This paragraph about Poli’s Theatre appeared in the biographical sketch of its manager, Walter Griffith, in a history of Waterbury published in 1918:
“It was opened December 15, 1897, at No. 141 East Main street and has a seating capacity of sixteen hundred. The stage is one of the largest in Connecticut and the house was one of the first to put in the best pictures. The theater was opened as the home of legitimate drama but during the past six years vaudeville and stock companies have occupied the boards in the summer. The Poli circuit numbers twenty-four theaters, with three offices in New York, and Mr. Alonzo is the exclusive booking agent of New York.”
Thomas M. Freney was the architect of the Alhambra Theatre, according to his mini-biography in a history of Waterbury published in 1918. A native of Waterbury, Freney studied architecture at the Drexel Institute in Philadelphia and established his practice in 1900.
A notice that work had begun on alterations to the Hippodrome Theatre in Bridgeport appeared in the April 7, 1917, issue of The American Contractor. The architect for the project was A. C. Kelley.
A Strand Theatre was listed among claimants to damages resulting from an October, 1918, explosion at a munitions plant in Perth Amboy. The list was published by the U.S. Senate in 1919. The operators of the Strand, Counihan & Shannon, received a payment of $159.00 as compensation for broken glass and structural damage.
The Strand was still in operation in 1924, when it was mentioned in an issue of the quarterly publication Liberty. Manager John Bullwinkel had been arrested for violating the town’s Sunday blue law.
Denvercary: The theater you worked at became the New Victory Theatre in 1937, after the Victory Theatre this page is for either closed or changed its name (I haven’t yet discovered its fate.) The New Victory was built in 1907 as the Majestic Theatre, but was renamed the Empress Theatre a short time later. It was later called the Pantages and then the Center before becoming the New Victory.
The New Victory is one of several Denver houses that hasn’t been added to Cinema Treasures yet. I was hoping that someone who knew more about it would add it, but it looks like nobody is going to get around to it, so I should probably submit it myself.
The Yale Theatre was mentioned in the June 3, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World, along with a house called the Majestic. The item said that J. F. Green, of the Yale and Majestic Theatres, had paid a visit to the film exchanges in Dallas the week of May 8-13.
This article by John Watson in the Cleburne Times-Review says that the Rex Theatre was opened in 1905 by W. A. McDonald. Watson gives the address as 105 E. Henderson Street. I don’t know if the address 107 Henderson that Lowrance gives in the previous comment indicates that the theater moved next door at some point, or expanded its building, or if the number just got shifted over the years.
This encomium for the Yale Theatre in Cleburne was published in the January, 1921, issue of The Texas Railway Journal:
“The Yale is the ‘Home of Refined Music,’ cool, well ventilated and show the latest moving pictures, and you will enjoy going here for a few moments of amusement and recreation when down town and have the time to spare. A good movie is helpful, restful and enjoyable most any day in the week, and few people there are who absent themselves all the time from the movies. So when you do go, see the Yale, and the genial manager, A. F. Chavey, will appreciate your coming.”
The rebuilding of this Modesto house as a 10-screen multiplex with stadium seating in 2001 was designed for Signature Theatres by the San Francisco architectural firm Uesugi & Associates.
The Riverside Plaza Stadium 16 was one of more than a dozen multiplexes designed for Signature Theatres by the San Francisco architectural firm Uesugi & Associates.
The Windward Stadium 10 was one of more than a dozen multiplexes designed for Signature Theatres by the San Francisco architectural firm Uesugi & Associates.
The Davis Stadium 5 was one of more than a dozen multiplexes designed for Signature Theatres by the San Francisco architectural firm Uesugi & Associates.
The Sonora Stadium 10 was one of more than a dozen multiplexes designed for Signature Theatres by the San Francisco architectural firm Uesugi & Associates.
The Turlock Stadium 14 was one of more than a dozen multiplexes designed for Signature Theatres by the San Francisco architectural firm Uesugi & Associates.
The Auburn Stadium 10 was one of more than a dozen multiplexes designed for Signature Theatres by the San Francisco architectural firm Uesugi & Associates.
The Escondido Stadium 16 was one of more than a dozen multiplexes designed for Signature Theatres by the San Francisco architectural firm Uesugi & Associates.
The Lincoln Square Cinemas was designed by San Francisco architectural firm Uesugi & Associates. It was one of many multiplexes the firm designed for Phillip Harris’s Signature Theatres chain, but I don’t think it ever operated under the Signature name. Harris sold most of the Signature chain to Regal Entertainment about the time the Lincoln Square opened, but it was apparently not included in the deal.
The City Centre Stadium 16 is one of more than a dozen multiplexes designed for Signature Theatres by the San Francisco architectural firm Uesugi & Associates.
This weblog post says that the former church the Bijou occupies was built in 1925 and was designed by architect W. R. B. Willcox (misspelled as Wilcox in the text.) Willcox was the first Dean of the University of Oregon School of Architecture.
The Orpheum Theatre in Glasgow was mentioned in the January 12, 1918, issue of Motography. Operator Raymond Robbins contributed four capsule movie revues to that issue, and additional reviews in later issues that same year.
The December, 2011, issue of Queen Anne Cobblestone, the newsletter of the Queen Anne Historical Society, said that the Uptown Theatre was designed by architect Victor W. Voorhees. The Uptown opened on May 26, 1926, with 749 seats. The original auditorium lost 234 seats in 1984, when the lobby was expanded to serve two new auditoriums that were built adjacent to the original theater that year.
The current marquee of the Uptown was installed as part of a 1953 renovation which was designed by architect B. Marcus Priteca.
This house was not the first Bloomington theater to have the name Castle. An earlier house of that name was under construction in 1904, when it was a subject of a petition from its owner that was read at the November 4 meeting of the Bloomington City Council. Mr. J. G. Gillingham was petitioning the Council to consider lowering the license fee for his theater, which he said would present vaudeville at low prices. Bloomington’s license fee for “Opera Houses” was $200 a year.
The petition notes that the Castle Theatre would be located in a remodeled building at the corner of Washington and East Streets, though it doesn’t specify which corner. The Majestic Theatre would open at the southwest corner of that intersection in 1910, and the Castle was still in operation at that time, so it was one of the other corners. I’ve been unable to discover whether or not it continued operating under a different name after this Castle Theatre opened in 1916.
The April 2, 1910, issue of The Billboard said that the new Majestic Theatre in Bloomington was nearing completion and the owners hoped to open on April 11. Guy Martin, manager of the Castle Theatre, was slated to be the manager of the new house. The theater actually opened on April 18, according to the article btkrefft linked to earlier.
The Castle Theatre mentioned in the Billboard item was not the house of that name built in 1916, but an earlier theater which opened in 1904 in a remodeled building on the corner of East and Washington Streets. The fact that the manager of the Majestic was coming from the Castle Theatre raises an interesting possibility. The two houses might have been under the same ownership, and thus it is possible that the Majestic was a new “Castle Theatre” that was a subject of discussion at the December 17, 1909, meeting of the Bloomington City Council. This is from the text of the minutes of that meeting:
“His Honor, the Mayor, called the attention of the Council to the presence of the contractor and architect for the building of the new Castle Theatre.
“On motion of Ald. Kerrick, the rules were suspended and Mr. Solomon, the contractor, addressed the council stating the construction of the building was not in accordance with section 1201 of the Building Ordinances, as the new mode of constructing buildings is to carry all roof trusses on pilasters and the walls are known as curtain walls and only carrying their own weight. Mr. Cooney, the architect, spoke on the same strain, saying, that the construction was of a better nature than called for by the City Ordinances.
“Ald. Costello offered a motion to allow the contractor to proceed with the building under the supervision of the Superintendent of Buildings and Board of Inspection of Buildings.
“Carried.”
The timing of the opening of the Majestic is compatible with a project that was getting underway in late 1909, and the fact that a new Castle Theatre actually was built in 1916 would suggest that the 1909 Castle Theatre project was either left unbuilt, or was opened under a different name- the Majestic. Photos showing the east wall of the Majestic show that it did indeed have pilasters, as discussed in the Council meeting.
I’ve been unable to find any other references to an architect named Cooney operating in the Bloomington area during this period, so I have no first name for him, but I’ll keep looking.
This paragraph about Poli’s Theatre appeared in the biographical sketch of its manager, Walter Griffith, in a history of Waterbury published in 1918:
Thomas M. Freney was the architect of the Alhambra Theatre, according to his mini-biography in a history of Waterbury published in 1918. A native of Waterbury, Freney studied architecture at the Drexel Institute in Philadelphia and established his practice in 1900.
A notice that work had begun on alterations to the Hippodrome Theatre in Bridgeport appeared in the April 7, 1917, issue of The American Contractor. The architect for the project was A. C. Kelley.
A Strand Theatre was listed among claimants to damages resulting from an October, 1918, explosion at a munitions plant in Perth Amboy. The list was published by the U.S. Senate in 1919. The operators of the Strand, Counihan & Shannon, received a payment of $159.00 as compensation for broken glass and structural damage.
The Strand was still in operation in 1924, when it was mentioned in an issue of the quarterly publication Liberty. Manager John Bullwinkel had been arrested for violating the town’s Sunday blue law.
Denvercary: The theater you worked at became the New Victory Theatre in 1937, after the Victory Theatre this page is for either closed or changed its name (I haven’t yet discovered its fate.) The New Victory was built in 1907 as the Majestic Theatre, but was renamed the Empress Theatre a short time later. It was later called the Pantages and then the Center before becoming the New Victory.
The New Victory is one of several Denver houses that hasn’t been added to Cinema Treasures yet. I was hoping that someone who knew more about it would add it, but it looks like nobody is going to get around to it, so I should probably submit it myself.
The Yale Theatre was mentioned in the June 3, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World, along with a house called the Majestic. The item said that J. F. Green, of the Yale and Majestic Theatres, had paid a visit to the film exchanges in Dallas the week of May 8-13.
This article by John Watson in the Cleburne Times-Review says that the Rex Theatre was opened in 1905 by W. A. McDonald. Watson gives the address as 105 E. Henderson Street. I don’t know if the address 107 Henderson that Lowrance gives in the previous comment indicates that the theater moved next door at some point, or expanded its building, or if the number just got shifted over the years.
This encomium for the Yale Theatre in Cleburne was published in the January, 1921, issue of The Texas Railway Journal:
The rebuilding of this Modesto house as a 10-screen multiplex with stadium seating in 2001 was designed for Signature Theatres by the San Francisco architectural firm Uesugi & Associates.
The Riverside Plaza Stadium 16 was one of more than a dozen multiplexes designed for Signature Theatres by the San Francisco architectural firm Uesugi & Associates.
The Windward Stadium 10 was one of more than a dozen multiplexes designed for Signature Theatres by the San Francisco architectural firm Uesugi & Associates.
The Davis Stadium 5 was one of more than a dozen multiplexes designed for Signature Theatres by the San Francisco architectural firm Uesugi & Associates.
The Sonora Stadium 10 was one of more than a dozen multiplexes designed for Signature Theatres by the San Francisco architectural firm Uesugi & Associates.
The remodeling of this Palm Springs multiplex for Signature Theatres was designed by the San Francisco architectural firm Uesugi & Associates.
The Turlock Stadium 14 was one of more than a dozen multiplexes designed for Signature Theatres by the San Francisco architectural firm Uesugi & Associates.
The Auburn Stadium 10 was one of more than a dozen multiplexes designed for Signature Theatres by the San Francisco architectural firm Uesugi & Associates.
The Escondido Stadium 16 was one of more than a dozen multiplexes designed for Signature Theatres by the San Francisco architectural firm Uesugi & Associates.
The Lincoln Square Cinemas was designed by San Francisco architectural firm Uesugi & Associates. It was one of many multiplexes the firm designed for Phillip Harris’s Signature Theatres chain, but I don’t think it ever operated under the Signature name. Harris sold most of the Signature chain to Regal Entertainment about the time the Lincoln Square opened, but it was apparently not included in the deal.
The City Centre Stadium 16 is one of more than a dozen multiplexes designed for Signature Theatres by the San Francisco architectural firm Uesugi & Associates.
This weblog post says that the former church the Bijou occupies was built in 1925 and was designed by architect W. R. B. Willcox (misspelled as Wilcox in the text.) Willcox was the first Dean of the University of Oregon School of Architecture.
The Orpheum Theatre in Glasgow was mentioned in the January 12, 1918, issue of Motography. Operator Raymond Robbins contributed four capsule movie revues to that issue, and additional reviews in later issues that same year.
The December, 2011, issue of Queen Anne Cobblestone, the newsletter of the Queen Anne Historical Society, said that the Uptown Theatre was designed by architect Victor W. Voorhees. The Uptown opened on May 26, 1926, with 749 seats. The original auditorium lost 234 seats in 1984, when the lobby was expanded to serve two new auditoriums that were built adjacent to the original theater that year.
The current marquee of the Uptown was installed as part of a 1953 renovation which was designed by architect B. Marcus Priteca.
If the former auditorium now houses an Old Navy store, then the theater hasn’t been demolished, merely dismantled.
Here is a 1967 photo from the University of Oregon library.
This house was not the first Bloomington theater to have the name Castle. An earlier house of that name was under construction in 1904, when it was a subject of a petition from its owner that was read at the November 4 meeting of the Bloomington City Council. Mr. J. G. Gillingham was petitioning the Council to consider lowering the license fee for his theater, which he said would present vaudeville at low prices. Bloomington’s license fee for “Opera Houses” was $200 a year.
The petition notes that the Castle Theatre would be located in a remodeled building at the corner of Washington and East Streets, though it doesn’t specify which corner. The Majestic Theatre would open at the southwest corner of that intersection in 1910, and the Castle was still in operation at that time, so it was one of the other corners. I’ve been unable to discover whether or not it continued operating under a different name after this Castle Theatre opened in 1916.
The April 2, 1910, issue of The Billboard said that the new Majestic Theatre in Bloomington was nearing completion and the owners hoped to open on April 11. Guy Martin, manager of the Castle Theatre, was slated to be the manager of the new house. The theater actually opened on April 18, according to the article btkrefft linked to earlier.
The Castle Theatre mentioned in the Billboard item was not the house of that name built in 1916, but an earlier theater which opened in 1904 in a remodeled building on the corner of East and Washington Streets. The fact that the manager of the Majestic was coming from the Castle Theatre raises an interesting possibility. The two houses might have been under the same ownership, and thus it is possible that the Majestic was a new “Castle Theatre” that was a subject of discussion at the December 17, 1909, meeting of the Bloomington City Council. This is from the text of the minutes of that meeting:
The timing of the opening of the Majestic is compatible with a project that was getting underway in late 1909, and the fact that a new Castle Theatre actually was built in 1916 would suggest that the 1909 Castle Theatre project was either left unbuilt, or was opened under a different name- the Majestic. Photos showing the east wall of the Majestic show that it did indeed have pilasters, as discussed in the Council meeting.I’ve been unable to find any other references to an architect named Cooney operating in the Bloomington area during this period, so I have no first name for him, but I’ll keep looking.