Manos' Monessen Amusement Company, who also took over the Ritz Theatre the same year. As the Indiana was a Manos house, it is almost certain that the remodeling of the theater in the 1930s was designed by Victor A. Rigaumont, who as far as I can determine designed all the Manos houses built or remodeled during that period.
According to the NRHP nomination for for the Jefferson Theatre (PDF here), the house opened in November, 1905, with a stock company in residence.
The May 3, 1924, issue of The Moving Picture World had this item:
The May 10 issue of the same publication had this follow-up item:Here is a colorized photo of the Wilt Theatre taken around 1919. The Wilt was in operation by 1918, as it was mentioned in The Moving Picture World that year. It might have opened in 1917, when the March issue of Electrical Record and Buyer’s Reference ran an item listing several theaters recently wired by contractor W. G. Dunseath of Irwin, Pennsylvania, which included a theater for R. A. Wilt in Ligonier. The list specified that Dunseath’s work for a Lyric Theatre in Irwin had been a rewiring job, but as it didn’t specify rewiring for any of the other theaters on the list perhaps it can be assumed that they were all new houses.
It was Thomas Henneberry who renamed the Majestic the Empress Theatre in 1917. In addition to the Empress Theatres at Osawatomie and at Paola, he also had an Empress Theatre at Eastland, Texas, which he sold in 1919.
A house called the Majestic Theatre was being mentioned The Osawatomie Graphic at least as early as 1910, but in 1917 it was renamed the Empress Theatre, and then a New Empress Theatre was built in 1921. I’ve found nothing about what then became of the old Majestic/Empress.
The 1927 FDY lists two theaters at Osawatomie: The 295-seat Empress and the 250-seat Peoples. In 1935, a house called the Zephyr Theatre opened in Osawatomie. Later that year the Zephyr was renamed the Kansan. There is always the possibility that the Majestic became the Peoples, and then maybe the Zephyr/Kansan as well, but I haven’t been able to establish a connection. For now I’d have to say that the Majestic/first Empress might have closed permanently in 1921.
Prior to 1939, when it was remodeled by Corgan & Moore and renamed, the Osawa Theatre was called the Dickinson Theatre. What I have not been able to determine is whether the Dickinson, which is mentioned in The Film Daily as early as 1932, was the house originally opened in 1921 as the New Empress Theatre, which had vanished from the listings by the time the Dickinson appeared. If the Dickinson was the former Empress then it was expanded at some point, as the Empress had only 295 seats and the Dickinson was listed with 566.
The February 23, 1955, issue of The Film Bulletin said that the world premier of the movie Seven Angry Men would take place in Osawatomie, but didn’t give the name of the theater. It was most likely the Osawa, though, as the Kansan, if it was even still open at that time, was considerably smaller.
Linkrot repair: here is the new location of the 1961 Boxoffice piece with the drawing of the Roger Sherman Theatre’s new front.
The Marvel Cinema in Carlinville ran its last movies on February 27, 2014, according to an article in the Macoupin County-Carlinville Daily Enquirer-Democrat of March 6 that year. The last operator, Dougherty Theatres, made the decision to close the house as it was unable to pay for operations and upkeep with the level of patronage the theater was getting. The Paul family still owns the Marvel building, and it might be sold or leased at some future date.
Daugherty, which operates theaters in Jerseyville and Litchfield, plans an expansion of their two-screen Stadium Theatre in Jerseyville. The Marvel was remodeled by Dougherty Theatres in 2011, and digital equipment was installed, but the equipment might belong to Dougherty Theatres. If it does, I’d expect it to be removed to be used in the new Jerseyville auditorium, which would reduce the already slim likelihood of the Marvel ever reopening.
The Westside Cinema is operated by Dougherty Theatres, which also operates the Stadium Theatre in Jerseyville. Here is the Westside’s web site. A 2009 article in the Litchfiled Journal-News said that ground was broken for the Westside Cinema in 1985, at the time the Capitol Theatre was being demolished. The house opened as the Westside Twin Cinema.
The Stadium Theatre is now operated by Dougherty Theatres, also operating the Westside Cinema in Litchfield. The company is planning to add a third screen to the Stadium.
Here is a March, 1985, photo of the Capitol Theatre from American Classic Images.
The December 25, 1926, issue of The Reel Journalhad a story about the fire at the Marvel Theatre:
The current home of the Franklin Institute (its third) opened in 1934 and was designed by architect John T. Windrim, who died that same year. I haven’t been able to find any details specifically about the Stearns Science Auditorium, but that it was renovated in 2003, and the name Franklin Theatre was adopted some time after that. Judging from the photo of the auditorium on the Franklin Institute’s web site, I’d guess the seating capacity to be no more than 250, all stadium style.
A promotional booklet published by the Federal Cement Tile Co. of Chicago has a photo of the auditorium of the Metropolitan Theatre in Denver under construction at center left on this page. The caption attributes the design to architect William N. Bowman. He apparently designed the building the theater was in, while Rapp & Rapp designed the theater interior.
Broan’s link to the drawing of the Lerner Theatre is dead, so here is a fresh link. A photo of the Lerner appears at the bottom of this page of a promotional booklet published in the late 1920s by the Federal Cement Tile Co. of Chicago.
Photos of the Colonial are apparently scarce, but one corner of the auditorium is shown at upper left on this page of a promotional booklet published in the late 1920s by the Federal Cement Tile Co. of Chicago.
A drawing of Toltz, King & Day’s Tower Theatre can be seen on this page of a promotional booklet from the Federal Cement Tile Co. of Chicago.
A photo of the Michigan Theatre can be seen at the bottom of this page of a promotional booklet published in the late 1920s by the Federal Cement Tile Co. of Chicago. The Michigan Theatre was designed by architect Otto J. Kreig.
A 1923 photo of the Tivoli can be seen at the top of this page of a promotional booklet published by the Federal Cement Tile Co. in the late 1920s.