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.
Apparently the Mayflower Theatre’s organ was still in use at least as late as 1940, when the October 26 issue of The Piqua Daily Call made reference to “…Donald Wells, organist at the Mayflower theater….” Wells was visiting Delaware to attend a concert by French organist and composer Joseph Bonnet.
The opening of the Strand was noted in the November 6, 1915, issue of The Moving Picture World:
“Fred L. Adams has opened the Strand theater at Piqua, Ohio. This is a handsome new fireproof structure seating 500, and is equipped with all conveniences for the patrons. Mr. Adams was formerly the manager and proprietor of the Favorite theater in Piqua.”
The Strand in Rockland was in operation by 1920. The report of the Massachusetts District Police published January, 1920, listed the Strand Theatre, Rockland, in good condition. The licensee was named Lee A. Rhodenzier. The January 23, 1923, issue of The Film Daily had this item:
“The Manchester Amusement Co., a subsidiary [of New England Theaters] has sold the Strand, Rockland, Mass., to L. A. Rhodenizer, the theater’s former manager.”
Contracts had been let for construction of a small movie theater in Rockland in 1915, according to the May 29 issue of The American Contractor. The two-story building was only 34x56 feet, though, which would have been too small for the Strand’s 779 seats, but it might have been expanded later, so it could have been the Strand.
If it burned in 1926, it’s possible that the Trainor Opera House had become the Strand Theatre which, according to the November 27, 1926, issue of The Piqua Daily Call had been completely destroyed by a fire the previous night, along with an adjacent building. The fire was caused by the explosion of film in the projector. The Opera House was built by the I.O.O.F. in 1873.
A July 22, 1935, article in The Piqua Daily Call says that the long-abandoned Strand Theatre building was to be remodeled into a bottling plant. The article places the three-story building on the east side of the public square with a frontage of 91 feet on North Main Street and a somewhat longer frontage on East High Street. I’ve been unable to determine if the building was on the northeast corner or the southeast corner. Both corners now feature parking lots, so the Strand has been demolished.
This house opened on September 23, 1929, as the Ohio Theatre. An article in the August 29, 1970, issue of The Piqua Daily Call features an article about John Hixson, who says that he was one of the projectionists when the house opened.
The May 22, 1931, issue of the Call says that Schine’s Piqua Theatre, formerly the Ohio Theatre, would have its formal opening that night.
An item in the July 16, 1910, issue of The American Contractor attributes the design of this theater to the firm of Taylor & DeCamp. The partnership of Charles C. Taylor and Benjamin C. DeCamp was formed in 1909 and dissolved in 1912.
Louis A. Livaudais died in 1932, so I don’t know if he had anything to do with designing this 1933 project, but apparently the firm’s name remained unchanged. Much earlier in their careers, Favrot & Livaudais had designed the Rapides Opera House in Alexandria, Louisiana, which house was later renamed the Paramount Theatre. Charles Allen Favrot’s son, Henri Mortimer Favrot, later became a partner in the firm of Favrot & Reed, who designed at least three theaters.
Although it mistakenly calls the street Forest Boulevard, this item from the “New Theatre Projects” section of the September 23, 1933, issue of Motion Picture Herald is clearly about the White Theatre:
“DALLAS— M. S. White, 508 Largent.
Will erect on Forest Boulevard theatre to cost, $40,000. Architect, W. Scott Dunne, Melba Building.”
This house was open before 1933, the year in which it was remodeled, according to this item form Motion Picture Herald of September 23:
“BEAUMONT— Rio Moving Picture Company. Contractor, Charles F. Law, Perlstein Building, Beaumont. Remodeling to cost $6,500. Architects, Babin & Neff, Perlstein Building.”
As the item doesn’t give the name of the theater itself, but only that of the company having it remodeled, it’s possible that it had previously operated under a different name.
The building at this address was to be remodeled, according to this item in the September 23, 1933, issue of Motion Picture Herald. It sounds as though there was already a theater in it at that time, but if so the magazine didn’t give its name:
“Catherine O'Reilly of Great Neck, to alter building and motion picture theatre at 1164 Third Avenue, New York City. Cost $4,000. Architect, Eugene De Rosa, Inc., 105 West 40tb Street.”
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.
Apparently the Mayflower Theatre’s organ was still in use at least as late as 1940, when the October 26 issue of The Piqua Daily Call made reference to “…Donald Wells, organist at the Mayflower theater….” Wells was visiting Delaware to attend a concert by French organist and composer Joseph Bonnet.
The opening of the Strand was noted in the November 6, 1915, issue of The Moving Picture World:
The Piqua Daily Call was advertising this house as Schine’s Miami Theatre in 1933. In 1930 it was advertising as May’s Piqua Theatre.
The Strand in Rockland was in operation by 1920. The report of the Massachusetts District Police published January, 1920, listed the Strand Theatre, Rockland, in good condition. The licensee was named Lee A. Rhodenzier. The January 23, 1923, issue of The Film Daily had this item:
Contracts had been let for construction of a small movie theater in Rockland in 1915, according to the May 29 issue of The American Contractor. The two-story building was only 34x56 feet, though, which would have been too small for the Strand’s 779 seats, but it might have been expanded later, so it could have been the Strand.If it burned in 1926, it’s possible that the Trainor Opera House had become the Strand Theatre which, according to the November 27, 1926, issue of The Piqua Daily Call had been completely destroyed by a fire the previous night, along with an adjacent building. The fire was caused by the explosion of film in the projector. The Opera House was built by the I.O.O.F. in 1873.
The Strand was on the northeast corner of Main and High Streets, according to the May 26, 1976, issue of The Piqua Daily Call
The March 11, 1976, issue of The Piqua Daily Call said that demolition of the old Strand Theatre building was underway.
A July 22, 1935, article in The Piqua Daily Call says that the long-abandoned Strand Theatre building was to be remodeled into a bottling plant. The article places the three-story building on the east side of the public square with a frontage of 91 feet on North Main Street and a somewhat longer frontage on East High Street. I’ve been unable to determine if the building was on the northeast corner or the southeast corner. Both corners now feature parking lots, so the Strand has been demolished.
This house opened on September 23, 1929, as the Ohio Theatre. An article in the August 29, 1970, issue of The Piqua Daily Call features an article about John Hixson, who says that he was one of the projectionists when the house opened.
The May 22, 1931, issue of the Call says that Schine’s Piqua Theatre, formerly the Ohio Theatre, would have its formal opening that night.
An item in the July 16, 1910, issue of The American Contractor attributes the design of this theater to the firm of Taylor & DeCamp. The partnership of Charles C. Taylor and Benjamin C. DeCamp was formed in 1909 and dissolved in 1912.
Louis A. Livaudais died in 1932, so I don’t know if he had anything to do with designing this 1933 project, but apparently the firm’s name remained unchanged. Much earlier in their careers, Favrot & Livaudais had designed the Rapides Opera House in Alexandria, Louisiana, which house was later renamed the Paramount Theatre. Charles Allen Favrot’s son, Henri Mortimer Favrot, later became a partner in the firm of Favrot & Reed, who designed at least three theaters.
Although it mistakenly calls the street Forest Boulevard, this item from the “New Theatre Projects” section of the September 23, 1933, issue of Motion Picture Herald is clearly about the White Theatre:
This house was open before 1933, the year in which it was remodeled, according to this item form Motion Picture Herald of September 23:
As the item doesn’t give the name of the theater itself, but only that of the company having it remodeled, it’s possible that it had previously operated under a different name.The “New Theatre Projects” section of the September 23, 1933, issue of Motion Picture Herald included this item datelined Cleveland:
The building at this address was to be remodeled, according to this item in the September 23, 1933, issue of Motion Picture Herald. It sounds as though there was already a theater in it at that time, but if so the magazine didn’t give its name: