Here’s an item from the April 5, 1919 issue of Moving Picture World:
“When the moving picture theatre at Midland, Ontario, owned by A. Bugg, was destroyed by fire, the Regal Films, Limited, Toronto, lost twelve reels of pictures, including a print of ‘My Four Years in Germany.’”
Information in the summer, 2013 issue of the Huronia Museum’s newsletter (PDF here) indicates that the Model was in operation by 1915 at the location where the Capitol Theatre would later be, in a building that had been built around 1900.
The Model Theatre and Arthur Bugg had both been mentioned in the April 6, 1918 issue of Canadian Moving Picture Digest. Earlier, the house had been operated by someone else, as the July 8, 1916 issue of Motion Picture News had mentioned “…Lieut. Bill Duncan, for many years in charge of the Model theatre, of Midland, Ont…..”
The restored Model Theatre was still operated by Arthur Bugg in 1929, when they were mentioned together in the March 23 issue of Universal Weekly.
A book published by the Boonton Historical Society says that the Harris Lyceum opened in 1889. It was also the first theater at which George Burns and Gracie Allen performed as a team.
The DeWitt Theater was built for Joseph Hockstein, owner of the older theater at 511 Broadway later known as the Strand. Here is the notice from the September 16, 1922 issue of Moving Picture World: “BAYONNE, N. J.— Jacob Hockstein, 511 Broadway, has plans by Carl I. Goldberg, 467 Broadway, for three-story brick theatre, store and office building, 118 by 175 feet, to be erected at southwest corner Broadway and 25th street.” Architect Goldberg had drawn the plans for remodeling the Strand (then called the Broadway) for Hockstein in 1917.
There is another aka for this house. This item is from the June 16, 1917 issue of Real Estate Record and Builders Guide: “BAYONNE, NJ; Carl I. Goldberg, 437 Broadway, Bayonne, has plans in progress for alterations to the 1 sty brick theatre (Broadway Theatre) at 511 Broadway for Joseph Hockstein, 20 West 27th st, Bayonne, owner. Cost 10,000.”
A brochure with a walking tour of Brooksville (PDF here) says “23 N Main Street Once was the Victory Theater which was run by Alan Hawkins; Later was Lingle’s Dept. Store.” In 1924, the Victory was operated by two guys named Hawkins and Hudson, who submitted capsule movie reviews to Moving Picture World. The earliest one I’ve seen is in the issue of September 13 that year.
Also, the brochure notes a movie theater called the Star, in operation by 1915, so the Victory might not have been the first. Its name does suggest that it might have opened around the time the US entered WWI, though.
The Victory Theatre building has been demolished since the brochure was published in 2007. Today 23 N. Main is the site of a drive-through ATM facility.
A brief article in the September 29, 1951 issue of Boxoffice said that the Roxy Theatre in St. Helens had reopened after having been closed for twelve years. The 442-seat house had been completely renovated, redecorated and reseated and a new powder room, concession stand, box office and marquee added, according to new owner C. H. Smith, who had also bought the Columbia Theatre.
This house apparently continued to be called Harter’s Opera House after the Dickson Brothers took over and rebuilt it, as that is how it is styled in the 1921 and 1922 editions of Wid’s Year Book. Dickson Bros also owned the Eagle Theatre at that time. Cahn guides from 1900 and 1902 list Harter’s as an 800-seat upstairs house. By 1907, Harter’s is no longer listed in Cahn’s guides, having been displaced by the much larger Eagle Theatre.
This Facebook post from Wabash County Historian has some early history of the theater and a photograph from 1897. The building was remodeled and expanded the following year. This building, the second on the site, the first having been built in 1874 and burned in 1875, opened on December 11, 1876 as the Haas Opera House. It had become Harter’s Opera House by 1879.
I noticed that the 1912-1913 Cahn guide lists the 700 seat Sterling Theatre, managed by W. M. Noltie, while a 1911 edition of the Colorado Business Directory lists the Sterling Opera House managed by W. M. Noltie. The May 15, 1910 edition of The Nickelodeon has an item datelined Sterling saying “Wm. Noltie, proprietor of the opera house, has arranged to put on a nightly motion picture show and vaudeville performance.”
Both the Opera House and the Sterling Theatre are listed in the 1913-1914 American Motion Picture Directory, but I’m wondering if perhaps they were the same house, double listed? It wouldn’t be the only time AMPD had done that. Sterling was never a very big town, and the Directory lists two other movie theaters, the Electric and the Princess. Even though the population boomed from just over 3,000 in 1910 to almost 6,500 in 1920, Sterling supporting three theaters in that decade would have been a struggle, and four a miracle, especially if one of them had 700 seats.
The earliest mention of the Fox I’ve found in trade journals is in the October 8, 1938 issue of Motion Picture Herald. Charles F. Dearman was the manager. Charles F. Dearman, Jr. was operating the Fox when it was mentioned in the August 22, 1953 issue of Boxoffice, reporting on Dearman’s plans to renovate the house, installing a wide screen and new booth equipment.
Much earlier, Smithville had a house called the Star Theatre, managed by a J. E. Evins, mentioned in the May 6, 1922 Moving Picture World.
The Electric Theatre was one of four movie houses listed at Sterling in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory, the others being the Opera House, the Princess, and the Sterling.
Back in 1924, the March 1 issue of Moving Picture World mentioned a house in Sterling called the U.S.A. Theatre. I wonder if that might have been an aka for this house?
The New Orleans-based trade journal Building Review published an item in its issue of September 30, 1916 saying that the Victoria Hotel next to the Orpheum Theatre on St. Charles Avenue would be demolished beginning October 1 to make way for a moving picture theater to be built for Ernest Boehringer. The theater was being designed and built by the Fromherz & Drennan company (Joseph Fromherz and Albert Drennan.)
This page at New Orleans Historical says the Liberty opened in 1918, operated by Boehringer Amusement Company on behalf of the owners, Saenger Amusement. The page also says the Liberty was last operated by RKO, and closed in 1955.
This brief item from the August 21, 1930 issue ofVariety is one of the few mentions of this house I’ve found in trade journals: “Farewell Week for the Merrill, which goes into the hands of the architects next week.” “The architects” referred to would have been whoever prepared the plans for the conversion of the theater into a Kresge store.
The Palace Theatre was built for V. U. Young’s Young Amusement Company, according to this item from Motion Picture News of January 7, 1928:
“John Eberson to Plan Theatre at Marion, O.
“John Eberson, prominent Chicago theatre architect, has been selected to develop the plans for the new Palace Theatre, to be built at Marion, Ohio, by the Young Amusement Co., V. U. Young, president, Gary, Indiana, in which project Ed. E. Bender and Sol Bernstein, Canton, Ohio, are also interested. The building is to house five stores and seven apartments in addition to the theatre”
The February 4, 1950 issue of Boxoffice reported that T. J. Cramblett had set February 11 as the opening day for his new Village Theatre at Salisbury.
The Village must have been open at least as late as 1957, as a post on a Salisbury nostalgia page at Facebook has locals sharing memories of the theater, and some remember seeing “The Ten Commandments” and the Elvis Presley film “Love Me Tender” at the Village. Both were released in late 1956, and even the Presley film is unlikely to have played here first run, while “Commandments” had a very long exclusive road show run in major cities before being released to small towns. I’m not sure when the first prints went into general release, but it had to have been well into 1957 at the earliest, and the Village might not have been in the first group of theaters to get it. It’s quite possible that it didn’t appear here until 1958.
“The Ten Commandments” was also known for its very slow international road show rollout, and didn’t premier in London until November 28, 1957, after which it played at the Plaza for 36 weeks.
The December, 1911 issue of Motography reported that a movie house to be called the Princess Theatre was under construction at Frankfort, Indiana. The same item noted that a house called the Palace Theatre had recently opened. The 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory lists no fewer than seven movie houses in Frankfort, the Princess (but not the Palace) being among them.
A December 21, 2008 article in the Ocala Star-Banner said that the Temple Theatre opened in early 1910 with an operetta. It was showing movies by 1914, when the New Temple Theatre was listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. The Temple is mentioned in the April 15, 1916 issue of Moving Picture World. The operator at that time was a Mr. E. C. Bennett.
The May 2, 1925 Motion Picture News said that E. J. Sparks was in negotiations to acquire the Temple. Ocala was one of the towns at which Sparks had lately acquired theaters, which he had turned over to the Famous Players chain, according the the June 6 issue of the same journal. The June 20 issue of the News reported that Sparks had also acquired the Dixie Theatre at Ocala on behalf of Famous Players.
After closing as a theater, the Temple was long occupied by a church, but it had been vacant for a number of years when, following an unsuccessful campaign by the local Marion Players theater group to save the house, the city had it demolished in 1969.
The recent opening October 1) of the new Dixie Theatre in Ocala was noted in the October 7, 1923 issue of Film Daily. The June 20, 1925 Motion Picture News noted that the Dixie was one of two Ocala houses (the Temple was the other) recently acquired by E. J. Sparks on behalf of Famous Players.
The Marion was originally an E. J. Sparks house, according to this item from the September 26, 1941 Film Daily: “The new Marion Theater, Ocala, Fla., was opened recently with a three minute dedicatory speech by Mayor M. C. Izlar. This house is one of the finest in the Sparks chain and is managed by C. T. Chapin.”
Here’s an item from the April 5, 1919 issue of Moving Picture World:
Information in the summer, 2013 issue of the Huronia Museum’s newsletter (PDF here) indicates that the Model was in operation by 1915 at the location where the Capitol Theatre would later be, in a building that had been built around 1900.The Model Theatre and Arthur Bugg had both been mentioned in the April 6, 1918 issue of Canadian Moving Picture Digest. Earlier, the house had been operated by someone else, as the July 8, 1916 issue of Motion Picture News had mentioned “…Lieut. Bill Duncan, for many years in charge of the Model theatre, of Midland, Ont…..”
The restored Model Theatre was still operated by Arthur Bugg in 1929, when they were mentioned together in the March 23 issue of Universal Weekly.
The Lyceum Theatre, Broadway and 38th Street, is one of the 14 movie houses listed at Bayonne in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory.
A book published by the Boonton Historical Society says that the Harris Lyceum opened in 1889. It was also the first theater at which George Burns and Gracie Allen performed as a team.
The DeWitt Theater was built for Joseph Hockstein, owner of the older theater at 511 Broadway later known as the Strand. Here is the notice from the September 16, 1922 issue of Moving Picture World: “BAYONNE, N. J.— Jacob Hockstein, 511 Broadway, has plans by Carl I. Goldberg, 467 Broadway, for three-story brick theatre, store and office building, 118 by 175 feet, to be erected at southwest corner Broadway and 25th street.” Architect Goldberg had drawn the plans for remodeling the Strand (then called the Broadway) for Hockstein in 1917.
There is another aka for this house. This item is from the June 16, 1917 issue of Real Estate Record and Builders Guide: “BAYONNE, NJ; Carl I. Goldberg, 437 Broadway, Bayonne, has plans in progress for alterations to the 1 sty brick theatre (Broadway Theatre) at 511 Broadway for Joseph Hockstein, 20 West 27th st, Bayonne, owner. Cost 10,000.”
A brochure with a walking tour of Brooksville (PDF here) says “23 N Main Street Once was the Victory Theater which was run by Alan Hawkins; Later was Lingle’s Dept. Store.” In 1924, the Victory was operated by two guys named Hawkins and Hudson, who submitted capsule movie reviews to Moving Picture World. The earliest one I’ve seen is in the issue of September 13 that year.
Also, the brochure notes a movie theater called the Star, in operation by 1915, so the Victory might not have been the first. Its name does suggest that it might have opened around the time the US entered WWI, though.
The Victory Theatre building has been demolished since the brochure was published in 2007. Today 23 N. Main is the site of a drive-through ATM facility.
A brief article in the September 29, 1951 issue of Boxoffice said that the Roxy Theatre in St. Helens had reopened after having been closed for twelve years. The 442-seat house had been completely renovated, redecorated and reseated and a new powder room, concession stand, box office and marquee added, according to new owner C. H. Smith, who had also bought the Columbia Theatre.
This house apparently continued to be called Harter’s Opera House after the Dickson Brothers took over and rebuilt it, as that is how it is styled in the 1921 and 1922 editions of Wid’s Year Book. Dickson Bros also owned the Eagle Theatre at that time. Cahn guides from 1900 and 1902 list Harter’s as an 800-seat upstairs house. By 1907, Harter’s is no longer listed in Cahn’s guides, having been displaced by the much larger Eagle Theatre.
This Facebook post from Wabash County Historian has some early history of the theater and a photograph from 1897. The building was remodeled and expanded the following year. This building, the second on the site, the first having been built in 1874 and burned in 1875, opened on December 11, 1876 as the Haas Opera House. It had become Harter’s Opera House by 1879.
Here is the Virginia Theatre’s official web site.
I noticed that the 1912-1913 Cahn guide lists the 700 seat Sterling Theatre, managed by W. M. Noltie, while a 1911 edition of the Colorado Business Directory lists the Sterling Opera House managed by W. M. Noltie. The May 15, 1910 edition of The Nickelodeon has an item datelined Sterling saying “Wm. Noltie, proprietor of the opera house, has arranged to put on a nightly motion picture show and vaudeville performance.”
Both the Opera House and the Sterling Theatre are listed in the 1913-1914 American Motion Picture Directory, but I’m wondering if perhaps they were the same house, double listed? It wouldn’t be the only time AMPD had done that. Sterling was never a very big town, and the Directory lists two other movie theaters, the Electric and the Princess. Even though the population boomed from just over 3,000 in 1910 to almost 6,500 in 1920, Sterling supporting three theaters in that decade would have been a struggle, and four a miracle, especially if one of them had 700 seats.
The earliest mention of the Fox I’ve found in trade journals is in the October 8, 1938 issue of Motion Picture Herald. Charles F. Dearman was the manager. Charles F. Dearman, Jr. was operating the Fox when it was mentioned in the August 22, 1953 issue of Boxoffice, reporting on Dearman’s plans to renovate the house, installing a wide screen and new booth equipment.
Much earlier, Smithville had a house called the Star Theatre, managed by a J. E. Evins, mentioned in the May 6, 1922 Moving Picture World.
The Electric Theatre was one of four movie houses listed at Sterling in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory, the others being the Opera House, the Princess, and the Sterling.
Back in 1924, the March 1 issue of Moving Picture World mentioned a house in Sterling called the U.S.A. Theatre. I wonder if that might have been an aka for this house?
The October 6, 1934 Motion Picture Herald mentions this house as the Fox Rialto Theatre.
I found a reference in the October, 1922 Hancock County Farm Bureau Bulletin to a Park Theatre at LaHarpe, possibly a later name of this house.
The New Orleans-based trade journal Building Review published an item in its issue of September 30, 1916 saying that the Victoria Hotel next to the Orpheum Theatre on St. Charles Avenue would be demolished beginning October 1 to make way for a moving picture theater to be built for Ernest Boehringer. The theater was being designed and built by the Fromherz & Drennan company (Joseph Fromherz and Albert Drennan.)
This page at New Orleans Historical says the Liberty opened in 1918, operated by Boehringer Amusement Company on behalf of the owners, Saenger Amusement. The page also says the Liberty was last operated by RKO, and closed in 1955.
This brief item from the August 21, 1930 issue ofVariety is one of the few mentions of this house I’ve found in trade journals: “Farewell Week for the Merrill, which goes into the hands of the architects next week.” “The architects” referred to would have been whoever prepared the plans for the conversion of the theater into a Kresge store.
The Palace Theatre was built for V. U. Young’s Young Amusement Company, according to this item from Motion Picture News of January 7, 1928:
The aka Lyric Theatre needs to be added.
The February 4, 1950 issue of Boxoffice reported that T. J. Cramblett had set February 11 as the opening day for his new Village Theatre at Salisbury.
The Village must have been open at least as late as 1957, as a post on a Salisbury nostalgia page at Facebook has locals sharing memories of the theater, and some remember seeing “The Ten Commandments” and the Elvis Presley film “Love Me Tender” at the Village. Both were released in late 1956, and even the Presley film is unlikely to have played here first run, while “Commandments” had a very long exclusive road show run in major cities before being released to small towns. I’m not sure when the first prints went into general release, but it had to have been well into 1957 at the earliest, and the Village might not have been in the first group of theaters to get it. It’s quite possible that it didn’t appear here until 1958.
“The Ten Commandments” was also known for its very slow international road show rollout, and didn’t premier in London until November 28, 1957, after which it played at the Plaza for 36 weeks.
The December, 1911 issue of Motography reported that a movie house to be called the Princess Theatre was under construction at Frankfort, Indiana. The same item noted that a house called the Palace Theatre had recently opened. The 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory lists no fewer than seven movie houses in Frankfort, the Princess (but not the Palace) being among them.
A December 21, 2008 article in the Ocala Star-Banner said that the Temple Theatre opened in early 1910 with an operetta. It was showing movies by 1914, when the New Temple Theatre was listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. The Temple is mentioned in the April 15, 1916 issue of Moving Picture World. The operator at that time was a Mr. E. C. Bennett.
The May 2, 1925 Motion Picture News said that E. J. Sparks was in negotiations to acquire the Temple. Ocala was one of the towns at which Sparks had lately acquired theaters, which he had turned over to the Famous Players chain, according the the June 6 issue of the same journal. The June 20 issue of the News reported that Sparks had also acquired the Dixie Theatre at Ocala on behalf of Famous Players.
After closing as a theater, the Temple was long occupied by a church, but it had been vacant for a number of years when, following an unsuccessful campaign by the local Marion Players theater group to save the house, the city had it demolished in 1969.
Plans to remodel the Etta Theatre and reopen it under the name Ritz Theatre were noted in the July 5, 1932 Film Daily.
The recent opening October 1) of the new Dixie Theatre in Ocala was noted in the October 7, 1923 issue of Film Daily. The June 20, 1925 Motion Picture News noted that the Dixie was one of two Ocala houses (the Temple was the other) recently acquired by E. J. Sparks on behalf of Famous Players.
The Marion was originally an E. J. Sparks house, according to this item from the September 26, 1941 Film Daily: “The new Marion Theater, Ocala, Fla., was opened recently with a three minute dedicatory speech by Mayor M. C. Izlar. This house is one of the finest in the Sparks chain and is managed by C. T. Chapin.”