While the Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada 1800-1950 lists this house among the works of architect Jay English, the Odeon Theatre in Fort William did not open for more than a year after the architect’s death in a drowning accident in August, 1947. It is likely that this house, like th eOdeon in Port Arthur, was among the many designs left uncompleted upon his death.
The design of the Odeon Port Arthur, which opened the day before this house, was completed by the firm of Kaplan & Sprachman, but the Odeon in Fort William is not on the list of that firm’s works on the Dictionary’s web site.
Several of English’s unfinished designs were completed by architect Leslie Kemp. Unfortunately, while the Dictionary has a brief biography of Kemp, it does not provide a list of his works, so we can’t be certain that he completed this house. I can’t find it on any other page of the Dictionary, either. Kemp was the architect most likely to have completed this project, but it might be difficult to find documentation proving that he did.
While the Odeon Port Arthur is on this list of the works of Jay English, it also appears on this list of works by the firm of Kaplan & Sprachman from the same source (the Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada 1800-1950.) It is listed as a 1947 project on both pages, so the Odeon, which did not open until November, 1948, must have been one of the design projects left unfinished by Jay English when he died in a drowning accident in August, 1947. A number of his unfinished projects were completed by architect Leslie Kemp, but this house, at least, was completed by Kaplan & Sprachman.
The Paramount Theatre was designed by architect Jay English. It is on this list of his works simply as: “PORT ARTHUR, ONT., theatre for Famous Players Co., Park Street at Court Street, 1941.”
Emmanuel Briffa was the decorator of the Capitol Theatre. The architect was Jay English. It is on this list of his works simply as: “FORT WILLIAM, ONT., theatre for Famous Players Co., Brodie Street, 1941.”
An article summarizing building activity in Fort William during the year 1914, published in the October 10 edition of the Daily Times Journal, included the Royal Theatre on the list of projects undertaken that year.
An article by Sarah Clifford in the March 13, 2007, edition of the Bedford Times-Mail cites an article in the May 10, 1901, issue of the Bedford Weekly Mail which said:
“The Stone City Opera House, now nearing completion and about to be opened to the public, planned and erected under Mr. Glover’s personal supervision, not only attests to this gentleman’s public spirit and enterprise, but stands as a monument of beauty, a model of modern equipment, and gives to Bedford one of her greatest needs.
“The plans for the building were drawn up by the well-known architect, John L. Nichols, and carried into execution by the contractor, David Newkirk, through his competent superintendent, Mr. M. W. Hunter.”
The Stone City Opera House opened on May 16, 1901.
The August 2, 1922, issue of Exhibitors Herald said that the Lawrence Theatrical Company had obtained a ten-year lease on the Stone City Opera House and planned to expend $60,000 to gut and rebuild the auditorium, with 850 seats on the ground floor and 65 in the balcony. Clifford’s Times Mail article says that the final cost of the project was $85,000, and the rebuilt Indiana Theatre opened on September 1, 1924.
Bloomingpedia says that the Harris Opera House was built in 1907, and was designed by the architectural firm of Nichols & Son. In 1923, John L. Nichols (his son, Bridge Nichols, had died in 1911) drew the plans for remodeling the Harris Grand Theater.
Bloomingpedia says that John Harris built the Princess Theatre in 1913. It was designed by the firm of Nichols & Nichols. John L. Nichols had previously been in a partnership with his son, Bridge Nichols, who died in 1911. He returned to solo practice in 1914 after his brother, Leo Morton Nichols, left the firm after little more than a year.
In 1923, the Princess was remodeled, again with plans by John Nichols, and an addition doubled the size of the auditorium. The theater closed in 1981. In 1985, the addition to the auditorium collapsed. The building was restored in 1986 and has since served as a restaurant.
The State Theatre in Nanticoke was opened in 1922. The August 5 issue of Exhibitors Herald said that the 1,200 seat house was designed for the American Amusement Company by Leon H. Lempert & Son. The State was equipped with a $10,000 Moller organ.
This item from the April 5, 1919, issue of The Moving Picture World notes Herb Weil’s intention to build a large theater in Port Huron:
“Weil to Build $150,000 Theatre in Port Huron
“ONE of the most popular exhibitors in Michigan, among both exchange managers and exhibitors, is Herbert L. Weil, who now dominates the theatre situation in Port Huron, Mich., by controlling 100 per cent, of the houses there.
“About three years ago he got the ‘bug’ for theatricals, and his first venture was leasing the Majestic Theatre, which was then playing legitimate attractions exclusively. But it wasn’t long before he saw the big possibilities of pictures, so he changed the policy of the theatre and installed motion picture equipment, which was his start in the picture field.‘ His next step was leasing the Bijou. Later he took over the Maxine, then the Family, and just lately he took over the American, giving him 100 per cent, of the theatres in Port Huron. The Majestic seats 1,500; the Family, 800; the Maxine, 500; the Bijou, 500, and the American 500.
“Mr. Weil is now having plans prepared for a new motion picture theatre project that will cost $150,000.
“He does all of his own booking, being a weekly visitor to Detroit.”
I haven’t yet discovered what became of the Maxine, Bijou, and American Theatres.
The May 15, 1920, issue of Exhibitors Herald noted that the new owner had big plans for the Majestic Theatre:
“Majestic Theatre at
Port Huron Is Added To Butterfield Chain
“PORT HURON, MICH.— The Majestic theatre here has been purchased by W. S. Butterfield, Battle Creek, president and general manager of Bijou Enterprise Company. Mr. Butterfield recently opened the Regent at Flint and is constructing a $500,000 house at Lansing.
“Included in the purchase from John G. O'Neill Realty Company are the 1,400-seat theatre, four stores, eight office rooms and an adjoining plot of ground. The property is in the heart of the business district and has a street frontage of 150 feet.
“Between $30,000 and $40,000 will be expended this summer in remodeling the playhouse. The management will play a combination program of pictures and vaudeville.”
This was not W. S. Butterfield’s first involvement with the Majestic. The April 1, 1911, issue of The Billboard reported that Butterfield’s Bijou Amusement Company had leased the Majestic Theatre in Port Huron for a term of years, and the house would begin playing vaudeville that week.
R. M. Glowczewski, commenting on Water Winter Wonderland’s page for the Majestic says that the house originally opened on April 7, 1906, closed in May, 1952, and was demolished over a number of months in 1958-1959. He also says that it was remodeled in 1936, at which time the gallery was removed. That would certainly have reduced its original seating capacity of 1,500.
The Family Theatre was opened by Charles Murphy on September 1, 1910. It was a storefront theater and originally had only 250 seats. By 1911 it was being operated by L. J. Bedford, who in late 1916 built a new auditorium seating 800 behind the original structure and converted the old theater space into a lobby. The expanded house opened on January 1, 1917.
In 1918, the Family Theatre was taken over by Herb Weil. For about a year, Weil controlled all five of Port Huron’s movie theaters, until the Majestic, which he had been operating under a lease, was bought by W. S. Butterfield in 1920. Weil continued to operate the Family after opening his new Desmond Theatre in August, 1922.
The July 31, 1922, issue of The Film Daily reported that the finishing touches were being put on Herb Weil’s new theater at Port Huron and the house would soon open. Weil had entered the theater business in Port Huron in 1917, and by 1919 controlled all five of the town’s movie houses.
Weil was planning to build the new theater in 1919, but suffered setbacks that delayed its construction until 1922. When the Desmond opened he still controlled the Family Theatre, but the town’s leading theater, the Majestic, had come under the control of W. S. Butterfield in 1920.
This item is from the April 10, 1920, issue of Exhibitors Herald:
“LANSING. MICH. — The Bijou theatre is to be remodeled during the Summer season at a cost of $50,000 and reopened under the name of The Regent as soon as the work is finished, according to announcement made by W. S. Butterfield and Harold Bird of the Bird estate, who controls the property.”
This item is from the April 7, 1955, issue of Motion Picture Daily, and is one of only two references to the Venita Theatre I’ve been able to find in the trade publications:
“Mo. Exhibitors File Anti-Trust Action
“ST. LOUIS, April 6— Earl E. and Pauline Williams, owners of the Venita Theatre, Herculaneum, Mo., have filed an anti-trust action, seeking $300,000 treble damages, against 10 distributors and Miller Theatres, Inc., operating theatres in Festus and Crystal City and others in St. Louis County.
“The petition charged that the plaintiffs were forced to close their theatre in June, 1952, because of the alleged refusal of the distributors to grant them first-run product.”
The other reference was a capsule review of the movie Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay! by A. L. Burke, Jr., of the Venita Theatre, Herculaneum, which was published in the June 24, 1948, issue of Boxoffice. I don’t know if Burke was an employee of the Williamses or was an earlier owner of the house.
There is also an item about the anti-trust suit that appeared in the April 6, 1955, issue of the Moberly Monitor-Index, of Moberly, Missouri, which repeats the information in the Motion Picture Daily article, with the addition of the claims that the Venita was forced to run old movies in order to get later releases, and that the Miller circuit had conspired with distributors to prevent the Venita from showing any movie until fourteen days after it had closed in any Miller house in the area.
The Empress Theatre was in operation at Hayti, Missouri, at least as early as 1920, when the December 9 edition of The Missouri Herald gave this opinion:
“Manager Stewart of the Empress Theatre has been showing some exceptionally good pictures during the past two weeks. He informs us that more and better pictures are coming and that his patrons may expect an extra good headliner each week.”
The March 3, 1922, issue of the same paper reported that Wilbur Stewart had made several improvements to the Empress, including an enlarged stage, repainting, and the installation of a large electric light at the entrance. The improved house would now feature a four-piece orchestra.
This item from the April 11, 1917, issue of The New York Clipper doesn’t mention the Empress, or any other theater, but it indicates that Hayti did have a theater in operation at that time:
“ANGELL’S COMEDIANS CLOSE
“Hayti. Mo.. April 7. — Angell’s Comedians, under the management of Billie O. Angelo have closed a season of forty-five weeks here last Saturday, and the various members have gone to their respective homes for a four-week vacation prior to the opening of the Summer tent season at Leon, la., the first week of May. Mr. Angelo went to Wichita, Kan.: Miss Delzeli, to St. Louis; Joseph Lehmann. to Kansas City; Miss Hebert, to Dallas; Mr. Swadley. to St Louis; Chief Meredith, to Tulsa, Okla. ; Mrs. Swadley, to Ottumwa, Ia.; Mr. Schmer, to Omaha, and The Langueins, to Omaha.”
William L. Slout’s book Theatre in a Tent says that traveling repertory companies such as Angell’s Comedians would spend about twenty weeks each year playing indoor theaters and then switch back to tent shows when the weather improved. It’s possible that the Empress was the theater they played in Hayti to close their 1916-1917 season.
F. O. Litsch was operating the Royal Theatre in Hopkins, Missouri, from at least as early as October, 1922, when he was mentioned in Exhibitors Herald, until at least as late as July, 1925, when he was mentioned in The Reel Journal.
An F. C. Litsch of Hopkins, Missouri, offered a 200-seat theater for sale in a classified ad in the January 15, 1944, issue of Showmen’s Trade Review. The brick theater had Powers projectors and upholstered seats.
About halfway down this web page is a photo of Main Street with the Bijou Theatre at the right. The theater was on the north side of Main Street east of, and adjacent to, the Hotel Johnson, which was on the northeast corner of Main and Church Streets. That means the correct address for the Bijou must be 212 East Main Street. Every old building on the north side of that block has been demolished.
212 East Main is the address we list for the Grand Theatre, and a comment from earlier today on the Grand’s page says that the Grand was the Bijou, so one of the pages is redundant (this one is quite a bit older, but both pages have several comments on them.) The Grand was still in operation at least as late as 1963.
But I note that the first comment on this theater from March 26, 2005, by Reuben, indicates that the Bijou was in operation as late as 1952, while the first comment of March 30, 2005, by jbj, mentions a Grand Theatre in operation in 1939. If both are correct then the name Grand, like the name Bijou, must have belonged to two different houses in Visalia at various times.
rds3000: The ticket stub might have been stuck in someone’s pocket for months before being pulled out and dropped into the unfinished wall. It’s an interesting mystery, and a person might make up any number of stories about how the ticket stub got there.
But I doubt that anyone spending $70,000 to remodel a theater would have been so thrifty as to store for several months a few rolls of tickets with the old name on them just to save a few dollars.
The location is right for the Tivoli to have been this project noted in the July 22, 1927, issue of Motion Picture News, although there is nothing Gothic about the building the Tivoli was in:
“Toledo — Owner, Frank Rishacck. Architect, C. C. Cornfeldt. Contract awarded to S. S. Wall & Son. Type, Gothic architecture, brick and stone. 60 x 120. Seating capacity, 550. Cost, $60,000. Location, Consaul St., between Caledonia and Woodford Sts.”
The Internet provides no other references to an architect named C. C. Cornfeldt, but there are several references to a Toledo artist of that name, so perhaps he was only the decorator of the theater.
This web page says that the Bijou Bioscope was at 165-7 Jeppe Street, and was designed by the architectural firm of Kallenbach & Kennedy.
“Bioscope” was at one time the commonly used term for a cinema in the region.
Scooter’s Theatre is now the Valley Event Center.
While the Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada 1800-1950 lists this house among the works of architect Jay English, the Odeon Theatre in Fort William did not open for more than a year after the architect’s death in a drowning accident in August, 1947. It is likely that this house, like th eOdeon in Port Arthur, was among the many designs left uncompleted upon his death.
The design of the Odeon Port Arthur, which opened the day before this house, was completed by the firm of Kaplan & Sprachman, but the Odeon in Fort William is not on the list of that firm’s works on the Dictionary’s web site.
Several of English’s unfinished designs were completed by architect Leslie Kemp. Unfortunately, while the Dictionary has a brief biography of Kemp, it does not provide a list of his works, so we can’t be certain that he completed this house. I can’t find it on any other page of the Dictionary, either. Kemp was the architect most likely to have completed this project, but it might be difficult to find documentation proving that he did.
While the Odeon Port Arthur is on this list of the works of Jay English, it also appears on this list of works by the firm of Kaplan & Sprachman from the same source (the Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada 1800-1950.) It is listed as a 1947 project on both pages, so the Odeon, which did not open until November, 1948, must have been one of the design projects left unfinished by Jay English when he died in a drowning accident in August, 1947. A number of his unfinished projects were completed by architect Leslie Kemp, but this house, at least, was completed by Kaplan & Sprachman.
The October 16, 1909, issue of the Port Arthur News Chronicle said that the Lyceum Theatre would open on Monday, October 18.
The Paramount Theatre was designed by architect Jay English. It is on this list of his works simply as: “PORT ARTHUR, ONT., theatre for Famous Players Co., Park Street at Court Street, 1941.”
Emmanuel Briffa was the decorator of the Capitol Theatre. The architect was Jay English. It is on this list of his works simply as: “FORT WILLIAM, ONT., theatre for Famous Players Co., Brodie Street, 1941.”
An article summarizing building activity in Fort William during the year 1914, published in the October 10 edition of the Daily Times Journal, included the Royal Theatre on the list of projects undertaken that year.
An article by Sarah Clifford in the March 13, 2007, edition of the Bedford Times-Mail cites an article in the May 10, 1901, issue of the Bedford Weekly Mail which said:
The Stone City Opera House opened on May 16, 1901.The August 2, 1922, issue of Exhibitors Herald said that the Lawrence Theatrical Company had obtained a ten-year lease on the Stone City Opera House and planned to expend $60,000 to gut and rebuild the auditorium, with 850 seats on the ground floor and 65 in the balcony. Clifford’s Times Mail article says that the final cost of the project was $85,000, and the rebuilt Indiana Theatre opened on September 1, 1924.
Bloomingpedia says that the Harris Opera House was built in 1907, and was designed by the architectural firm of Nichols & Son. In 1923, John L. Nichols (his son, Bridge Nichols, had died in 1911) drew the plans for remodeling the Harris Grand Theater.
Bloomingpedia says that John Harris built the Princess Theatre in 1913. It was designed by the firm of Nichols & Nichols. John L. Nichols had previously been in a partnership with his son, Bridge Nichols, who died in 1911. He returned to solo practice in 1914 after his brother, Leo Morton Nichols, left the firm after little more than a year.
In 1923, the Princess was remodeled, again with plans by John Nichols, and an addition doubled the size of the auditorium. The theater closed in 1981. In 1985, the addition to the auditorium collapsed. The building was restored in 1986 and has since served as a restaurant.
This house was in operation prior to 1922 as Crouch’s Theatre, operated by Jim Crouch.
The State Theatre in Nanticoke was opened in 1922. The August 5 issue of Exhibitors Herald said that the 1,200 seat house was designed for the American Amusement Company by Leon H. Lempert & Son. The State was equipped with a $10,000 Moller organ.
This item from the April 5, 1919, issue of The Moving Picture World notes Herb Weil’s intention to build a large theater in Port Huron:
I haven’t yet discovered what became of the Maxine, Bijou, and American Theatres.The Colonial Theatre in Lansing was mentioned in the November 27, 1917, issue of Michigan Film Review.
The May 15, 1920, issue of Exhibitors Herald noted that the new owner had big plans for the Majestic Theatre:
This was not W. S. Butterfield’s first involvement with the Majestic. The April 1, 1911, issue of The Billboard reported that Butterfield’s Bijou Amusement Company had leased the Majestic Theatre in Port Huron for a term of years, and the house would begin playing vaudeville that week.R. M. Glowczewski, commenting on Water Winter Wonderland’s page for the Majestic says that the house originally opened on April 7, 1906, closed in May, 1952, and was demolished over a number of months in 1958-1959. He also says that it was remodeled in 1936, at which time the gallery was removed. That would certainly have reduced its original seating capacity of 1,500.
The Family Theatre was opened by Charles Murphy on September 1, 1910. It was a storefront theater and originally had only 250 seats. By 1911 it was being operated by L. J. Bedford, who in late 1916 built a new auditorium seating 800 behind the original structure and converted the old theater space into a lobby. The expanded house opened on January 1, 1917.
In 1918, the Family Theatre was taken over by Herb Weil. For about a year, Weil controlled all five of Port Huron’s movie theaters, until the Majestic, which he had been operating under a lease, was bought by W. S. Butterfield in 1920. Weil continued to operate the Family after opening his new Desmond Theatre in August, 1922.
The July 31, 1922, issue of The Film Daily reported that the finishing touches were being put on Herb Weil’s new theater at Port Huron and the house would soon open. Weil had entered the theater business in Port Huron in 1917, and by 1919 controlled all five of the town’s movie houses.
Weil was planning to build the new theater in 1919, but suffered setbacks that delayed its construction until 1922. When the Desmond opened he still controlled the Family Theatre, but the town’s leading theater, the Majestic, had come under the control of W. S. Butterfield in 1920.
This item is from the April 10, 1920, issue of Exhibitors Herald:
This item is from the April 7, 1955, issue of Motion Picture Daily, and is one of only two references to the Venita Theatre I’ve been able to find in the trade publications:
The other reference was a capsule review of the movie Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay! by A. L. Burke, Jr., of the Venita Theatre, Herculaneum, which was published in the June 24, 1948, issue of Boxoffice. I don’t know if Burke was an employee of the Williamses or was an earlier owner of the house.There is also an item about the anti-trust suit that appeared in the April 6, 1955, issue of the Moberly Monitor-Index, of Moberly, Missouri, which repeats the information in the Motion Picture Daily article, with the addition of the claims that the Venita was forced to run old movies in order to get later releases, and that the Miller circuit had conspired with distributors to prevent the Venita from showing any movie until fourteen days after it had closed in any Miller house in the area.
The Empress Theatre was in operation at Hayti, Missouri, at least as early as 1920, when the December 9 edition of The Missouri Herald gave this opinion:
The March 3, 1922, issue of the same paper reported that Wilbur Stewart had made several improvements to the Empress, including an enlarged stage, repainting, and the installation of a large electric light at the entrance. The improved house would now feature a four-piece orchestra.This item from the April 11, 1917, issue of The New York Clipper doesn’t mention the Empress, or any other theater, but it indicates that Hayti did have a theater in operation at that time:
William L. Slout’s book Theatre in a Tent says that traveling repertory companies such as Angell’s Comedians would spend about twenty weeks each year playing indoor theaters and then switch back to tent shows when the weather improved. It’s possible that the Empress was the theater they played in Hayti to close their 1916-1917 season.F. O. Litsch was operating the Royal Theatre in Hopkins, Missouri, from at least as early as October, 1922, when he was mentioned in Exhibitors Herald, until at least as late as July, 1925, when he was mentioned in The Reel Journal.
An F. C. Litsch of Hopkins, Missouri, offered a 200-seat theater for sale in a classified ad in the January 15, 1944, issue of Showmen’s Trade Review. The brick theater had Powers projectors and upholstered seats.
About halfway down this web page is a photo of Main Street with the Bijou Theatre at the right. The theater was on the north side of Main Street east of, and adjacent to, the Hotel Johnson, which was on the northeast corner of Main and Church Streets. That means the correct address for the Bijou must be 212 East Main Street. Every old building on the north side of that block has been demolished.
212 East Main is the address we list for the Grand Theatre, and a comment from earlier today on the Grand’s page says that the Grand was the Bijou, so one of the pages is redundant (this one is quite a bit older, but both pages have several comments on them.) The Grand was still in operation at least as late as 1963.
But I note that the first comment on this theater from March 26, 2005, by Reuben, indicates that the Bijou was in operation as late as 1952, while the first comment of March 30, 2005, by jbj, mentions a Grand Theatre in operation in 1939. If both are correct then the name Grand, like the name Bijou, must have belonged to two different houses in Visalia at various times.
rds3000: The ticket stub might have been stuck in someone’s pocket for months before being pulled out and dropped into the unfinished wall. It’s an interesting mystery, and a person might make up any number of stories about how the ticket stub got there.
But I doubt that anyone spending $70,000 to remodel a theater would have been so thrifty as to store for several months a few rolls of tickets with the old name on them just to save a few dollars.
The location is right for the Tivoli to have been this project noted in the July 22, 1927, issue of Motion Picture News, although there is nothing Gothic about the building the Tivoli was in:
The Internet provides no other references to an architect named C. C. Cornfeldt, but there are several references to a Toledo artist of that name, so perhaps he was only the decorator of the theater.