The only theater name connected with Harvard that I’ve found in the trade journals from the 1920s is the Lyric, mentioned in Moving Picture World in February and March, 1924, when it was renamed Paramount. The Paramount is listed in the 1926, 1927 and 1928 editions of Film Daily Year Book, and the Harvard Theatre first appears in the 1928 edition, after which it is the only house listed. It might be that the Lyric was the proposed house mentioned in the September 8, 1923 MPW item datelined Harvard which said “E. M. Fetterman plans to erect moving picture theatre here.”
Plans to build the El Capitan Theatre were noted in Boxoffice as early as the issue of January 15, 1949, which said that El Rio Theatre owners John Marhege and Phillip Fidel would begin construction on a site in the new Riverside business section being developed by C. H. Yates. The original plans called for a steel and concrete block building in the Pueblo style with a seating capacity of 500.
Though construction was to start by January 20, the next mention of the project in Boxoffice did not appear until the issue of April 9, 1949, which described plans for a Quonset hut building with the theater and an adjacent 12-lane bowling alley. This item said that construction was underway. The house was to have 450-500 seats.
As the El Capitan did not open until 1951, and ended up with only 130 seats, plans were obviously changed drastically. Both Boxoffice items attributed the design of the theater to architect Leo J. Wolgamood, but I’ve been unable to discover if he stuck around to design the much diminished theater that was ultimately built.
The re-opening of the American Theatre (I don’t know if American was a mistake or if the theater was actually called that for a time) was noted in the September 23, 1950 issue of Boxoffice. The house had undergone a $75,000 remodeling. New seats, carpeting, lighting and stage drapes had been installed, along with a new foyer and new restrooms. Seating capacity had been increased from 808 to 822. Outside, a new marquee had been installed on the updated façade. The house was owned by the local Rialto Theatres company, but among the guests at the opening was Charles P. Skouras, president of the National Theatres company.
The September 3, 1950 issue of Boxoffice had a brief item noting that the publicly-owned Scera Theatre in Orem, Utah, had recently reopened following an extensive remodeling for its ninth anniversary. Improvements included plush carpeting, chandeliers, and a display of tropical plants. Profits from the theater, which was run by a nine-member board elected by the community, with three members elected to three-year terms each year, were used to finance public events and the development of public recreational facilities.
This item is from the January 19, 1967 issue of the Wallowa County Chieftain: “Purchase of the McLean Theater building in Wallowa was authorized by the Wallowa Grange on Friday evening and work will begin soon to convert the building into a modern hall for the Wallowa Grange.”
The auditorium walls are still standing, but the interior has been converted to ground floor retail space and a second floor with offices has been inserted into it.
Something has arisen. I have found sources attributing the design of the Lyceum to architect J. M. Wood. In fact, one web site, drypigment.net, has two articles by the same author, one of which attributes the design to Fran Cox and the other of which attributes it to J. M. Wood. Neither article mentions both architects.
At this point I’m more inclined to go with Wood as the architect, as there is a period source, namely multiple editions of a promotional book from the Winslow Bros. Ornamental Iron and Bronze Company, containing lists of projects for which Winslow Bros. had supplied ornamental pieces, and all editions I’ve found attribute the house to Wood. So far I haven’t found any period sources attributing the work to Cox.
The history section of the Biltmore’s official web site says that the house opened on April 4, 1940, and was designed by the architectural firm of Webb, Blythe & Sproule. Note that the current operators of this live music venue have readopted the original name of the house. Although the original decoration of the interior is gone, work is ongoing to restore what remains of the façade and to recreate the original Streamlined/Art Deco look elsewhere.
This location appears to have been the first for the Okun Bros. Biltmore Theatres, Ltd. chain. It was followed by four other houses called the Biltmore, plus the Biltmore Savoy Theatre in Toronto.
Architect Edward Isaac Richmond (1908-1982) is best known as a prolific designer of high rise apartment buildings in Toronto during the post-war period. The firm he founded is still in operation.
The Biltmore in Kingston was the second house in the Okun Bros. Biltmore Theatres chain. The earlier Biltmore was opened at Oshawa in 1940, and four more houses were added to the chain in the post-war period.
The web site of the Biltmore Theatre in Oshawa lists the openings of the other houses in the Okun Bros. Biltmore chain, and says that the Kitchener house opened in December, 1949. It is very likely, though not yet confirmed, that the Kitchener Biltmore was designed by Toronto architect S. Devore, who designed the Biltmore and Savoy Theatres on Yonge Street in Toronto for the same chain (the Savoy’s façade is almost identical to that of the Kitchener Biltmore), and might also have designed the Biltmore in Sault Ste. Marie.
The Savoy was the second Yonge Street house for the Okun Bros. Biltmore Theatres, Ltd. chain, and the chain’s sixth theatre, when it opened on February 15, 1951. Early photos show the name “Biltmore Savoy” on the façade. Doug Taylor attributes the design of the house to Toronto architect S. Devore, who also designed the Yonge Street Biltmore and perhaps at least two other houses in the Biltmore chain during the same period.
The January 2, 1949 issue of Boxoffice carried a brief item noting the recent opening of the Okun Bros. new Biltmore Theatre at Soult Ste. Marie. Other houses then operated by the Biltmore Theatres Ltd. chain were Biltmores at Oshawa, Kingston, New Toronto, and the flagship house on Yonge Street in Toronto. A year later the chain would open the Biltmore at Kitchener and in 1951 the Savoy would open as their second house on Yonge Street. As far as I’ve been able to discover, that was the chain’s peak.
It’s possible, but not yet confirmed, that the Sault Ste. Marie Biltmore was designed by Toronto architect S. Devore, who designed the Biltmore and Savoy on Yonge Street. The Sault house bears a strong resemblance to the two in Toronto, as well as to the Biltmore in Kitchener, which might also have been of Devore’s design.
Originally operated by the Okun Bros. Biltmore Theatres chain, the Biltmore was one of two houses the Okuns operated on Yonge Street, the other being the Savoy. Multiple sources indicate that both theaters were designed by a Toronto architect named S. Devore. I’ve been unable to track down any more information on Devore, not even his first name, but it’s possible that he designed other houses for the chain around the same time.
Doug Taylor’s book Toronto’s Local Movie Theatres of Yesteryear says that the Biltmore ended its days as a grind house, finally closing in 1986.
The Columbia Theatre appears to have been a new build in 1911, not an old vaudeville theater or opera house, as some sources claim. The February 14, 1911 issue of The Nickelodeon announced the plans for the house “…to be located in the new Rabold Building….” by the Columbia Theater Company, already operators of 14 theaters in various regions.
I’ve been unable to discover if Tony Sudekum’s Crescent Amusement Company took over the project from Columbia before or after the house opened, but Crescent was definitely in control of the Columbia by 1913. The Rabold family owned quite a bit of property in Bowling Green, including the building in which Crescent opened the Princess Theatre in 1914.
The 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory lets us down on Bowling Green, listing only two theaters, though the town must have had more. But one of the theaters is listed (with no address) as the “Crescent Amuse Co.” and the other is listed at 416 Main Street with the name Columbia Theatre. The Columbia is the house that was renamed the Capitol Theatre in 1921. The Columbia was taken over by the Crescent Amusement Company in 1911, so it’s possible that the AMPD simply double-listed the same house under the theater name and the name of the operating company. It’s possible that Bowling Green never had a theater called the Crescent.
If the Sanborn map shows a theater at 411 Park Row in 1909 it must have been there, but if it was not listed in the city directories 1911-1967 it must have had a brief life.
The Houlton Theatre was in a district a bit over a mile west of downtown St. Helens. Houlton, once called Milton, was adjacent to the railroad tracks while St. Helens proper was along the riverfront. The Houlton Theatre was operating by January, 1917, and still open in January 1919, but was never listed in the FDY, nor was it in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory.
The earliest appearance of Crane in the FDY is the in 1931 edition, which lists a Crane Theatre, with no seating capacity given. The 1932 edition lists the 200-seat Rivoli.
The January 25, 1919 issue of Film Daily said that a W. S. Weittenhiller was building a picture theater at Crane, but if that house did open it must have been closed by 1926.
A history of Saint Robert Bellarmine church says that the Urban Theatre was located on Broadway, part of a site later occupied by a Rite Aid store. The Rite Aid in East McKeesport, now closed itself, used the address 400 Lincoln Highway, which is an alternate name of the cross street, Greensburg Avenue. Historic aerial views show that the theater was at the north end of the block, and extended back from Broadway to Fifth Avenue, the next street east. From the historic aerial views it looks like the auditorium section was demolished long ago, and the front section, which once house Irene’s Restaurant, was knocked down by 2004, when the Rite Aid was developed. The space occupied by the theater became part of Rite Aid’s parking lot.
There are no buildings on the theater’s site now and an exact address can’t be found, but using the address 2011 Broadway at Google maps will put the pin icon just about where the theater’s entrance must have been.
The Portal to Texas History has a copy of The Ballinger Ledger for June 25, 1936 with a section about the new Texas Theatre, scheduled to open the following day. Down the page is a brief biographical sketch of co-owner W. D. Scales with quite a bit of information that appears to contradict much of the history of the town’s theaters that we have at Cinema Treasures. I’m trying to find more information, but so far haven’t had much luck.
The Ballinger Ledger of June 25, 1936, ran a special section about the new Texas Theatre which was set to open the following day. Among the articles in the section was a biographical sketch of the theater’s co-owner W. D. Scales. It says that Scales came to Ballinger in 1920 and took over the Maeroy Theatre, which was on Hutchings Avenue, and a few years later teamed up with H. T. Hodge to build the Queen Theatre on North Eighth Street.
If this is the case, then the Queen Theatre operating in 1914, on Hutchings Avenue, must have been a different house. The 1936 article also says that Scales & Hodge’s Queen on Eighth Street was on the site of the first Texas Theatre, and thus was demolished when that house was built in 1936. I’m still trying to puzzle out the history of Ballinger’s theaters, as we seem to have gotten quite a bit wrong about them, but information about them is pretty thin on the Internet.
A page citing a 1952 San Angelo Standard-Times article said that downtown Ballinger then had three theaters in operation, the Palace, the Texas, and the Ritz. The Ritz was rebuilt and reopened after the 1946 fire. A November 27, 1948 Boxoffice item mentioned H. Ford Taylor as “owner of the new Ritz” in Ballinger.
dorstar says the Ritz was on Hutchings (the correct spelling) Avenue. That opens the possibility that Ritz was an aka for the Princess/Maeroy Theatre, which we have listed on Eighth Street, but a 1936 edition of The Ballinger Ledger says was on Hutchings. I’m still trying to puzzle out the history of Ballinger’s theaters, much of which we have apparently gotten quite wrong so far. The pre-fire Ritz still might have been an entirely new house built in the 1930s, of course.
I haven’t been able to discover anything about the Rex/Ford Theatre, which I haven’t yet found mentioned by either name in any trade publications, but perhaps H. Ford Taylor had something to do with that house as well.
This web page about Portland’s early movie theaters says that the house that became the Firefly opened in 1922 as the first location of the Sellwood Theatre.
The only theater name connected with Harvard that I’ve found in the trade journals from the 1920s is the Lyric, mentioned in Moving Picture World in February and March, 1924, when it was renamed Paramount. The Paramount is listed in the 1926, 1927 and 1928 editions of Film Daily Year Book, and the Harvard Theatre first appears in the 1928 edition, after which it is the only house listed. It might be that the Lyric was the proposed house mentioned in the September 8, 1923 MPW item datelined Harvard which said “E. M. Fetterman plans to erect moving picture theatre here.”
Plans to build the El Capitan Theatre were noted in Boxoffice as early as the issue of January 15, 1949, which said that El Rio Theatre owners John Marhege and Phillip Fidel would begin construction on a site in the new Riverside business section being developed by C. H. Yates. The original plans called for a steel and concrete block building in the Pueblo style with a seating capacity of 500.
Though construction was to start by January 20, the next mention of the project in Boxoffice did not appear until the issue of April 9, 1949, which described plans for a Quonset hut building with the theater and an adjacent 12-lane bowling alley. This item said that construction was underway. The house was to have 450-500 seats.
As the El Capitan did not open until 1951, and ended up with only 130 seats, plans were obviously changed drastically. Both Boxoffice items attributed the design of the theater to architect Leo J. Wolgamood, but I’ve been unable to discover if he stuck around to design the much diminished theater that was ultimately built.
The re-opening of the American Theatre (I don’t know if American was a mistake or if the theater was actually called that for a time) was noted in the September 23, 1950 issue of Boxoffice. The house had undergone a $75,000 remodeling. New seats, carpeting, lighting and stage drapes had been installed, along with a new foyer and new restrooms. Seating capacity had been increased from 808 to 822. Outside, a new marquee had been installed on the updated façade. The house was owned by the local Rialto Theatres company, but among the guests at the opening was Charles P. Skouras, president of the National Theatres company.
The September 3, 1950 issue of Boxoffice had a brief item noting that the publicly-owned Scera Theatre in Orem, Utah, had recently reopened following an extensive remodeling for its ninth anniversary. Improvements included plush carpeting, chandeliers, and a display of tropical plants. Profits from the theater, which was run by a nine-member board elected by the community, with three members elected to three-year terms each year, were used to finance public events and the development of public recreational facilities.
This item is from the January 19, 1967 issue of the Wallowa County Chieftain: “Purchase of the McLean Theater building in Wallowa was authorized by the Wallowa Grange on Friday evening and work will begin soon to convert the building into a modern hall for the Wallowa Grange.”
The auditorium walls are still standing, but the interior has been converted to ground floor retail space and a second floor with offices has been inserted into it.
Something has arisen. I have found sources attributing the design of the Lyceum to architect J. M. Wood. In fact, one web site, drypigment.net, has two articles by the same author, one of which attributes the design to Fran Cox and the other of which attributes it to J. M. Wood. Neither article mentions both architects.
At this point I’m more inclined to go with Wood as the architect, as there is a period source, namely multiple editions of a promotional book from the Winslow Bros. Ornamental Iron and Bronze Company, containing lists of projects for which Winslow Bros. had supplied ornamental pieces, and all editions I’ve found attribute the house to Wood. So far I haven’t found any period sources attributing the work to Cox.
The history section of the Biltmore’s official web site says that the house opened on April 4, 1940, and was designed by the architectural firm of Webb, Blythe & Sproule. Note that the current operators of this live music venue have readopted the original name of the house. Although the original decoration of the interior is gone, work is ongoing to restore what remains of the façade and to recreate the original Streamlined/Art Deco look elsewhere.
This location appears to have been the first for the Okun Bros. Biltmore Theatres, Ltd. chain. It was followed by four other houses called the Biltmore, plus the Biltmore Savoy Theatre in Toronto.
Architect Edward Isaac Richmond (1908-1982) is best known as a prolific designer of high rise apartment buildings in Toronto during the post-war period. The firm he founded is still in operation.
The Biltmore in Kingston was the second house in the Okun Bros. Biltmore Theatres chain. The earlier Biltmore was opened at Oshawa in 1940, and four more houses were added to the chain in the post-war period.
The web site of the Biltmore Theatre in Oshawa lists the openings of the other houses in the Okun Bros. Biltmore chain, and says that the Kitchener house opened in December, 1949. It is very likely, though not yet confirmed, that the Kitchener Biltmore was designed by Toronto architect S. Devore, who designed the Biltmore and Savoy Theatres on Yonge Street in Toronto for the same chain (the Savoy’s façade is almost identical to that of the Kitchener Biltmore), and might also have designed the Biltmore in Sault Ste. Marie.
The Savoy was the second Yonge Street house for the Okun Bros. Biltmore Theatres, Ltd. chain, and the chain’s sixth theatre, when it opened on February 15, 1951. Early photos show the name “Biltmore Savoy” on the façade. Doug Taylor attributes the design of the house to Toronto architect S. Devore, who also designed the Yonge Street Biltmore and perhaps at least two other houses in the Biltmore chain during the same period.
The January 2, 1949 issue of Boxoffice carried a brief item noting the recent opening of the Okun Bros. new Biltmore Theatre at Soult Ste. Marie. Other houses then operated by the Biltmore Theatres Ltd. chain were Biltmores at Oshawa, Kingston, New Toronto, and the flagship house on Yonge Street in Toronto. A year later the chain would open the Biltmore at Kitchener and in 1951 the Savoy would open as their second house on Yonge Street. As far as I’ve been able to discover, that was the chain’s peak.
It’s possible, but not yet confirmed, that the Sault Ste. Marie Biltmore was designed by Toronto architect S. Devore, who designed the Biltmore and Savoy on Yonge Street. The Sault house bears a strong resemblance to the two in Toronto, as well as to the Biltmore in Kitchener, which might also have been of Devore’s design.
Originally operated by the Okun Bros. Biltmore Theatres chain, the Biltmore was one of two houses the Okuns operated on Yonge Street, the other being the Savoy. Multiple sources indicate that both theaters were designed by a Toronto architect named S. Devore. I’ve been unable to track down any more information on Devore, not even his first name, but it’s possible that he designed other houses for the chain around the same time.
Doug Taylor’s book Toronto’s Local Movie Theatres of Yesteryear says that the Biltmore ended its days as a grind house, finally closing in 1986.
The building was already gone in the earliest Google street view of the location, which dates from 2008.
The 1926 opening must have been the first Cazin Theatre at 1704 N. Howard. The building at 2001 N. wasn’t built until 1928-29.
The Columbia Theatre appears to have been a new build in 1911, not an old vaudeville theater or opera house, as some sources claim. The February 14, 1911 issue of The Nickelodeon announced the plans for the house “…to be located in the new Rabold Building….” by the Columbia Theater Company, already operators of 14 theaters in various regions.
I’ve been unable to discover if Tony Sudekum’s Crescent Amusement Company took over the project from Columbia before or after the house opened, but Crescent was definitely in control of the Columbia by 1913. The Rabold family owned quite a bit of property in Bowling Green, including the building in which Crescent opened the Princess Theatre in 1914.
The 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory lets us down on Bowling Green, listing only two theaters, though the town must have had more. But one of the theaters is listed (with no address) as the “Crescent Amuse Co.” and the other is listed at 416 Main Street with the name Columbia Theatre. The Columbia is the house that was renamed the Capitol Theatre in 1921. The Columbia was taken over by the Crescent Amusement Company in 1911, so it’s possible that the AMPD simply double-listed the same house under the theater name and the name of the operating company. It’s possible that Bowling Green never had a theater called the Crescent.
If the Sanborn map shows a theater at 411 Park Row in 1909 it must have been there, but if it was not listed in the city directories 1911-1967 it must have had a brief life.
The Houlton Theatre was in a district a bit over a mile west of downtown St. Helens. Houlton, once called Milton, was adjacent to the railroad tracks while St. Helens proper was along the riverfront. The Houlton Theatre was operating by January, 1917, and still open in January 1919, but was never listed in the FDY, nor was it in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory.
The earliest appearance of Crane in the FDY is the in 1931 edition, which lists a Crane Theatre, with no seating capacity given. The 1932 edition lists the 200-seat Rivoli.
The January 25, 1919 issue of Film Daily said that a W. S. Weittenhiller was building a picture theater at Crane, but if that house did open it must have been closed by 1926.
I mistyped the address in my previous comment. The theater was at approximately 1211 Broadway.
A history of Saint Robert Bellarmine church says that the Urban Theatre was located on Broadway, part of a site later occupied by a Rite Aid store. The Rite Aid in East McKeesport, now closed itself, used the address 400 Lincoln Highway, which is an alternate name of the cross street, Greensburg Avenue. Historic aerial views show that the theater was at the north end of the block, and extended back from Broadway to Fifth Avenue, the next street east. From the historic aerial views it looks like the auditorium section was demolished long ago, and the front section, which once house Irene’s Restaurant, was knocked down by 2004, when the Rite Aid was developed. The space occupied by the theater became part of Rite Aid’s parking lot.
There are no buildings on the theater’s site now and an exact address can’t be found, but using the address 2011 Broadway at Google maps will put the pin icon just about where the theater’s entrance must have been.
The Portal to Texas History has a copy of The Ballinger Ledger for June 25, 1936 with a section about the new Texas Theatre, scheduled to open the following day. Down the page is a brief biographical sketch of co-owner W. D. Scales with quite a bit of information that appears to contradict much of the history of the town’s theaters that we have at Cinema Treasures. I’m trying to find more information, but so far haven’t had much luck.
Link here
The Ballinger Ledger of June 25, 1936, ran a special section about the new Texas Theatre which was set to open the following day. Among the articles in the section was a biographical sketch of the theater’s co-owner W. D. Scales. It says that Scales came to Ballinger in 1920 and took over the Maeroy Theatre, which was on Hutchings Avenue, and a few years later teamed up with H. T. Hodge to build the Queen Theatre on North Eighth Street.
If this is the case, then the Queen Theatre operating in 1914, on Hutchings Avenue, must have been a different house. The 1936 article also says that Scales & Hodge’s Queen on Eighth Street was on the site of the first Texas Theatre, and thus was demolished when that house was built in 1936. I’m still trying to puzzle out the history of Ballinger’s theaters, as we seem to have gotten quite a bit wrong about them, but information about them is pretty thin on the Internet.
A page citing a 1952 San Angelo Standard-Times article said that downtown Ballinger then had three theaters in operation, the Palace, the Texas, and the Ritz. The Ritz was rebuilt and reopened after the 1946 fire. A November 27, 1948 Boxoffice item mentioned H. Ford Taylor as “owner of the new Ritz” in Ballinger.
dorstar says the Ritz was on Hutchings (the correct spelling) Avenue. That opens the possibility that Ritz was an aka for the Princess/Maeroy Theatre, which we have listed on Eighth Street, but a 1936 edition of The Ballinger Ledger says was on Hutchings. I’m still trying to puzzle out the history of Ballinger’s theaters, much of which we have apparently gotten quite wrong so far. The pre-fire Ritz still might have been an entirely new house built in the 1930s, of course.
I haven’t been able to discover anything about the Rex/Ford Theatre, which I haven’t yet found mentioned by either name in any trade publications, but perhaps H. Ford Taylor had something to do with that house as well.
This web page about Portland’s early movie theaters says that the house that became the Firefly opened in 1922 as the first location of the Sellwood Theatre.