The November 9, 1912, issue of Southwest Contractor & Manufacturer has an item that is about the project that became the Savoy Theatre:
“THEATER AND STORES—E. J. Borgmeyer, 317 Stimson Bldg, has prepared plans for a l-story brick moving picture theater and store building to be built on the northeast corner of Fifty-fourth St. and Central Ave. for S. K. Lindley. Concrete foundation, 50x125 ft., cement floor, brick walls, stucco front, staff work, composition roof. plate and prism glass store fronts, marble and tile lobby, mahogany and pine trim, electric wiring. Bids have been taken.”
In the 1915 city directory, this house was listed as the Palace Theatre, and in the 1917 directory as the New Palace Theatre. I think it is pretty likely that this theater was the project noted in the November 16, 1912, issue of Southwest Contractor & Manufacturer:
“THEATER AND STORES—Morris Hurwitz, 212 N. Main St., has been awarded the general contract at $10,500 for the erection of a 1~story brick moving picture theater and store building at Forty-seventh St. and Moneta Ave, for John Borelli. The contract does not include decorating, lighting fixtures or gas heaters. Train & Williams, Archts., 226 Exchange Bldg.”
The theater most likely opened in early 1913. The location was Moneta and 47th Place rather than Moneta and 47th Street. The magazine made a careless mistake.
Aside from a discrepancy in seating capacity (which might have been exaggerated in the article and might have been reduced in later years) this item from the November 16, 1912, issue of Southwest Contractor & Manufacturer sounds like it could have been about this theater:
“BRICK THEATER—F. D Spaulding, 1460 Dana St., has been awarded the contract at $15,960 for the erection complete of a l-story brick theater and store building on Ninth St., near Georgia, for Adele Otto Schmidt, 820 Story Bldg. A. L. Valk, archt., 933 Union Oil Bldg. The theater will seat about 800. Dimensions, 50x128 ft.; stucco front, composition roof, steel lintels, galvanized iron dome, tile floor and marble wainscot in lobby, hardwood and pine trim. cement floors, plate and prism glass windows, plumbing, electric wiring.”
As noted earlier, this house was listed as Gore’s Theatre in the Los Angeles Times of November 9, 1914, and in the 1915 city directory. In the 1917 directory it is listed as the New Georgia Theatre.
The December 20, 1919, issue of The Economist, Chicago’s weekly business and real estate journal, reported that Charles Bugg, operator of the Bugg Theatre, had bought the property containing the nearby Republican [sic] Theatre, an adjacent store and apartment building, and a garage fronting on Robey Street (Damon Avenue.) It looks as though Bugg bought the property in order to shut down the competition. The Bugg Theatre might have outlived the Republic, but the Republic’s building is still standing and the Bugg’s is long gone.
This undated photo of the Orpheum Theatre shows part of the neighboring Gem Theatre, which was featuring a Clara Kimbell Young movie. Young was getting lead roles by 1915, so the photo might date from the period when the Gem was still the America or the Isis. The name of the theater isn’t displayed anywhere that I can see.
The first Orpheum Theatre in Twin Falls was operating by 1906 in a small, wood framed building on Main Street. This photo depicts the second Orpheum at 131 Shoshone Street. It also gives a glimpse of the Gem Theatre next door, advertising a Clara Kimball Young movie.
In this photo the second Orpheum has become the Rialto. A sliver of the Gem’s building, no longer a theater by this time, appears here as well.
In 1929, Publix was operating a house at Fort Fairfield called the Park Theatre. It had 557 seats. The Paramount was its replacement. The October 27, 1929, issue of The Film Daily had this item:
“Fort Fairfield, Me.— A new $80,000 theater here is being planned from design of Bunker and Savage, Augusta architects.”
This was soon followed by this notice in a list of projects Publix had underway, published in the November 8 issue:
“Augusta, Me. — Fort Fairfield, rapidly nearing completion, is expected to be ready for opening in the spring Bunker & Savage drew the plans for the new Publix house.”
I’ve been unable to discover the opening date of the Paramount, but if it was on schedule it should have been 1930.
Interestingly, the firm of Bunker & Savage is still in operation, though I don’t see any theaters among their recent projects.
If they’ve gone to the expense of installing digital equipment for the Scarlett Johannson movie they must be intending to show movies frequently. You don’t spend that much for something you’ll rarely use.
In my previous comment I was mistaken in saying that the second Orpheum was on Shoshone Street North. It was at 131 Shoshone Street East, and when the new Orpheum opened in 1921 it became the Rialto Theatre.
Thanks for the newspaper clippings about the Idaho Theatre you just uploaded to the photo section, OCRon. I was interrupted while writing my previous comment, so it sat on my computer for several hours before I finished it and posted it. (Maybe I should have re-checked the page for updates before posting.)
But the clippings confirm my suspicion that the Idaho was never called the Rialto, and as we now know that the Idaho opened in 1916, the Rialto must never have been called the Idaho, either.
Also, an undated photo of the Rialto Theatre (possibly Lost Memory’s dead link,) which was across the street from the Idaho, at 131 Shoshone Street East. The Rialto was originally the second Orpheum in Twin Falls, probably renamed when the third Orpheum opened in 1921. Here is is a photo of it as the Orpheum.
It’s possible that that the house at 131 was called the Idaho for a while before being called the Rialto, but houses called the Idaho and the Rialto were both in operation by 1927, so the theater at 130 must have been built by that year at the latest, and the house at 131 must have been renamed Rialto by then. It seems unlikely that the house at 130 was ever called the Rialto, though, so that aka should probably be removed from this page.
The author of this article at the web site of the Twin Falls Times-News claims that the Orpheum Theatre opened in its present location in 1918 (he appears to be mistaken- see the final paragraph of our description of the Gem Theatre) after having operated on Shoshone Street North for a number of years. Its original location was on Main Street South, where it opened in 1906.
A gallery accompanies the article, with exterior photos of the Lavering Opera House and the Rialto Theatre, an interior shot of the Lyric Theatre, and an early photo of Main Street that includes the original Orpheum, which was in a tiny, wood-framed building.
I was going to update the dead link to the Boxoffice article I cited in my earlier comment, but discovered that the magazine is in the process of changing formats for its online archive again. That means that Cinema Treasures is going to be hit by another epidemic of linkrot. I’m not sure it will even be possible to link to pages in the new archive yet, as the new format appears to be set up only for “sharing” pages by embedding them in other sites.
If anybody wants to check out the new Boxoffice archive (they only have the four most recent issues available so far) it’s right here.
The caption of the rendering OCRon mentioned says that the Corbin Theatre was actually designed by Gale Santocono (though it misspells his first name as Gail.) That opens the possibility that the Buena Park theater I mentioned in my comment of January 21, 2010, was also designed by Santocono, and Overpeck merely signed the plans for both houses as Santocono was not yet a licensed architect (this comment by Carol Santocono, Gale Santocono’s granddaughter, on our Raven Performing Arts Center page, says that Santocono was first licensed to practice architecture in California in the early 1960s.)
The July 9, 1936, issue of The Film Daily reported the opening the previous day of the Capitol Theatre in Danville, Pennsylvania:
“Danville, Pa., July 9. — Most of the leading citizens shared in the opening of the new Comerford house here yesterday. A community dinner at noon had I. E. Wolf, president of the Chamber of Commerce, as toastmaster, and Reed McCarty, editor of the Morning News, as principal speaker, with Frank C. Walker and M. E. Comerford as guests. A parade and daylight fireworks preceded the formal opening at 6 o'clock. George A. Nevin is local manager.”
Here is information about the American Theatre from the March 25, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World:
“The American Theater, owned and manager by Morris Less, also owner and manager of the Lyric Film Supply, is Terre Haute’s best in moving picture theaters.
“As will be seen by the views, the American is the real thing. It seats 1,050, has a pipe organ, an operating room 10 x 18 x 8, having an 18-lnch vent flue. There are two Simplex projectors. Over the lobby Is the Lyric Film Supply, where projectors of various kinds are carried, as well as a full line of supplies, and a rather weird collection of projectors of ancient and venerable aspect and design.
“The American Theater has a light plant which Is a real curiosity. Brother Less just simply don’t propose to have his theater go dark. He has a 60-h. p. kerosene engine and a 120-volt generator of 260 ampere capacity, a motor and another generator of like capacity to rectify the A. C. in event the engine gets balky, and still another motor and generator of smaller capacity to carry the load when it is light
“The seating consists of a bank of seats in front, then a bank of brass-railed loge boxes, behind which is a second bank of seats. There is also a narrow balcony at either side and the rear, all given over to loge boxes. The lighting is by handsome, inverted fixtures.
“Projection is very good, though I believe it might with advantage be more brilliant.
“Mr. Less is a wide awake exhibitor, as well as an affable gentleman, with whom one likes to talk and exchange views. May his tribe increase.”
The August 6, 1919, issue of The new York Clipper reported that the Butterfield circuit’s new Regent Theatre in Lima, Ohio, was expected to open on August 28. Butterfield planned to open another Regent in Kalamazoo, Michigan, on August 31, and had lately begun construction on a third house of that name in Flint, Michigan.
Here is a brief article about the Quilna Theatre project from the March 8, 1919, issue of The Moving Picture World:
“Bijou Syndicate Builds New Theatre in Lima
“LIMA, OHIO, is to have a handsome new moving picture theatre. The Shawnee Amusement Company will operate the house, which is one of thirty-seven in Ohio and nearby states, the bulk of the capital being furnished by the Bijou Theatre Enterprise Company of Detroit.
“The new theatre, which will seat 1,500 persons, is to have a $10,000 Hope-Jones organ, leather upholstered chairs and a balcony given over entirely to boxes, each fitted with six wicker chairs. It will be located in the handsome brick building now being used by the Heniger Auto Sales Company. This building was completed about a year ago and is especially adapted for uses of this kind. It is situated next to the Trinity Methodist Church.
“J. J. Zanone, formerly manager of Lima’s Majestic, will have entire charge of the theatre, and promises up-to-date releases and a progressive policy generally. He has engaged a ten-piece orchestra, which will furnish the music with each showing. At least $50,000 will be spent on improving the building.”
The February 21, 1919, issue of The Lima News reported that local architect Walter DeKalb would work with theater architect John Eberson on the project.
The March 25, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World reported that the Cozy Theatre in Shawnee was to be remodeled and enlarged:
“The work of remodeling and enlarging the Cozy theater, Shawnee, Okla., in which $7,000 is to be expended, is to begin at once. With the contemplated enlargement of the Cozy a new firm has been organized to conduct this theater. A. J. Cammack has gone in with Jake Jones and Nicholas Albert, the proprietors heretofore, and the firm will be known as Jones, Albert & Cammack.
“Increasing business merited the enlarging of the Cozy. The new dimensions of this photoplay house are 40 by 140 feet. It will have a seating capacity of 636. The proprietors expect to have the new place completed in time for Easter. The Cozy when completed will be a worthy addition to the, handsome structures in Shawnee.”
The Film Daily of October 21, 1927, reported that the Griffith circuit’s new Bison Theatre in Shawnee had been set to open between October 16th and 18th.
On March 15, 1930, architect Victor A. Rigaumont received a copyright for drawings and seven sheets of blueprints for a theater to be built on Main Street in Salamanca, New York, for the Schine enterprises. I wonder if this could have been the Andrews Theatre? The deepening of the economic depression could have accounted for the delay in construction.
While the John and Drew Eberson Architectural Records from the Wolfsonian Library lists five theaters that John Eberson designed for the Schine circuit, the Seneca Theatre is not among them. In fact, Salamanca is not mentioned in the records at all. I wonder if the theater is just missing from the Wolfsonian’s archive, or if it has been mis-attributed to the Ebersons?
The November 9, 1912, issue of Southwest Contractor & Manufacturer has an item that is about the project that became the Savoy Theatre:
In the 1915 city directory, this house was listed as the Palace Theatre, and in the 1917 directory as the New Palace Theatre. I think it is pretty likely that this theater was the project noted in the November 16, 1912, issue of Southwest Contractor & Manufacturer:
The theater most likely opened in early 1913. The location was Moneta and 47th Place rather than Moneta and 47th Street. The magazine made a careless mistake.Aside from a discrepancy in seating capacity (which might have been exaggerated in the article and might have been reduced in later years) this item from the November 16, 1912, issue of Southwest Contractor & Manufacturer sounds like it could have been about this theater:
As noted earlier, this house was listed as Gore’s Theatre in the Los Angeles Times of November 9, 1914, and in the 1915 city directory. In the 1917 directory it is listed as the New Georgia Theatre.The December 20, 1919, issue of The Economist, Chicago’s weekly business and real estate journal, reported that Charles Bugg, operator of the Bugg Theatre, had bought the property containing the nearby Republican [sic] Theatre, an adjacent store and apartment building, and a garage fronting on Robey Street (Damon Avenue.) It looks as though Bugg bought the property in order to shut down the competition. The Bugg Theatre might have outlived the Republic, but the Republic’s building is still standing and the Bugg’s is long gone.
This undated photo of the Orpheum Theatre shows part of the neighboring Gem Theatre, which was featuring a Clara Kimbell Young movie. Young was getting lead roles by 1915, so the photo might date from the period when the Gem was still the America or the Isis. The name of the theater isn’t displayed anywhere that I can see.
The first Orpheum Theatre in Twin Falls was operating by 1906 in a small, wood framed building on Main Street. This photo depicts the second Orpheum at 131 Shoshone Street. It also gives a glimpse of the Gem Theatre next door, advertising a Clara Kimball Young movie.
In this photo the second Orpheum has become the Rialto. A sliver of the Gem’s building, no longer a theater by this time, appears here as well.
This page from the Maine Memory Network says that the Paramount opened in April, 1930.
In 1929, Publix was operating a house at Fort Fairfield called the Park Theatre. It had 557 seats. The Paramount was its replacement. The October 27, 1929, issue of The Film Daily had this item:
This was soon followed by this notice in a list of projects Publix had underway, published in the November 8 issue:I’ve been unable to discover the opening date of the Paramount, but if it was on schedule it should have been 1930.Interestingly, the firm of Bunker & Savage is still in operation, though I don’t see any theaters among their recent projects.
If they’ve gone to the expense of installing digital equipment for the Scarlett Johannson movie they must be intending to show movies frequently. You don’t spend that much for something you’ll rarely use.
In my previous comment I was mistaken in saying that the second Orpheum was on Shoshone Street North. It was at 131 Shoshone Street East, and when the new Orpheum opened in 1921 it became the Rialto Theatre.
Thanks for the newspaper clippings about the Idaho Theatre you just uploaded to the photo section, OCRon. I was interrupted while writing my previous comment, so it sat on my computer for several hours before I finished it and posted it. (Maybe I should have re-checked the page for updates before posting.)
But the clippings confirm my suspicion that the Idaho was never called the Rialto, and as we now know that the Idaho opened in 1916, the Rialto must never have been called the Idaho, either.
Photos of the Idaho Theatre from 1968 (one or the other of these is probably kencmcintyre’s dead link):
One
Two
Also, an undated photo of the Rialto Theatre (possibly Lost Memory’s dead link,) which was across the street from the Idaho, at 131 Shoshone Street East. The Rialto was originally the second Orpheum in Twin Falls, probably renamed when the third Orpheum opened in 1921. Here is is a photo of it as the Orpheum.
It’s possible that that the house at 131 was called the Idaho for a while before being called the Rialto, but houses called the Idaho and the Rialto were both in operation by 1927, so the theater at 130 must have been built by that year at the latest, and the house at 131 must have been renamed Rialto by then. It seems unlikely that the house at 130 was ever called the Rialto, though, so that aka should probably be removed from this page.
The 1939 photo of the Roxy Theatre that Lost Memory linked to can now be found at this link.
The author of this article at the web site of the Twin Falls Times-News claims that the Orpheum Theatre opened in its present location in 1918 (he appears to be mistaken- see the final paragraph of our description of the Gem Theatre) after having operated on Shoshone Street North for a number of years. Its original location was on Main Street South, where it opened in 1906.
A gallery accompanies the article, with exterior photos of the Lavering Opera House and the Rialto Theatre, an interior shot of the Lyric Theatre, and an early photo of Main Street that includes the original Orpheum, which was in a tiny, wood-framed building.
I was going to update the dead link to the Boxoffice article I cited in my earlier comment, but discovered that the magazine is in the process of changing formats for its online archive again. That means that Cinema Treasures is going to be hit by another epidemic of linkrot. I’m not sure it will even be possible to link to pages in the new archive yet, as the new format appears to be set up only for “sharing” pages by embedding them in other sites.
If anybody wants to check out the new Boxoffice archive (they only have the four most recent issues available so far) it’s right here.
The caption of the rendering OCRon mentioned says that the Corbin Theatre was actually designed by Gale Santocono (though it misspells his first name as Gail.) That opens the possibility that the Buena Park theater I mentioned in my comment of January 21, 2010, was also designed by Santocono, and Overpeck merely signed the plans for both houses as Santocono was not yet a licensed architect (this comment by Carol Santocono, Gale Santocono’s granddaughter, on our Raven Performing Arts Center page, says that Santocono was first licensed to practice architecture in California in the early 1960s.)
The July 9, 1936, issue of The Film Daily reported the opening the previous day of the Capitol Theatre in Danville, Pennsylvania:
Here is information about the American Theatre from the March 25, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World:
The August 6, 1919, issue of The new York Clipper reported that the Butterfield circuit’s new Regent Theatre in Lima, Ohio, was expected to open on August 28. Butterfield planned to open another Regent in Kalamazoo, Michigan, on August 31, and had lately begun construction on a third house of that name in Flint, Michigan.
Here is a brief article about the Quilna Theatre project from the March 8, 1919, issue of The Moving Picture World:
The February 21, 1919, issue of The Lima News reported that local architect Walter DeKalb would work with theater architect John Eberson on the project.The March 25, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World reported that the Cozy Theatre in Shawnee was to be remodeled and enlarged:
The Film Daily of October 21, 1927, reported that the Griffith circuit’s new Bison Theatre in Shawnee had been set to open between October 16th and 18th.
On March 15, 1930, architect Victor A. Rigaumont received a copyright for drawings and seven sheets of blueprints for a theater to be built on Main Street in Salamanca, New York, for the Schine enterprises. I wonder if this could have been the Andrews Theatre? The deepening of the economic depression could have accounted for the delay in construction.
While the John and Drew Eberson Architectural Records from the Wolfsonian Library lists five theaters that John Eberson designed for the Schine circuit, the Seneca Theatre is not among them. In fact, Salamanca is not mentioned in the records at all. I wonder if the theater is just missing from the Wolfsonian’s archive, or if it has been mis-attributed to the Ebersons?
The 1922-1923 edition of Film Daily Yearbook lists the following theaters at Ottumwa: Rex, Circle, Strand, Empire, and Princess.