The Uptown Theatre first appears in the 1937 edition of the FDY. The Uptown appears on David and Noelle’s list of known Boller Brothers theaters as a 1935 design, so it probably opened in 1936, but too late to be included in the Yearbook.
This house opened, perhaps as the Princess Theatre, in 1920. This PDF with a brief history of Sweet Springs quotes (on page 19) an article from the March 4 issue of the Sweet Springs Herald:
“C. J. Caldwell has been at work with a force of hands thoroughly remodeling the Hayman property on Lexington Avenue he recently purchased, and fitting it for a modern picture theater. A heating plant was put in, the floor lowered, a balcony built, ticket office, newly decorated and painted, opera chairs have been added, making it one of the nicest and most convenient theaters in this part of the state. The new theater will probably be called ‘The Princess’ and will be in operation within two weeks.”
An item from November, 1931, is also cited, saying that Floyd Ripley had leased the Star Theatre from Mr. Goodnight. The Star Theatre showed its first talking picture on April 15, 1930.
According to the January 14, 1937, issue of The Film Daily this house had been renamed the Mida Theatre: “SWEET SPRINGS— Mida (formerly Star), transferred to D. J. Foley.” But then the March 7 issue listed the Mida in the “Closings” section of its “Theater Changes” column.
The author of the history I cited gives the impression that it was renamed the Ritz Theatre later in 1937, citing an article in the August 13 issue of the Herald:
“The managers of the Ritz Theater are more than pleased with the way their program of up-to-the-minute shows is meeting with public approval. On their opening night, they played to a full house, and their seating capacity has been taxed since then. Miller Brothers, the managers, believe that their cooling system makes the theater the coolest place in town. Next Thursday a new plan is being tried No one will be at the box office selling tickets. but after the show patrons will be given the opportunity of dropping the amount in a box that they think the show was worth.”
Nothing in the document specifically says that the Star became the Ritz. The 1938 FDY actually lists three theaters at Sweet Springs: The Ritz, with 350 seats; the Star, with 400 seats, but closed; and the Uptown, with 394 seats. It’s possible that the FDY just didn’t keep up with the changes and listed the Star/Ritz under both its old and its new name. The Star is not listed in the FDY after 1938. The Ritz is listed through 1945.
The Wednesday, June 12, 1918, issue of The Gastonia Gazette said that the Gastonian Theatre would open on Friday.
I suspect that the Gastonian’s site was under the footprint of the modern Gaston County Administration Building. An old red brick building on the corner of Marietta Street, now the Carriage Company Lofts, uses the address 100 W. Main, but it is a double-width building that has two storefronts, so it might historically have been 100 and 102 W. Main. Next door to it is an old building with a pale brick front, vacant in the current street view and displaying no address. If that building is at 104 W. Main then 106 has been demolished. But 104 was the address of the Cozy Theatre, which the Gastonia apparently drove out of business. If the Cozy was in that building I guess it gets the last laugh.
However, if the addresses rise more rapidly, then the building with the pale brick front might be 106, and the Cozy might have been in the second storefront of the red brick building on the corner, and both theater buildings would still be standing. But in the absence of some source such as old photos or a Sanborn map there’s no way to tell.
The Cozy is listed in the 1918-1919 city directory, but not in the 1921-1922 or later editions. No directory for the years between is available online, but the Cozy was gone by 1921. Most likely it succumbed due to competition from the Gastonia Theatre, opened next door in June, 1918.
This house opened sometime between 1927 and 1930 as the Loray Theatre, and appears to have been the second location of that house. In 1935, it was remodeled and enlarged and reopened as the Carolina Theatre. The September 12, 1935, issue of The Gastonia Gazette had this item about the theater:
“Since the remodeling of the old Loray theater into the new Carolina theater there has been a decided change for the better in the behavior of former boisterous and rowdy patrons. Whistling, cat calls and profanity have been banned, and pictures can now be enjoyed in comfort and pleasure.”
The April 18, 1935, issue of The Film Daily noted the planned changes at the Loray Theatre:
“GASTONIA— W. T. Gray will close the Loray for a complete remodeling and enlarging. Plans call for 700 seats, modern ventilating and equipment throughout; cost $10,000. Unique cooling plant; local ice company plant adjacent will be hooked up with theatre in summer.”
DocSouth’s “Going to the Show” lists two addresses for the Loray Theatre, and neither of them is 1225 W. Franklin. One Loray Theatre operated from around 1921 to around 1927 at 1230 W. Franklin, DocSouth says, and another operated at 1212 W. Franklin beginning around 1930. The house at 1230 had 200 seats, but no capacity is listed for the one at 1212.
To add further complication, a 1910 city directory lists the Loray Theatre at 1228 W. Franklin, but this might have been the same theater that was operating 1921-1927.
The Loray Theatre that was at 1212 W. Franklin was remodeled and enlarged in 1935 and was renamed the Carolina Theatre, according to the September 12 issue of The Gastonia Gazette. DocSouth doesn’t list the Carolina Theatre. Both buildings occupied by the Loray Theatre have been demolished.
An item in the April 17, 1935, issue of The Film Daily said that the new theater to be built at 361 W. 23rd Street was located on the site of the former home of actress Lily Langtry.
The address of the original Sayville Theatre was probably 107 Railroad Avenue, if as robboehm says it was next door to the north of the site of its replacement at 103 Railroad. The building the other side of the parking lot is at 111-113 Railroad.
The April 6, 1935, issue of The film Daily said that the Sayville Theatre was soon to be remodeled:
“John Eberson, architect, has been commissioned by Prudential Playhouses to handle the complete remodeling of the Sayville Theater, Sayville, L. I. Alterations include exterior, interior and practically all equipment and furnishings.”
The March 13, 1942, issue of The Film Daily had an item about the Tower Theatre:
“$80,000 Tower Theater Ends Ft. Worth Building
“Ft. Worth — The last new theater locally, probably for the duration, has opened. It is the Tower Theater in Riverside addition, completed at a cost of $80,000, a joint enterprise of Interstate Circuit, Inc., and James F. Hightower and son, Dennis.
“The modernistic buff structure with 800 seats represents the latest in design. Representative of Texas and the Southwest are the decorative cactus murals in the lobby.”
If it was listed as the Pix in 1950 then it had gone back to an earlier name. The January 30, 1942, issue of The Film Daily said: “Chicago’s Victory Theater, formerly the Pix, has reopened after extensive modernization.”
The streamline modern front on the Jo Theatre dated from 1947. The August 8 issue of The Film Daily noted the project in their “About the Trade” column:
“The contract for the in-
stallation of a modern theater front for the Jo Theater, St. Joseph, Mo., recently was awarded to the Glaze Construction Co., St. Joseph, by the owners… . William R. Scott manages the theater… .”
The January 24, 1933, issue of The Film Daily ran this report of a fire at the Rialto Theatre:
“ST. JOSEPH HOUSE BURNED
“St. Joseph, Mo. — Nate Block’s Orpheum, operated by O. G. Amusement, was destroyed by fire yesterday with loss estimated at $50,000. Police are investigating. The house was picketed several months ago, due to trouble with operators.”
The March 30 issue reported that the theater would be rebuilt:
“REBUILDING ST. JOSEPH HOUSE
“St. Joseph, Mo. — The Orpheum, destroyed by fire recently, will be rebuilt into a 1,200-seat house. Nate Block is the owner.”
According to St. Joseph Memory Lane, the rebuilt Orpheum reopened on October 14, 1933. The Orpheum was sold in 1958 to Mechanics Bank, which had the building demolished to make way for a parking lot.
St. Joseph Memory Lane says that the Uptown Theatre was still called the Rivoli Theatre in 1934. The Uptown showed its last movie on Tuesday, March 1, 1955.
The Rivoli Theatre was listed in the 1927 Film Daily Yearbook.
St. Joseph Memory Lane gives the address of the Jo Theatre as 124 N. 3rd Street. It also says that the house had been known as the Charwood Theatre and the Louis Theatre. It reopened as the Jo Theatre on June 26, 1942, and its last day of operation was Saturday, February 12, 1955.
I’ve found a single mention of the Charwood Theatre in the trade publications. The Film Daily of May 25, 1933, said that the Charwood Theatre had been transferred from Mrs. Charles T. Phelps to McKinney & McManus. Memory Lane says it was called the Louis Theatre from 1939-1941.
Andrew, the Fox Pasadena Theatre opened around 1910 as Clune’s Pasadena Theatre. It was called simply the Pasadena Theatre during the 1920s. William Fox didn’t take over the West Coast Theatres circuit until the very late 1920s. That was probably the house in which the organ was installed.
The March 17, 1923, issue of Exhibitors Trade Review had this item about the Strand Theatre:
“BNDICOTT, N. Y The new Strand Theatre has been opened in Endicott, N. Y. The Strand is a 1000 seat house, designed and erected by A. E. Badgley of Binghamton. A Link orchestral organ has been installed. The interior decorations were done by Continental studios of Chicago.”
Andrew, this house opened in 1911 as the Orpheum Theatre and kept that name until the new Orpheum opened at 842 Broadway in February, 1926. This house was then called the Broadway Palace Theatre for a few years before becoming simply the Palace Theatre. I suppose it’s possible that an organ was installed in early 1926. As the Orpheum it had been a two-a-day vaudeville house, and would not have needed an organ. I don’t think it showed movies with any regularity until after becoming the Broadway Palace.
Unless the project fell through, or something happened to the original building, this theater must have opened by 1914. Here is an item from the August 9, 1913, issue of Motography:
“Contracts are to be given out for a one-story brick moving-picture theater to be erected at 182 and 184 Belmont avenue, Newark, for Joseph Stern. Hyman Rosensohn is the architect of the project, which will cover a plot 42x100 feet. The roofing will be reinforced concrete and steel. There will be a seating capacity of about 650. About $12,000 will be expended on the building.”
It’s possible that the house opened under another name and only became the National Theatre in the 1920s.
The August 9, 1913, issue of Motography had this item about the opening of a house called the Colonial Theatre, but it gives a different location for it:
“Crowds flocked to the handsome new Colonial theater at Atlantic avenue, between New York and Kentucky avenues, Atlantic City, the afternoon of July 2, to attend the opening performance. Words of praise were heard on all sides for the up-to-date manner in which the new house is to be conducted and for its general appearance. Six capital pictures are shown each afternoon and evening. Chris S. Hand is the able general manager of the house and he has a competent staff of assistants.”
I don’t know if the magazine just got the location wrong, or if there actually was another, short-lived Colonial Theatre a few blocks from this one.
The contract for the foundations of this theater had been let, but the architects were taking revised bids on the general contract, according to an item in the September 9, 1922, issue of The American Contractor.
Was there a second theater on this block? The August 5, 1926, issue of The Film Daily had an item about new theater projects in St. Joseph which included this paragraph:
“Construction also has started on another house on St. Joseph Ave. between Jefferson and Fillmore Sts. Mrs. Glenn Moskau is the owner. This structure will cost about $30,000”
A later item said that Simplex projectors had been installed in Mrs. Moskau’s new theater, but didn’t give its name or any other details.
The August 23, 1926, issue of The Scranton Republican said that Michael Comerford’s new Capitol Theatre in Hazleton was scheduled to open on Labor Day. That would have been Monday, September 6. Jack Theakston is right about the likely architect. Every house built by Comerford in the 1920s that I’ve found attributed to an architect in newspaper or trade journal items has been attributed to Leon H. Lempert, Jr., or the firm of Leon H. Lempert & Son.
The Uptown Theatre first appears in the 1937 edition of the FDY. The Uptown appears on David and Noelle’s list of known Boller Brothers theaters as a 1935 design, so it probably opened in 1936, but too late to be included in the Yearbook.
This house opened, perhaps as the Princess Theatre, in 1920. This PDF with a brief history of Sweet Springs quotes (on page 19) an article from the March 4 issue of the Sweet Springs Herald:
An item from November, 1931, is also cited, saying that Floyd Ripley had leased the Star Theatre from Mr. Goodnight. The Star Theatre showed its first talking picture on April 15, 1930.According to the January 14, 1937, issue of The Film Daily this house had been renamed the Mida Theatre: “SWEET SPRINGS— Mida (formerly Star), transferred to D. J. Foley.” But then the March 7 issue listed the Mida in the “Closings” section of its “Theater Changes” column.
The author of the history I cited gives the impression that it was renamed the Ritz Theatre later in 1937, citing an article in the August 13 issue of the Herald:
Nothing in the document specifically says that the Star became the Ritz. The 1938 FDY actually lists three theaters at Sweet Springs: The Ritz, with 350 seats; the Star, with 400 seats, but closed; and the Uptown, with 394 seats. It’s possible that the FDY just didn’t keep up with the changes and listed the Star/Ritz under both its old and its new name. The Star is not listed in the FDY after 1938. The Ritz is listed through 1945.The 1930-1931 Gastonia city directory lists the Ideal Theatre at 159-161 W. Main Avenue. It had previously been listed at 125 or 127 W. Main.
The Wednesday, June 12, 1918, issue of The Gastonia Gazette said that the Gastonian Theatre would open on Friday.
I suspect that the Gastonian’s site was under the footprint of the modern Gaston County Administration Building. An old red brick building on the corner of Marietta Street, now the Carriage Company Lofts, uses the address 100 W. Main, but it is a double-width building that has two storefronts, so it might historically have been 100 and 102 W. Main. Next door to it is an old building with a pale brick front, vacant in the current street view and displaying no address. If that building is at 104 W. Main then 106 has been demolished. But 104 was the address of the Cozy Theatre, which the Gastonia apparently drove out of business. If the Cozy was in that building I guess it gets the last laugh.
However, if the addresses rise more rapidly, then the building with the pale brick front might be 106, and the Cozy might have been in the second storefront of the red brick building on the corner, and both theater buildings would still be standing. But in the absence of some source such as old photos or a Sanborn map there’s no way to tell.
The Cozy is listed in the 1918-1919 city directory, but not in the 1921-1922 or later editions. No directory for the years between is available online, but the Cozy was gone by 1921. Most likely it succumbed due to competition from the Gastonia Theatre, opened next door in June, 1918.
This house opened sometime between 1927 and 1930 as the Loray Theatre, and appears to have been the second location of that house. In 1935, it was remodeled and enlarged and reopened as the Carolina Theatre. The September 12, 1935, issue of The Gastonia Gazette had this item about the theater:
The April 18, 1935, issue of The Film Daily noted the planned changes at the Loray Theatre:DocSouth’s “Going to the Show” lists two addresses for the Loray Theatre, and neither of them is 1225 W. Franklin. One Loray Theatre operated from around 1921 to around 1927 at 1230 W. Franklin, DocSouth says, and another operated at 1212 W. Franklin beginning around 1930. The house at 1230 had 200 seats, but no capacity is listed for the one at 1212.
To add further complication, a 1910 city directory lists the Loray Theatre at 1228 W. Franklin, but this might have been the same theater that was operating 1921-1927.
The Loray Theatre that was at 1212 W. Franklin was remodeled and enlarged in 1935 and was renamed the Carolina Theatre, according to the September 12 issue of The Gastonia Gazette. DocSouth doesn’t list the Carolina Theatre. Both buildings occupied by the Loray Theatre have been demolished.
An opening announcement for Craver’s Ideal Theatre published in The Gastonia Gazette, June 30, 1913, says that it was formerly Beard’s Theato.
An item in the April 17, 1935, issue of The Film Daily said that the new theater to be built at 361 W. 23rd Street was located on the site of the former home of actress Lily Langtry.
The address of the original Sayville Theatre was probably 107 Railroad Avenue, if as robboehm says it was next door to the north of the site of its replacement at 103 Railroad. The building the other side of the parking lot is at 111-113 Railroad.
The April 6, 1935, issue of The film Daily said that the Sayville Theatre was soon to be remodeled:
The March 13, 1942, issue of The Film Daily had an item about the Tower Theatre:
If it was listed as the Pix in 1950 then it had gone back to an earlier name. The January 30, 1942, issue of The Film Daily said: “Chicago’s Victory Theater, formerly the Pix, has reopened after extensive modernization.”
The streamline modern front on the Jo Theatre dated from 1947. The August 8 issue of The Film Daily noted the project in their “About the Trade” column:
The January 24, 1933, issue of The Film Daily ran this report of a fire at the Rialto Theatre:
The March 30 issue reported that the theater would be rebuilt:According to St. Joseph Memory Lane, the rebuilt Orpheum reopened on October 14, 1933. The Orpheum was sold in 1958 to Mechanics Bank, which had the building demolished to make way for a parking lot.St. Joseph Memory Lane says that the Uptown Theatre was still called the Rivoli Theatre in 1934. The Uptown showed its last movie on Tuesday, March 1, 1955.
The Rivoli Theatre was listed in the 1927 Film Daily Yearbook.
St. Joseph Memory Lane gives the address of the Jo Theatre as 124 N. 3rd Street. It also says that the house had been known as the Charwood Theatre and the Louis Theatre. It reopened as the Jo Theatre on June 26, 1942, and its last day of operation was Saturday, February 12, 1955.
I’ve found a single mention of the Charwood Theatre in the trade publications. The Film Daily of May 25, 1933, said that the Charwood Theatre had been transferred from Mrs. Charles T. Phelps to McKinney & McManus. Memory Lane says it was called the Louis Theatre from 1939-1941.
Andrew, the Fox Pasadena Theatre opened around 1910 as Clune’s Pasadena Theatre. It was called simply the Pasadena Theatre during the 1920s. William Fox didn’t take over the West Coast Theatres circuit until the very late 1920s. That was probably the house in which the organ was installed.
The March 17, 1923, issue of Exhibitors Trade Review had this item about the Strand Theatre:
Andrew, this house opened in 1911 as the Orpheum Theatre and kept that name until the new Orpheum opened at 842 Broadway in February, 1926. This house was then called the Broadway Palace Theatre for a few years before becoming simply the Palace Theatre. I suppose it’s possible that an organ was installed in early 1926. As the Orpheum it had been a two-a-day vaudeville house, and would not have needed an organ. I don’t think it showed movies with any regularity until after becoming the Broadway Palace.
Unless the project fell through, or something happened to the original building, this theater must have opened by 1914. Here is an item from the August 9, 1913, issue of Motography:
It’s possible that the house opened under another name and only became the National Theatre in the 1920s.The August 9, 1913, issue of Motography had this item about the opening of a house called the Colonial Theatre, but it gives a different location for it:
I don’t know if the magazine just got the location wrong, or if there actually was another, short-lived Colonial Theatre a few blocks from this one.The contract for the foundations of this theater had been let, but the architects were taking revised bids on the general contract, according to an item in the September 9, 1922, issue of The American Contractor.
Was there a second theater on this block? The August 5, 1926, issue of The Film Daily had an item about new theater projects in St. Joseph which included this paragraph:
A later item said that Simplex projectors had been installed in Mrs. Moskau’s new theater, but didn’t give its name or any other details.The August 23, 1926, issue of The Scranton Republican said that Michael Comerford’s new Capitol Theatre in Hazleton was scheduled to open on Labor Day. That would have been Monday, September 6. Jack Theakston is right about the likely architect. Every house built by Comerford in the 1920s that I’ve found attributed to an architect in newspaper or trade journal items has been attributed to Leon H. Lempert, Jr., or the firm of Leon H. Lempert & Son.