In his book The Death of Black Radio, Bernie J. Hayes says that for over a year around 1966-1967 he operated the Pageant Theatre, under a lease from the Arthur brothers, as a concert venue for R&B acts.
Although the old Pageant Theatre is gone, its name lives on in The Pageant, a modern concert venue opened at 6161 Delmar Boulevard in 2000.
cdrosenblatt: As the house was equipped for Todd-AO, the Pageant might have had the Saint Louis premier of Around the World in 80 Days, but the world premier was at the Rivoli Theatre in New York City on October 17, 1956. The movie opened in Los Angeles on December 22, at the Carthay Circle Theatre. It probably would not have reached St. Louis until after it opened in Los Angeles, so if the Pageant ran it, it might not have shown there until early 1957.
The Thursday, August 11, 1927, issue of the Fairport Herald-Mail said that the Temple Theatre would open the following night. The article confirms Michael DeAngelis as the architect, but claims the style to be Italian Renaissance. An accompanying photo of the theater’s front doesn’t look especially Italian or French to me, but seems vaguely Spanish.
In any case, the current Colonial Revival front is clearly the result of a much later alteration, perhaps done even after the theater had been closed.
The Temple Theatre had been dark for several months according the the April 28, 1958, issue of the Fairport Herald-Mail. The theater was scheduled to be auctioned off on May 19.
Here is a brief article from the October 18, 1919, issue of the weekly journal The Music Trades:
“Boston Theatre Buys a Morton
“BOSTON, MASS., Oct. 14.
“George Lincoln Parker, the Boylston Street piano merchant and resident representative of the American Photoplayer Co., succeeded a few days ago in securing an important contract, after the keenest competition for an organ to be installed in the city’s latest, largest and most attractive moving picture house.
“The Robert Morton Symphonic organ, as constructed by the American Photoplayer Company, at its modernly appointed factory in Berkely, Cal., will grace the Powers Broadway Theatre, South Boston, on or about February 1, 1920. This picture playhouse is at present in process of construction and the same contractor who delivered Camp Devens in Ayer, Mass., to the government will spare neither time nor money to have the theatre complete on contract time.
“The Robert Morton Symphonic organ both in tone and construction will feature the interior’s furnishings where music lovers and theatre goers are promised a revelation when the organ is heard amidst the costliest and most artistic theatre appointments. The organ, when completed and installed, will be the best and most expensive instrument ever installed in the city’s long list of theaters.”
Photos and floor plans of the Broadway Theatre were published in the June 8, 1921, issue of The American Architect, which can be seen online here. Scroll down to see additional photos. They can be resized using the + and – signs in the toolbar at lower right, and individual pages of the size you’ve chosen can then be downloaded with the usual right click-save commands.
The Nickelodeon Theatre was mentioned in the Boston Police Departments records for 1919:
“On the application of A. L. Wolffe, Manager, Fred E.
Hanscom was appointed a Special Police Officer for duty in and about the premises of the Nickelodeon Theatre located at 51 Hanover street for the year ending March 31, 1920.”
The February 26, 1921, issue of The American Contractor has a notice that a $35,000 house was to be built at Keokuk for M. F. Baker. This was probably Merle F. Baker. It was being designed by the Chicago firm of Tallmadge & Watson. I would expect that, if Baker had been an architect, he’d have designed his own house. It seems more likely than ever that Baker was merely the co-owner of the Grand Theatre, not its architect.
The Masonic Temple Theatre was built in 1923 and designed by the Kansas City architectural firm of Owen, Payson, & Carswell. Architect Robin B. Carswell left the firm by 1925 and was replaced by William Sayler.
As Owen, Sayler, & Payson, (Albert S. Owen and Charles H. Payson were the other partners) the firm designed the Ararat Shrine Temple in Kansas City (1926), which would also later operate as a movie theater and would also be listed on the NRHP, as part of the Eleventh Street Historic District.
After establishing his own practice, Carswell also designed the Memorial Auditorium at Burlington, Iowa.
The NRHP nomination form for the Eleventh Street Historic District, which includes the Lyric Theatre, says that the Ararat Shrine Temple was designed by the Kansas City architectural firm of Owen, Sayler, & Payson. William Sayler had joined the firm in 1925. Prevously, Albert S. Owen and Charles H. Payson had been partnered with Robin B. Carswell, and in 1923 the firm of Owen, Payson, & Carswell had designed another Masonic building which would become a theater and be listed on the NRHP: the Temple Theatre at Mount Pleasant, Iowa.
Keokuk and the Great Dam, by John E. Hallwas, has a photo of construction under way on the Iowa Hotel, dated May 28, 1913, and the Orpheum Theatre can be seen in the background.
This house was still called the Hippodrome as late as 1922, when the June issue of Stone & Webster Journal said that the Baker-Dodge Theatre Company was remodeling its Hippodrome Theatre in Keokuk at a cost of $20,000. It might have been at the time of this remodeling that the house was renamed.
The photo currently on display on this page depicts the original Keokuk Opera House which was destroyed by a fire in 1923 and replaced by the Grand Theatre. The photos section has an image of the 1925 Grand Theatre, posted by Don Lewis, which would be a better choice to display on this page.
Although a couple of travel-oriented web sites and any number of link farms (and Wikipedia, not surprisingly) say that Mere F. Baker designed the Grand Theatre, this page at the Grand’s official web site says only that “[i]n a matter of a few days after the destruction Merle F. Baker, a leading businessman in Keokuk, was determined to rebuild the Grand Theatre as a community theatre continuing with vaudeville stage shows.” I’ve found no evidence anywhere else on the Internet that Baker was an architect. He was actually the Baker of Baker-Dodge Theatres, the company that operated the Grand and a number of other Keokuk movie houses.
This house actually opened as the New Grand Theatre. Baker-Dodge had been operating the old Keokuk Opera House under the name Grand Theatre at the time it was destroyed. Although I’ve been unable to discover the architect of the New Grand, the Keokuk Opera House was designed by Chicago theater architect Oscar Cobb prior to 1885.
A brief biography of Chicago theater architect Oscar Cobb, published in 1886, lists the Grand Opera House in St. Louis as one of his works. This must have been the rebuilding after the 1884 fire and gas explosion that destroyed the original building.
The mini-biography of Oscar Cobb that dynne linked to is now on this page, though there’s no guarantee it will stay there.
A somewhat longer biographical sketch of Cobb, published in 1885, can be seen at this Google Books link. It, too, notes Heuck’s New Opera House in Cincinnati as one of Cobb’s designs.
In 1904, a $15,000 remodeling of the Opera House was undertaken, the project being designed by the Cincinnati firm of Rapp, Zettle & Rapp, as noted in the May, 1904, issue of The Ohio Architect and Builder.
Comparing CharmaineZoe’s photo and the building seen in Google Street View, it’s clear that the San Carlos Theatre’s building had certainly not been demolished as of 2009, when the Street View photo was made, and it’s probably still there. The former auditorium is still distinguishable in the satellite view as well, and if you move Street View around to Griffin Avenue you can see one of the former emergency exits still in use by the current occupant.
The Internet says that the address now belongs to an outfit called George’s Upholstery, and my guess would be that the auditorium is in use as a workroom.
Also, why do we have the San Carlos and two other Lincoln Heights theaters (the Daly and the Starland) listed as being in Montecito Heights? Montecito Heights is a small, hilly residential district northeast of Lincoln Heights. The San Carlos was only four blocks from Lincoln Park. This is definitely Lincoln Heights.
More Nashville Nostalgia, by E. D. Thompson, says that the Crescent Amusement Company opened the Elite Theatre on Charlotte Pike in 1927. It also seems to imply that he building was converted into a bank in 1948, but the wording is ambiguous.
As this Elite Theatre was across the street from a park, I believe that it is the Streamline Modern house depicted in two photos on this weblog page. The Colonial Revival style church in the background of the second photo can be seen in modern Street View.
Herkimer County: Valley Towns, by Jane W. Dieffenbacher, says that the Liberty Theatre was built in 1918 and purchased by the Schine circuit in 1926.
Herkimer Village, by Susan R. Perkins and Caryl A. Hopson, has a photo of the Liberty Theatre with the 1969 Jerry Lewis movie Hook, Line & Sinker advertised on the marquee.
The Alhambra Theatre in Torrington was mentioned in an advertisement for the Picture Theatre Equipment Company, vendors of projection equipment, in the July 1, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World
In his book The Death of Black Radio, Bernie J. Hayes says that for over a year around 1966-1967 he operated the Pageant Theatre, under a lease from the Arthur brothers, as a concert venue for R&B acts.
Although the old Pageant Theatre is gone, its name lives on in The Pageant, a modern concert venue opened at 6161 Delmar Boulevard in 2000.
cdrosenblatt: As the house was equipped for Todd-AO, the Pageant might have had the Saint Louis premier of Around the World in 80 Days, but the world premier was at the Rivoli Theatre in New York City on October 17, 1956. The movie opened in Los Angeles on December 22, at the Carthay Circle Theatre. It probably would not have reached St. Louis until after it opened in Los Angeles, so if the Pageant ran it, it might not have shown there until early 1957.
The Thursday, August 11, 1927, issue of the Fairport Herald-Mail said that the Temple Theatre would open the following night. The article confirms Michael DeAngelis as the architect, but claims the style to be Italian Renaissance. An accompanying photo of the theater’s front doesn’t look especially Italian or French to me, but seems vaguely Spanish.
In any case, the current Colonial Revival front is clearly the result of a much later alteration, perhaps done even after the theater had been closed.
Here is a link to the Google Documents version of the page.
The Temple Theatre had been dark for several months according the the April 28, 1958, issue of the Fairport Herald-Mail. The theater was scheduled to be auctioned off on May 19.
Here is a brief article from the October 18, 1919, issue of the weekly journal The Music Trades:
Photos and floor plans of the Broadway Theatre were published in the June 8, 1921, issue of The American Architect, which can be seen online here. Scroll down to see additional photos. They can be resized using the + and – signs in the toolbar at lower right, and individual pages of the size you’ve chosen can then be downloaded with the usual right click-save commands.The Nickelodeon Theatre was mentioned in the Boston Police Departments records for 1919:
Harkins Tucson Spectrum 18 is one of several multiplexes designed for the chain by The Beck Group, a Dallas, Texas architectural firm.
Harkins Northfield 18 is one of several multiplexes designed for the chain by The Beck Group, a Dallas, Texas architectural firm.
Harkins Southlake 14 is one of several multiplexes designed for the chain by The Beck Group, a Dallas, Texas architectural firm.
Harkins Moreno Valley 16 is one of several multiplexes designed for the chain by The Beck Group, a Dallas, Texas architectural firm.
Harkins Chino Hills 18 is one of several multiplexes designed for the chain by The Beck Group, a Dallas, Texas architectural firm.
The Harkins Casa Grande 14 is one of several multiplexes designed for the chain by The Beck Group, a Dallas, Texas architectural firm.
The Ansonia Theatre is at upper left in this montage of Butte theaters published in 1915.
The February 26, 1921, issue of The American Contractor has a notice that a $35,000 house was to be built at Keokuk for M. F. Baker. This was probably Merle F. Baker. It was being designed by the Chicago firm of Tallmadge & Watson. I would expect that, if Baker had been an architect, he’d have designed his own house. It seems more likely than ever that Baker was merely the co-owner of the Grand Theatre, not its architect.
The Masonic Temple Theatre was built in 1923 and designed by the Kansas City architectural firm of Owen, Payson, & Carswell. Architect Robin B. Carswell left the firm by 1925 and was replaced by William Sayler.
As Owen, Sayler, & Payson, (Albert S. Owen and Charles H. Payson were the other partners) the firm designed the Ararat Shrine Temple in Kansas City (1926), which would also later operate as a movie theater and would also be listed on the NRHP, as part of the Eleventh Street Historic District.
After establishing his own practice, Carswell also designed the Memorial Auditorium at Burlington, Iowa.
The NRHP nomination form for the Eleventh Street Historic District, which includes the Lyric Theatre, says that the Ararat Shrine Temple was designed by the Kansas City architectural firm of Owen, Sayler, & Payson. William Sayler had joined the firm in 1925. Prevously, Albert S. Owen and Charles H. Payson had been partnered with Robin B. Carswell, and in 1923 the firm of Owen, Payson, & Carswell had designed another Masonic building which would become a theater and be listed on the NRHP: the Temple Theatre at Mount Pleasant, Iowa.
Keokuk and the Great Dam, by John E. Hallwas, has a photo of construction under way on the Iowa Hotel, dated May 28, 1913, and the Orpheum Theatre can be seen in the background.
This house was still called the Hippodrome as late as 1922, when the June issue of Stone & Webster Journal said that the Baker-Dodge Theatre Company was remodeling its Hippodrome Theatre in Keokuk at a cost of $20,000. It might have been at the time of this remodeling that the house was renamed.
The photo currently on display on this page depicts the original Keokuk Opera House which was destroyed by a fire in 1923 and replaced by the Grand Theatre. The photos section has an image of the 1925 Grand Theatre, posted by Don Lewis, which would be a better choice to display on this page.
Although a couple of travel-oriented web sites and any number of link farms (and Wikipedia, not surprisingly) say that Mere F. Baker designed the Grand Theatre, this page at the Grand’s official web site says only that “[i]n a matter of a few days after the destruction Merle F. Baker, a leading businessman in Keokuk, was determined to rebuild the Grand Theatre as a community theatre continuing with vaudeville stage shows.” I’ve found no evidence anywhere else on the Internet that Baker was an architect. He was actually the Baker of Baker-Dodge Theatres, the company that operated the Grand and a number of other Keokuk movie houses.
This house actually opened as the New Grand Theatre. Baker-Dodge had been operating the old Keokuk Opera House under the name Grand Theatre at the time it was destroyed. Although I’ve been unable to discover the architect of the New Grand, the Keokuk Opera House was designed by Chicago theater architect Oscar Cobb prior to 1885.
A brief biography of Chicago theater architect Oscar Cobb, published in 1886, lists the Grand Opera House in St. Louis as one of his works. This must have been the rebuilding after the 1884 fire and gas explosion that destroyed the original building.
The mini-biography of Oscar Cobb that dynne linked to is now on this page, though there’s no guarantee it will stay there.
A somewhat longer biographical sketch of Cobb, published in 1885, can be seen at this Google Books link. It, too, notes Heuck’s New Opera House in Cincinnati as one of Cobb’s designs.
In 1904, a $15,000 remodeling of the Opera House was undertaken, the project being designed by the Cincinnati firm of Rapp, Zettle & Rapp, as noted in the May, 1904, issue of The Ohio Architect and Builder.
Comparing CharmaineZoe’s photo and the building seen in Google Street View, it’s clear that the San Carlos Theatre’s building had certainly not been demolished as of 2009, when the Street View photo was made, and it’s probably still there. The former auditorium is still distinguishable in the satellite view as well, and if you move Street View around to Griffin Avenue you can see one of the former emergency exits still in use by the current occupant.
The Internet says that the address now belongs to an outfit called George’s Upholstery, and my guess would be that the auditorium is in use as a workroom.
Also, why do we have the San Carlos and two other Lincoln Heights theaters (the Daly and the Starland) listed as being in Montecito Heights? Montecito Heights is a small, hilly residential district northeast of Lincoln Heights. The San Carlos was only four blocks from Lincoln Park. This is definitely Lincoln Heights.
More Nashville Nostalgia, by E. D. Thompson, says that the Crescent Amusement Company opened the Elite Theatre on Charlotte Pike in 1927. It also seems to imply that he building was converted into a bank in 1948, but the wording is ambiguous.
As this Elite Theatre was across the street from a park, I believe that it is the Streamline Modern house depicted in two photos on this weblog page. The Colonial Revival style church in the background of the second photo can be seen in modern Street View.
Herkimer County: Valley Towns, by Jane W. Dieffenbacher, says that the Liberty Theatre was built in 1918 and purchased by the Schine circuit in 1926.
Herkimer Village, by Susan R. Perkins and Caryl A. Hopson, has a photo of the Liberty Theatre with the 1969 Jerry Lewis movie Hook, Line & Sinker advertised on the marquee.
The Alhambra Theatre in Torrington was mentioned in an advertisement for the Picture Theatre Equipment Company, vendors of projection equipment, in the July 1, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World