I’m sure the auditorium is gone. There’s a big parking lot behind the L-shaped Fairbanks Building now, where the theater must have been. The office building itself isn’t big enough, or the right shape, to have housed a theater.
I don’t know where the story that the Fairbanks Building was originally a hotel started, but it’s all over the Internet. Period sources (1907, 1911, 1922) all indicate that it was an office building with a theater and a few shops from the beginning. A brief biography (published 1911) of Newton Hamilton Fairbanks, who built the building, describes it as “…one of the largest bank, store and office buildings (fireproof) in Ohio; this building also contains Fairbanks Theater.”
The January 24, 1914, issue of The Moving Picture World said that the Majestic Theatre in Springfield had opened on Christmas Day:
“A Whole Page.
“‘Some ad,’ is the comment William Lord Wright makes on a full page advertisement from the Springfield, Ohio, Sun that he sends in, and we echo ‘Some ad.’ It announces the opening of the Majestic Theater on Christmas day and takes up an entire page, with an ornamental frame in line cut and four half tones of the players that might have been better printed. This is a 900 house, a sister theater to the Princess, which shares the advertisement and the fact that the Majestic will open Christmas a made to stand out like the proverbial sore thumb.”
The line “a 900 house” is probably missing the word “Seat.”
A 1917 photo on page 34 of Springfield, by Harry C. Laybourne (Google Books preview), shows that the Princess Theatre was on the south side of West Main Street a few doors east of Fisher Street, across the street from the Fairbanks Building.
In the later 1910s, this house sported an enormous “M&C” logo on it, for McCue & Cahill. There’s a photo at Card Cow. As of 1916, Joseph Cahill controlled three of Brockton’s five theaters, including the City and the Brockton Strand. I found a couple of references to a vaudeville comedy team called McCue & Cahill from around 1904-1905. I wonder if it was the same pair? It was not unusual for vaudeville performers to “cross the footlights” and become theater operators.
Somehow I left a word out of my previous comment. It should start “Cinema Treasures member Cinemalover….” The link was posted on the page for the Palace Theatre, which was previously misidentified as being the same house as the Park.
“NYC issued a C/O to a New building at 292 Flatbush Avenue on March 22, 1927. The first architects name is H. G. Wiseman. The second architects name is Hugo ‘something’. I can’t read the last name.”
This was probably either Hugo Taussig, or Hugo Magnuson of the firm Magnuson & Kleinert. Wiseman worked with both at various times following the 1920 death of his partner Arthur Carlson.
Ruth Anne Phillips' book Pre-Columbian Revival attributes the design of the 1923 Cameo Theatre to Wiseman and Hugo Taussig. Cezar del Valle’s Brooklyn Theatre Index attributes the Sanders Theatre to Wiseman with Magnuson & Kleinert.
As the C/O for the Carlton names only two architects, it was probably Taussig who worked with Wiseman on this house. In any case, the firm of Carlson & Wiseman was long gone by the time the Carlton Theatre was designed.
Cinema Treasures Cinemalover found two vintage photos of the Park Theatre on this Facebook page. The upper photo appears to be from the late 1960s or early 1970s, and the theater looks closed. The lower photo is probably from the early-mid 1950s, when the house was still in operation.
Prior to April, 1935, this house was called the Castle Square Theatre. The name change to Chateau Theatre was noted in the April 8 issue of The Film Daily.
There might have been three houses called the Joyo Theatre in this neighborhood. A document pertaining to the establishment of a Historic Preservation District says that the original Joyo Theatre opened around 1912 in a building at 6121 Havelock Avenue. If that’s the case, then the Joyo mentioned in the 1908 Billboard items must have been an even earlier house.
The document says that the Joyo moved into the theater at 6102 Havelock in 1937. Prior to that the house had been called the Lyric Theatre. The document gives the opening of the Lyric as ca. 1928. 1928 is also the year given for the opening of the Lyric in an article by Jim McKee in the Lincoln Journal Star. McKee says that his great uncle, Volney Headrick, built the Lyric Theatre.
I’ve also found a house called the Havelock Theatre, operated by Bob Wintersteen, mentioned in The Film Daily of September 10, 1936. I don’t know if this is yet another theater or an aka for the Lyric. A December 15 Film Daily item says that the Havelock had been bought from Wintersteen by C. Fraser, operator of the Joyo Theatre, so this purchase might have led to the newer house being renamed the Joyo, assuming that it had originally been the Lyric, which does seem likely.
This article from the Daily Nebraskan says that the Joyo Theatre was built in 1926.
It had a predecessor, though, as there was a movie house called the Joyo Theatre operating in Lincoln (or Havelock, as the neighborhood appears to have been independent of Lincoln at one time) as far back as 1908, when it was mentioned in multiple issues of The Billboard and once in Variety. It was also mentioned twice in The Moving Picture World in 1916.
The Joyo Theatre in Havelock was also mentioned in The Film Daily in 1927 and 1935. I’ve also found mentions of houses called the Joyo in Fairfield (1938) and Coleridge (1957), Nebraska, but haven’t found any details about either of them.
Here is an announcement about the yet-unnamed Palace Theatre from the April 1, 1935, issue of The Film Daily:
“New House for Silverton, Ore.
“Silverton, Ore.— Alfred L. Adams will build a 515-seat house at Oak and Water Sts. here. Lee Thomas of Portland is the architect.”
Lee Thomas must have been Lee Arden Thomas who, usually in partnership with Albert Mercier, designed several other theaters in the region. Their partnership, established in 1924, was dissolved in 1934.
A photo of the loge section of the recently remodeled Bay Theatre illustrated an ad for Heywood-Wakefield seats on this page of Boxoffice, April 5, 1952.
ChrisB’s photo with a clickable link. The marquee certainly has an Art Deco look, but that facade above it is pure Midcentury Modern. The auditorium looks more Streamline Modern. The Midcentury touch isn’t surprising, as the house was designed by Michael DeAngelis, who was usually ahead of most other theater architects in his willingness to experiment with new styles.
People keep asking about the drinking fountain in the lobby Of the Leimert Theatre, and a couple of members have linked to a photo of the lobby with the drinking fountain at left. Unfortunately they have linked to the copy at the California State Library, which is an unstable site that doesn’t offer anything like a permalink, so the links are dead.
Fortunately, the more reliable web site of the Los Angeles Public Library also has a copy of the photo, so I think that link should stay alive. Unfortunately, the LAPL’s scan is a bit dark and the background detail gets lost, but the fountain is visible, if a bit too contrasty. It’s probably the best we can do for now, though.
People have also been asking if the drinking fountain is still there. Sadly, judging from this photo by Bill Counter, dated 2010, the fountain is gone.
Both of those photos are featured on the Leimert / Vision Theatre page of Bill Counter’s excellent web site More Los Angeles Movie Palaces which, along with his sites for downtown Los Angeles, Hollywood, and Wilshire district theaters (all linked from that page) is the most extensive single online resource for information about historic Southern California movie theaters. The Leimert page has dozens of photos, both vintage and recent, and is well worth a visit for anyone interested in this venerable suburban survivor.
Six theaters are listed for Bangor in a 1922 directory, but the Palace is not among them. 95 Exchange Street was listed as the location of the shop of Clark Max, a dry goods retailer.
Pope D. McKinnon originally intended to name this house the New Palace Theatre, as noted in this item from the July 12, 1913, issue of The Moving Picture World:
“Mr. Pope McKinnon, a real estate dealer, and owner of the Palace Theater, a photoplay house, of Bangor, Me., is finding business very good. On this account McKinnon has decided to give the Bangor photoplay fans a new house that will be modern, up-to-date and thoroughly fireproof. Plans have been made and accepted by McKinnon, calling for a house to seat 1,500 people, built on a lot of land 60 by 174 by 41. The new house will be known as the New Palace and should be ready for its opening by September 15. Arthur Allen, who has been running the Palace Theater so ably in Mr. McKinnon’s interests, will have charge of the new house. Vaudeville and moving pictures will be the policy. Bangor can easily stand a modern theater and the New Palace has every chance to be a money-making proposition. Manager Allen is very popular with his patrons, as he always tries to deliver the goods In the shape of good programs. The New Palace will cost about $50,000.”
But when the new house opened, an article in the January 17, 1914, issue of The Moving Picture World said that it was called the Star Theatre:
“Contrary to the general announcement, the new Star Theater, Bangor, Me., did not open on December 24, for the simple reason that It was not possible to complete it In time. The house seats 1,600, and putting on the finishing touches proved anything but an easy task. A large force of workmen rushed the 1,600 odd seats in, but it took a long time to drill them into the concrete floor. The house opened on Christmas Day, with Mutual films, two singers and a six-piece orchestra. The Star is spacious and comfortable, as the seats are placed far apart, and give a perfect view of the screen from every part of the theater. The walls are light green and the celling is white. A modern system of ventilation is one of the features. Pope McKinnon, formerly owner of the Palace Theater, is the proprietor, and has secured as manager, Howard F. Atkinson, formerly in charge of the Nickel Theater, at Bangor. The entire 1,600 seats are on the ground floor, and good business is anticipated.”
The claim of 1,600 seats was a considerable exaggeration. Other sources, including other items in the same publication, give the opening capacity as 1,200.
An item in the April 18, 1913, issue of the Bangor Daily News said that architect Victor Hodgins was drawing the plans for Pope McKinnon’s new theater at State and Park Streets. The building was a fairly plain brick structure, but featured a corner entrance in the Colonial Revival style.
The Park Theatre operated for several decades, and was a for a considerable time operated by a Paramount-Publix affiliate. I’ve been unable to discover when it closed, but the building was demolished in 1973.
My condolences to you and your family, Stephen. Your dad will be sorely missed at Cinema Treasures, as I’m sure he will be by everyone who knew him off the Internet as well. His many valuable contributions to this site will be remembered with great appreciation.
The Nickel Theatre had two locations. The first, on Central Street, opened in August, 1907, and was destroyed along with the Gaiety Theatre in the fire that wiped out much of central Bangor on April 30, 1911.
The second Nickel Theatre was this house on Union Street. According to this article by Wayne E. Reilly, the building, Union Hall, already had a long history, having been built in 1886 and having served as a roller skating rink, a furniture store, and a bowling alley and billiard hall. In 1908 it was remodeled to become the Union Theatre, Bangor’s first full-time vaudeville house.
It opened on October 26, 1908, and operated as the Union Theatre for about a year, then became Acker’s Family Theatre. In 1911, it was taken over by the management of the Nickel Theatre after the destruction of their original house. It remained the Nickel until the early 1920s, when it was renamed the Olympia Theatre. The Olympia operated into the 1950s, but had been closed for several years when the building was gutted by a fire on November 19, 1963.
1922 is most likely the year the Nickel became the Olympia, as it was listed under both names in the city directory that year. The 1908 remodeling of Union Hall into a vaudeville house was designed by local architect Wilfred E. Mansur. The remodeling was done in the Mission style of architecture which was then popular. Reilly’s Daily News article features a vintage photo.
This web page says that the general plan for the rebuilt Bijou Theatre of 1912 was by architect Wilfred E. Mansur, and the theater interior was designed by Philadelphia theater architect Albert E. Westover.
An article in the July 25, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World said that the Gem Theatre opened in 1909, though some other sources say 1908.
An article by Wayne E. Reilly in the March 27, 2010, issue of the Bangor Daily News said that the Gem, which seated about 600, was taken over by the B. F. Keith vaudeville circuit in early 1910 and, after being remodeled, was renamed the Bijou. Keith’s promised to build a new theater for Bangor if the Bijou was successful.
The Bijou was a success, and the circuit kept its promise. Another article by Reilly, from April 15, 2012, tells about the new, much larger Bijou that opened on the same site on April 18, 1912.
The Bijou was demolished in 1973, another victim of the destructive fad that went by the unintentionally ironic name urban renewal.
Cinemalover’s link. The photos of the Park Theatre show that it was indeed at the northeast corner of State Street and Park Street. As the Palace was at 95 Exchange Street, the Palace and the Park were different theaters. 95 Exchange would be two blocks south of State Street.
Once again we have two theaters conflated, and we need a new page for one or the other. An article about Bangor’s theaters in the July 15, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World clarifies the early days of both.
The Palace Theatre at 95 Exchange Street was opened in 1911 by Pope D. McKinnon. It had 400 seats. It was still in operation in 1916 under the direction of the Acme Amusement Company.
The Park Theatre opened as the Star Theatre on December 25, 1913, and was also initially operated Mr. McKinnon. The 1,200-seat house was taken over by the Keith circuit on November 28, 1914, after which it was redecorated and renamed the Park Theatre.
It looks like the original Grove Theatre was replaced by a new house in 1941. The August 29, 1941, issue of The Film Daily had an item about the project:
“Shenker Breaks Ground For a New 500-Seater
“Lorain, O. — George Shenker, who built the Lorain Theater three years ago, has broken ground for a new 500-seat house to be called the New Grove, and which will cost approximately $50,000.
“Plans were prepared by W. S. Ferguson, Cleveland architect, and the building will be completed about the first of November. Shenker has contracted to install RCA sound equipment.”
The architect’s full name was William Stanley Ferguson. He also designed the Avon Lake Theatre in Avon Lake, Ohio, and the Beach Cliff Theatre in Rocky River, Ohio.
The October 25, 1940, issue of The Film Daily said that E. J. Sparks was building a new, 600-seat theater in Lake Wales. It must have been the State, so it probably opened in late 1940 or early 1941.
Springfield, Ohio: A Summary of Two Centuries, by Tom Dunham, gives the address of the Princess Theatre as 17 West Main Street.
I’m sure the auditorium is gone. There’s a big parking lot behind the L-shaped Fairbanks Building now, where the theater must have been. The office building itself isn’t big enough, or the right shape, to have housed a theater.
I don’t know where the story that the Fairbanks Building was originally a hotel started, but it’s all over the Internet. Period sources (1907, 1911, 1922) all indicate that it was an office building with a theater and a few shops from the beginning. A brief biography (published 1911) of Newton Hamilton Fairbanks, who built the building, describes it as “…one of the largest bank, store and office buildings (fireproof) in Ohio; this building also contains Fairbanks Theater.”
The January 24, 1914, issue of The Moving Picture World said that the Majestic Theatre in Springfield had opened on Christmas Day:
The line “a 900 house” is probably missing the word “Seat.”A 1917 photo on page 34 of Springfield, by Harry C. Laybourne (Google Books preview), shows that the Princess Theatre was on the south side of West Main Street a few doors east of Fisher Street, across the street from the Fairbanks Building.
In the later 1910s, this house sported an enormous “M&C” logo on it, for McCue & Cahill. There’s a photo at Card Cow. As of 1916, Joseph Cahill controlled three of Brockton’s five theaters, including the City and the Brockton Strand. I found a couple of references to a vaudeville comedy team called McCue & Cahill from around 1904-1905. I wonder if it was the same pair? It was not unusual for vaudeville performers to “cross the footlights” and become theater operators.
Somehow I left a word out of my previous comment. It should start “Cinema Treasures member Cinemalover….” The link was posted on the page for the Palace Theatre, which was previously misidentified as being the same house as the Park.
On October 17, 2005, lostmemory commented:
This was probably either Hugo Taussig, or Hugo Magnuson of the firm Magnuson & Kleinert. Wiseman worked with both at various times following the 1920 death of his partner Arthur Carlson.Ruth Anne Phillips' book Pre-Columbian Revival attributes the design of the 1923 Cameo Theatre to Wiseman and Hugo Taussig. Cezar del Valle’s Brooklyn Theatre Index attributes the Sanders Theatre to Wiseman with Magnuson & Kleinert.
As the C/O for the Carlton names only two architects, it was probably Taussig who worked with Wiseman on this house. In any case, the firm of Carlson & Wiseman was long gone by the time the Carlton Theatre was designed.
Cinema Treasures Cinemalover found two vintage photos of the Park Theatre on this Facebook page. The upper photo appears to be from the late 1960s or early 1970s, and the theater looks closed. The lower photo is probably from the early-mid 1950s, when the house was still in operation.
Prior to April, 1935, this house was called the Castle Square Theatre. The name change to Chateau Theatre was noted in the April 8 issue of The Film Daily.
There might have been three houses called the Joyo Theatre in this neighborhood. A document pertaining to the establishment of a Historic Preservation District says that the original Joyo Theatre opened around 1912 in a building at 6121 Havelock Avenue. If that’s the case, then the Joyo mentioned in the 1908 Billboard items must have been an even earlier house.
The document says that the Joyo moved into the theater at 6102 Havelock in 1937. Prior to that the house had been called the Lyric Theatre. The document gives the opening of the Lyric as ca. 1928. 1928 is also the year given for the opening of the Lyric in an article by Jim McKee in the Lincoln Journal Star. McKee says that his great uncle, Volney Headrick, built the Lyric Theatre.
I’ve also found a house called the Havelock Theatre, operated by Bob Wintersteen, mentioned in The Film Daily of September 10, 1936. I don’t know if this is yet another theater or an aka for the Lyric. A December 15 Film Daily item says that the Havelock had been bought from Wintersteen by C. Fraser, operator of the Joyo Theatre, so this purchase might have led to the newer house being renamed the Joyo, assuming that it had originally been the Lyric, which does seem likely.
This article from the Daily Nebraskan says that the Joyo Theatre was built in 1926.
It had a predecessor, though, as there was a movie house called the Joyo Theatre operating in Lincoln (or Havelock, as the neighborhood appears to have been independent of Lincoln at one time) as far back as 1908, when it was mentioned in multiple issues of The Billboard and once in Variety. It was also mentioned twice in The Moving Picture World in 1916.
The Joyo Theatre in Havelock was also mentioned in The Film Daily in 1927 and 1935. I’ve also found mentions of houses called the Joyo in Fairfield (1938) and Coleridge (1957), Nebraska, but haven’t found any details about either of them.
Here is an announcement about the yet-unnamed Palace Theatre from the April 1, 1935, issue of The Film Daily:
Lee Thomas must have been Lee Arden Thomas who, usually in partnership with Albert Mercier, designed several other theaters in the region. Their partnership, established in 1924, was dissolved in 1934.A photo of the loge section of the recently remodeled Bay Theatre illustrated an ad for Heywood-Wakefield seats on this page of Boxoffice, April 5, 1952.
ChrisB’s photo with a clickable link. The marquee certainly has an Art Deco look, but that facade above it is pure Midcentury Modern. The auditorium looks more Streamline Modern. The Midcentury touch isn’t surprising, as the house was designed by Michael DeAngelis, who was usually ahead of most other theater architects in his willingness to experiment with new styles.
People keep asking about the drinking fountain in the lobby Of the Leimert Theatre, and a couple of members have linked to a photo of the lobby with the drinking fountain at left. Unfortunately they have linked to the copy at the California State Library, which is an unstable site that doesn’t offer anything like a permalink, so the links are dead.
Fortunately, the more reliable web site of the Los Angeles Public Library also has a copy of the photo, so I think that link should stay alive. Unfortunately, the LAPL’s scan is a bit dark and the background detail gets lost, but the fountain is visible, if a bit too contrasty. It’s probably the best we can do for now, though.
People have also been asking if the drinking fountain is still there. Sadly, judging from this photo by Bill Counter, dated 2010, the fountain is gone.
Both of those photos are featured on the Leimert / Vision Theatre page of Bill Counter’s excellent web site More Los Angeles Movie Palaces which, along with his sites for downtown Los Angeles, Hollywood, and Wilshire district theaters (all linked from that page) is the most extensive single online resource for information about historic Southern California movie theaters. The Leimert page has dozens of photos, both vintage and recent, and is well worth a visit for anyone interested in this venerable suburban survivor.
Six theaters are listed for Bangor in a 1922 directory, but the Palace is not among them. 95 Exchange Street was listed as the location of the shop of Clark Max, a dry goods retailer.
A 1922 directory lists the Bijou Theatre at 164 Exchange Street.
Pope D. McKinnon originally intended to name this house the New Palace Theatre, as noted in this item from the July 12, 1913, issue of The Moving Picture World:
But when the new house opened, an article in the January 17, 1914, issue of The Moving Picture World said that it was called the Star Theatre:The claim of 1,600 seats was a considerable exaggeration. Other sources, including other items in the same publication, give the opening capacity as 1,200.An item in the April 18, 1913, issue of the Bangor Daily News said that architect Victor Hodgins was drawing the plans for Pope McKinnon’s new theater at State and Park Streets. The building was a fairly plain brick structure, but featured a corner entrance in the Colonial Revival style.
The Park Theatre operated for several decades, and was a for a considerable time operated by a Paramount-Publix affiliate. I’ve been unable to discover when it closed, but the building was demolished in 1973.
My condolences to you and your family, Stephen. Your dad will be sorely missed at Cinema Treasures, as I’m sure he will be by everyone who knew him off the Internet as well. His many valuable contributions to this site will be remembered with great appreciation.
The Nickel Theatre had two locations. The first, on Central Street, opened in August, 1907, and was destroyed along with the Gaiety Theatre in the fire that wiped out much of central Bangor on April 30, 1911.
The second Nickel Theatre was this house on Union Street. According to this article by Wayne E. Reilly, the building, Union Hall, already had a long history, having been built in 1886 and having served as a roller skating rink, a furniture store, and a bowling alley and billiard hall. In 1908 it was remodeled to become the Union Theatre, Bangor’s first full-time vaudeville house.
It opened on October 26, 1908, and operated as the Union Theatre for about a year, then became Acker’s Family Theatre. In 1911, it was taken over by the management of the Nickel Theatre after the destruction of their original house. It remained the Nickel until the early 1920s, when it was renamed the Olympia Theatre. The Olympia operated into the 1950s, but had been closed for several years when the building was gutted by a fire on November 19, 1963.
1922 is most likely the year the Nickel became the Olympia, as it was listed under both names in the city directory that year. The 1908 remodeling of Union Hall into a vaudeville house was designed by local architect Wilfred E. Mansur. The remodeling was done in the Mission style of architecture which was then popular. Reilly’s Daily News article features a vintage photo.
This web page says that the general plan for the rebuilt Bijou Theatre of 1912 was by architect Wilfred E. Mansur, and the theater interior was designed by Philadelphia theater architect Albert E. Westover.
An article in the July 25, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World said that the Gem Theatre opened in 1909, though some other sources say 1908.
An article by Wayne E. Reilly in the March 27, 2010, issue of the Bangor Daily News said that the Gem, which seated about 600, was taken over by the B. F. Keith vaudeville circuit in early 1910 and, after being remodeled, was renamed the Bijou. Keith’s promised to build a new theater for Bangor if the Bijou was successful.
The Bijou was a success, and the circuit kept its promise. Another article by Reilly, from April 15, 2012, tells about the new, much larger Bijou that opened on the same site on April 18, 1912.
The Bijou was demolished in 1973, another victim of the destructive fad that went by the unintentionally ironic name urban renewal.
Cinemalover’s link. The photos of the Park Theatre show that it was indeed at the northeast corner of State Street and Park Street. As the Palace was at 95 Exchange Street, the Palace and the Park were different theaters. 95 Exchange would be two blocks south of State Street.
Once again we have two theaters conflated, and we need a new page for one or the other. An article about Bangor’s theaters in the July 15, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World clarifies the early days of both.
The Palace Theatre at 95 Exchange Street was opened in 1911 by Pope D. McKinnon. It had 400 seats. It was still in operation in 1916 under the direction of the Acme Amusement Company.
The Park Theatre opened as the Star Theatre on December 25, 1913, and was also initially operated Mr. McKinnon. The 1,200-seat house was taken over by the Keith circuit on November 28, 1914, after which it was redecorated and renamed the Park Theatre.
It looks like the original Grove Theatre was replaced by a new house in 1941. The August 29, 1941, issue of The Film Daily had an item about the project:
The architect’s full name was William Stanley Ferguson. He also designed the Avon Lake Theatre in Avon Lake, Ohio, and the Beach Cliff Theatre in Rocky River, Ohio.The October 25, 1940, issue of The Film Daily said that E. J. Sparks was building a new, 600-seat theater in Lake Wales. It must have been the State, so it probably opened in late 1940 or early 1941.