A 1985 article about the pending demolition of the Bentley Theatre says that the Anton Theatre, at Third and Main Streets, operated until 1970 and was demolished in 1977. A McDonald’s restaurant was built on the site.
This article from the February 17, 1985, issue of The Pittsburgh Press says that the Bentley Theatre, which had been closed since the early 1950s, was to be demolished to make way for a new apartment house. However, a later paragraph mentions a “renovated building” with twelve apartments. Perhaps part of the structure was preserved. The article also says that the Bentley Theatre was on East Main Street, so we might have the wrong address for it.
I found an address of 247 West Main Street for the Gem Theatre, but it was published in 1908. If Monongahela’s numbering system might or might not have changed since then. If it hasn’t changed, then this theater has been demolished. It must have been on what is now part of the site of a modern building that has an H&R Block store in it. The store directly across the street from Block, Twice as Nice, is at 246 W. Main.
The same publication had an advertisement for the Ideal Theatre, featuring “Vaudeville, Motion Pictures, Illustrated Songs”, so the Ideal did show movies.
A brief item in the October 25, 1929, issue of Motion Picture News said that Jimmy Chest, operator of the Capitol Theatre in Canajoharie, had decided to keep the house open only two nights a week during the fall. A later issue of the same magazine said that the second theater in Canajoharie, the Strand, had been closed.
The Strand was still operating in 1930, though, when the October 11 issue of Exhibitors Herald World reported that Jack Vasil had opened the new Strand Theatre. He had promised to build the new theater if Canajoharie repealed its law against movies being shown on Sunday.
The January 8, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World mentioned an Empress Theatre that had recently reopened in Tekamah, operated by Frank Welch. As the Lyric was in operation that year, this must have been a different theater.
The 1913-1914 Cahn guide lists the Shafer Theater at Tekamah, a ground-floor house with 400 seats on the main floor and 250 in the balcony (the total capacity was about half the population of Tekamah.) This house was too large to have been the Lyric, but it might have become the Empress.
The October 5, 1930, issue of Motion Picture News said that Harry Day had opened the New Lyric Theatre in Tekamah, Nebraska on September 24. The new house had cost $32,000.
The Nebraska State Historical Society has a ledger from the Lyric Theatre in Tekamah, covering the years 1915 to 1919. Presumably, the New Lyric was a replacement for the earlier theater, or perhaps an extensive rebuilding of the original theater.
The Nugget Theatre was the subject of a few paragraphs in an article about Dartmouth University in the February, 1923, issue of George Jean Nathan and H. L. Mencken’s magazine, The Smart Set. The operator of the Nugget, angered by the rowdy behavior of undergraduates attending the shows, closed the theater, precipitating an “outrage meeting” by the students in the street. After two days, the manager reopened the Nugget, but the rowdy behavior in the theater continued. Kids those days!
The Google Maps pin icon is currently about three miles too far south. The theater is at the northwest corner of Highway 19 and Cypress Pond Road. For some reason the building is labeled on the map as New Purpose Community Church, but it is the theater. Maybe the church holds services in one of the auditoriums. I’ve set Street View to the correct location.
Several photos of the Muvico Palm Harbor 10 accompany this article posted in the Palm Harbor Patch on December 24, 2011. The theaters had just been renovated with new screens, digital projectors, and D-Box seats. The lobby and lounges had been revamped as well.
The Palace was designed for Crown Cinema Corporation by Port Washington, New York, architect James Thomas Martino. The City of Hartford requested the rather traditional movie palace facade, a departure from the more adventurous designs Martino usually did for Crown. The theater had a total of 3,611 seats.
The Crown Block E 15 Stadium 15 was designed by Port Washington, New York, architect James Thomas Martino. I’ve been unable to discover who designed Block E itself. Perhaps they are hiding in shame.
Crown’s Annapolis Mall Cinemas was designed by Port Washington, New York, architect James Thomas Martino. It was one of nine multiplexes Martino designed for Crown Theatres, though this particular location was owned by Westfield Properties, operators of the mall. The multiplex originally seated 2,587, in addition to providing 47 wheelchair-accessible viewing slots.
The Crown Theatres in Abacoa Town Center was one of nine multiplexes designed for the Crown Theatres chain by Port Washington, New York, architect James Thomas Martino. There were 16 stadium-seated auditoriums for regular films, and one large format auditorium, for a total seating capacity of 3,825.
One, or perhaps both, of the expansions of the Mercer Mall Cinemas was designed for General Cinema Theatres by Port Washington, New York, architect James Thomas Martino.
General Cinema’s Bay Plaza 10 was one of more than thirty theaters designed by Port Washington, New York, architect James Thomas Martino. He designed a total of eight multiplexes for General Cinema Theatres.
With its 1950s-inspired design, the Muvico Pompano 18 was the company’s first themed theater. I believe it might also have been the last Muvico project designed by HOK Architects. The later themed projects were designed by Development Design Group.
Ken, one comment on the Water Winter Wonderland page for the Lona Theatre does say that in its last years the Lona operated as the Family Theatre. Some of the commenters remember the Lona, but none mention the Owego. Some also note that the building in the photo on the page was not the Lona Theatre. I am wondering if the Owego could have been in that building?
Whoever uploaded the photo to Water Winter Wonderland might have been told that the building had once housed a theater, and the uploader could have assumed that it was the Lona, being unaware of the town’s earlier movie house. If the Owego closed about the time the Lona opened, then there would be very few people around who would still remember it, and probably very few of them would have Internet.
The 1915 reopening ad boasts of the Acme Theater’s comfortable opera chairs. Seating in J. St. Peter’s Acme Theater of 1908 was far different, judging from the photo of the auditorium at the bottom of page 180 of the November, 1908, issue of The Coast. The narrow aisles are lined with what appear to be wooden folding chairs.
Could the Owego Theatre have been the same house that is listed at Water Winter Wonderand as the Lona Theatre? It’s the only theater the site has listed for Mancelona. Various comments say that the Lona Theatre burned down in the late 1970s or early 1980s.
Irene Wildfong operated the Lona Theatre in the 1960s and early 1970s, according to her obituary. If the Owego was still listed in FDY in 1957, it seems likely that it became the Lona. An entirely new theater being opened in so small a town after 1957 would not be impossible, but it would be extremely unlikely.
Thanks, Hank. Owl is an odd name for a hotel, unless it catered mostly to people who slept in the daytime.
A 1985 article about the pending demolition of the Bentley Theatre says that the Anton Theatre, at Third and Main Streets, operated until 1970 and was demolished in 1977. A McDonald’s restaurant was built on the site.
This article from the February 17, 1985, issue of The Pittsburgh Press says that the Bentley Theatre, which had been closed since the early 1950s, was to be demolished to make way for a new apartment house. However, a later paragraph mentions a “renovated building” with twelve apartments. Perhaps part of the structure was preserved. The article also says that the Bentley Theatre was on East Main Street, so we might have the wrong address for it.
I found an address of 247 West Main Street for the Gem Theatre, but it was published in 1908. If Monongahela’s numbering system might or might not have changed since then. If it hasn’t changed, then this theater has been demolished. It must have been on what is now part of the site of a modern building that has an H&R Block store in it. The store directly across the street from Block, Twice as Nice, is at 246 W. Main.
The same publication had an advertisement for the Ideal Theatre, featuring “Vaudeville, Motion Pictures, Illustrated Songs”, so the Ideal did show movies.
A brief item in the October 25, 1929, issue of Motion Picture News said that Jimmy Chest, operator of the Capitol Theatre in Canajoharie, had decided to keep the house open only two nights a week during the fall. A later issue of the same magazine said that the second theater in Canajoharie, the Strand, had been closed.
The Strand was still operating in 1930, though, when the October 11 issue of Exhibitors Herald World reported that Jack Vasil had opened the new Strand Theatre. He had promised to build the new theater if Canajoharie repealed its law against movies being shown on Sunday.
The January 8, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World mentioned an Empress Theatre that had recently reopened in Tekamah, operated by Frank Welch. As the Lyric was in operation that year, this must have been a different theater.
The 1913-1914 Cahn guide lists the Shafer Theater at Tekamah, a ground-floor house with 400 seats on the main floor and 250 in the balcony (the total capacity was about half the population of Tekamah.) This house was too large to have been the Lyric, but it might have become the Empress.
The October 5, 1930, issue of Motion Picture News said that Harry Day had opened the New Lyric Theatre in Tekamah, Nebraska on September 24. The new house had cost $32,000.
The Nebraska State Historical Society has a ledger from the Lyric Theatre in Tekamah, covering the years 1915 to 1919. Presumably, the New Lyric was a replacement for the earlier theater, or perhaps an extensive rebuilding of the original theater.
There is a photo of the Robin Theatre on this page of the Robbinsdale Historical Society’s weblog.
The Nugget Theatre was the subject of a few paragraphs in an article about Dartmouth University in the February, 1923, issue of George Jean Nathan and H. L. Mencken’s magazine, The Smart Set. The operator of the Nugget, angered by the rowdy behavior of undergraduates attending the shows, closed the theater, precipitating an “outrage meeting” by the students in the street. After two days, the manager reopened the Nugget, but the rowdy behavior in the theater continued. Kids those days!
The Star Theatre was listed in the 1913-1914 edition of Julius Cahn’s guide with 280 seats. It was listed as showing movies only.
Newberg also had a house called the Gem Theatre that was destroyed by fire, along with some other buildings, in September, 1913.
The Google Maps pin icon is currently about three miles too far south. The theater is at the northwest corner of Highway 19 and Cypress Pond Road. For some reason the building is labeled on the map as New Purpose Community Church, but it is the theater. Maybe the church holds services in one of the auditoriums. I’ve set Street View to the correct location.
Several photos of the Muvico Palm Harbor 10 accompany this article posted in the Palm Harbor Patch on December 24, 2011. The theaters had just been renovated with new screens, digital projectors, and D-Box seats. The lobby and lounges had been revamped as well.
The Palace was designed for Crown Cinema Corporation by Port Washington, New York, architect James Thomas Martino. The City of Hartford requested the rather traditional movie palace facade, a departure from the more adventurous designs Martino usually did for Crown. The theater had a total of 3,611 seats.
The Crown Block E 15 Stadium 15 was designed by Port Washington, New York, architect James Thomas Martino. I’ve been unable to discover who designed Block E itself. Perhaps they are hiding in shame.
The Crown Marquis was designed by Port Washington, New York, architect James Thomas Martino.
The Majestic 6 in Stamford was designed for Crown Cinema Corporation by Port Washington, New York, architect James Thomas Martino.
Crown’s Annapolis Mall Cinemas was designed by Port Washington, New York, architect James Thomas Martino. It was one of nine multiplexes Martino designed for Crown Theatres, though this particular location was owned by Westfield Properties, operators of the mall. The multiplex originally seated 2,587, in addition to providing 47 wheelchair-accessible viewing slots.
The Crown Theatres in Abacoa Town Center was one of nine multiplexes designed for the Crown Theatres chain by Port Washington, New York, architect James Thomas Martino. There were 16 stadium-seated auditoriums for regular films, and one large format auditorium, for a total seating capacity of 3,825.
One, or perhaps both, of the expansions of the Mercer Mall Cinemas was designed for General Cinema Theatres by Port Washington, New York, architect James Thomas Martino.
General Cinema’s Lindbergh Plaza 8 was one of eight multiplexes designed for the chain by Port Washington, New York, architect James Thomas Martino.
General Cinema’s Bay Plaza 10 was one of more than thirty theaters designed by Port Washington, New York, architect James Thomas Martino. He designed a total of eight multiplexes for General Cinema Theatres.
With its 1950s-inspired design, the Muvico Pompano 18 was the company’s first themed theater. I believe it might also have been the last Muvico project designed by HOK Architects. The later themed projects were designed by Development Design Group.
Ken, one comment on the Water Winter Wonderland page for the Lona Theatre does say that in its last years the Lona operated as the Family Theatre. Some of the commenters remember the Lona, but none mention the Owego. Some also note that the building in the photo on the page was not the Lona Theatre. I am wondering if the Owego could have been in that building?
Whoever uploaded the photo to Water Winter Wonderland might have been told that the building had once housed a theater, and the uploader could have assumed that it was the Lona, being unaware of the town’s earlier movie house. If the Owego closed about the time the Lona opened, then there would be very few people around who would still remember it, and probably very few of them would have Internet.
The 1915 reopening ad boasts of the Acme Theater’s comfortable opera chairs. Seating in J. St. Peter’s Acme Theater of 1908 was far different, judging from the photo of the auditorium at the bottom of page 180 of the November, 1908, issue of The Coast. The narrow aisles are lined with what appear to be wooden folding chairs.
Could the Owego Theatre have been the same house that is listed at Water Winter Wonderand as the Lona Theatre? It’s the only theater the site has listed for Mancelona. Various comments say that the Lona Theatre burned down in the late 1970s or early 1980s.
Irene Wildfong operated the Lona Theatre in the 1960s and early 1970s, according to her obituary. If the Owego was still listed in FDY in 1957, it seems likely that it became the Lona. An entirely new theater being opened in so small a town after 1957 would not be impossible, but it would be extremely unlikely.