The Palace Theatre in Corpus Christi had a Reuter organ of three manuals and eight ranks, opus 214, installed in 1926. The Reuter Organ Company of Lawrence, Kansas, is still in business. Throughout its history it has made primarily church organs, but there were about fifty installations in theaters, mostly in Texas and Kansas, from 1919 to 1929.
The Grande Theatre has been demolished and construction has begun on the site for the new headquarters of the Nueces County Regional Transportation Authority. The Melba Theatre across the street has also been demolished, but for private redevelopment for which plans are indefinite.
This house originally opened on May 10, 1913, as the Martin Theatre. I don’t know when it was renamed DeLuxe, but the DeLuxe Theatre reopened on March 17, 1923, after being remodeled. Wayne Martin’s original lease was for five years, so the house might have been renamed DeLuxe before the 1923 remodeling.
A full page ad for the Diana Theatre in the April 23, 1948, issue of The Tipton Daily Tribune said that the fire the previous year had virtually destroyed the old theater and building, and that the new Diana Theatre was new construction. The project was designed by the architectural and engineering firm of Johnson, McKinney & Schenck.
An article in the Monday, June 24, 1946, issue of The Tipton Daily Tribune said that Wednesday would mark the 20th anniversary of the Diana Theatre. Nick Paikos, the original owner, was still operating the house. The article said that prior to being remodeled and reopened as the Diana the building had housed the Grand Theatre, but that it had been closed for some time.
The Grand Theatre was mentioned in the April 1, 1922, issue of Exhibitors Herald, which said that it had been bought by Clyde Wilson. Previously it had been operated by Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Jackson.
The July 19, 1929, issue of The Film Daily reported that the Dixie Theatre at Uniontown, Pennsylvania, had been gutted by a fire causing an estimated $30,000 of damage.
This article from Lehigh Valley Business of May 1, 2014, says that the Palace Theatre building is being renovated for use as a brew pub/restaurant, bakery, and coffee shop. Seat from the theater will be used in the waiting area, and movie posters found in the theater will be displayed.
A list of historic theaters in Iowa prepared in 2009 (pdf here) has this ambiguous line for the address of the Capitol: “193 South Central Avenue or 314 South Central Avenue.” It also gives an alternate name for the structure as the P. A. Leese Building. Here is a photo of the P. A. Leese Building, which is at 193 S. Central Avenue. I’m not sure where the address 314 originated, but it seems an unlikely location for a theater, being on the other side of the railroad tracks from Hartley’s small business district and adjacent to a large grain elevator.
The Capitol was mentioned in the Iowa “Changes in Ownership” column of the July 1, 1929, issue of The Film Daily: “ Hartley — Capitol, sold to C. A. Sartorius by A. M. Inman.” Mr. Sartorius sent in a couple of capsule movie reviews for the “What the Picture Did for Me” column of Motion Picture Herald in 1934.
Someone named H. Midland was operating a theater at Hartley in 1913 according to the December 27 issue of The Moving Picture World, but the name of the theater was not given. The May 6, 1916, issue of the same publication mentioned a Rex Theatre in Hartley, and it might have been the same house that H. Midland was operating in 1913.
The Capitol might have closed for a while in the 1950s, but must have reopened later as it was advertising in the newspaper at least as late as December 30, 1976.
The August 12, 1978, issue of The Pittsburgh Press said that the Strand Theatre in Oakland, which had recently closed, was being converted into space for three stores. The total space being converted was 8,500 square feet, so the Strand must have been a good-sized theater.
The obituary of Squirrel Hill architect Edgar A. Kwalwasser in the August 6, 1998, issue of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said that he had designed theaters in six states, but only gives the names of three of them, one of which was the Cranberry Mall Cinemas. Kwalwasser established his practice in 1951 and retired only a few months before his death in 1998.
The obituary of Squirrel Hill architect Edgar A. Kwalwasser in the August 6, 1998, issue of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette listed alterations to the Squirrel Hill and Manor Theatres among his works. The remodeling of the Manor he handled might have been the 1965 project for Stanley-Warner I mentioned in my comment of March 6, 2010, or it might have been the 1978 renovations rivest266 mentioned in the comment of last month, or it might have been both, as Kwalwasser established his practice in 1951 and remained active until April, 1998.
The obituary says that he designed theaters in six states, but only mentions three theater projects by name. The third was the Cranberry Mall Cinemas in Cranberry Township.
The obituary of Squirrel Hill architect Edgar A. Kwalwasser in the August 6, 1998, issue of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette listed alterations to the Squirrel Hill and Manor Theatres among his works. As Kwalwasser established his practice in 1951, the remodeling of the Squirrel Hill Theatre that he handled might have been the one for Stanley-Warner in 1956, or it might have been a later one.
An article in the October 27, 1979, issue of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette mentioned in passing that the King’s Court Theatre had been designed by architect Edgar A. Kwalwasser.
The only mention I can find of the 8th & Broadway Corp. in the trade journals is this item from the California “Changes in Ownership” column of the July 22, 1932, issue of The Film Daily:
“Olympic (formerly Bards 8th St.) sold to Laurence Cohen by 8th & Broadway Corp.”
The Olympic was on 8th Street west of Broadway, and opened as Bard’s 8th Street Theatre in April, 1927. Lou Bard operated the house, but I don’t know if he owned it outright. It’s possible that the house was financed by someone else.
The lease on the Garrick (and the land under it) was taken over by H. L. Gumbiner in 1921, and he operated the house until having it replaced by the Tower in 1927. In the early 1930s the Gumbiners were operating the Cameo and Broadway Theatres as well as the Tower, but so far I haven’t been able to connect them with Lou Bard. There could have been a business relationship of some sort between them, and if so the Garrick’s organ might have gone to Bard’s 8th Street.
Gumbiner is best known for having built the Los Angeles Theatre in 1930, which is how the Tower’s organ ended up there. The Los Angeles was expensive to build, and Gumbiner’s finances were stretched thin, so moving the organ from the Tower was probably an economy move.
Andrew: I don’t recall having seen an organ console in the El Rey when I attended movies there at least a dozen times in the late 1950s and early 1960s. But then I don’t think I ever attended the El Rey prior to the installation of the CinemaScope screen in 1954. The screen was quite wide, and if the organ hadn’t been removed earlier it was probably taken out when the screen was installed.
The only old house in the San Gabriel Valley that I know for certain still had an organ in the 1960s was the Rialto in South Pasadena. I believe it’s still there, but it hasn’t been used since being damaged in a fire in the 1970s.
A lobby display promoting war bonds is the main feature of this 1945 photo from the Pasadena Digital Archive. Not much of the theater can be seen, but it looks as though some remodeling had been done which left the lobby rather plain. The subsequent photo in the stream shows a military band posed in front of the Strand’s curtain, but the most interesting thing is that there appears to be an organ console in the orchestra pit.
Saving the best for last, Pasadena Digital History now has four vintage photos of the Strand available from the Harold A. Parker collection at the Huntington Library:
Pasadena Digital Archive has uploaded a 1945 photo of a small corner of the Tower’s lobby at Flickr. The interior appears to have been fairly plain at this date, though there’s some fancy trim around a partly-seen doorway. The Roy Rogers display indicates that the Tower was probably then Pasadena’s western theater.
The Family Theatre opened on September 2, 1949, according to the grand opening ad rivest266 uploaded to the photo page. The same issue of the Beaver Valley Times that ran the ad also has a courtesy ad congratulating the theater on its opening that was placed by architect Harry L. Widom of Pittsburgh. He must have designed the Family Theatre.
There is now a curb cut in front of the theater and a pair of garage doors where the entrance used to be, but two poster cases remain and there is some decorative tile work on the floor, as well as a patch of bare concrete which must be where the box office stood.
The May 3, 1928, issue of the Beatrice Daily Sun said that the Ritz Theatre would open the following day. The new house would feature a Hillgreen-Lane pipe organ and Spanish decor. The house had an orchestra pit and a stage, and presented vaudeville acts as well as movies vaudeville. The Ritz was operated by United Theatres for less than two years. In 1930, the February 26 issue of The Film Daily reported that the house had been transferred to Fox Theatres, and by April had been renamed the Fox.
The October 5, 1939, issue of the Daily Sun said that Fox Theatres was giving up the house and would move its first-run movies to its Rivoli Theatre. The Fox was then taken over and renovated by local Exhibitor Frank Hollingsworth of the Rialto Theatre. The October 22 issue of the Daily Sun said that the Pix Theatre would open the following day. One of the features of the opening night would be selections played on the theater’s restored pipe organ.
Hollingsworth had intended to operate the Pix as a first-run house, but had difficulty obtaining product. A June 18, 1941, Daily Sun article said that the house had operated only intermittently since being reopened. I haven’t found it listed in the paper later than February, 1942. Hollingsworth eventually filed a lawsuit against Fox and won.
In 1948, the Fox circuit reacquired the long-vacant theater and had it largely rebuilt. As the rebuilt Fox had the same footprint as the original Ritz, the increase in seating capacity from less than 600 to more than 800 was probably accomplished either by raising the roof and installing a balcony, a feature the house had never had before, or by removing the stage and expanding the seating into that area. The expanded Fox Theatre opened on January 20, 1949. By August, 1971, the house had been twinned and was operating as the Cinema Center.
The January 15, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World had an item about Hal Kelly, manager of the Gilbert Theatre. The usual policy of the house at that time was to present five acts of vaudeville and three reels of movies, Kelly said.
The April 12, 1933, opening date of the Rialto on Fifth Street was a re-opening under new management. The July 31, 1933, Motion Picture Herald published a list of Publix Theatres affiliates and subsidiaries that were in either Federal receivership or in bankruptcy. The Beatrice Theatre & Realty Corp.,operating the Rivoli and Rialto Theatres in Beatrice, was listed as having filed for bankruptcy on January 6, 1933.
The February 3, 1930, issue of The Film Daily said that the Rialto and Rivoli Theatres in Beatrice had been sold to Publix by Hostettler (the Hostettler Amusement Company of Omaha, affiliated with Universal Pictures, had built the Rivoli Theatre in 1926.) But the Rialto goes back to at least 1923. The January 5, 1924, issue of Exhibitors Herald had this item about it:
“The Rialto theatre at Beatrice, Neb., has been re-opened by Blaine Cook. The theatre was damaged by fire a few weeks ago, and laid up for repairs.”
An article about the new Fox Theatre in the January 18, 1949, issue of the Beatrice Daily Sun said that the Rivoli Theatre had been closed Sunday (January 16.) The July 18 issue of the paper said that the Rivoli building was then being remodeled as the new location of Hested’s store. It later became the home of Knowles Music.
An April 30, 2003, Daily Sun article about the recent restoration of the Rivoli building’s facade (link) said that the Rivoli Theatre had opened on September 27, 1926. The “opening” in the October 5, 1926 ad OCRon posted in the photo section must refer to the opening of the Red Grange movie, not the opening of the theater itself. The actual opening feature at the Rivoli was the Constance Talmadge movie The Duchess of Buffalo.
An article about the lighting in the Rowland Theatre at Wilkinsburg begins on page 199 of the August, 1913, issue of Lighting Journal (Google Books scan. Scroll up one page for the beginning of the article.) There are three photos of the auditorium.
A lawsuit filed against the Rowland Theatre in 1914 reveals that another theater already existed on the property Richard A. Rowland bought for this house, and that Rowland remodeled that theater at the same time the Rowland was being built adjacent to it. I haven’t been able to discover the name of that earlier theater, but it might have been the Colonial.
An article beginning on page 405 of the July 15, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World (Google Books scan) recounts the career of Richard Rowland, and mentions the Colonial Theatre n Wilkinsburg as one of his early acquisitions.
A February 24, 1928, Sandusky Star Journal article about the start of construction on the new theater at Water Street and Columbus Avenue for the Seltz Theatre Company said that it had been designed by Lima, Ohio, architect Peter M. Hulsken, who had recently designed a theater for the Schine circuit in Lima. During the planning stage for the project, Schine had entered into an agreement with Seltz to operate the new house.
Schine’s State Theatre opened on October 2, 1928, but in September, 1930, the State and a number of other Schine houses in Ohio were taken over by Warner Brothers. In 1933 the Seltz Theatre Company evicted Warner Brothers from the State for failure to pay the monthly rent. A long lawsuit followed, and from this period until at least as late as 1950, the State was independently operated by the Seltz company itself.
The Palace Theatre in Corpus Christi had a Reuter organ of three manuals and eight ranks, opus 214, installed in 1926. The Reuter Organ Company of Lawrence, Kansas, is still in business. Throughout its history it has made primarily church organs, but there were about fifty installations in theaters, mostly in Texas and Kansas, from 1919 to 1929.
The Grande Theatre has been demolished and construction has begun on the site for the new headquarters of the Nueces County Regional Transportation Authority. The Melba Theatre across the street has also been demolished, but for private redevelopment for which plans are indefinite.
This house originally opened on May 10, 1913, as the Martin Theatre. I don’t know when it was renamed DeLuxe, but the DeLuxe Theatre reopened on March 17, 1923, after being remodeled. Wayne Martin’s original lease was for five years, so the house might have been renamed DeLuxe before the 1923 remodeling.
A full page ad for the Diana Theatre in the April 23, 1948, issue of The Tipton Daily Tribune said that the fire the previous year had virtually destroyed the old theater and building, and that the new Diana Theatre was new construction. The project was designed by the architectural and engineering firm of Johnson, McKinney & Schenck.
An article in the Monday, June 24, 1946, issue of The Tipton Daily Tribune said that Wednesday would mark the 20th anniversary of the Diana Theatre. Nick Paikos, the original owner, was still operating the house. The article said that prior to being remodeled and reopened as the Diana the building had housed the Grand Theatre, but that it had been closed for some time.
The Grand Theatre was mentioned in the April 1, 1922, issue of Exhibitors Herald, which said that it had been bought by Clyde Wilson. Previously it had been operated by Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Jackson.
The July 19, 1929, issue of The Film Daily reported that the Dixie Theatre at Uniontown, Pennsylvania, had been gutted by a fire causing an estimated $30,000 of damage.
This article from Lehigh Valley Business of May 1, 2014, says that the Palace Theatre building is being renovated for use as a brew pub/restaurant, bakery, and coffee shop. Seat from the theater will be used in the waiting area, and movie posters found in the theater will be displayed.
A list of historic theaters in Iowa prepared in 2009 (pdf here) has this ambiguous line for the address of the Capitol: “193 South Central Avenue or 314 South Central Avenue.” It also gives an alternate name for the structure as the P. A. Leese Building. Here is a photo of the P. A. Leese Building, which is at 193 S. Central Avenue. I’m not sure where the address 314 originated, but it seems an unlikely location for a theater, being on the other side of the railroad tracks from Hartley’s small business district and adjacent to a large grain elevator.
The Capitol was mentioned in the Iowa “Changes in Ownership” column of the July 1, 1929, issue of The Film Daily: “ Hartley — Capitol, sold to C. A. Sartorius by A. M. Inman.” Mr. Sartorius sent in a couple of capsule movie reviews for the “What the Picture Did for Me” column of Motion Picture Herald in 1934.
Someone named H. Midland was operating a theater at Hartley in 1913 according to the December 27 issue of The Moving Picture World, but the name of the theater was not given. The May 6, 1916, issue of the same publication mentioned a Rex Theatre in Hartley, and it might have been the same house that H. Midland was operating in 1913.
The Capitol might have closed for a while in the 1950s, but must have reopened later as it was advertising in the newspaper at least as late as December 30, 1976.
The August 12, 1978, issue of The Pittsburgh Press said that the Strand Theatre in Oakland, which had recently closed, was being converted into space for three stores. The total space being converted was 8,500 square feet, so the Strand must have been a good-sized theater.
The obituary of Squirrel Hill architect Edgar A. Kwalwasser in the August 6, 1998, issue of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said that he had designed theaters in six states, but only gives the names of three of them, one of which was the Cranberry Mall Cinemas. Kwalwasser established his practice in 1951 and retired only a few months before his death in 1998.
The obituary of Squirrel Hill architect Edgar A. Kwalwasser in the August 6, 1998, issue of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette listed alterations to the Squirrel Hill and Manor Theatres among his works. The remodeling of the Manor he handled might have been the 1965 project for Stanley-Warner I mentioned in my comment of March 6, 2010, or it might have been the 1978 renovations rivest266 mentioned in the comment of last month, or it might have been both, as Kwalwasser established his practice in 1951 and remained active until April, 1998.
The obituary says that he designed theaters in six states, but only mentions three theater projects by name. The third was the Cranberry Mall Cinemas in Cranberry Township.
The obituary of Squirrel Hill architect Edgar A. Kwalwasser in the August 6, 1998, issue of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette listed alterations to the Squirrel Hill and Manor Theatres among his works. As Kwalwasser established his practice in 1951, the remodeling of the Squirrel Hill Theatre that he handled might have been the one for Stanley-Warner in 1956, or it might have been a later one.
An article in the October 27, 1979, issue of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette mentioned in passing that the King’s Court Theatre had been designed by architect Edgar A. Kwalwasser.
The only mention I can find of the 8th & Broadway Corp. in the trade journals is this item from the California “Changes in Ownership” column of the July 22, 1932, issue of The Film Daily:
The Olympic was on 8th Street west of Broadway, and opened as Bard’s 8th Street Theatre in April, 1927. Lou Bard operated the house, but I don’t know if he owned it outright. It’s possible that the house was financed by someone else.The lease on the Garrick (and the land under it) was taken over by H. L. Gumbiner in 1921, and he operated the house until having it replaced by the Tower in 1927. In the early 1930s the Gumbiners were operating the Cameo and Broadway Theatres as well as the Tower, but so far I haven’t been able to connect them with Lou Bard. There could have been a business relationship of some sort between them, and if so the Garrick’s organ might have gone to Bard’s 8th Street.
Gumbiner is best known for having built the Los Angeles Theatre in 1930, which is how the Tower’s organ ended up there. The Los Angeles was expensive to build, and Gumbiner’s finances were stretched thin, so moving the organ from the Tower was probably an economy move.
Andrew: I don’t recall having seen an organ console in the El Rey when I attended movies there at least a dozen times in the late 1950s and early 1960s. But then I don’t think I ever attended the El Rey prior to the installation of the CinemaScope screen in 1954. The screen was quite wide, and if the organ hadn’t been removed earlier it was probably taken out when the screen was installed.
The only old house in the San Gabriel Valley that I know for certain still had an organ in the 1960s was the Rialto in South Pasadena. I believe it’s still there, but it hasn’t been used since being damaged in a fire in the 1970s.
A lobby display promoting war bonds is the main feature of this 1945 photo from the Pasadena Digital Archive. Not much of the theater can be seen, but it looks as though some remodeling had been done which left the lobby rather plain. The subsequent photo in the stream shows a military band posed in front of the Strand’s curtain, but the most interesting thing is that there appears to be an organ console in the orchestra pit.
Saving the best for last, Pasadena Digital History now has four vintage photos of the Strand available from the Harold A. Parker collection at the Huntington Library:
A 1924 view of a lounge;
a 1924 view of the entrance lobby;
A 1924 view of the auditorium including what could be the same organ console that appears in the 1945 photo;
A 1929 view of the front, the marquee advertising movies starring Vilma Banky and Charley Chase.
Bard’s Colorado Theatre looms in the background of this 1927 photo from the Pasadena Digital Archive.
Pasadena Digital Archive has uploaded a 1945 photo of a small corner of the Tower’s lobby at Flickr. The interior appears to have been fairly plain at this date, though there’s some fancy trim around a partly-seen doorway. The Roy Rogers display indicates that the Tower was probably then Pasadena’s western theater.
The Family Theatre opened on September 2, 1949, according to the grand opening ad rivest266 uploaded to the photo page. The same issue of the Beaver Valley Times that ran the ad also has a courtesy ad congratulating the theater on its opening that was placed by architect Harry L. Widom of Pittsburgh. He must have designed the Family Theatre.
There is now a curb cut in front of the theater and a pair of garage doors where the entrance used to be, but two poster cases remain and there is some decorative tile work on the floor, as well as a patch of bare concrete which must be where the box office stood.
The May 3, 1928, issue of the Beatrice Daily Sun said that the Ritz Theatre would open the following day. The new house would feature a Hillgreen-Lane pipe organ and Spanish decor. The house had an orchestra pit and a stage, and presented vaudeville acts as well as movies vaudeville. The Ritz was operated by United Theatres for less than two years. In 1930, the February 26 issue of The Film Daily reported that the house had been transferred to Fox Theatres, and by April had been renamed the Fox.
The October 5, 1939, issue of the Daily Sun said that Fox Theatres was giving up the house and would move its first-run movies to its Rivoli Theatre. The Fox was then taken over and renovated by local Exhibitor Frank Hollingsworth of the Rialto Theatre. The October 22 issue of the Daily Sun said that the Pix Theatre would open the following day. One of the features of the opening night would be selections played on the theater’s restored pipe organ.
Hollingsworth had intended to operate the Pix as a first-run house, but had difficulty obtaining product. A June 18, 1941, Daily Sun article said that the house had operated only intermittently since being reopened. I haven’t found it listed in the paper later than February, 1942. Hollingsworth eventually filed a lawsuit against Fox and won.
In 1948, the Fox circuit reacquired the long-vacant theater and had it largely rebuilt. As the rebuilt Fox had the same footprint as the original Ritz, the increase in seating capacity from less than 600 to more than 800 was probably accomplished either by raising the roof and installing a balcony, a feature the house had never had before, or by removing the stage and expanding the seating into that area. The expanded Fox Theatre opened on January 20, 1949. By August, 1971, the house had been twinned and was operating as the Cinema Center.
The January 15, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World had an item about Hal Kelly, manager of the Gilbert Theatre. The usual policy of the house at that time was to present five acts of vaudeville and three reels of movies, Kelly said.
The April 12, 1933, opening date of the Rialto on Fifth Street was a re-opening under new management. The July 31, 1933, Motion Picture Herald published a list of Publix Theatres affiliates and subsidiaries that were in either Federal receivership or in bankruptcy. The Beatrice Theatre & Realty Corp.,operating the Rivoli and Rialto Theatres in Beatrice, was listed as having filed for bankruptcy on January 6, 1933.
The February 3, 1930, issue of The Film Daily said that the Rialto and Rivoli Theatres in Beatrice had been sold to Publix by Hostettler (the Hostettler Amusement Company of Omaha, affiliated with Universal Pictures, had built the Rivoli Theatre in 1926.) But the Rialto goes back to at least 1923. The January 5, 1924, issue of Exhibitors Herald had this item about it:
An article about the new Fox Theatre in the January 18, 1949, issue of the Beatrice Daily Sun said that the Rivoli Theatre had been closed Sunday (January 16.) The July 18 issue of the paper said that the Rivoli building was then being remodeled as the new location of Hested’s store. It later became the home of Knowles Music.
An April 30, 2003, Daily Sun article about the recent restoration of the Rivoli building’s facade (link) said that the Rivoli Theatre had opened on September 27, 1926. The “opening” in the October 5, 1926 ad OCRon posted in the photo section must refer to the opening of the Red Grange movie, not the opening of the theater itself. The actual opening feature at the Rivoli was the Constance Talmadge movie The Duchess of Buffalo.
An article about the lighting in the Rowland Theatre at Wilkinsburg begins on page 199 of the August, 1913, issue of Lighting Journal (Google Books scan. Scroll up one page for the beginning of the article.) There are three photos of the auditorium.
A lawsuit filed against the Rowland Theatre in 1914 reveals that another theater already existed on the property Richard A. Rowland bought for this house, and that Rowland remodeled that theater at the same time the Rowland was being built adjacent to it. I haven’t been able to discover the name of that earlier theater, but it might have been the Colonial.
An article beginning on page 405 of the July 15, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World (Google Books scan) recounts the career of Richard Rowland, and mentions the Colonial Theatre n Wilkinsburg as one of his early acquisitions.
A February 24, 1928, Sandusky Star Journal article about the start of construction on the new theater at Water Street and Columbus Avenue for the Seltz Theatre Company said that it had been designed by Lima, Ohio, architect Peter M. Hulsken, who had recently designed a theater for the Schine circuit in Lima. During the planning stage for the project, Schine had entered into an agreement with Seltz to operate the new house.
Schine’s State Theatre opened on October 2, 1928, but in September, 1930, the State and a number of other Schine houses in Ohio were taken over by Warner Brothers. In 1933 the Seltz Theatre Company evicted Warner Brothers from the State for failure to pay the monthly rent. A long lawsuit followed, and from this period until at least as late as 1950, the State was independently operated by the Seltz company itself.