A history of Maysville theaters that was included in the NRHP nomination form for the Russell Theatre says that the Hollywood Theatre opened in April, 1909, as the Pastime Theatre. It was located at 113 West Second Street, in the Knights of Pythias building, which was across the street from the Washington Opera Theatre. The Pastime Theatre had 225 seats.
In 1926 the house changed hands, and was renamed the Hollywood Theatre. It was sold again, in 1938, to the operators of the Washington Opera Theatre, who closed it in 1941.
This house had become the National Theatre by 1922, nine years after it had opened as the Big Nickel Theatre. Manager S. Garr’s promotional efforts on behalf of Universal’s feature Robinson Crusoe were noted in the July 29, 1922, issue of the studio’s house organ, Universal Weekly.
I’m pretty sure that the building on the theater’s site is the old Masonic Lodge, but its two upper floors have been lopped off. If the auditorium was on the ground floor, it must still be there in some form.
The long-missing Motion Picture Times article about the dismantling of the Crystal Theatre in 1928 can now be found at this fresh link.
The article notes that the Crystal was expanded after the construction of the larger Washington Theatre across the street. That expansion, which doubled the width of the theater, must have been the project noted in the April 9, 1913, issue of American Architect and Architecture. I think we can safely list I.A. Walker as the architect of the Crystal Theatre.
BoxRec’s bout list for boxer Mike Moran has him fighting at the Sipe Theatre in Kokomo on June 14, 1920, and at the Strand Theatre in Kokomo on September 2, 1921, so the name change took place between those dates.
The August 28, 1920, issue of Indiana Construction Reporter has a notice saying that contracts had been let for alterations and an addition to a theater in Kokomo owned by Ben Barton, Sipe Theatre Company. I’ve found quite a few references to Barton in connection with the Sipe Theatre around this time. The remodeling project, which was designed by Indianapolis architects Bass, Knowlton & Graham, must have been for this house. The renaming probably took place at the time of this remodeling.
Frank Cullen’s Vaudeville, Old & New lists this house both as Sipe’s Theatre and as B. F. Keith’s Strand Theatre during the period it was part of the Keith-Albee circuit.
Howard Regional Health System’s Downtown Kokomo Campus, which is on the site of the Victory/Indiana Theatre, uses the address 322 N. Main, so that was most likely the address of the theater as well.
According to this article by Tom Hamilton, the theater at 110 W. Mulberry Street was in operation in 1920 as the Paramount Theatre. I’ve found references to the Paramount Theatre in Kokomo as late as 1936, when the May 7 issue of The Film Daily reported that the house, then being operated by Stanley Theaters, was to be remodeled.
It must have been across the street from Lacey’s Tax Services, as the odd numbers are on the north side of Main Street (Lacey’s building has 112 on it, but if the number is properly placed the offices probably occupy former storefronts from 108 to 114.) The theater must have been on part of the parking lot that has all the school buses on it.
The Motion Picture supplement of the 1921 Cahn guide lists the Kossuth Theatre at 973 Fresh Pond Road, so the entrance must have been on that side of the building. Despite the fact that a search for that address at Google Maps goes right to the intersection of Fresh Pond and 70th Avenue, for some reason Street View gives two-digit addresses to this block.
Is there any chance that the correct address for this theater was 202 N. Broad Street? The second building north of 2nd Avenue on the east side of Broad Street looks like it might have housed a theater. It has Streamline Modern detailing and a wide entrance that has been closed with a conventional retail front. York appears to be too small to have supported two theaters.
If that building isn’t the former Sumter Theatre, then the theater has probably been demolished. There’s a modern, single-story building where 220 N. Broad probably was.
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.
A history of Maysville theaters that was included in the NRHP nomination form for the Russell Theatre says that the Hollywood Theatre opened in April, 1909, as the Pastime Theatre. It was located at 113 West Second Street, in the Knights of Pythias building, which was across the street from the Washington Opera Theatre. The Pastime Theatre had 225 seats.
In 1926 the house changed hands, and was renamed the Hollywood Theatre. It was sold again, in 1938, to the operators of the Washington Opera Theatre, who closed it in 1941.
This house had become the National Theatre by 1922, nine years after it had opened as the Big Nickel Theatre. Manager S. Garr’s promotional efforts on behalf of Universal’s feature Robinson Crusoe were noted in the July 29, 1922, issue of the studio’s house organ, Universal Weekly.
I’m pretty sure that the building on the theater’s site is the old Masonic Lodge, but its two upper floors have been lopped off. If the auditorium was on the ground floor, it must still be there in some form.
The Temple Theatre in Perry, Florida, was mentioned in the July 22, 1922, issue of the Universal Studios house organ, Universal Weekly.
The long-missing Motion Picture Times article about the dismantling of the Crystal Theatre in 1928 can now be found at this fresh link.
The article notes that the Crystal was expanded after the construction of the larger Washington Theatre across the street. That expansion, which doubled the width of the theater, must have been the project noted in the April 9, 1913, issue of American Architect and Architecture. I think we can safely list I.A. Walker as the architect of the Crystal Theatre.
BoxRec’s bout list for boxer Mike Moran has him fighting at the Sipe Theatre in Kokomo on June 14, 1920, and at the Strand Theatre in Kokomo on September 2, 1921, so the name change took place between those dates.
The August 28, 1920, issue of Indiana Construction Reporter has a notice saying that contracts had been let for alterations and an addition to a theater in Kokomo owned by Ben Barton, Sipe Theatre Company. I’ve found quite a few references to Barton in connection with the Sipe Theatre around this time. The remodeling project, which was designed by Indianapolis architects Bass, Knowlton & Graham, must have been for this house. The renaming probably took place at the time of this remodeling.
Frank Cullen’s Vaudeville, Old & New lists this house both as Sipe’s Theatre and as B. F. Keith’s Strand Theatre during the period it was part of the Keith-Albee circuit.
Howard Regional Health System’s Downtown Kokomo Campus, which is on the site of the Victory/Indiana Theatre, uses the address 322 N. Main, so that was most likely the address of the theater as well.
According to this article by Tom Hamilton, the theater at 110 W. Mulberry Street was in operation in 1920 as the Paramount Theatre. I’ve found references to the Paramount Theatre in Kokomo as late as 1936, when the May 7 issue of The Film Daily reported that the house, then being operated by Stanley Theaters, was to be remodeled.
It must have been across the street from Lacey’s Tax Services, as the odd numbers are on the north side of Main Street (Lacey’s building has 112 on it, but if the number is properly placed the offices probably occupy former storefronts from 108 to 114.) The theater must have been on part of the parking lot that has all the school buses on it.
The Motion Picture supplement of the 1921 Cahn guide lists the Kossuth Theatre at 973 Fresh Pond Road, so the entrance must have been on that side of the building. Despite the fact that a search for that address at Google Maps goes right to the intersection of Fresh Pond and 70th Avenue, for some reason Street View gives two-digit addresses to this block.
Is there any chance that the correct address for this theater was 202 N. Broad Street? The second building north of 2nd Avenue on the east side of Broad Street looks like it might have housed a theater. It has Streamline Modern detailing and a wide entrance that has been closed with a conventional retail front. York appears to be too small to have supported two theaters.
If that building isn’t the former Sumter Theatre, then the theater has probably been demolished. There’s a modern, single-story building where 220 N. Broad probably was.
In the 1913-1914 Cahn guide, the Premier Theatre is listed as a 933-seat, ground floor house playing Loew’s vaudeville.
The Savoy had been renamed the Rialto by 1921, which is how it was listed in the city directory that year.
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.