If the Ritz Theatre was in the Pleasant Ridge section of Cincinnati, then it might have been this project noted in the July 22, 1927, issue of Motion Picture News:
“Cincinnati — Owners, Montgomery Amusement Co. Architect, Howard McClorey. Contracts awarded to Leo J. Brielmeier. Store and theatre bldg. Seating capacity, 750. Location, Montgomery Road and Woodmont St., Pleasant Ridge.”
“Woodmont” would be an easy mistake for Woodburn, and typical of the error-ridden, hastily-assembled trade journals of the period. Howard McClorey designed the Hyde Park Theatre, located about a mile east of the Ritz.
The Grand Theatre was at 1131 Broadway. By 1942 it had been replaced by a Woolworth’s store, according the the caption of a photo in Columbus, Georgia in Vintage Postcards, by Kenneth H. Thomas Jr. (Google Books preview.)
According to an item in the September 4, 1915, issue of The Moving Picture World, the Bonita Theatre moved into its 12th Street location that year:
“The Bonita theater, Columbus, Ga., closed this week on account of moving into its new home on Twelfth street. W. H. Tolbert, manager, states that the moving- is due to the fact that there are too many theaters in their present location. The new location is a splendid one, and the Bonita will be the only one on Twelfth street.”
The Bonita Theatre had been in operation by March, 1911, when it was mentioned in that month’s issue of The Typographical Journal.
A house called the American Theatre was operating in Columbus at least as early as 1915, when it was mentioned in the July 17 issue of Motion Picture News.
Columbus also had a house called the Dixie Theatre located on the south side of 12th Street between Broadway and First Avenue. It can be seen in a ca.1911 view in Columbus, Georgia in Vintage Postcards, by Jr., Kenneth H. Thomas (Google Books preview.) The caption says that the 12th Street Dixie Theatre was in operation by 1908.
The earlier Dixie had to have been closed by 1915, though, when the September 4 issue of The Moving Picture World reported that the Bonita Theatre had moved to a new location on 12th Street, and would be the only movie house on that street.
It’s possible that there was a third Dixie Theatre in Columbus, as I’ve found a reference to a house of that name, apparently catering to African American audiences, in 1945.
The Rialto was mentioned in the Columbus Enquirer at least as early as March, 1919. The Rialto’s building looks as though it would date from the 1910s.
The Leal Theatre might have been built a bit later than we thought, or might have been rebuilt in 1922. This item is from the February 4, 1922, issue of Building and Engineering News:
“Plans Complete — Figures To Be Taken Shortly. THEATRE Cost, $25,000. IRVINGTON, Alameda Co., Cal. Mission St. Two-story reinforced concrete and frame theatre, store and office building. Owner — F. A. Leal, Irvington. Architect — H. A. Minton, Monadnock Bldg., San Francisco.”
Mission Street was later renamed Washington Boulevard to avoid confusion with Mission Boulevard. Architect Henry A. Minton is remembered primarily for the numerous buildings he designed throughout the Bay Area for the Catholic Church and for the Bank of Italy (Bank of America.) The Leal was probably the only theater he designed.
The September 8, 1931, issue of Building & Engineering News reported that contracts had been let for the remodeling of the T&D Jr. circuit’s Majestic and Granada Theatres in Reno:
“RENO, Nevada. Majestic and Granada Theatres. Remodel interior of two theatres (decorating, painting, etc.) Owner— T.& D. Junior Theatres, 25 Taylor St., San Francisco. Architect — F. J. DeLongchamps, Gazette Bldg., Reno. Contractor— Salih Bros., 2319 Central Ave., Alameda.”
The finding aid for the papers of architect Frederic J. DeLongchamps lists five theater projects, but doesn’t give locations or dates. The houses listed are the Majestic, the Hunter, the Rex, the Quincy, the Roxie, and a “T.D. Theater” (perhaps the Granada, which the aid doesn’t list by name.)
The Roxie was probably the one in Reno, and the Hunter was probably the one in Elko, the only house we have listed by that name in Nevada. We have Rex Theatres listed in Caliente and Fallon, and the one in Fallon, which is near Reno, is more likely to be the one DeLongchamps worked on. The Quincy (a rare name for a theater) was almost certainly the one in Quincy, California, which is closer to Reno than it is to any large city in California.
This weblog post says that the Majestic had also been remodeled in 1925, again with the plans by DeLongchamps.
Building and Engineering News of October 17, 1931, reported that the original 1926 plans by Reid Brothers would be used in the rebuilding of the T&D Junior circuit’s State Theatre in Martinez.
Plans to remodel the American Theatre in Oakland were announced in the December 26, 1931, issue of Building and Engineering News:
“OAKLAND, Alameda Co. Cal., 17th and San Pablo Ave. Remodel Class A theatre (remodel ex-
terior, re-design lobby and foyer, rebuild marquise, new sound equipment, projectors, etc.) Owner American Theatre. Architect — A. A. Cantin, 544 Market St., San Francisco.”
The Studio Theatre was to have been the first of ten houses of its type for Hughes-Franklin Theatres according to this item from Building and Engineering News of December 5, 1931:
“CALIFORNIA— Harold B. Franklin,
president of the Hughes-Franklin theatres. 7051 Hollywoood Blvd., announces that plans are under way for nine new theatres, similar in size and type to the recently completed Studio Theatre at Hollywood Boulevard and Hudson Avenue, to be built in San Francisco, Berkeley, Sacramento, San Diego, Oakland, Stockton and San Jose. Calif.; Phoenix, Ariz.; and Dallas, Texas. They will have seating capacities ranging from 300 to 500 and will have the automatic features provided in the Hollywood Theatre. S. Charles Lee, 2404 W. Seventh St., Los Angeles, will be the architect.”
I don’t know if any of the other theaters were built.
The Livermore Theatre was remodeled in 1931. This item is from the September 19 issue of Building and Engineering News (and it appears that Livermore’s lots have been renumbered since then):
“REMODEL, THEATRE Cost, $20,000
“LIVERMORE, Alameda Co., Cal. 1075 W First Street. Alterations and additions to theatre (new steel roof trusses, roofing, interior decorating & plaster work). Owner — Livermore Theatre (Louis Schenoni, premises. Architect — Miller & Warnecke, Financial Center Bldg., Oakland. Contractor— S. Bothwell, 748 Palm Avenue, Livermore.”
The Jefferson Theatre was built for Harry Sanford Jewell, publisher of the The Springfield Leader, and opened on September 28, 1911. In its early years it was strictly a vaudeville house, but by the late 1910s it was struggling and remained dark for about two years except for a few road shows. In 1921, the January 28 issue of the Springfield Republican reported that the Jefferson Theatre had reopened the previous night as a movie house.
In 1930, the house was extensively remodeled for the Fox circuit and reopened on September 14 as the Fox Plaza Theatre, according to the September 15 edition of the Leader. The remodeling was overseen by architect Lee DeCamp. In 1936 it was renamed the Jewell Theatre and operated as a movie house until becoming the home of Ozark Jubilee, a live music show broadcast first on radio and, from 1955, on ABC television.
A history of Springfield published in 1915 had a brief biography of Robert Franklin Barrett. He entered the theater business at Hugo, Oklahoma, in 1907, and three years later moved to Springfield where he opened the Happy Hour Theatre. The Happy Hour was a storefront operation and ran Universal pictures, presenting four reels with daily changes.
Mason: Cinema Treasures is not affiliated with the El Centro Theatre. It is a web site for documenting existing and former movie theaters. I see that the Official Web Site link on our page now fetches a site with Chinese characters. As I don’t read Chinese I don’t know if the page has anything to do with the theater or not, but Yelpis listing the El Centro Theatre as closed. The Internet provides no indications of any activity at this theater for the last two years, so unless it is presenting Chinese language productions the El Centro must have closed.
By 1921, the Gem was being operated by J. R. Pratt, owner of Pratt’s Theatre. Pratt’s Theatre was primarily a live house but sometimes showed movies. The August 7, 1920, issue of Exhibitors Herald mentioned both houses in one item:
“The Pratt and Gem theatres at Fulton. Mo., are both strong on the star productions. Both change programs daily. Story is preferred.”
In 1923 and 1924, G. L. Blasingame of the Halls Theatre, Halls, Tennessee, sent many capsule movie reviews to the trade journal Exhibitors Herald. This might or might not have been the same theater that operated under the name later. The only other reference I’ve found to Halls in the trade publications is from The Reel Journal of November 13, 1926, which said: “The name of the Amusu Theatre in Halls, Tenn., has been changed to Palace Theatre.”
The opening of the Strand Theatre was noted in the October 2, 1915, issue of The Moving Picture World:
“The opening of the new Strand theater in Birmingham, Ala., occurred Thursday. This house is to run all feature photoplays. The first star seen was Mary Pickford in ‘Esmeralda.’ The theater is doing a splendid business.”
October 2 was a Saturday, so (assuming that the magazine’s news was timely) the Strand opened on September 30.
The latest mention of the Alcazar I’ve found in the trades is from Exhibitors Herald of March 3, 1923, and the earliest mention I’ve found of the Capitol is a Birmingham Newsitem of June 23, 1926. Birmingham Rewound doesn’t give a date for the Alcazar’s name change to Capitol, but it’s quite likely that it took place in the 1920s, before the Reproduco was installed.
I take it that the Kilgen organ installed in 1919 would have been larger and more valuable than the Reproduco. Perhaps the Kilgen was moved to a new, larger theater and it was replaced by the smaller Reproduco at the 360-seat Capitol?
I remember now that the other theater of this design was the Mark Twain Theatre in Sunset Hills, Missouri. Boxoffice attributes that design to Harold W. Levitt, Ernest W. LeDuc, and William H. Farwell, all of Los Angeles. LeDuc and Farwell were members of the firm of Harold W. Levitt & Associates.
rivest266 is right. The Cinema North bears a striking resemblance to the Valley Circle Theatre in San Diego, California. It looks as though National General used the same plans, by Beverly Hills architect Harold Levitt, for both theaters. I recall seeing a photo of another almost identical theater (somewhere in Missouri, I think) but I can’t recall the name of it.
A few drawings and plans for a theater at Dayton, Ohio, designed in 1926 for Carl P. Anderson are in the Pretzinger Architectural Collection at Wright State University. It must have been the Classic Theatre. The papers in this collection are mostly from the offices of the various firms Dayton architect Albert Pretzinger was involved with. In 1926, when the Classic Theatre was designed, he was a partner in the firm of Pretzinger & Musselman.
If the Ritz Theatre was in the Pleasant Ridge section of Cincinnati, then it might have been this project noted in the July 22, 1927, issue of Motion Picture News:
“Woodmont” would be an easy mistake for Woodburn, and typical of the error-ridden, hastily-assembled trade journals of the period. Howard McClorey designed the Hyde Park Theatre, located about a mile east of the Ritz.The Grand Theatre was at 1131 Broadway. By 1942 it had been replaced by a Woolworth’s store, according the the caption of a photo in Columbus, Georgia in Vintage Postcards, by Kenneth H. Thomas Jr. (Google Books preview.)
According to an item in the September 4, 1915, issue of The Moving Picture World, the Bonita Theatre moved into its 12th Street location that year:
The Bonita Theatre had been in operation by March, 1911, when it was mentioned in that month’s issue of The Typographical Journal.A house called the American Theatre was operating in Columbus at least as early as 1915, when it was mentioned in the July 17 issue of Motion Picture News.
Columbus also had a house called the Dixie Theatre located on the south side of 12th Street between Broadway and First Avenue. It can be seen in a ca.1911 view in Columbus, Georgia in Vintage Postcards, by Jr., Kenneth H. Thomas (Google Books preview.) The caption says that the 12th Street Dixie Theatre was in operation by 1908.
The earlier Dixie had to have been closed by 1915, though, when the September 4 issue of The Moving Picture World reported that the Bonita Theatre had moved to a new location on 12th Street, and would be the only movie house on that street.
It’s possible that there was a third Dixie Theatre in Columbus, as I’ve found a reference to a house of that name, apparently catering to African American audiences, in 1945.
The Rialto was mentioned in the Columbus Enquirer at least as early as March, 1919. The Rialto’s building looks as though it would date from the 1910s.
The Leal Theatre might have been built a bit later than we thought, or might have been rebuilt in 1922. This item is from the February 4, 1922, issue of Building and Engineering News:
Mission Street was later renamed Washington Boulevard to avoid confusion with Mission Boulevard. Architect Henry A. Minton is remembered primarily for the numerous buildings he designed throughout the Bay Area for the Catholic Church and for the Bank of Italy (Bank of America.) The Leal was probably the only theater he designed.The September 8, 1931, issue of Building & Engineering News reported that contracts had been let for the remodeling of the T&D Jr. circuit’s Majestic and Granada Theatres in Reno:
The finding aid for the papers of architect Frederic J. DeLongchamps lists five theater projects, but doesn’t give locations or dates. The houses listed are the Majestic, the Hunter, the Rex, the Quincy, the Roxie, and a “T.D. Theater” (perhaps the Granada, which the aid doesn’t list by name.)The Roxie was probably the one in Reno, and the Hunter was probably the one in Elko, the only house we have listed by that name in Nevada. We have Rex Theatres listed in Caliente and Fallon, and the one in Fallon, which is near Reno, is more likely to be the one DeLongchamps worked on. The Quincy (a rare name for a theater) was almost certainly the one in Quincy, California, which is closer to Reno than it is to any large city in California.
This weblog post says that the Majestic had also been remodeled in 1925, again with the plans by DeLongchamps.
Building and Engineering News of October 17, 1931, reported that the original 1926 plans by Reid Brothers would be used in the rebuilding of the T&D Junior circuit’s State Theatre in Martinez.
Plans to remodel the American Theatre in Oakland were announced in the December 26, 1931, issue of Building and Engineering News:
The Studio Theatre was to have been the first of ten houses of its type for Hughes-Franklin Theatres according to this item from Building and Engineering News of December 5, 1931:
I don’t know if any of the other theaters were built.The Livermore Theatre was remodeled in 1931. This item is from the September 19 issue of Building and Engineering News (and it appears that Livermore’s lots have been renumbered since then):
The Liberty Theatre in Dayton was remodeled in 1938 with plans by architect Bjarne H. Moe.
The Lorin Theatre was remodeled again in 1931. This item is from the August 29 issue of Building and Engineering News:
The Jefferson Theatre was built for Harry Sanford Jewell, publisher of the The Springfield Leader, and opened on September 28, 1911. In its early years it was strictly a vaudeville house, but by the late 1910s it was struggling and remained dark for about two years except for a few road shows. In 1921, the January 28 issue of the Springfield Republican reported that the Jefferson Theatre had reopened the previous night as a movie house.
In 1930, the house was extensively remodeled for the Fox circuit and reopened on September 14 as the Fox Plaza Theatre, according to the September 15 edition of the Leader. The remodeling was overseen by architect Lee DeCamp. In 1936 it was renamed the Jewell Theatre and operated as a movie house until becoming the home of Ozark Jubilee, a live music show broadcast first on radio and, from 1955, on ABC television.
A history of Springfield published in 1915 had a brief biography of Robert Franklin Barrett. He entered the theater business at Hugo, Oklahoma, in 1907, and three years later moved to Springfield where he opened the Happy Hour Theatre. The Happy Hour was a storefront operation and ran Universal pictures, presenting four reels with daily changes.
Mason: Cinema Treasures is not affiliated with the El Centro Theatre. It is a web site for documenting existing and former movie theaters. I see that the Official Web Site link on our page now fetches a site with Chinese characters. As I don’t read Chinese I don’t know if the page has anything to do with the theater or not, but Yelpis listing the El Centro Theatre as closed. The Internet provides no indications of any activity at this theater for the last two years, so unless it is presenting Chinese language productions the El Centro must have closed.
By 1921, the Gem was being operated by J. R. Pratt, owner of Pratt’s Theatre. Pratt’s Theatre was primarily a live house but sometimes showed movies. The August 7, 1920, issue of Exhibitors Herald mentioned both houses in one item:
This weblog post has a scan of an ad indicating that the Lorain-Fulton Theatre opened on Christmas Day, 1921.
In 1923 and 1924, G. L. Blasingame of the Halls Theatre, Halls, Tennessee, sent many capsule movie reviews to the trade journal Exhibitors Herald. This might or might not have been the same theater that operated under the name later. The only other reference I’ve found to Halls in the trade publications is from The Reel Journal of November 13, 1926, which said: “The name of the Amusu Theatre in Halls, Tenn., has been changed to Palace Theatre.”
The opening of the Strand Theatre was noted in the October 2, 1915, issue of The Moving Picture World:
October 2 was a Saturday, so (assuming that the magazine’s news was timely) the Strand opened on September 30.The latest mention of the Alcazar I’ve found in the trades is from Exhibitors Herald of March 3, 1923, and the earliest mention I’ve found of the Capitol is a Birmingham Newsitem of June 23, 1926. Birmingham Rewound doesn’t give a date for the Alcazar’s name change to Capitol, but it’s quite likely that it took place in the 1920s, before the Reproduco was installed.
I take it that the Kilgen organ installed in 1919 would have been larger and more valuable than the Reproduco. Perhaps the Kilgen was moved to a new, larger theater and it was replaced by the smaller Reproduco at the 360-seat Capitol?
I remember now that the other theater of this design was the Mark Twain Theatre in Sunset Hills, Missouri. Boxoffice attributes that design to Harold W. Levitt, Ernest W. LeDuc, and William H. Farwell, all of Los Angeles. LeDuc and Farwell were members of the firm of Harold W. Levitt & Associates.
Architects Ernest W. LeDuc and William H. Farwell were members of the firm of Harold W. Levitt & Associates.
rivest266 is right. The Cinema North bears a striking resemblance to the Valley Circle Theatre in San Diego, California. It looks as though National General used the same plans, by Beverly Hills architect Harold Levitt, for both theaters. I recall seeing a photo of another almost identical theater (somewhere in Missouri, I think) but I can’t recall the name of it.
A few drawings and plans for a theater at Dayton, Ohio, designed in 1926 for Carl P. Anderson are in the Pretzinger Architectural Collection at Wright State University. It must have been the Classic Theatre. The papers in this collection are mostly from the offices of the various firms Dayton architect Albert Pretzinger was involved with. In 1926, when the Classic Theatre was designed, he was a partner in the firm of Pretzinger & Musselman.