The Plaza Theatre was on the west side of North First Street, just off of Grant Avenue. This weblog post says that the last weekly ad for the Plaza Theatre in the Duquesne Times appeared on May 23, 1957. The theater probably closed at the end of that week.
The Heights Theatre has been converted into an event center operated by Gallery M Squared. Here is a link to their web site. The Theater History section (hover cursor over “About” under the gallery name) has an early photo of the auditorium.
Here is an item about the Wallace Theatre in the January 8, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World:
“Mystery in Series of ‘Accidents.’
“A mysterious explosion which wrecked the Wallace theater, at Wooster, O., some days ago, has been the subject of an investigation by the Ohio fire marshal’s office, the curiosity and suspicion of the department having been aroused by a series of fires in Wooster. The circumstance that the operator at the theater was shot the day after the fire, at first, it was thought, by accident, is also under investigation. The department has not yet reported any findings on the matter, but intends to look into it further after the operator recovers from his wound.”
The February 12, 1916, issue of the same publication had an item about another theater-related crime in Wooster:
“Wooster, O. Theater Robbed
“E.P. Mott, manager of the Lyric theater of Wooster, Ohio, writes that a robbery was committed in his theater on the night of Jan. 10 and the heads of his two Power 6A machines with extra parts were stolen. The number of one of the machines is 18090-21666. Mr. Mott wishes to notify managers to look out for this number and to notify him if it turns up.”
The March 4 issue of The Moving Picture World reported on the arrest of J. B. McCormick of the Alhambra Theatre, but didn’t say anything about the gunshot wound suffered by the owner of the Wallace Theatre:
“Solve Theater Explosion in Wooster, O.
“Wooster, O.—After several weeks' Investigation by the police of Wooster, O., J. B. McCormick, owner of the Alhambra theater at that place, was arrested charged with causing explosions which wrecked the Wallace theater, a rival moving picture house, owned by H. H. Ziegler.
“McCormick purchased the Alhambra about a year ago, and shortly after the Wallace was opened, causing a substantial falling off in the receipts at the other house, by reason of a more favorable location. This, it seems, according to McCormick’s confession as reported by the police and subsequently made in open court, drove him to desperation, and his attempts to destroy the rival house followed. The first explosion occurred on December 19, but although it bore suspicious evidences of an outside agency, the local authorities finally came to the conclusion that it was caused by natural gas. McCormick stated that he used thirty sticks of dynamite on this occasion as well as in causing the recent explosion on February 12, when eleven of the thirty sticks failed to explode.
“McCormick also confessed to having stolen two projecting machine ‘heads’ from the Lyric, another Wooster house, in order to prevent its opening on a certain occasion, and then atoned for the theft by lending Manager Mott, of the Lyric, one of his own projectors.
“The police state that they managed to fasten the crimes on McCormick through evidence discovered in his room above the Alhambra. The dynamite, it is stated, was stolen from a local hardware house.”
The March 18, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World reported that J. B. McCormick had filed for bankruptcy:
“J. B. McCormick Fails.
“Wooster, Ohio.—John B. McCormick, who has been operating the Alhambra motion picture theater in Wooster, O., and another picture house in Fredericksburg. O., his home, has just filed a voluntary petition in bankruptcy in the United States district court in Cleveland. His liabilities are scheduled at $10,619, with assets of $9,090. In addition to the picture theaters, he is owner of an electric light plant at Fredericksburg.”
I presume that Mr. McCormick’s arrest ended Wooster’s theatrical crime wave, but I’ve been unable to find out who shot Mr. Ziegler. Had McCormick been arrested for that, I’m sure the magazine would have reported it. A report in a book of official documents of Ohio published in 1917 indicates that McCormick pleaded guilty to dynamiting the Wallace Theatre and was sentenced on February 12 to a term of five to ten years in the Ohio State Penitentiary.
The correct spelling of Abe and Louis' surname is apparently Latts. I’ve found quite a few instances of it in trade journals. The Latts brothers also operated the Majestic Theatre and, at one time, the Bijou. A Bertha Latts was still operating at least one theater in Ashland at least as late as 1939.
A Google Books snippet view of a 1983 survey of Ashland architecture says that the Royal Theatre was built by the Latts brothers in 1914. That means it was probably the project noted in the May 23, 1914, issue of The American Contractor:
“Ashland, Wis.—Theater: 50x133. Archt. Henry Wildhagen. Owners Latts Bros. Archt. taking bids to May 19.”
Henry Wildhagen was probably also the architect of the Elite Theatre at Appleton, Wisconsin. His office was in Ashland.
In order for Google Maps to find the right location for this theater it will probably be necessary to list it on Main Street West rather than West Main Street.
In his autobiography, My Life in Vaudeville, Ed Lowry mentions playing a Bijou Dream Theatre in Ashland, Wisconsin. This would have been in the early 1910s. Possibly the addition of Dream to the name was a trick of his memory.
The Smalley records themselves are not available on the Internet, but the guide to them (at the link in my previous comment) says that they include weekly statements sent by theater managers to the main office in Cooperstown. As there is correspondence between managers and the main office, I would imagine that the addresses of the theaters would be on the letterheads. Weekly statements include attendance figures, so they might give some indication of total seating capacities as well. But to see the records you’d have to go to the New York State Historical Association’s research library in Cooperstown.
The newspaper article I linked to is the only place I’ve seen the name Park Theatre used for this house. As the article was dated January 25, and probably went to press only a few hours after the fire, it’s likely that the Sentinal was reporting in haste (possibly getting the story via the telephone) and got the name wrong.
The Smalley Theatres Records includes items pertaining to a theater in Camden from the 1930s and 1940s. Unless there was another theater in Camden, it must have been this house must have been part of the Smalley chain for some time.
The September 2, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World said that James Le Richeux would build a movie theater on the site of the burned opera house in Camden, New York.
An article about the 1932 arson attempt was published in the January 25 issue of the Rome, New York,Daily Sentinel (Google Documents quick view.) It says that the house was called the Park Theatre at that time.
Also, per first comment by Arx on November 30, 2012, we’re missing the aka Two Moons Brew and View. The last line of the description also needs to be changed. Beerinator says that Two Moons opened in 1998 and changed its name to Asheville Pizza & Brewing Co. in 1999. Pubcrawler still has this page, placing Two Moons at the theater’s address, and the earliest customer review dates from October, 1998. This theater has been a movie and beer joint for about fifteen years.
I wonder if the Robins Theatre could be the house that was built for the McKinley Theatre Company in 1921-1922? The new house was the subject of reports in several construction trade publications of the time, and was described as being 63x175 feet, which looks to be the size of the Robins in satellite view.
A couple of items in issues of The Film Daily in 1924 indicate that he McKinley Theatre changed hands at least once that year, though I’ve been unable to find any references to the Robins Enterprise Company Becoming the operators. But given the fact that Niles was a fairly small town it seems likely that it had only one large theater, so it also seems likely that the McKinley and the Robins were one and the same.
If the Robins was the house that opened as the McKinley, it would be an unusual theater. The construction journals said that the McKinley was being designed by the Pittsburgh architectural firm of Simons, Brittain, & English. That firm specialized in the design and construction of banks, and the McKinley Theatre is the only building of their design that I’ve found any reference to that was not a bank.
Charles Douglass established the original Douglass Theatre on the ground floor of his Douglass Hotel in 1912. The hotel was next door to the site of the present Douglass Theatre, and the building can be seen in the 1950s exterior photo linked in lostmemory’s May 9, 2008, comment on this theater. A pre-1921 view of the original theater can be seen on page 47 of Macon, by Glenda Barnes Bozeman (Google Books preview.)
This page of the web site of Chris R. Sheridan & Company, General Contractors, features a slide show of the Douglass Theatre. Text says that the original architect of the theater was J. Reginald MacEachron. The renovation was handled by the local firm Balian & Associates.
The West End Theatre was listed at 1203 Tuscaloosa Avenue in the 1928 Birmingham telephone directory. Either addresses were changed, or there was an earlier West End Theatre. There are no old buildings at 1203 Tuscaloosa either, so if there was an earlier West End Theatre there it has also been demolished.
The building that housed the Trianon Theatre is still standing at 1916 2nd Avenue North. It appears to have been occupied when the Google camera car went by in June, 2008, but looked vacant when this photo, uploaded to Flickr on December 30, 2009, was taken.
I believe we have the wrong address for this theater. Pozzuto & Sons (I misspelled it as Pozutto in my previous comment), on the site of the Harris Theatre, is located at 635 Walnut Street. I’ve also found historic reference to the Hippodrome Theatre being on Walnut Street near 7th Street.
There is a late photo of the Harris Theatre just below the map on this web page. The caption says the building was partly demolished in 1943, but the remaining part of the structure was incorporated into a building that is still standing, housing Pozutto & Sons Plumbing.
The caption also calls the house the Hippodrome Theatre, though the name Harris is on the vertical sign. I’ve come across references to a White’s Hippodrome Theatre and Harris Hippodrome Theatre in McKeesport, so the sequence of names should probably be White’s New Theatre, White’s Hippodrome Theatre, Harris Hippodrome Theatre, and finally Harris Theatre.
Here is an item about the Victor Theatre from the October 7, 1916, issue of Motography:
“Rapid progress has been made upon the construction of the new Victor Theater, formerly the Avenue, of McKeesport, Pennsylvania, which has been announced to be opened for personal inspection and business on October 5. The Victor will be one of the
finest photoplay houses in the State of Pennsylvania.
The Victor Amusement Company, of which H.A. Victor is president, and Isaac Victor, treasurer, has
spared no expense to make this theater the crowning
triumph of its long career in successfully catering to
the entertainment of the better class of McKeesport
people.
“In their announcement sent out recently to the
trade, they stated that they were confident that their
new house and the new policy which they will pursue
in conducting this playhouse, will undoubtedly meet
with the cordial approval and appreciation of their
many thousands of friends and patrons in their community, as they are endeavoring to have the structure represent their highest expression of sincere appreciation of the favor and friendship that the public has shown them by their patronage during the past year.
“Their plans for the Victor embody the best of all
the modern ideas in photoplay construction. They
have made careful provision to safeguard the health
and insure the comfort and convenience of all their
patrons.
“The theater management has arranged for the exclusive showing of Paramount Pictures in this district, including the four short reel subjects.”
After the theater opened, another brief item about it appeared in the November 25 issue of the same publication:
“Almost an entire new structure has been erected on the site of the former Avenue Theater to make an amusement center of the character Mr. Victor wants for McKeesport. He has spent a good sum of money making his new theater comfortable and cozy. The theater will be known as the Victor and seats nine hundred people. With all the latest appointments and a fine program of pictures the Victor is assured liberal patronage.”
A catalog of copyrights from 1944 and 1945 lists a copyright granted to architect Victor A. Rigaumont for the design of alterations to the Victor Theatre in McKeesport, Pennsylvania.
Architect Victor A. Rigaumont applied for a copyright of his design for a remodeling of the Strand Theatre in Ridgway in 1944. The project included a new roof and ceiling.
A view of 5th Street west from near Walnut Street appears on page 39 of McKeesport, by Michelle Tryon Wardle-Eggers and John W. Barna (Google Books preview), and it includes the Dreamland Theatre.
Studying the various photos in this book, it’s clear that the Dreamland Theatre was fairly close to the corner of Walnut Street, and not where the modern building from the 1960s is. It was across 5th Avenue from the Ruben Building, which was on the northwest corner of 5th and Walnut. I suspect that the modern addresses don’t quite match up with the historic addresses.
The August 30, 1934, issue of The Pittsburgh Press printed a special five-page section devoted to the newly remodeled Harris Alvin Theatre. A scan at Google News begins at this link.
The Plaza Theatre was on the west side of North First Street, just off of Grant Avenue. This weblog post says that the last weekly ad for the Plaza Theatre in the Duquesne Times appeared on May 23, 1957. The theater probably closed at the end of that week.
The Heights Theatre has been converted into an event center operated by Gallery M Squared. Here is a link to their web site. The Theater History section (hover cursor over “About” under the gallery name) has an early photo of the auditorium.
Here is an item about the Wallace Theatre in the January 8, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World:
The February 12, 1916, issue of the same publication had an item about another theater-related crime in Wooster:The March 4 issue of The Moving Picture World reported on the arrest of J. B. McCormick of the Alhambra Theatre, but didn’t say anything about the gunshot wound suffered by the owner of the Wallace Theatre: The March 18, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World reported that J. B. McCormick had filed for bankruptcy:I presume that Mr. McCormick’s arrest ended Wooster’s theatrical crime wave, but I’ve been unable to find out who shot Mr. Ziegler. Had McCormick been arrested for that, I’m sure the magazine would have reported it. A report in a book of official documents of Ohio published in 1917 indicates that McCormick pleaded guilty to dynamiting the Wallace Theatre and was sentenced on February 12 to a term of five to ten years in the Ohio State Penitentiary.The correct spelling of Abe and Louis' surname is apparently Latts. I’ve found quite a few instances of it in trade journals. The Latts brothers also operated the Majestic Theatre and, at one time, the Bijou. A Bertha Latts was still operating at least one theater in Ashland at least as late as 1939.
A Google Books snippet view of a 1983 survey of Ashland architecture says that the Royal Theatre was built by the Latts brothers in 1914. That means it was probably the project noted in the May 23, 1914, issue of The American Contractor:
Henry Wildhagen was probably also the architect of the Elite Theatre at Appleton, Wisconsin. His office was in Ashland.In order for Google Maps to find the right location for this theater it will probably be necessary to list it on Main Street West rather than West Main Street.
In his autobiography, My Life in Vaudeville, Ed Lowry mentions playing a Bijou Dream Theatre in Ashland, Wisconsin. This would have been in the early 1910s. Possibly the addition of Dream to the name was a trick of his memory.
The Smalley records themselves are not available on the Internet, but the guide to them (at the link in my previous comment) says that they include weekly statements sent by theater managers to the main office in Cooperstown. As there is correspondence between managers and the main office, I would imagine that the addresses of the theaters would be on the letterheads. Weekly statements include attendance figures, so they might give some indication of total seating capacities as well. But to see the records you’d have to go to the New York State Historical Association’s research library in Cooperstown.
The newspaper article I linked to is the only place I’ve seen the name Park Theatre used for this house. As the article was dated January 25, and probably went to press only a few hours after the fire, it’s likely that the Sentinal was reporting in haste (possibly getting the story via the telephone) and got the name wrong.
The Smalley Theatres Records includes items pertaining to a theater in Camden from the 1930s and 1940s. Unless there was another theater in Camden, it must have been this house must have been part of the Smalley chain for some time.
The September 2, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World said that James Le Richeux would build a movie theater on the site of the burned opera house in Camden, New York.
An article about the 1932 arson attempt was published in the January 25 issue of the Rome, New York,Daily Sentinel (Google Documents quick view.) It says that the house was called the Park Theatre at that time.
This weblog post has an exterior photo of the Empire Theatre, and this one features a photo of the lobby.
Also, per first comment by Arx on November 30, 2012, we’re missing the aka Two Moons Brew and View. The last line of the description also needs to be changed. Beerinator says that Two Moons opened in 1998 and changed its name to Asheville Pizza & Brewing Co. in 1999. Pubcrawler still has this page, placing Two Moons at the theater’s address, and the earliest customer review dates from October, 1998. This theater has been a movie and beer joint for about fifteen years.
I wonder if the Robins Theatre could be the house that was built for the McKinley Theatre Company in 1921-1922? The new house was the subject of reports in several construction trade publications of the time, and was described as being 63x175 feet, which looks to be the size of the Robins in satellite view.
A couple of items in issues of The Film Daily in 1924 indicate that he McKinley Theatre changed hands at least once that year, though I’ve been unable to find any references to the Robins Enterprise Company Becoming the operators. But given the fact that Niles was a fairly small town it seems likely that it had only one large theater, so it also seems likely that the McKinley and the Robins were one and the same.
If the Robins was the house that opened as the McKinley, it would be an unusual theater. The construction journals said that the McKinley was being designed by the Pittsburgh architectural firm of Simons, Brittain, & English. That firm specialized in the design and construction of banks, and the McKinley Theatre is the only building of their design that I’ve found any reference to that was not a bank.
Charles Douglass established the original Douglass Theatre on the ground floor of his Douglass Hotel in 1912. The hotel was next door to the site of the present Douglass Theatre, and the building can be seen in the 1950s exterior photo linked in lostmemory’s May 9, 2008, comment on this theater. A pre-1921 view of the original theater can be seen on page 47 of Macon, by Glenda Barnes Bozeman (Google Books preview.)
This page of the web site of Chris R. Sheridan & Company, General Contractors, features a slide show of the Douglass Theatre. Text says that the original architect of the theater was J. Reginald MacEachron. The renovation was handled by the local firm Balian & Associates.
Updated link for the Boxoffice photo of architect Henry G. Greene at the opening of the Eden Theatre.
This photo of Third Avenue with the Empire Theatre at center is dated 1929.
The Grand Theatre was listed at 208 19th Street, Bessemer, in the 1920 Birmingham telephone directory.
The West End Theatre was listed at 1203 Tuscaloosa Avenue in the 1928 Birmingham telephone directory. Either addresses were changed, or there was an earlier West End Theatre. There are no old buildings at 1203 Tuscaloosa either, so if there was an earlier West End Theatre there it has also been demolished.
The building that housed the Trianon Theatre is still standing at 1916 2nd Avenue North. It appears to have been occupied when the Google camera car went by in June, 2008, but looked vacant when this photo, uploaded to Flickr on December 30, 2009, was taken.
I believe we have the wrong address for this theater. Pozzuto & Sons (I misspelled it as Pozutto in my previous comment), on the site of the Harris Theatre, is located at 635 Walnut Street. I’ve also found historic reference to the Hippodrome Theatre being on Walnut Street near 7th Street.
There is a late photo of the Harris Theatre just below the map on this web page. The caption says the building was partly demolished in 1943, but the remaining part of the structure was incorporated into a building that is still standing, housing Pozutto & Sons Plumbing.
The caption also calls the house the Hippodrome Theatre, though the name Harris is on the vertical sign. I’ve come across references to a White’s Hippodrome Theatre and Harris Hippodrome Theatre in McKeesport, so the sequence of names should probably be White’s New Theatre, White’s Hippodrome Theatre, Harris Hippodrome Theatre, and finally Harris Theatre.
Here is an item about the Victor Theatre from the October 7, 1916, issue of Motography:
After the theater opened, another brief item about it appeared in the November 25 issue of the same publication:A catalog of copyrights from 1944 and 1945 lists a copyright granted to architect Victor A. Rigaumont for the design of alterations to the Victor Theatre in McKeesport, Pennsylvania.
Architect Victor A. Rigaumont applied for a copyright of his design for a remodeling of the Strand Theatre in Ridgway in 1944. The project included a new roof and ceiling.
A view of 5th Street west from near Walnut Street appears on page 39 of McKeesport, by Michelle Tryon Wardle-Eggers and John W. Barna (Google Books preview), and it includes the Dreamland Theatre.
Studying the various photos in this book, it’s clear that the Dreamland Theatre was fairly close to the corner of Walnut Street, and not where the modern building from the 1960s is. It was across 5th Avenue from the Ruben Building, which was on the northwest corner of 5th and Walnut. I suspect that the modern addresses don’t quite match up with the historic addresses.
The August 30, 1934, issue of The Pittsburgh Press printed a special five-page section devoted to the newly remodeled Harris Alvin Theatre. A scan at Google News begins at this link.