The JAM Productions Facebook page has dozens of photos of ongoing renovations in the link below. Today they posted 8 photos of old balcony seats removal and the installation of 820 new seats on that level.
Posted in gallery as well.
(I recall some of the old seats had Granada stenciled on their backs at past shows.)
The photos on this page belong to the State Theatre which has it’s own page on CT below.
As far as I can find Crothersville only had a State Theatre and a Grand Theatre.
Address is 105 E. Main Street and it is still standing. It closed in 1959, became Leo’s Laundry in the 70s, a pool hall in the 80s and later an athletic club.
It was most recently Redneck Computers.
As of 2021 a furniture business was slated to go into it.
That is not a duplicate listing.
Kingston had two drive-ins, confirmed by locals.
The Kingston Drive-In and the 66 Drive-In later Mustang Drive-In.
If you look at the newspaper image you posted on the Kingston’s page on 12/21/21, it has print ads for both the Kingston and the 66 Drive-In on the same page.
The Kingston Drive-in was already open when the 66 Drive-In opened.
The Kingston ad is above the 66 ad in your link below.
The 66/Mustang related images should be removed from the Kingston’s page and re-posted on this one.
OK, full history here credit Patrick Morris, supersedes everything above.
The Placade Playhouse was built circa 1912 at 1048 Fourth Avenue and was the first of four theater buildings to be constructed in the 1000 block of Fourth Avenue. An additional photograph of the building that was contributed by GB Berry is shown in the first comment. Both of these pictures were taken circa 1912 – 1914. Note that private residences were still located on each side of the theater. The Placade had become the home of the ” New Hippodrome” circa 1914 (after 2 -3 years) when the Hippodrome moved from 1042 Third Avenue. The picture of the New Hippodrome is shown in the second comment below. Note the pair of double square columns on each end of the building. This picture was taken circa 1921 – 1926 after the Motor Sales building was constructed at 1032 Fourth Avenue. In the meantime the Orpheum Theater was built circa 1916 at 1019 Fourth Ave. Circa 1923, the Placade / Hippodrome/ building became the State Theater which was in operation until the circa 1960.
Circa 1926, the Strand Theater moved into the building at 1037 Fourth Ave. across the street from the State Theater. Circa 1927, the Motor Sales building at 1032 Fourth Ave. became the location for the Palace Theater. Circa 1933, the Strand at 1037 became the Roxie. The Roxie was closed after a fire in 1952, but the building was repaired and used later for other businesses.
Orpheum Theatre, later to become The Cinema & would close as a theatre on November 3, 2011. The Orpheum Theater on 4th Ave was the only place in #HuntingtonWV, at one time where blacks could see a movie, & had to sit in the balcony even if the ground floor was empty, according to Sylvia Ridgeway, a lifelong resident, and driving force behind the NAACP in W.Va., first becoming the president of the Huntington chapter and then serving dual roles as the local president and leader at the state level.
As movie audiences dwindled, a number of theaters subdivided their big auditoriums into small mini theaters. Employing that strategy, the Hymans divided the Orpheum’s auditorium into four small theaters and renamed it the Cinema Theatre. Its audiences continued to shrink, and the theater closed in 2011. Today the former movie house is used by Redemption Church.
(Greater Huntington Theater Corp. operated it as one time, per a former employee.)
Additional history credit “Back In The Day” in #HuntingtonWV, courtesy David Smith.
The Abbott Theater was built in 1938 & cost $1,700 on a lot purchased by W.E. Neal, West End Realty Co. Named for Darwin E. Abbott, who came here in 1873, self-taught photographer, who opened a photo studio & later a picture frame plant in Central City that was one of the city’s largest employers. He passed in 1942. Its heyday was in the 1930’s/40’s. Later showing second releases, double features, and shorts. It showed its last movie in 1951. The next year, W.E. Neal and his wife Susan leased the theater to Community Players Inc. They staged lots of shows, but in the early 1990s, it was in need of too many repairs, & the board of directors closed the final curtain. A fire caused it to be razed in Dec. 1994.
Additional history, photos (in gallery) and description credit David Isaacs.
1927 view of The Strand theater and neighboring buildings in the 1000 block of 4th Avenue. It had only been open for about a year at the time of this photo and during the early 1930s the theater became the Roxy theater. This part of 4th Avenue was still mostly residential a dozen years before the photo was taken. Around the turn of the century, businesses started replacing the old houses along the street. Starting at 10th Street (and out of view in this photo) The Day & Night Bank was built in 1903, Elks Club 1909, and Orpheum Theater in the early 1910s. The Roxy experienced a fire August 25, 1952, but the building was repaired and remained in use for over 10 more years.
Additional history credit Mt.Healthy Historical Society Facebook page.
“Peter Blum built the theater and opened it for silent movies in 1914 or 1915. His sister Bertha played piano to accompany the silent films. Later, Peter’s son Joe took over the operation. This theater was the center of Mt Healthy entertainment, which was not only a hub for the townspeople but for the surrounding farming communities, for many years. Joe chose to show only wholesome family appropriate movies, what we might call G-rated today. When movies veered away from this into more worldly content, with elements of sex and violence, Joe chose to shut down the theater. This was sometime in the 1970s or 1980s, we estimate. What followed was an auction house, and then years of neglect with the building falling into disrepair. The Port Authority has determined that the building is of sufficient historical significance that it has invested funds to stabilize the building, so it will stand against the weather without further deterioration, until a new use can be found for it.”
Updated official link for the Denis Theatre, as the link under Related Websites is dead. Also the Wikipedia page for the Denis Theatre.
https://www.denistheatre.org/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denis_Theatre
September 1944
Landers Theatre; Springfield, MO. March, 1968. Image is from the Rafferty Collection, MSU Digital Archives.
1963 grand opening.
Mocked up for “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” in 2018/2019.
The JAM Productions Facebook page has dozens of photos of ongoing renovations in the link below. Today they posted 8 photos of old balcony seats removal and the installation of 820 new seats on that level. Posted in gallery as well. (I recall some of the old seats had Granada stenciled on their backs at past shows.)
https://www.facebook.com/jamusa/
The photos on this page belong to the State Theatre which has it’s own page on CT below. As far as I can find Crothersville only had a State Theatre and a Grand Theatre.
http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/65642
Address is 105 E. Main Street and it is still standing. It closed in 1959, became Leo’s Laundry in the 70s, a pool hall in the 80s and later an athletic club. It was most recently Redneck Computers. As of 2021 a furniture business was slated to go into it.
This advertises the opening of the “66” Drive-in. It also contains an ad for the Kingston Drive-In just above the “66” Drive-In opening ad.
This ad is for the Mustang Drive-In, not the Kingston Drive-In.
That is not a duplicate listing. Kingston had two drive-ins, confirmed by locals. The Kingston Drive-In and the 66 Drive-In later Mustang Drive-In. If you look at the newspaper image you posted on the Kingston’s page on 12/21/21, it has print ads for both the Kingston and the 66 Drive-In on the same page. The Kingston Drive-in was already open when the 66 Drive-In opened. The Kingston ad is above the 66 ad in your link below. The 66/Mustang related images should be removed from the Kingston’s page and re-posted on this one.
http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/2885/photos/361227
The “66” Drive-In name was based on the year it opened.
When looking for current Google street view, use 643 Main Street not Lower.
Confirmed 3/24/22 via Delta Gateway Museum:
“I’ve learned from a local resident that this photo is, in fact, the actual Princess Theater building (which was later Shibley’s). Just FYI.”
Admins, I added a page for Mustang Drive-In, originally “66” Drive-In, as the link in Nearby Theaters does not work.
OK, full history here credit Patrick Morris, supersedes everything above.
The Placade Playhouse was built circa 1912 at 1048 Fourth Avenue and was the first of four theater buildings to be constructed in the 1000 block of Fourth Avenue. An additional photograph of the building that was contributed by GB Berry is shown in the first comment. Both of these pictures were taken circa 1912 – 1914. Note that private residences were still located on each side of the theater. The Placade had become the home of the ” New Hippodrome” circa 1914 (after 2 -3 years) when the Hippodrome moved from 1042 Third Avenue. The picture of the New Hippodrome is shown in the second comment below. Note the pair of double square columns on each end of the building. This picture was taken circa 1921 – 1926 after the Motor Sales building was constructed at 1032 Fourth Avenue. In the meantime the Orpheum Theater was built circa 1916 at 1019 Fourth Ave. Circa 1923, the Placade / Hippodrome/ building became the State Theater which was in operation until the circa 1960.
Circa 1926, the Strand Theater moved into the building at 1037 Fourth Ave. across the street from the State Theater. Circa 1927, the Motor Sales building at 1032 Fourth Ave. became the location for the Palace Theater. Circa 1933, the Strand at 1037 became the Roxie. The Roxie was closed after a fire in 1952, but the building was repaired and used later for other businesses.
Link with additional history.
https://theclio.com/entry/87439
Additional history credit David Smith.
Orpheum Theatre, later to become The Cinema & would close as a theatre on November 3, 2011. The Orpheum Theater on 4th Ave was the only place in #HuntingtonWV, at one time where blacks could see a movie, & had to sit in the balcony even if the ground floor was empty, according to Sylvia Ridgeway, a lifelong resident, and driving force behind the NAACP in W.Va., first becoming the president of the Huntington chapter and then serving dual roles as the local president and leader at the state level.
As movie audiences dwindled, a number of theaters subdivided their big auditoriums into small mini theaters. Employing that strategy, the Hymans divided the Orpheum’s auditorium into four small theaters and renamed it the Cinema Theatre. Its audiences continued to shrink, and the theater closed in 2011. Today the former movie house is used by Redemption Church.
(Greater Huntington Theater Corp. operated it as one time, per a former employee.)
Additional history credit “Back In The Day” in #HuntingtonWV, courtesy David Smith.
The Abbott Theater was built in 1938 & cost $1,700 on a lot purchased by W.E. Neal, West End Realty Co. Named for Darwin E. Abbott, who came here in 1873, self-taught photographer, who opened a photo studio & later a picture frame plant in Central City that was one of the city’s largest employers. He passed in 1942. Its heyday was in the 1930’s/40’s. Later showing second releases, double features, and shorts. It showed its last movie in 1951. The next year, W.E. Neal and his wife Susan leased the theater to Community Players Inc. They staged lots of shows, but in the early 1990s, it was in need of too many repairs, & the board of directors closed the final curtain. A fire caused it to be razed in Dec. 1994.
Additional history, photos (in gallery) and description credit David Isaacs.
1927 view of The Strand theater and neighboring buildings in the 1000 block of 4th Avenue. It had only been open for about a year at the time of this photo and during the early 1930s the theater became the Roxy theater. This part of 4th Avenue was still mostly residential a dozen years before the photo was taken. Around the turn of the century, businesses started replacing the old houses along the street. Starting at 10th Street (and out of view in this photo) The Day & Night Bank was built in 1903, Elks Club 1909, and Orpheum Theater in the early 1910s. The Roxy experienced a fire August 25, 1952, but the building was repaired and remained in use for over 10 more years.
Older article about Huntington drive-ins.
https://www.huntingtonquarterly.com/articles/issue41/yesterday.html?fbclid=IwAR06CAPn3Oq-e2EgTywRienYl7GmF3O9axx7-lv9Klxv1h6kFZtlq3Hh3_k
Link with 28 photos of the Redmoor Event Center.
https://cincinnatirefined.com/arts-design/the-redmoor-mt-lookout-cincinnati-event-venue-3187-linwood-ave?fbclid=IwAR1hEuNtBhbjVdZu9ef9NN7MSzRBiK3f8k24WuBYOrq6yfUgSZ-o5xoT12c#photo-1
Additional history credit Mt.Healthy Historical Society Facebook page.
“Peter Blum built the theater and opened it for silent movies in 1914 or 1915. His sister Bertha played piano to accompany the silent films. Later, Peter’s son Joe took over the operation. This theater was the center of Mt Healthy entertainment, which was not only a hub for the townspeople but for the surrounding farming communities, for many years. Joe chose to show only wholesome family appropriate movies, what we might call G-rated today. When movies veered away from this into more worldly content, with elements of sex and violence, Joe chose to shut down the theater. This was sometime in the 1970s or 1980s, we estimate. What followed was an auction house, and then years of neglect with the building falling into disrepair. The Port Authority has determined that the building is of sufficient historical significance that it has invested funds to stabilize the building, so it will stand against the weather without further deterioration, until a new use can be found for it.”
2018 article about possible redevelopment.
https://www.cincinnati.com/story/money/2018/02/19/former-hollywood-theatre-college-hill-sold-neighborhood-group-redevelopment/337177002/?fbclid=IwAR1ipN1EbLyJbh-XujGQtuE5sDdcfc-Va8EQQr38XDx2P0Zc5yNK1uC7iIo
Utopia Film Festival is held at the Greenbelt. Website and Facebook page with photos.
https://www.utopiafilmfestival.org/?fbclid=IwAR1b8wbpJbz_0dOXL6ISAQvCQMfSjUgYLdHQVXvcxtrocuceIVQxoBG4er8
https://www.facebook.com/Utopia-Film-Festival-1980565558855098