By 1914, fast-growing Fullerton had four movie theaters listed in the American Motion Picture Directory. As well as the Fullerton Theatre, Spadra Avenue boasted the Little Gem Theatre and the Novelty Theatre, while the Randall Theatre held forth at some unlisted mystery location.
This rather large PDF contains the official annual report for the Town of Newport for 1998, but it includes a large section devoted to the history of the Newport Fire Department. The story of the fire that destroyed the Newport House Hotel on Christmas Day, 1965, is on pages 47 and 48 (digital pages 49 and 50.) The lines relevant to the fate of the Latchis Theatre are: “The theater sustained little damage, and for the next decade or so, the movie theater continued operating. On a rainy night, patrons could still smell the fire.”
This page can be renamed Newport Cinema, and the redundant newer page deleted after any relevant information it provides (reopening date, etc.) is replicated here.
The Gem was the only theater listed at Berlin in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. The Gem Theatre is shown on the 1920 Sanborn map of Berlin, but with the notation “Used as dance hall only.” I see no buildings labeled “Motion Pictures” on the 1920 Sanborn, but the Albert Theatre is prominent.
I found a web page with a long list of historic fires in New Hampshire and it included this: “Sep 28, 1960 - Berlin - NH - Gorham Theater (where Welch’s Restaurant later stood), destroyed by fire.” This actually looks like it’s an orphaned page from a vanished Geocities web site (last updated in 2005), so I can’t vouch for its accuracy, but it does look to have been reasonably well researched.
Also two things: Androscoggin Street is a residential side street, with commerce only at the end adjacent to Main Street, so if the theater was (as the local Historical Society said) on Androscoggin Street it must have been right at the corner of Main.
And the house was last called the Gorham Theatre, renamed following a remodeling in 1956. Our photo shows that name on the sign, so must have been taken between 1956 and 1960.
I hate to link to the awful web site Yumpu, but it’s the only place I can find this information. An item headlined “Bikos Co. Will Construct $125,000 Gary Theatre” on page 59 of the April 30, 1949 issue of Boxoffice is about this theater. The project’s architect, L. Harry Warriner, estimated that it would take from ten months to a year to complete, depending on the availability of materials, so it probably didn’t open until 1950 at the earliest. No theater is listed at this address in the 1951 FDY, so it might not have opened until after that year’s edition went to press, or it might just have been the usual FDY slackness at work.
I don’t have access to any FDY’s later than 1951, so I don’t know if it was listed in 1952, or what its name was, but a page that probably duplicates this one was just added to Cinema Treasures under the name Varsity Theatre. It has no description of the theater at all, but gives the address range of 2218-46 Broadway, so must be the same house.
The opening of the Strand was noted in the July 17, 1934 Film Daily: “Vicksburg, Miss. — J. E. Adams and R. L. Long have opened up a new house, the Strand, with Photophone High Fidelity sound. Guy Adams will manage the new theater.”
The July 17, 1934 issue of Film Daily had this item about the Colonial: “Newport, R. I.—The Colonial, M & P.-Publix house, has reopened with pictures and vaudeville. The manager is John Connolly. Elmer Taylor is assisting.” As Gerald A. DeLuca’s comment from 2011 notes the connection between the Colonial and Paramount, it appears that this house was operated as part of the Paramount-Publix chain for much of its history,
The October 19, 1940 issue of Motion Picture Herald had this news about the Sunset Theatre: “W. E. Drumbar has added 150 seats to his Sunset theatre in Knoxville, Tenn.”
An historic timeline of Newport (PDF here), based on items drawn from the local newspapers, says that the building that eventually became the Empire Theatre was built in 1842 as the County jail, but the NRHP registration form for the Downtown Newport Historic District says that the theater’s portion of the building was a later addition, probably from 1850. The timeline cites an April 17, 1913 article saying that “Dr. Cain is remodeling the old jail into a hall where it is intended to have moving pictures.” The timeline’s first use of the name Empire is from November 3, 1916 and refers to the theater’s temporary closure due to the influenza pandemic.
The timeline also notes that the owners of the Empire, Sam D. Lewis and Arthur C. Chadwick, bought the Coniston Theatre in September, 1920. It does not mention the Empire again until February, 1925, when the paper noted that the house was being remodeled for use as a public meeting and recreation hall. This use continued until the entire former jail complex was converted for use as a department store in 1946.
Empire was not one of the two theater names listed at Newport in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. Those were the Newport Casino on Belknap Avenue and the Scenic Theatre, no location given. The timeline cites articles from September and October, 1912, saying that the town had rescinded a previous decision and voted to grant L. L. Ransom a license to show movies in a hall recently built for him on Belknap Avenue. That theater began operating in October, and was apparently the first in Newport. The October article refers to this house as a casino, but the name is not capitalized.
A February 12, 1916 Moving Picture World item datelined Newport, N. H. says that “[t]he armory building on Central street has been converted into a moving picture theater by H. Robinson.” The old armory (replaced by a new facility at another location in the 1930s) was destroyed by a fire in 1973, and a newspaper article from that year notes that it once housed a theater, but gives no name for it or any dates of operation. The article said that the armory house was the towns first theater, which might have been mistaken, though it is possible that it had operated as a live venue prior to 1916. The 1926 FDY lists a single 600-seat competitor to the 950-seat Coniston Theatre called the U-Kum, which might have been the armory house or the Casino under a new name. The timeline is silent on the U-Kum, and I can’t bring myself to blame it.
So the Empire was not Newport’s sole theater of the period, and unless it was missed altogether by the AMPD, Scenic Theatre was probably its opening name, and it opened in early 1913, as the town’s second movie house, and it closed sometime after 1920, when its operators bought the larger Coniston Theatre, but certainly by 1925.
The January 10, 1966 issue of Boxoffice contradicts the claim that the Latchis Theatre was destroyed by the fire that struck the Newport House hotel on Christmas eve in 1965. It notes that the auditorium suffered only slight damage and the projection room none at all, so even the print of “Von Ryan’s Express” that was playing when the fire began must have been saved.
The 1949 theater had been in a new structure built behind the historic hotel building. The lobby had been cut through the hotel’s ground floor, and that was the only part of the theater that was destroyed. After the fire a new entrance was built and the auditorium renovated and the house operated until 1980 as the Newport Cinema. A historic timeline of Newport says that the vacant building was sold to a new owner in 1982 and the remains demolished in 1984. The new owner had plans to build a new hotel on the site, but these never came to fruition. The property now serves as a parking lot.
Three was certainly no Dolby Atmos when the Los Angeles was operating as a regular theater, but given that the admission for this 50 to 60-minute walk through, with a shorter show-like event in the auditorium, is seventy bucks, and admission times (for groups, but they don’t say how large) are set every 25 minutes, six hours a day, a total of about thirty days, I’m sure the promoters could afford to install it. Even if they only put 1,000 people a day through the event, that would be 30,000 people at 70 bucks a pop, for over two million total. I’d expect total attendance could be several times that. Oh, there’s also a no-host bar. Kaching.
The Abigail Theatre makes its first appearance in the FDY in 1938, which makes a 1937 opening for the house likely. The 1937 edition lists only the 100-seat Unique Theatre, also listed in 1938 but with 350 seats.
A February 24, 1940 Boxoffice item said that “H. T. Allen, owner of the Abigail at Prestonburg [sic] Ky., has opened the Patti there.” Despite this announcement, I haven’t found a theater called the Patti listed in FDYs through 1945 (I haven’t checked later editions.) The Abigail, Broadway, Princess and (sometimes) the Unique are listed through this period, though all but the Abigail are invariably listed as closed. Prestonsburg is also invariably misspelled by the FDY as Prestonburg, without its second S.
The December 10, 1949 Boxoffice mentions both the Abigail and the Strand, and notes that John Allen, owner of the Strand, is not related to H. T. (Henry) Allen, owner of the Abigail.
In an item datelined Prestonsburg, the January 3, 1942 Showmen’s Trade Review reported that “[t]he Broadway Theatre was destroyed by fire at an estimated loss of $30,000. W. B. Boyd was the operator.” As the house was still being listed in 1950, it was presumably rebuilt.
Boxoffice of December 10, 1949 said that December 27 had been set as the formal opening date for the Strand Theatre in Prestonsburg. The 750-seat house, built by a group of local businessmen headed by John Allen, featured Mohawk carpeting, International chairs, RCA Brenkert sound and projection equipment, and draperies from Knoxville Scenic Studios, all installed by Midwest Theatre Supply Company.
The 1900-1901 Cahn guide lists the Burlew Opera House as a ground floor theater with a large stage, 41 feet from footlights to back wall and 65 feet between side walls. It doesn’t give a breakdown of seating capacities between orchestra, balcony, gallery and boxes.
Multiple sources indicate that the house opened on October 31, 1891. It was designed by Lexington, Kentucky architect Herman L. Rowe (a number of sources mistakenly give his name as H. L. Lowe or H. B. Rowe, but architect Herman L. Rowe is actually listed in the 1891 Lexington City Directory.) In the mid-1880s, Rowe acted as supervising architect for the Lexington Opera House, designed by Oscar Cobb, which likely proved a very useful experience when he came to design the Burlew.
The Burlew was razed in 1921 or 1922, and its bricks were used in the construction of the department store that replaced it. That building is still standing, occupied by a collection of small shops.
The May 10, 1913 issue of The American Contractor had an item about a theater to be built in Bloomfield. The address and name of the theater weren’t given, but the description said that a 2-story building 50x164, was to be built for owner Joseph Green. It was being designed by Newark architect Frank Grad. The size and timing are right for this project to have been the Lincoln, and the details and handling of materials in the original façade certainly call to mind other works of the period designed by Grad.
The address and theater name are not mentioned, but items in May, 1913 issues of The American Contractor must be about the Isis, given the descriptions. The project was a building 120x132 feet, with a 600-seat picture theater and five storefronts, fitting the historic photos of the Isis, which the Kokomo Tribune article I previously cited says was built in 1913. The architect for the project was R. L. Young (Robert Lincoln Young, according to another Tribune article.) The owner of the building was F. D. Miller, a very active local real estate developer.
The latest Google street view shows that the Harrison Theatre building has been demolished, along with its neighbor to the east. The buildings were standing but appeared vacant in the August, 2019 street view, but were gone in the most recent view, from April, 2023, which shows them as a construction site. I’ve been unable to discover the date of demolition, or the purpose of the new construction.
Also gone is the building that once housed the Rialto Theatre just down the block, at 17 E. Gay Street, but it had already been replaced by a new building in the earliest street view available, from August, 2007.
Ads that have been uploaded to the Rialto’s photo page indicate that the house was opened at least by 1916, and probably by 1915. This timing makes it likely that the Rialto was the project for a theater and dance hall to cost $30,000 that was noted in the April 28, 1915 issue of The American Architect. The project was deigned by Wilmington, Delaware architect Roscoe C. Tindall.
It turns out that Center is an aka for the Orpheum. The July 18, 1941 issue of Film Daily had the story: “At Ionia, the 350-seat Orpheum, closed for eight years, is being remodeled and modernized and renamed the Center, to be a companion in Butterfield’s 1,000-seat Ionia, only other theater in town.”
The Orpheum was probably closed longer than eight years, though, as its last appearance in the FDY was 1931. The item’s claim of a seating capacity of 350 for the Orpheum is almost certainly an exaggeration. Its last listing in the FDY gave it only 230 seats. It was likely expanded when remodeled as the Center, but not to 350.
The Lyric was the only theater listed at Strawberry Point in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. It was mentioned in the trade journals a number of times, and was listed in the FDY’s editions from 1926 through 1931.
A 300-seat house called the Orpheum is first listed at Strawberry Point in the 1932 FDY. Prior to that, the only house listed for the town was the 200-seat Lyric. The Orpheum probably replaced the Lyric sometime during 1931, the last year the Lyric was listed. The Orpheum still operated in 1951, when the January 13 issue of Boxoffice reported that Robert Fridley had recently sold the house, which he had bought in late 1949.
The April 24, 1914 issue of American Contractor noted the letting of contracts for a new Elks lodge and theater in Mahanoy City. The three-story, 42x125 foot building had been designed by Reading, Pennsylvania architect Edward Z. Scholl. A couple of sources say that the lodge was dedicated in 1916, but I haven’t found an opening date for the theater.
By 1914, fast-growing Fullerton had four movie theaters listed in the American Motion Picture Directory. As well as the Fullerton Theatre, Spadra Avenue boasted the Little Gem Theatre and the Novelty Theatre, while the Randall Theatre held forth at some unlisted mystery location.
This rather large PDF contains the official annual report for the Town of Newport for 1998, but it includes a large section devoted to the history of the Newport Fire Department. The story of the fire that destroyed the Newport House Hotel on Christmas Day, 1965, is on pages 47 and 48 (digital pages 49 and 50.) The lines relevant to the fate of the Latchis Theatre are: “The theater sustained little damage, and for the next decade or so, the movie theater continued operating. On a rainy night, patrons could still smell the fire.”
This page can be renamed Newport Cinema, and the redundant newer page deleted after any relevant information it provides (reopening date, etc.) is replicated here.
The Gem was the only theater listed at Berlin in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. The Gem Theatre is shown on the 1920 Sanborn map of Berlin, but with the notation “Used as dance hall only.” I see no buildings labeled “Motion Pictures” on the 1920 Sanborn, but the Albert Theatre is prominent.
I found a web page with a long list of historic fires in New Hampshire and it included this: “Sep 28, 1960 - Berlin - NH - Gorham Theater (where Welch’s Restaurant later stood), destroyed by fire.” This actually looks like it’s an orphaned page from a vanished Geocities web site (last updated in 2005), so I can’t vouch for its accuracy, but it does look to have been reasonably well researched.
Also two things: Androscoggin Street is a residential side street, with commerce only at the end adjacent to Main Street, so if the theater was (as the local Historical Society said) on Androscoggin Street it must have been right at the corner of Main.
And the house was last called the Gorham Theatre, renamed following a remodeling in 1956. Our photo shows that name on the sign, so must have been taken between 1956 and 1960.
I hate to link to the awful web site Yumpu, but it’s the only place I can find this information. An item headlined “Bikos Co. Will Construct $125,000 Gary Theatre” on page 59 of the April 30, 1949 issue of Boxoffice is about this theater. The project’s architect, L. Harry Warriner, estimated that it would take from ten months to a year to complete, depending on the availability of materials, so it probably didn’t open until 1950 at the earliest. No theater is listed at this address in the 1951 FDY, so it might not have opened until after that year’s edition went to press, or it might just have been the usual FDY slackness at work.
I don’t have access to any FDY’s later than 1951, so I don’t know if it was listed in 1952, or what its name was, but a page that probably duplicates this one was just added to Cinema Treasures under the name Varsity Theatre. It has no description of the theater at all, but gives the address range of 2218-46 Broadway, so must be the same house.
The opening of the Strand was noted in the July 17, 1934 Film Daily: “Vicksburg, Miss. — J. E. Adams and R. L. Long have opened up a new house, the Strand, with Photophone High Fidelity sound. Guy Adams will manage the new theater.”
The July 17, 1934 issue of Film Daily had this item about the Colonial: “Newport, R. I.—The Colonial, M & P.-Publix house, has reopened with pictures and vaudeville. The manager is John Connolly. Elmer Taylor is assisting.” As Gerald A. DeLuca’s comment from 2011 notes the connection between the Colonial and Paramount, it appears that this house was operated as part of the Paramount-Publix chain for much of its history,
The October 19, 1940 issue of Motion Picture Herald had this news about the Sunset Theatre: “W. E. Drumbar has added 150 seats to his Sunset theatre in Knoxville, Tenn.”
The Coniston Theatre building was demolished in 1975.
An historic timeline of Newport (PDF here), based on items drawn from the local newspapers, says that the building that eventually became the Empire Theatre was built in 1842 as the County jail, but the NRHP registration form for the Downtown Newport Historic District says that the theater’s portion of the building was a later addition, probably from 1850. The timeline cites an April 17, 1913 article saying that “Dr. Cain is remodeling the old jail into a hall where it is intended to have moving pictures.” The timeline’s first use of the name Empire is from November 3, 1916 and refers to the theater’s temporary closure due to the influenza pandemic.
The timeline also notes that the owners of the Empire, Sam D. Lewis and Arthur C. Chadwick, bought the Coniston Theatre in September, 1920. It does not mention the Empire again until February, 1925, when the paper noted that the house was being remodeled for use as a public meeting and recreation hall. This use continued until the entire former jail complex was converted for use as a department store in 1946.
Empire was not one of the two theater names listed at Newport in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. Those were the Newport Casino on Belknap Avenue and the Scenic Theatre, no location given. The timeline cites articles from September and October, 1912, saying that the town had rescinded a previous decision and voted to grant L. L. Ransom a license to show movies in a hall recently built for him on Belknap Avenue. That theater began operating in October, and was apparently the first in Newport. The October article refers to this house as a casino, but the name is not capitalized.
A February 12, 1916 Moving Picture World item datelined Newport, N. H. says that “[t]he armory building on Central street has been converted into a moving picture theater by H. Robinson.” The old armory (replaced by a new facility at another location in the 1930s) was destroyed by a fire in 1973, and a newspaper article from that year notes that it once housed a theater, but gives no name for it or any dates of operation. The article said that the armory house was the towns first theater, which might have been mistaken, though it is possible that it had operated as a live venue prior to 1916. The 1926 FDY lists a single 600-seat competitor to the 950-seat Coniston Theatre called the U-Kum, which might have been the armory house or the Casino under a new name. The timeline is silent on the U-Kum, and I can’t bring myself to blame it.
So the Empire was not Newport’s sole theater of the period, and unless it was missed altogether by the AMPD, Scenic Theatre was probably its opening name, and it opened in early 1913, as the town’s second movie house, and it closed sometime after 1920, when its operators bought the larger Coniston Theatre, but certainly by 1925.
The January 10, 1966 issue of Boxoffice contradicts the claim that the Latchis Theatre was destroyed by the fire that struck the Newport House hotel on Christmas eve in 1965. It notes that the auditorium suffered only slight damage and the projection room none at all, so even the print of “Von Ryan’s Express” that was playing when the fire began must have been saved.
The 1949 theater had been in a new structure built behind the historic hotel building. The lobby had been cut through the hotel’s ground floor, and that was the only part of the theater that was destroyed. After the fire a new entrance was built and the auditorium renovated and the house operated until 1980 as the Newport Cinema. A historic timeline of Newport says that the vacant building was sold to a new owner in 1982 and the remains demolished in 1984. The new owner had plans to build a new hotel on the site, but these never came to fruition. The property now serves as a parking lot.
Three was certainly no Dolby Atmos when the Los Angeles was operating as a regular theater, but given that the admission for this 50 to 60-minute walk through, with a shorter show-like event in the auditorium, is seventy bucks, and admission times (for groups, but they don’t say how large) are set every 25 minutes, six hours a day, a total of about thirty days, I’m sure the promoters could afford to install it. Even if they only put 1,000 people a day through the event, that would be 30,000 people at 70 bucks a pop, for over two million total. I’d expect total attendance could be several times that. Oh, there’s also a no-host bar. Kaching.
The Abigail Theatre makes its first appearance in the FDY in 1938, which makes a 1937 opening for the house likely. The 1937 edition lists only the 100-seat Unique Theatre, also listed in 1938 but with 350 seats.
A February 24, 1940 Boxoffice item said that “H. T. Allen, owner of the Abigail at Prestonburg [sic] Ky., has opened the Patti there.” Despite this announcement, I haven’t found a theater called the Patti listed in FDYs through 1945 (I haven’t checked later editions.) The Abigail, Broadway, Princess and (sometimes) the Unique are listed through this period, though all but the Abigail are invariably listed as closed. Prestonsburg is also invariably misspelled by the FDY as Prestonburg, without its second S.
The December 10, 1949 Boxoffice mentions both the Abigail and the Strand, and notes that John Allen, owner of the Strand, is not related to H. T. (Henry) Allen, owner of the Abigail.
In an item datelined Prestonsburg, the January 3, 1942 Showmen’s Trade Review reported that “[t]he Broadway Theatre was destroyed by fire at an estimated loss of $30,000. W. B. Boyd was the operator.” As the house was still being listed in 1950, it was presumably rebuilt.
Boxoffice of December 10, 1949 said that December 27 had been set as the formal opening date for the Strand Theatre in Prestonsburg. The 750-seat house, built by a group of local businessmen headed by John Allen, featured Mohawk carpeting, International chairs, RCA Brenkert sound and projection equipment, and draperies from Knoxville Scenic Studios, all installed by Midwest Theatre Supply Company.
The 1900-1901 Cahn guide lists the Burlew Opera House as a ground floor theater with a large stage, 41 feet from footlights to back wall and 65 feet between side walls. It doesn’t give a breakdown of seating capacities between orchestra, balcony, gallery and boxes.
Multiple sources indicate that the house opened on October 31, 1891. It was designed by Lexington, Kentucky architect Herman L. Rowe (a number of sources mistakenly give his name as H. L. Lowe or H. B. Rowe, but architect Herman L. Rowe is actually listed in the 1891 Lexington City Directory.) In the mid-1880s, Rowe acted as supervising architect for the Lexington Opera House, designed by Oscar Cobb, which likely proved a very useful experience when he came to design the Burlew.
The Burlew was razed in 1921 or 1922, and its bricks were used in the construction of the department store that replaced it. That building is still standing, occupied by a collection of small shops.
The May 10, 1913 issue of The American Contractor had an item about a theater to be built in Bloomfield. The address and name of the theater weren’t given, but the description said that a 2-story building 50x164, was to be built for owner Joseph Green. It was being designed by Newark architect Frank Grad. The size and timing are right for this project to have been the Lincoln, and the details and handling of materials in the original façade certainly call to mind other works of the period designed by Grad.
The address and theater name are not mentioned, but items in May, 1913 issues of The American Contractor must be about the Isis, given the descriptions. The project was a building 120x132 feet, with a 600-seat picture theater and five storefronts, fitting the historic photos of the Isis, which the Kokomo Tribune article I previously cited says was built in 1913. The architect for the project was R. L. Young (Robert Lincoln Young, according to another Tribune article.) The owner of the building was F. D. Miller, a very active local real estate developer.
The latest Google street view shows that the Harrison Theatre building has been demolished, along with its neighbor to the east. The buildings were standing but appeared vacant in the August, 2019 street view, but were gone in the most recent view, from April, 2023, which shows them as a construction site. I’ve been unable to discover the date of demolition, or the purpose of the new construction.
Also gone is the building that once housed the Rialto Theatre just down the block, at 17 E. Gay Street, but it had already been replaced by a new building in the earliest street view available, from August, 2007.
Ads that have been uploaded to the Rialto’s photo page indicate that the house was opened at least by 1916, and probably by 1915. This timing makes it likely that the Rialto was the project for a theater and dance hall to cost $30,000 that was noted in the April 28, 1915 issue of The American Architect. The project was deigned by Wilmington, Delaware architect Roscoe C. Tindall.
It turns out that Center is an aka for the Orpheum. The July 18, 1941 issue of Film Daily had the story: “At Ionia, the 350-seat Orpheum, closed for eight years, is being remodeled and modernized and renamed the Center, to be a companion in Butterfield’s 1,000-seat Ionia, only other theater in town.”
The Orpheum was probably closed longer than eight years, though, as its last appearance in the FDY was 1931. The item’s claim of a seating capacity of 350 for the Orpheum is almost certainly an exaggeration. Its last listing in the FDY gave it only 230 seats. It was likely expanded when remodeled as the Center, but not to 350.
The Lyric was the only theater listed at Strawberry Point in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. It was mentioned in the trade journals a number of times, and was listed in the FDY’s editions from 1926 through 1931.
A 300-seat house called the Orpheum is first listed at Strawberry Point in the 1932 FDY. Prior to that, the only house listed for the town was the 200-seat Lyric. The Orpheum probably replaced the Lyric sometime during 1931, the last year the Lyric was listed. The Orpheum still operated in 1951, when the January 13 issue of Boxoffice reported that Robert Fridley had recently sold the house, which he had bought in late 1949.
The New Britain Opera House opened on November 24, 1881 with a performance of “Faust.”
The April 24, 1914 issue of American Contractor noted the letting of contracts for a new Elks lodge and theater in Mahanoy City. The three-story, 42x125 foot building had been designed by Reading, Pennsylvania architect Edward Z. Scholl. A couple of sources say that the lodge was dedicated in 1916, but I haven’t found an opening date for the theater.