The 1918 city directory lists the Palace Theatre at 87 Bedford Street, corner of 3rd Street. That would put it across Bedford Street from the Metacomet Bank, so I don’t think it burned in 1928. It might have gone out of business about that time anyway, possibly even before the fire. Its site is now the location of a loading dock for the Post Office, which looks like it might have been built in the late 1920s or very early 1930s, so even if it survived the fire it must not have operated for long after.
The Capitol Theatre was the last of several theaters in Fall River designed by the firm of J.M. Darling & Son (Joseph M. Darling and George S. Darling.) Following J.M. Darling’s death, son George and daughter Maude Darling Parlin, who had joined the firm in 1921, changed the name of the firm to Darling & Parlin and went on to design at least two more theaters in Fall River, the Durfee and the Embassy.
The Bijou Theatre was designed by local architect Joseph M. Darling, possibly with his son, George S. Darling. The Bijou was in operation by 1904, and I’m not sure when the firm of J.M. Darling & Son was formed (it was listed in the city directory by 1918.) J.M. Darling and son designed several other theaters in Fall River, and the successor firm Darling & Parlin designed at least two more.
The Empire was one of several theaters in Fall River that were designed by local architectural firm J.M. Darling & Son (Joseph M. Darling and George S. Darling.)
The Strand was one of several Fall River theaters originally designed by the local architectural firm of J.M. Darling & Son (Joseph M. Darling and George S. Darling.)
The Park Theatre was one of several Fall River theaters designed by the local architectural firm J.M. Darling & Son (Joseph M. Darling and George S. Darling.)
According to a biographical sketch in The First American Women Architects, by Sarah Allaback, the Durfee Theatre was designed by the local architectural firm Darling & Parlin. The principals of the firm were George S. Darling and his sister, Maude Darling-Parlin. She was one of the few women practicing architecture during her era, having joined the family firm, which had been founded by her grandfather, in 1921.
The firm designed many of the buildings that were erected in Fall River following the 1928 fire which had destroyed much of the city’s business district. Several other theaters in Fall River were designed by members of the Darling family, both before and after the fire. Among them were the Rialto (Savoy), Capitol, Strand, Bijou, Park, and Empire Theatres.
The Holyoke Opera House was being operated by the Shea Amusement Company from at least 1916 to at least 1920, as noted in the theater inspection reports of the Massachusetts District Police for those years.
The March 18, 1916, issue of The American Contractor said that Boston architects Jackson & Salmonson were preparing plans for $40,000 of alterations to a theater on Dwight Street in Holyoke for the Shea Amusement Company.
A history of Fall River published in 1908 says that William Durfee built the Savoy Theatre in 1905. Other sources indicate that the Savoy was designed by local architect Joseph M. Darling. His son, William S. Darling, and daughter, Maude Darling Parlin, who took over the family firm in the 1920s, designed the Durfee Theatre, which was built on the site of the Savoy after the earlier house was destroyed by the 1928 fire that wiped out much of Fall River’s business district.
The Elks Theatre at Port Arthur was mentioned in the March 14, 1913, issue of The Player. The item said that the house had been taken over by R.S. Lazenby, operator of the Isis Theatre in Port Arthur.
The Premier Theatre in Fall River was in operation in 1912, when the December 6 issue of The Player reported that it had been badly damaged by a fire on December 2.
Construction of Charles Hyde’s opera house at Pierre was set to begin in the spring, according to a notice in the January 10, 1906, issue of The American Carpet and Upholstery Journal.
This web page has some history of Biloxi’s theaters, and it indicates that the Buck Theatre was on the northwest corner of Jackson and Lameuse Streets. It apparently began as an airdome theater called the Gaiety in 1912, and was renamed the Past Time Theatre in 1914. At some later point an indoor theater was built on the site, and it returned to the name Gaiety. It was a Saenger house when remodeled in 1927, and was still operated by Saenger when it was again remodeled and renamed the Buck Theatre in 1936.
This house was never called the Bijou. The Bijou opened in 1910, and was renamed the Crown Theatre (Biloxi’s second house of that name) in 1914. In 1920, the Gaiety and the Crown were both being operated by the Gulf Coast Amusement Company.
The box office has been retained in the renovation, as seen in this post in the weblog of Adolph Rose Antiques, the shop that shares the building with the Strand. No word on whether or not they’ve kept the wooden seats.
I’ve been trying to follow the lead from abarry33’s earlier comment saying that the Saneger Theatre was once called the Walnut Theatre. I’ve come across a Walnut Street Theatre on a list of historic buildings in Vicksburg, and it was listed at 1207 Walnut Street. This house was listed int he 1899-1900 Cahn guide as a 1,200-seat, ground floor theater. In two later editions of the guide it was listed with a capacity of 1,400.
There is a photo of the Walnut Street Theatre on this page of the April, 1907, issue of The Theatre. The building’s facade appears to be about the same size and shape as the Saenger, but it has lots of windows. I’ve found only one source stating specifically that the Walnut Street Theatre was renamed the Saenger, in a July 25, 2010, feature article in The Vicksburg Post, in which 96 year old Evelyn White recalls being in a play at the Walnut Street Theatre before it was renamed.
I think that the Saenger Theatre probably was the Walnut Street Theatre, with either a remodeled front or with more extensive reconstruction, but I’m unable to account for the drastic reduction in seating capacity between the 1900s and 1950.
The Strand dated back to the silent era. In The Child Called Nanoot, Evangeline H. Commeau’s memoir (Google Books preview), she recalls watching Charlie Chaplin, Tom Mix, and the Keystone Cops with the accompaniment of a piano played by Madeline Duffey. The Strand was owned by the Goldsmith family, who also owned a men’s haberdashery next door.
It appears that both the Strand and the store have been demolished, the former replaced by a modern building housing the Orono Pharmacy and the latter by its parking lot.
Chuck, I believe BamaFnNTn was referring to the Street View image, which is indeed set on the Lyric Theatre. I don’t think the vintage photo currently displayed had been uploaded yet when the comment was made.
Move Street View almost two blocks east and you can see that the Rialto building still has the name Rialto on it, though it has no resemblance to a theater. 1923 3rd Avenue North now houses the offices of Moore Solutions, a company that sells furniture to commercial and institutional customers, but the company’s name is not on the building. It just says Rialto.
Here is the web site for the Strand Theatre, which says “[t]he Strand opened in the Adolph Rose building in 1934. It closed as a movie theatre in the 1960’s and has been recently brought back to life through the efforts of the Westside Theatre Foundation.” The Strand presents both live performances and movies.
The following is from a biographical sketch of P. W. Brubeck in History of Mendocino and Lake Counties, California, by Aurelius O. Carpenter and Percy H. Millberry, published in 1914:
“Nearly five years ago Mr. Brubeck saw the opportunity of engaging in the moving picture business. Accordingly he made arrangements, and in February, 1910, he opened the Union Theater on Franklin street, which has been run steadily and been a success ever since. It is the most centrally located theater in Fort Bragg and has a seating capacity of three hundred and seventy-five. He is catering to the best trade and is using the Mutual program, running four films each day, with a daily change of program.”
As “…the most centrally located theater in Fort Bragg….” the Union must have been within a block or two of Redwood Avenue on North Franklin Street. There are quite a few old buildings still standing in that area, so there’s a good chance that the theater’s building is among them.
In the section a short way down this web page headed “From the Sublime to the Ridiculous”, James Cahill recalls seeing the 1938 film Babes in Toyland at the Union Theatre in fort Bragg a year or two after it was released, but he places the theater on Main Street rather than Franklin Street. I don’t know if the Union Theatre moved after 1914, or if professor Cahill simply got the street wrong, or if he actually saw the movie at the State Theatre, which was on Main Street, and misremembered which theater he saw it at. In any case, it’s possible that the Union Theatre was still in operation at least as late as 1939 or 1940.
Mike was correct. The Bagdad Theatre closed in 1947 and reopened on June 25 as the Ballard Theatre. Lou Rugani found two photos of the theater with the name Ballard on the marquee, and submitted a page for the theater under that name. The page will have to be removed, of course, and this page renamed Ballard Theatre. Maybe Ken Roe can move the photos to this page, or notify Lou that he should re-upload them here?
Wanderer: The Grand Theatre was on the southeast corner of Philadelphia and Center and has been demolished. The Downtown Community Center, on the southwest corner, at 250 E. Center, is actually a modern building. It was completed in 1998, but it was designed to resemble buildings of the Craftsman style, which was popular in the early 20th century.
The Plaza Theatre is listed in the 1921 Fall River city directory.
The 1918 city directory lists the Palace Theatre at 87 Bedford Street, corner of 3rd Street. That would put it across Bedford Street from the Metacomet Bank, so I don’t think it burned in 1928. It might have gone out of business about that time anyway, possibly even before the fire. Its site is now the location of a loading dock for the Post Office, which looks like it might have been built in the late 1920s or very early 1930s, so even if it survived the fire it must not have operated for long after.
The Capitol Theatre was the last of several theaters in Fall River designed by the firm of J.M. Darling & Son (Joseph M. Darling and George S. Darling.) Following J.M. Darling’s death, son George and daughter Maude Darling Parlin, who had joined the firm in 1921, changed the name of the firm to Darling & Parlin and went on to design at least two more theaters in Fall River, the Durfee and the Embassy.
The Bijou Theatre was designed by local architect Joseph M. Darling, possibly with his son, George S. Darling. The Bijou was in operation by 1904, and I’m not sure when the firm of J.M. Darling & Son was formed (it was listed in the city directory by 1918.) J.M. Darling and son designed several other theaters in Fall River, and the successor firm Darling & Parlin designed at least two more.
The Empire was one of several theaters in Fall River that were designed by local architectural firm J.M. Darling & Son (Joseph M. Darling and George S. Darling.)
The Strand was one of several Fall River theaters originally designed by the local architectural firm of J.M. Darling & Son (Joseph M. Darling and George S. Darling.)
The Park Theatre was one of several Fall River theaters designed by the local architectural firm J.M. Darling & Son (Joseph M. Darling and George S. Darling.)
According to a biographical sketch in The First American Women Architects, by Sarah Allaback, the Durfee Theatre was designed by the local architectural firm Darling & Parlin. The principals of the firm were George S. Darling and his sister, Maude Darling-Parlin. She was one of the few women practicing architecture during her era, having joined the family firm, which had been founded by her grandfather, in 1921.
The firm designed many of the buildings that were erected in Fall River following the 1928 fire which had destroyed much of the city’s business district. Several other theaters in Fall River were designed by members of the Darling family, both before and after the fire. Among them were the Rialto (Savoy), Capitol, Strand, Bijou, Park, and Empire Theatres.
The Holyoke Opera House was being operated by the Shea Amusement Company from at least 1916 to at least 1920, as noted in the theater inspection reports of the Massachusetts District Police for those years.
The March 18, 1916, issue of The American Contractor said that Boston architects Jackson & Salmonson were preparing plans for $40,000 of alterations to a theater on Dwight Street in Holyoke for the Shea Amusement Company.
A history of Fall River published in 1908 says that William Durfee built the Savoy Theatre in 1905. Other sources indicate that the Savoy was designed by local architect Joseph M. Darling. His son, William S. Darling, and daughter, Maude Darling Parlin, who took over the family firm in the 1920s, designed the Durfee Theatre, which was built on the site of the Savoy after the earlier house was destroyed by the 1928 fire that wiped out much of Fall River’s business district.
The Elks Theatre at Port Arthur was mentioned in the March 14, 1913, issue of The Player. The item said that the house had been taken over by R.S. Lazenby, operator of the Isis Theatre in Port Arthur.
The Premier Theatre in Fall River was in operation in 1912, when the December 6 issue of The Player reported that it had been badly damaged by a fire on December 2.
Construction of Charles Hyde’s opera house at Pierre was set to begin in the spring, according to a notice in the January 10, 1906, issue of The American Carpet and Upholstery Journal.
This web page has some history of Biloxi’s theaters, and it indicates that the Buck Theatre was on the northwest corner of Jackson and Lameuse Streets. It apparently began as an airdome theater called the Gaiety in 1912, and was renamed the Past Time Theatre in 1914. At some later point an indoor theater was built on the site, and it returned to the name Gaiety. It was a Saenger house when remodeled in 1927, and was still operated by Saenger when it was again remodeled and renamed the Buck Theatre in 1936.
This house was never called the Bijou. The Bijou opened in 1910, and was renamed the Crown Theatre (Biloxi’s second house of that name) in 1914. In 1920, the Gaiety and the Crown were both being operated by the Gulf Coast Amusement Company.
The box office has been retained in the renovation, as seen in this post in the weblog of Adolph Rose Antiques, the shop that shares the building with the Strand. No word on whether or not they’ve kept the wooden seats.
I’ve been trying to follow the lead from abarry33’s earlier comment saying that the Saneger Theatre was once called the Walnut Theatre. I’ve come across a Walnut Street Theatre on a list of historic buildings in Vicksburg, and it was listed at 1207 Walnut Street. This house was listed int he 1899-1900 Cahn guide as a 1,200-seat, ground floor theater. In two later editions of the guide it was listed with a capacity of 1,400.
There is a photo of the Walnut Street Theatre on this page of the April, 1907, issue of The Theatre. The building’s facade appears to be about the same size and shape as the Saenger, but it has lots of windows. I’ve found only one source stating specifically that the Walnut Street Theatre was renamed the Saenger, in a July 25, 2010, feature article in The Vicksburg Post, in which 96 year old Evelyn White recalls being in a play at the Walnut Street Theatre before it was renamed.
I think that the Saenger Theatre probably was the Walnut Street Theatre, with either a remodeled front or with more extensive reconstruction, but I’m unable to account for the drastic reduction in seating capacity between the 1900s and 1950.
The Strand dated back to the silent era. In The Child Called Nanoot, Evangeline H. Commeau’s memoir (Google Books preview), she recalls watching Charlie Chaplin, Tom Mix, and the Keystone Cops with the accompaniment of a piano played by Madeline Duffey. The Strand was owned by the Goldsmith family, who also owned a men’s haberdashery next door.
It appears that both the Strand and the store have been demolished, the former replaced by a modern building housing the Orono Pharmacy and the latter by its parking lot.
Chuck, I believe BamaFnNTn was referring to the Street View image, which is indeed set on the Lyric Theatre. I don’t think the vintage photo currently displayed had been uploaded yet when the comment was made.
Move Street View almost two blocks east and you can see that the Rialto building still has the name Rialto on it, though it has no resemblance to a theater. 1923 3rd Avenue North now houses the offices of Moore Solutions, a company that sells furniture to commercial and institutional customers, but the company’s name is not on the building. It just says Rialto.
A vintage postcard and several pre-renovation interior photos of Vicksburg’s Strand Theatre can be seen on this web page.
Here is the web site for the Strand Theatre, which says “[t]he Strand opened in the Adolph Rose building in 1934. It closed as a movie theatre in the 1960’s and has been recently brought back to life through the efforts of the Westside Theatre Foundation.” The Strand presents both live performances and movies.
The following is from a biographical sketch of P. W. Brubeck in History of Mendocino and Lake Counties, California, by Aurelius O. Carpenter and Percy H. Millberry, published in 1914:
As “…the most centrally located theater in Fort Bragg….” the Union must have been within a block or two of Redwood Avenue on North Franklin Street. There are quite a few old buildings still standing in that area, so there’s a good chance that the theater’s building is among them.In the section a short way down this web page headed “From the Sublime to the Ridiculous”, James Cahill recalls seeing the 1938 film Babes in Toyland at the Union Theatre in fort Bragg a year or two after it was released, but he places the theater on Main Street rather than Franklin Street. I don’t know if the Union Theatre moved after 1914, or if professor Cahill simply got the street wrong, or if he actually saw the movie at the State Theatre, which was on Main Street, and misremembered which theater he saw it at. In any case, it’s possible that the Union Theatre was still in operation at least as late as 1939 or 1940.
Mike was correct. The Bagdad Theatre closed in 1947 and reopened on June 25 as the Ballard Theatre. Lou Rugani found two photos of the theater with the name Ballard on the marquee, and submitted a page for the theater under that name. The page will have to be removed, of course, and this page renamed Ballard Theatre. Maybe Ken Roe can move the photos to this page, or notify Lou that he should re-upload them here?
I forgot to include this link to the Downtown Community Center’s web page.
The Grand was still standing in 1980, as seen in this view at Historic Aerials. The auditorium and its stage house are easily recognizable.
Wanderer: The Grand Theatre was on the southeast corner of Philadelphia and Center and has been demolished. The Downtown Community Center, on the southwest corner, at 250 E. Center, is actually a modern building. It was completed in 1998, but it was designed to resemble buildings of the Craftsman style, which was popular in the early 20th century.
A small photo of Carl Kettler’s second Bijou Theatre, dated July 30, 1923, just before it was demolished, can be seen on this web page.