The undated photo of the Orpheum on this web pageprobably dates from around 1970. The history below the photo says that the house opened in 1930 in a building that had formerly housed an arcade. The house closed as the Orpheum in 1977. In 1980 it reopened as the Rosemary Theatre, and after another closure became an Asian movie theater called the Golden Dragon. It closed for the last time in 1987.
I’m not sure what to make of an item in the July 6, 1918, issue of The Moving Picture World that said that the new Orpheum Theatre at 604 Queen Street West in Toronto had opened the week of June 10. This might have been an earlier theater next door, or it’s possible that the Orpheum actually opened earlier than the author of the history thought, and the building was renumbered at some point.
The prototype UltraVison Theatre in Charleston, South Carolina, was developed by ABC-Paramount affiliate Wilby-Kincy and designed by architect William Bringhurst McGehee of the firm Six Associates. The Deerfield Beach UltraVision was based on McGehee’s original plans, as was Florida State Theatres first UltraVision house, the single screen Springs Theatre in Ocala, Florida, which was completed only a few months before the Deerfield Beach project.
A Boxoffice article about the Ocala project said that McGehee’s plans were adapted for Florida State Theatres by an architect named Bill Murphy, so it sems likely that he was also involved in the Deerfield Beach project. I haven’t been able to positively identify Murphy, but it’s possible that he was Bill Jackson Murphy, a founder of BMS Associates, a Columbus, Georgia, firm that, according to Murphy’s obituary designed numerous theaters for “…Martin Theaters, Fuqua, United Artists, Carmike Cinema and Southern Theaters….” in the southeast and Texas.
According to the Meroney’s Theatre page at Doc South’s “Going To the Show,” the building housed a number of theaters over the years. The Meroney Theater building housed different theaters from 1904 to 1989.
“In 1907, the Bijou operated on the first floor of Meroney’s Theater as a movie and live-action theater. September 1909 saw the introduction of the Grand theater to the Meroney building, which was succeeded by the Grubb theater in 1911. The theater also operated under the names of The Colonial, The Strand, The State, Centre, The Towne Theatre, and Towne Twin Cinema (the theater’s name when it officially closed).”
The house returned to its original name on reopening as a live theater in 1995. Additional details about the various theaters can be found by using the drop-down menu of the “Chose a venue” box on the Salisbury page.
A 1915-1916 city directory of Salisbury lists 103 S. Main as the location of a house called the Main Theatre. Doc South’s “Going To the Show” says that the Main operated from 1913 to 1918. The house was rebuilt that year, doubling its capacity, and reopened as the Victory Theatre on November 28. Doc South’s pages on the Victory include a newspaper article about the opening and another about the theater’s American Fotoplayer.
A capsule history of Spencer here says that the Liberty Theatre opened in 1917. If that is corrent, then it was apparently rebuilt the following year. Doc South’s “Going To the Show” has a scan of an opening announcement for the Liberty Theatre from the November 20, 1918, issue of the Salisbury Evening Post
The Capri can’t have been at 610 Greensboro Avenue if it was next door to the Alston Building and across from the even-numbered Bama Theatre. It must have had an odd-numbered address. I can’t find an address for Alston Place, but the Lorch Diamond Center to the south of the theater’s location is at 611.
The Capri was probably at 607 S. Greensboro, which would mean it was originally the house called the Belveldere Theatre, found at that address on a master list of buildings designed by Birmingham architect D. O. Whilldin that was compiled by Thomas M. Shelby. Shelby lists the Belvedere as a 1923 project.
A master list of buildings designed by Birmingham architect D. O. Whilldin compiled by Thomas M. Shelby lists the Tiger Theatre in Auburn as one of his projects. However, it is listed as a 1927 project, so perhaps Whilldin only designed some alterations the year after the house opened.
A master list of buildings designed by Birmingham architect D. O. Whilldin, compiled by Thomas M. Shelby, lists the Pantages Theatre as one of his projects from 1927. However, as B. Marcus Priteca pretty much had a lock on theater designs for Pantages, it’s most likely that he designed the 1927 remodeling and that Whilldin acted as supervising architect.
A master list of buildings designed by Birmingham architect D. O. Whilldin, compiled by Thomas M. Shelby, lists the Famous Theatre in Birmingham as a 1926-27 project.
A master list of buildings designed by Birmingham architect D. O. Whilldin compiled by Thomas M. Shelby lists the Ensley Theatre as one of his projects.
The Lincoln Theatre was definitely in operation by mid-1921. Construction began in 1920, but I haven’t been able to discover if it opened late that year or early in 1921.
A July 1, 1916, article in The Moving Picture World reported on the Olympia Theatre and noted that it was the first theater ever designed by architect W. L. Mowll.
Here is a 1986 photo of The Pitcher Show from American Classic Images. The November 11, 1983, issue of The Tuscaloosa News said that the Tide I & II Theatre would reopen that night as The Pitcher Show (Google News.) As the Pitcher Show the house served beer, wine, and food along with the movies. Despite the change in format, the house was still being operated by Cobb Theatres.
The February 5, 1969, issue of the News had an ad for the Tide I & II saying that there would be an open house on Thursday night (February 6) and the gala opening of the theater would take place on Friday, February 7.
The June 19, 1914, issue of The Daily Bulletin, Brownwood’s newspaper, said that J. M. Robb of Big Springs had taken a one-year lease on the Brownwood Theatre, and that his son Harrell Robb would become the manager of the house. The partnership of Pearman & Griffin had operated the theater since its opening in March. The article didn’t mention the name Lyric Theatre, so it probably got that name some time later, perhaps in 1918 when the 1958 Bulletin article LouisRugani cited in the first comment said that it had opened.
A December 17, 1921, article in Exhibitors Trade Review indicates that by that time the Avon Theatre was being operated by the Empsall family, who were owners of an eponymous department store in Watertown. The Empsalls had been interested in acquiring the three theaters operated at Watertown by Papayanakos Brothers, but the brothers sold their houses to the Robbins Amusement Company of Utica instead.
The December 17, 1921, issue of Exhibitors Trade Review said that the three houses in Watertown operated by Papayanakos Brothers had been sold to the Robbins Amusement company of Utica. Papayanakos Brothers had taken over operation of the Antique Theatre in 1911, four years after they took over the Wonderland, later renamed Palace, and six years before the built the Olympic Theatre. The Antique had been opened in 1908 by the Mullin Film Service. The Lyric, which Papayankos Brothers had taken over before 1911 and which they still operated in 1916, was not mentioned in the article, so must have closed by late 1921.
The December 17, 1921, issue of Exhibitors Trade Review reported the sale of three houses operated at Watertown by Papayanakos Brothers to the Robbins Amusement Company of Utica. One of them was the Palace. Papayanakos Brothers had taken over this house in 1907,when it was called the Wonderland Theatre. It was renamed the Palace following a later remodeling (probably after 1916.) Robbins also took over the Olympic and Antique Theatres in Watertown as part of the same deal.
An article in the December 17, 1921, issue of Exhibitors Trade Review said that the Olympic Theatre had been built and opened by the Papayanakos Brothers in 1917. The house had just been bought by the Robbins Amusement Company of Utica, who planned a forty-foot addition to the rear of the theater so that live theatrical attractions could be accommodated. Two other Papayankos houses in Watertown, the Palace and the Antique, were also taken over by Robbins.
The “New Theaters and Changes in Dakota” column of the November 15, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World said that the Iris Theatre had been opened at Edgeley, North Dakota.
The Hume Theatre was built in 1931. This item is from the January 18, 1931 issue of The Film Daily:
“Burlington, Ont. — Plans are in progress for the erection of a $25,000 theater here by Rex Hume. Geo. T. Evans of Hamilton, Ont., is the architect.”
Rex Hume came to Burlington in 1924 to operate the Crystal Theatre, which he had recently bought, according to research by Peggy Armstrong of the Burlington Historical Society. Architect George Thomas Evans had his office in Hamilton, but resided in Burlington for at least part of his life, having designed a house for himself there in 1928. He was known primarily for designing churches and schools.
Not to be nitpicky, but the 1921 sale mentioned in the description was not to Fox West Coast Theatres, which didn’t exist until 1928, but to its predecessor, West Coast Theatres, founded in 1920.
The Liberty Theatre in Columbus,Kansas, was mentioned in the July 14, 1919, issue of The Film Daily. Four years later, the July 14, 1923, issue of The Moving Picture World reported an improvement to the house:
“N. W. Houghston of the Liberty Theatre at Columbus, Kas., has installed two Typhoon fans. One is installed in order to take care of the balcony, while the other will send cool breezes over the orchestra.”
The products of the New York City-based Typhoon Fan Company were mentioned fairly often in early theater industry trade journals. They were a popular appliance in theaters before the advent of air conditioning. For those who might be interested, there are a few photos of Typhoon fans, and a vintage ad for the company, on this page of a discussion board at the web site of the Antique Fan Collectors Association (who knew there were fan fans?)
This item appeared in the March 29, 1919, issue of The Moving Picture World:
“BARBERTON, O. — Park Theatre Company, care A. J. Heiman, 156 Columbia street, has plans by Swirsky & Miller, Ohio Building, for two-story moving picture theatre and office building, 48 by 100 feet, to cost $50,000.”
The undated photo of the Orpheum on this web pageprobably dates from around 1970. The history below the photo says that the house opened in 1930 in a building that had formerly housed an arcade. The house closed as the Orpheum in 1977. In 1980 it reopened as the Rosemary Theatre, and after another closure became an Asian movie theater called the Golden Dragon. It closed for the last time in 1987.
I’m not sure what to make of an item in the July 6, 1918, issue of The Moving Picture World that said that the new Orpheum Theatre at 604 Queen Street West in Toronto had opened the week of June 10. This might have been an earlier theater next door, or it’s possible that the Orpheum actually opened earlier than the author of the history thought, and the building was renumbered at some point.
The 1928 Motion Picture Times article about the dismantling of the Crystal Theatre has been moved again to this link.
The prototype UltraVison Theatre in Charleston, South Carolina, was developed by ABC-Paramount affiliate Wilby-Kincy and designed by architect William Bringhurst McGehee of the firm Six Associates. The Deerfield Beach UltraVision was based on McGehee’s original plans, as was Florida State Theatres first UltraVision house, the single screen Springs Theatre in Ocala, Florida, which was completed only a few months before the Deerfield Beach project.
A Boxoffice article about the Ocala project said that McGehee’s plans were adapted for Florida State Theatres by an architect named Bill Murphy, so it sems likely that he was also involved in the Deerfield Beach project. I haven’t been able to positively identify Murphy, but it’s possible that he was Bill Jackson Murphy, a founder of BMS Associates, a Columbus, Georgia, firm that, according to Murphy’s obituary designed numerous theaters for “…Martin Theaters, Fuqua, United Artists, Carmike Cinema and Southern Theaters….” in the southeast and Texas.
According to the Meroney’s Theatre page at Doc South’s “Going To the Show,” the building housed a number of theaters over the years. The Meroney Theater building housed different theaters from 1904 to 1989.
The house returned to its original name on reopening as a live theater in 1995. Additional details about the various theaters can be found by using the drop-down menu of the “Chose a venue” box on the Salisbury page.A 1915-1916 city directory of Salisbury lists 103 S. Main as the location of a house called the Main Theatre. Doc South’s “Going To the Show” says that the Main operated from 1913 to 1918. The house was rebuilt that year, doubling its capacity, and reopened as the Victory Theatre on November 28. Doc South’s pages on the Victory include a newspaper article about the opening and another about the theater’s American Fotoplayer.
A capsule history of Spencer here says that the Liberty Theatre opened in 1917. If that is corrent, then it was apparently rebuilt the following year. Doc South’s “Going To the Show” has a scan of an opening announcement for the Liberty Theatre from the November 20, 1918, issue of the Salisbury Evening Post
The Capri can’t have been at 610 Greensboro Avenue if it was next door to the Alston Building and across from the even-numbered Bama Theatre. It must have had an odd-numbered address. I can’t find an address for Alston Place, but the Lorch Diamond Center to the south of the theater’s location is at 611.
The Capri was probably at 607 S. Greensboro, which would mean it was originally the house called the Belveldere Theatre, found at that address on a master list of buildings designed by Birmingham architect D. O. Whilldin that was compiled by Thomas M. Shelby. Shelby lists the Belvedere as a 1923 project.
A master list of buildings designed by Birmingham architect D. O. Whilldin compiled by Thomas M. Shelby lists the Tiger Theatre in Auburn as one of his projects. However, it is listed as a 1927 project, so perhaps Whilldin only designed some alterations the year after the house opened.
A master list of buildings designed by Birmingham architect D. O. Whilldin, compiled by Thomas M. Shelby, lists the Pantages Theatre as one of his projects from 1927. However, as B. Marcus Priteca pretty much had a lock on theater designs for Pantages, it’s most likely that he designed the 1927 remodeling and that Whilldin acted as supervising architect.
A master list of buildings designed by Birmingham architect D. O. Whilldin, compiled by Thomas M. Shelby, lists the Famous Theatre in Birmingham as a 1926-27 project.
A master list of buildings designed by Birmingham architect D. O. Whilldin compiled by Thomas M. Shelby lists the Ensley Theatre as one of his projects.
The Lincoln Theatre was definitely in operation by mid-1921. Construction began in 1920, but I haven’t been able to discover if it opened late that year or early in 1921.
A July 1, 1916, article in The Moving Picture World reported on the Olympia Theatre and noted that it was the first theater ever designed by architect W. L. Mowll.
Here is a 1986 photo of The Pitcher Show from American Classic Images. The November 11, 1983, issue of The Tuscaloosa News said that the Tide I & II Theatre would reopen that night as The Pitcher Show (Google News.) As the Pitcher Show the house served beer, wine, and food along with the movies. Despite the change in format, the house was still being operated by Cobb Theatres.
The February 5, 1969, issue of the News had an ad for the Tide I & II saying that there would be an open house on Thursday night (February 6) and the gala opening of the theater would take place on Friday, February 7.
The June 19, 1914, issue of The Daily Bulletin, Brownwood’s newspaper, said that J. M. Robb of Big Springs had taken a one-year lease on the Brownwood Theatre, and that his son Harrell Robb would become the manager of the house. The partnership of Pearman & Griffin had operated the theater since its opening in March. The article didn’t mention the name Lyric Theatre, so it probably got that name some time later, perhaps in 1918 when the 1958 Bulletin article LouisRugani cited in the first comment said that it had opened.
A December 17, 1921, article in Exhibitors Trade Review indicates that by that time the Avon Theatre was being operated by the Empsall family, who were owners of an eponymous department store in Watertown. The Empsalls had been interested in acquiring the three theaters operated at Watertown by Papayanakos Brothers, but the brothers sold their houses to the Robbins Amusement Company of Utica instead.
The December 17, 1921, issue of Exhibitors Trade Review said that the three houses in Watertown operated by Papayanakos Brothers had been sold to the Robbins Amusement company of Utica. Papayanakos Brothers had taken over operation of the Antique Theatre in 1911, four years after they took over the Wonderland, later renamed Palace, and six years before the built the Olympic Theatre. The Antique had been opened in 1908 by the Mullin Film Service. The Lyric, which Papayankos Brothers had taken over before 1911 and which they still operated in 1916, was not mentioned in the article, so must have closed by late 1921.
The December 17, 1921, issue of Exhibitors Trade Review reported the sale of three houses operated at Watertown by Papayanakos Brothers to the Robbins Amusement Company of Utica. One of them was the Palace. Papayanakos Brothers had taken over this house in 1907,when it was called the Wonderland Theatre. It was renamed the Palace following a later remodeling (probably after 1916.) Robbins also took over the Olympic and Antique Theatres in Watertown as part of the same deal.
An article in the December 17, 1921, issue of Exhibitors Trade Review said that the Olympic Theatre had been built and opened by the Papayanakos Brothers in 1917. The house had just been bought by the Robbins Amusement Company of Utica, who planned a forty-foot addition to the rear of the theater so that live theatrical attractions could be accommodated. Two other Papayankos houses in Watertown, the Palace and the Antique, were also taken over by Robbins.
The “New Theaters and Changes in Dakota” column of the November 15, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World said that the Iris Theatre had been opened at Edgeley, North Dakota.
The Hume Theatre was built in 1931. This item is from the January 18, 1931 issue of The Film Daily:
Rex Hume came to Burlington in 1924 to operate the Crystal Theatre, which he had recently bought, according to research by Peggy Armstrong of the Burlington Historical Society. Architect George Thomas Evans had his office in Hamilton, but resided in Burlington for at least part of his life, having designed a house for himself there in 1928. He was known primarily for designing churches and schools.Not to be nitpicky, but the 1921 sale mentioned in the description was not to Fox West Coast Theatres, which didn’t exist until 1928, but to its predecessor, West Coast Theatres, founded in 1920.
The Liberty Theatre in Columbus,Kansas, was mentioned in the July 14, 1919, issue of The Film Daily. Four years later, the July 14, 1923, issue of The Moving Picture World reported an improvement to the house:
The products of the New York City-based Typhoon Fan Company were mentioned fairly often in early theater industry trade journals. They were a popular appliance in theaters before the advent of air conditioning. For those who might be interested, there are a few photos of Typhoon fans, and a vintage ad for the company, on this page of a discussion board at the web site of the Antique Fan Collectors Association (who knew there were fan fans?)This item appeared in the March 29, 1919, issue of The Moving Picture World:
The Orpheum in New London was to feature musical duo Bell and Richards on November 15, 1909, according to advertisements in Variety.
The Rialto is mentioned in the October 21, 1922, issue of Exhibitors Herald.