The Paramount was most likely this theater project noted in the September 22, 1921, issue of Engineering News-Record
:“Newton (Boston P. O.)—Theater—Newton Theater Co., 415 Center St.. let contract building 2 story, 70 x 153 ft., concrete and steel, rein.-con. flooring, concrete foundation, on Washington and Beacon Sts., here, to T. L. Goodwin. Newton Highlands. About $150,000.”
“Beacon” was an obvious typo for Bacon Street. An item in the July 28 issue of the same publication had said that plans for a theater on Washington Street for the Newton Theater Company were begin prepared by the Boston firm of Desmond & Lord. George Henri Desmond was also the architect of the Portland Theatre in Portland, Maine. The firm also drew plans for a large theater in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1922, but I haven’t yet been able to identify it, assuming it was completed.
The Maine Historical Society has drawings of the New Portland Theatre by the architect, George Henri Desmond, of the Boston firm of Desmond & Lord. The drawings are not digitized, but the collection of which they are part is open for research according to Archive Grid.
The March 3, 1917, issue of The Moving Picture World has an article about the recent sale of the Dreamland Theatre, which mentions a few other theaters in McKeesport and the surrounding area:
“DREAMLAND AT McKEESPORT, PA., SOLD.
“One of the most important transactions that has taken
place in amusement circles of McKeesport, Pa., in some time, was closed February 10, when the Dreamland theater was purchased by Frank Panopolis and George Lambru, well-known exhibitors, from A. H. Berg, of the McKeesport Amusement Company. The Dreamland has been closed for the purpose of remodeling by the new owners. It is hoped to have the work completed for reopening by March 1. Mr. Berg, who has achieved much success as an exhibitor for the past seven years, still conducts three up-to-date picture houses, the Altmeyer and Orpheum theaters in McKeesport and the Avenue theater at Duquesne, Pa. The firm of Panopolis and Lambru owns and operates the Lyric theater, a handsome thousand-seat house, at 515 Fifth avenue, McKeesport, of which Mr. Panopolis is manager. He will also manage their latest acquisition, the Dreamland, and having shown the latest and best film productions with much success in the past at the Lyric he plans to set a high standard in every respect.”
A McKeesport vaudeville house called the Dreamland Theatre is mentioned in Variety, The Billboard, and The New York Clipper as early as 1907. It was probably this theater.
The Capitol Theatre was in operation by 1917 under the name Lyric Theatre. It was mentioned in an article about the recent sale of the Dreamland Theatre in McKeesport to Frank Panopolis and George Lambru, operators of the Lyric. The article appeared in the March 3, 1917, issue of The Moving Picture World.
The Orpheum Theater in East Helena was mentioned in the November 7, 1938, issue of the Helena Independent. It was also mentioned in the May 22, 1932, issue, and quite a few times in the 1920s.
I’ve found the Town Theatre mentioned in the Independent-Record as early as July 13, 1947, and as late as December 28, 1958.
I’ve looked up and down Front Street and can’t find any buildings that resemble the Pix Theatre in this photo. There’s no trace of the two neighboring buildings either. I suspect that the Pix has been demolished.
The Pix Theatre in Drummond was advertised in the November 17, 1939, issue of The Philipsburg Mail. Two different single feature programs were advertised for Saturday and Sunday, and a double feature was advertised for the following Wednesday.
The text with these gives the address as 5715 Grand Avenue. I don’t know if that’s a mistake or if Central Avenue was actually called Grand Avenue in 1913.
Street View has indeed been set in the wrong place. The Garrick Theatre was on the east side of 2nd Avenue on the north corner of the alley between Superior and 1st Streets.
Here is one of the photos from the Liebenberg & Kaplan collection that ThomJP referred to in an earlier comment. It is dated 1940, which must be when the firm worked on the theater. This was the facade after the firm redesigned it. Click on the name Garrick in the description on either page to see several more photos from both before and after the alterations.
The “New England Notes” column in the November 5, 1910, issue of The Moving Picture World had this item:
“The Colonial Theater opened Wednesday, October 12, at Lowell, Mass., with James L. Barton in charge. Pictures and vaudeville are offered; admission, 10 cents.”
The November 26 issue of the same publication said that the Colonial Theatre was doing good business with pictures, songs, and vaudeville, and described it as “…a neat, cosy house with good all around facilities for business.”
A capsule review of a movie called The Shepard of the Hills was written by I. A. Iverson of the Electric Theatre in Cut Bank, Montana, and published in the January 7, 1922, issue of Exhibitors Herald.
This house has always been the Grand Theatre, and still operates under that name. It was the former Snyder Theatre, at 312 Main Street, that was called the Main Street Cinema 1 & 2. The confusion has probably arisen from the fact that T & J Agnes Theatres Inc., operators of the Grand, has its office in the old Snyder Theatre/Main Street Cinema building. This has led some movie listing sites (Fandango and Moviefone among them) to mistakenly list the Grand at 312 Main Street, but Cinema Treasures is the only site I’ve found that mistakenly lists the Grand as the Main Street Cinema. We’ve got the address right but the name wrong.
I wonder how long the dickish judge managed to keep his theater open with that draconian policy? It’s not as though a farm town like Indio would be full of people eager to avoid children and snacks, or to pay extra when they took their kids to a movie.
dickneeds111: The Palace is the oldest surviving theater built for the Orpheum Vaudeville circuit. The description could use clarification on that point as there had been quite a few theaters called the Orpheum before the circuit was launched from the Orpheum Theatre in San Francisco, which was opened by Gustav Walter in 1886. Most of those other Orpheums, like the one in Boston, were never part of the Orpheum circuit or its successors, KAO (Keith-Albee-Orpheum) and RKO (Radio-Keith-Orpheum.)
I believe I’ve also solved the puzzle of the dueling addresses for the Grand Theatre. 312 Main Street is the correct address of the Snyder Theatre (it’s across the street from Joan’s Hallmark at 311 Main) but 312 is also the address of T & J Agnes Theatres Inc., owners of the Grand Theatre. The Agneses obviously must own both the Snyder and the Grand, and their offices are in the Snyder building.
There are multiple references on the Internet to the Main Street Cinema 1 & 2 at 312 Main Street, and most Internet listings for the Grand Theatre give its address as 211 Main Street. A few listings have the Grand at 312 (Fandango and Moviefone, for example) but I’ve found only one web site listing the Main Street Cinema at 211 Main, and it’s Cinema Treasures.
Apparently both theaters have been operating within recent years, the Grand under its original name and the Snyder as the Main Street Cinema 1 & 2. Movie web sites currently have listings only for the Grand, so we can list this theater as Main Street Cinema 1 & 2, 312 Main Street, Closed, with the aka Snyder Theatre.
This photo of the Snyder Theatre with “Watch For Our Grand Opening Coming Soon” on its marquee is dated November 11, 1949. It surely must have opened before the end of that year.
We have the wrong address for the Grand Theatre. An article in the April 28, 2009 issue of The Journal, the local newspaper, says that the former Grand Theatre is now Union Hall. Bob Walls Memorial Union Hall is at 509 Third Street, and the building is quite large enough to have accommodated 780 seats.
That means that the faded sign reading Orpheum Theatre on the side of the building at 414 Third Street is not an aka for the Grand, but a different theater altogether, not yet listed at Cinema Treasures. I haven’t found when the Orpheum opened or closed, but Silent Era says that it was operating in 1925, and had 144 seats (much more convincing than 780 for a building of this size.)
The Orpheum Theatre in Williston was mentioned in the May 22, 1926, issue of Motion Picture News:
“John C. Snyder, Grand theatre,
Williston, N. D., has taken over the Orpheum there recently damaged by fire and will reopen it after repairs. Robert Stico was the former owner.”
John C. and Jack W. Snyder were operators of the Snyder Theatre in Williston, according to the April 23, 1952, issue of Motion Picture Daily. John C. Snyder had been the operator the Grand Theatre at least as early as 1926, in which year he also took over the Orpheum Theatre.
An April 28, 2009, article in The Journal, the local newspaper, indicates that the auditorium the the Border Theatre was demolished some time before the three-story building in front, but doesn’t give the year. Google’s current out-of-date Street View shows the front building still standing, while the view from the side street (5th Avenue) shows a parking lot where the auditorium would have been, so I guess that’s what happened.
The owners of this theater have been planning to build a new 14-screen multiplex in the Sand Creek Center, a new, 200-acre commercial development on the outskirts of town, since early 2012, but I see nothing recent about it on the Internet. They might be having a hard time getting the project financed. This item from the winter-spring 2012 issue of the North Central NATO newsletter said that ground was to be broken for the theater later that year:
“Tom and Jane Agnes announced they will build a new 14 screen theatre in Williston, ND. The new complex will replace their current five screens located downtown and their drive-in. The new theatre will be called the Sand Creek Cinema 14. Williston is located in the middle of the North Dakota oil boom and is experiencing rapid growth. The new complex will include two large format screens. All auditoriums will have stadium seating and digital projection, Dolby Digital 7.1 stereo sound. A spacious lobby will feature new concession amenities. The theatre will be built on the west side of town in the same shopping center that will also house a new Menards. Ground will be broken later this year.”
the only recent news I can find about Williston concerns a huge fire that has been burning for the last couple of days at an oil supply company. With such live spectacles, who needs a movie theater? In any case, Williston’s estimated population is about 20,000, and I doubt it is big enough yet to support 14 screens. The banks are probably reluctant to finance such a project for a small operator, which could account for the two year (so far) delay. If the developers of Sand Creek Center are anxious to get a theater into their project, they might have a better chance of success by dealing with a big chain like Cinemark, which would have better access to financing.
This house had yet another name before becoming the Empress. The August 14, 1912, issue of the Wichita Daily Eagle said that the locally-controlled Peerless Entertainment Company had taken control of the Pastime Theatre and would convert it into a vaudeville house called the Empress after extensive rebuilding to add a balcony and enlarge the stage. The enlarged theater would present Sullivan & Considine vaudeville acts.
The December 29 issue of the same paper said that the new Empress Theatre would open the following day. The company operating it was now called the Interstate Amusement Company.
I’ve found the Pastime Theatre mentioned in the newspapers as early as 1910, but it might have been opened earlier.
The Paramount was most likely this theater project noted in the September 22, 1921, issue of Engineering News-Record
“Beacon” was an obvious typo for Bacon Street. An item in the July 28 issue of the same publication had said that plans for a theater on Washington Street for the Newton Theater Company were begin prepared by the Boston firm of Desmond & Lord. George Henri Desmond was also the architect of the Portland Theatre in Portland, Maine. The firm also drew plans for a large theater in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1922, but I haven’t yet been able to identify it, assuming it was completed.The Maine Historical Society has drawings of the New Portland Theatre by the architect, George Henri Desmond, of the Boston firm of Desmond & Lord. The drawings are not digitized, but the collection of which they are part is open for research according to Archive Grid.
The March 3, 1917, issue of The Moving Picture World has an article about the recent sale of the Dreamland Theatre, which mentions a few other theaters in McKeesport and the surrounding area:
A McKeesport vaudeville house called the Dreamland Theatre is mentioned in Variety, The Billboard, and The New York Clipper as early as 1907. It was probably this theater.The Capitol Theatre was in operation by 1917 under the name Lyric Theatre. It was mentioned in an article about the recent sale of the Dreamland Theatre in McKeesport to Frank Panopolis and George Lambru, operators of the Lyric. The article appeared in the March 3, 1917, issue of The Moving Picture World.
The Orpheum Theater in East Helena was mentioned in the November 7, 1938, issue of the Helena Independent. It was also mentioned in the May 22, 1932, issue, and quite a few times in the 1920s.
I’ve found the Town Theatre mentioned in the Independent-Record as early as July 13, 1947, and as late as December 28, 1958.
I’ve looked up and down Front Street and can’t find any buildings that resemble the Pix Theatre in this photo. There’s no trace of the two neighboring buildings either. I suspect that the Pix has been demolished.
The Pix Theatre in Drummond was advertised in the November 17, 1939, issue of The Philipsburg Mail. Two different single feature programs were advertised for Saturday and Sunday, and a double feature was advertised for the following Wednesday.
Two more photos of the Alhambra Theatre, these dated 1913:
The auditorium
The front
The text with these gives the address as 5715 Grand Avenue. I don’t know if that’s a mistake or if Central Avenue was actually called Grand Avenue in 1913.
Here is a photo showing the Alhambra Theatre, Duluth, ca.1928, from the Minnesota Digital Library.
Street View has indeed been set in the wrong place. The Garrick Theatre was on the east side of 2nd Avenue on the north corner of the alley between Superior and 1st Streets.
Here is one of the photos from the Liebenberg & Kaplan collection that ThomJP referred to in an earlier comment. It is dated 1940, which must be when the firm worked on the theater. This was the facade after the firm redesigned it. Click on the name Garrick in the description on either page to see several more photos from both before and after the alterations.
The “New England Notes” column in the November 5, 1910, issue of The Moving Picture World had this item:
The November 26 issue of the same publication said that the Colonial Theatre was doing good business with pictures, songs, and vaudeville, and described it as “…a neat, cosy house with good all around facilities for business.”A capsule review of a movie called The Shepard of the Hills was written by I. A. Iverson of the Electric Theatre in Cut Bank, Montana, and published in the January 7, 1922, issue of Exhibitors Herald.
The Community Drive-In was first listed in the FDY in 1948. By 1954, five drive-ins were listed for Topeka.
This house has always been the Grand Theatre, and still operates under that name. It was the former Snyder Theatre, at 312 Main Street, that was called the Main Street Cinema 1 & 2. The confusion has probably arisen from the fact that T & J Agnes Theatres Inc., operators of the Grand, has its office in the old Snyder Theatre/Main Street Cinema building. This has led some movie listing sites (Fandango and Moviefone among them) to mistakenly list the Grand at 312 Main Street, but Cinema Treasures is the only site I’ve found that mistakenly lists the Grand as the Main Street Cinema. We’ve got the address right but the name wrong.
I wonder how long the dickish judge managed to keep his theater open with that draconian policy? It’s not as though a farm town like Indio would be full of people eager to avoid children and snacks, or to pay extra when they took their kids to a movie.
dickneeds111: The Palace is the oldest surviving theater built for the Orpheum Vaudeville circuit. The description could use clarification on that point as there had been quite a few theaters called the Orpheum before the circuit was launched from the Orpheum Theatre in San Francisco, which was opened by Gustav Walter in 1886. Most of those other Orpheums, like the one in Boston, were never part of the Orpheum circuit or its successors, KAO (Keith-Albee-Orpheum) and RKO (Radio-Keith-Orpheum.)
I believe I’ve also solved the puzzle of the dueling addresses for the Grand Theatre. 312 Main Street is the correct address of the Snyder Theatre (it’s across the street from Joan’s Hallmark at 311 Main) but 312 is also the address of T & J Agnes Theatres Inc., owners of the Grand Theatre. The Agneses obviously must own both the Snyder and the Grand, and their offices are in the Snyder building.
There are multiple references on the Internet to the Main Street Cinema 1 & 2 at 312 Main Street, and most Internet listings for the Grand Theatre give its address as 211 Main Street. A few listings have the Grand at 312 (Fandango and Moviefone, for example) but I’ve found only one web site listing the Main Street Cinema at 211 Main, and it’s Cinema Treasures.
Apparently both theaters have been operating within recent years, the Grand under its original name and the Snyder as the Main Street Cinema 1 & 2. Movie web sites currently have listings only for the Grand, so we can list this theater as Main Street Cinema 1 & 2, 312 Main Street, Closed, with the aka Snyder Theatre.
This photo of the Snyder Theatre with “Watch For Our Grand Opening Coming Soon” on its marquee is dated November 11, 1949. It surely must have opened before the end of that year.
It should work the same for everybody, but what I get is this, which is the same spot in North Dakota that we’re getting on the map on this page.
We have the wrong address for the Grand Theatre. An article in the April 28, 2009 issue of The Journal, the local newspaper, says that the former Grand Theatre is now Union Hall. Bob Walls Memorial Union Hall is at 509 Third Street, and the building is quite large enough to have accommodated 780 seats.
That means that the faded sign reading Orpheum Theatre on the side of the building at 414 Third Street is not an aka for the Grand, but a different theater altogether, not yet listed at Cinema Treasures. I haven’t found when the Orpheum opened or closed, but Silent Era says that it was operating in 1925, and had 144 seats (much more convincing than 780 for a building of this size.)
The Orpheum Theatre in Williston was mentioned in the May 22, 1926, issue of Motion Picture News:
John C. and Jack W. Snyder were operators of the Snyder Theatre in Williston, according to the April 23, 1952, issue of Motion Picture Daily. John C. Snyder had been the operator the Grand Theatre at least as early as 1926, in which year he also took over the Orpheum Theatre.
An April 28, 2009, article in The Journal, the local newspaper, indicates that the auditorium the the Border Theatre was demolished some time before the three-story building in front, but doesn’t give the year. Google’s current out-of-date Street View shows the front building still standing, while the view from the side street (5th Avenue) shows a parking lot where the auditorium would have been, so I guess that’s what happened.
The owners of this theater have been planning to build a new 14-screen multiplex in the Sand Creek Center, a new, 200-acre commercial development on the outskirts of town, since early 2012, but I see nothing recent about it on the Internet. They might be having a hard time getting the project financed. This item from the winter-spring 2012 issue of the North Central NATO newsletter said that ground was to be broken for the theater later that year:
the only recent news I can find about Williston concerns a huge fire that has been burning for the last couple of days at an oil supply company. With such live spectacles, who needs a movie theater? In any case, Williston’s estimated population is about 20,000, and I doubt it is big enough yet to support 14 screens. The banks are probably reluctant to finance such a project for a small operator, which could account for the two year (so far) delay. If the developers of Sand Creek Center are anxious to get a theater into their project, they might have a better chance of success by dealing with a big chain like Cinemark, which would have better access to financing.This house had yet another name before becoming the Empress. The August 14, 1912, issue of the Wichita Daily Eagle said that the locally-controlled Peerless Entertainment Company had taken control of the Pastime Theatre and would convert it into a vaudeville house called the Empress after extensive rebuilding to add a balcony and enlarge the stage. The enlarged theater would present Sullivan & Considine vaudeville acts.
The December 29 issue of the same paper said that the new Empress Theatre would open the following day. The company operating it was now called the Interstate Amusement Company.
I’ve found the Pastime Theatre mentioned in the newspapers as early as 1910, but it might have been opened earlier.