Dream Star Cinemas no longer operates the Captiol (they are down to one two-screen theater in Pella, Iowa.) At some point the Capitol was taken over by Big Time Cinema,which operates seven houses in Iowa and two in Missouri.
The plans of the Lyric Theatre Company of Ellendale, North Dakota, were noted in the February 7, 1914, issue of Construction News:
“Ellendale, N. D.—Theatre. Brick., frpf., 1 sty., 25x125. Plans in progress. Archt., J. W. Henry, Aberdeen, S. D. Owner, Lyric Theatre Co., Ellendale, N. D.
"Hebry” was apparently a typo. I’ve found several references to an Aberdeen architect named J. W. Henry, but no others to a J. W. Hebry.
A 1954 book, 100 Years of Progress: The Centennial History of Anna, Illinois, says that the Anna Drive-In opened on July 1, 1953. Its pre-CinemaScope screen was 44 feet high and 58 feet wide.
There is no such address as 226 S. Main Street in Anna. Street View shows that addresses go from 214 on one side of the alley (King’s Wok Chinese Restaurant) to 300 on the other side (This N That Flea Market and Resale Shop.) Given that fact, it seems more likely that the Yale Theatre was indeed at 327 S. Main.
A book called 100 Years of Progress: The Centennial History of Anna, Illinois, published in 1954, says that when the Yale opened in 1914 it was called the Main Theatre. It was renamed the Yale in 1922, the year before I. W. Rodgers took over the lease. In 1933 Rodgers bought the theater and had it remodeled and enlarged. The Yale Theatre was still in operation at the time the book went to press.
Comparing vintage photos of the Gem linked earlier, and from Bill2’s statement that the Stadium Theatre is now a woodworking shop, it’s clear that the two photos uploaded by Norman Plant depict the Stadium Theatre, not the Gem. The Stadium is not yet listed at Cinema Treasures.
From the 1990s photo of the Gem linked by lostmemory, it is clear that the red brick sidewalls of the theater building were much older than the white brick front. Its possible that the 1936 opening date for the Gem was actually a reopening of a remodeled and perhaps renamed theater.
It’s also possible that the Gem was the theater mentioned in the May 20, 1916, issue of The American Contractor:
“Caruthersville, Mo.—Theater & Airdome: $10,000. 2 sty. 80x140. Archt. M. E. Worcester, Cape Girardeau, Mo. Owner Caruthersville Amusement Co., care archt. Plans ready for bids.”
. The Gem appears to be about 40 feet wide, and the airdome could have been on the adjacent parcel where a smaller building shows in the 1990s photo. However, various issues of The Moving Picture World from 1918 name three movie theaters then operating in Caruthers; the Exchange, the Dixie, and the Liberty. Any of these might have been the 1916 project, but any of them might also have been the Gem under an earlier name.
Architect M. E. Worcester also designed a theater in Cape Girardeau in 1916, though I’ve been unable to track down its name or discover if the project was ever carried out.
The history of the Baldwin Theatre that seymourcox linked to says that it was destroyed by fire on January 6, 1909. It’s possible that it never operated as a movie house, though it might have presented exhibitions of early films as a technological curiosity.
This web page from the Springfield-Greene County Library, says that the Landers Theatre opened on September 18, 1909 (our introduction currently says 1890 for some reason.)
The Landers Theatre suffered a major fire on December 17, 1920, and was not reopened until 1922. David and Noelle’s list of known Boller Brothers theaters lists the Landers Theatre as both a 1909 and 1921 project, so Robert Boller, who took over the Kansas City office when Carl moved to California around 1920, should also be credited as architect, as he probably did the plans for the rebuilding.
The official web site says that during the period when the theater was part of the Orpheum circuit, it was called the Landers Orpheum Theatre. The Landers Orpheum sign on the stage house has been restored, and can be seen here. The house was apparently never called just the Orpheum Theatre.
Although the official web site’s main page is captioned Springfield Little Theatre, the site uses the name Landers Theatre throughout, including in the company’s mission statement which says:
“Springfield Little Theatre is a volunteer driven organization, energized by the highest artistic ideals, that strives to entertain, educate and involve the community in live productions and in the preservation of the historic Landers Theatre.”
It appears that they still call the theater itself by its original name, while Springfield Little Theatre is only the name of the organization.
However, the Lyric might have been open only intermittently during its later years. In this 1963 photo, signage indicates that the theater was closed. The marquee advertised the Nor Shor Theatre.
The Minnesota Digital Library also has this photo depicting the original Lyric Theatre, which was at 114-116 W. Superior Street.
The address is one number off, but this item in the December 27, 1913, issue of The Construction News is surely about the Zelda Theatre:
“Duluth, Minn.—Moving Picture Theater. $20,000. 311 W. Superior St. Brk. & conc., frpf., 2 stys., 40x140. Refiguring. Archt., Wangenstein & Giliuson, 702 Providence Bldg. Owncr. Wm. M. Abrahamson, 31 E. Superior St.”
Wangenstein & Giliuson (John J. Wangenstein and Ephraim C. Giliuson) also designed the Lyric Theatre, which opened in the next block of Superior Street in 1914 as the New Grand Theatre.
The Majestic Theatre was still in operation at Belle Plaine in 1915 when the July 24 issue of The Moving Picture World reported that it had been sold to A. D. Beaudreaux of Wadena by the manager, a Mr. Webber.
Although two photos from the Minnesota Digital Library give the Alhambra Theatre the same address as the Doric, a third photo gives what is apparently the correct address. The Alhambra Theatre was at 321 N. Central Avenue. The Doric was apparently the only theater ever located at 5715 Grand Avenue.
This article from Zenith City Online has a photo of the Lyric Theatre and a brief history of it. At the bottom of the article are links to four PDF files with scans of articles about the theater that were published in 1914.
The house opened as the New Grand Theatre on August 20, 1914. It was designed in the French Renaissance style by local architects John J. Wangenstein and Ephraim C. Giliuson. The New Grand was operated as a vaudeville house, originally by Marcus Loew, who had taken over parts of the Sullivan & Considine circuit. Apparently the Grand had originally been slated to be a Sullivan & Considine house.
In 1922, the Grand Theatre merged with the Lyric Theatre, a house across the street, and the Lyric name was moved to the Grand. The article gives the address of the Grand/Lyric as 213 W. Superior, so I would surmise that the 214 we currently have listed for it was actually the address of the original Lyric. The article doesn’t say what became of the original Lyric’s building, but I would imagine that it was closed when the operation moved across the street.
The article says that the Grand/Lyric Theatre was demolished in 1976, but doesn’t say when it closed.
Architects Wangenstein & Giliuson also designed the Zelda Theatre which opened in the next block of Superior Street the same year as the New Grand.
The Minnesota Digital Library also has a 1913 photo of a theater called the Alhambra. The caption says that it was also at 5715 Grand Avenue. If that address is correct, the Doric Theatre must have been either a replacement for, or an expansion of, the Alhambra.
The Alhambra Theatre opened on September 15, 1913, with seating for 500, according to the February 21, 1914, issue of The Moving Picture World.
The Minnesota Digital Library dates this photo of the Doric Theatre 1919. They might be a bit early, as the Doric was probably the project that the October 18, 1919, issue of The American Contractor said was ready for bids:
“Theater (M. P.): $30,000. 2 sty. 75x 125. Grand av. & 58th st. Archt. W. P. Allred, Fergusson bldg. Owner Cont. Invest. Co, 1st Natl. Bank bldg. Brk. Drawing plans. Archt. ready for bids.”
In the photo, the theater looks like it’s already in operation, and it seems unlikely that the building would have been completed before the end of 1919 if it was only going out for bids on October 18. W. P. Allred was probably also the architect of the Orpheum Theatre in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, which is now the Fergus Falls Center for the Arts.
It is likely that the Orpheum was the theater project noted in the “Bids Desired” section of Engineering News-Record on March 25, 1920:
“Minn., Fergus Falls — Theatre — Until April 15, by J. B. Clinton, mgr. Clinton Investment Co., Torrey Bldg., constructing 2 story. 50 x 142 ft, brick, rein.-con. flooring and foundation, on Lincoln Ave. About $60,000. W. P. Allred, Fergusson Bldg., Duluth, archt. and engr. Noted Jan. 15.”
W. P. Allred also designed the Doric Theatre in Duluth.
The village of Schoolfield was a company town built for the employees of Dan River Mills, a textile firm founded by the Schoolfield brothers. The town was founded in 1903 and the theater was in operation by the early 1920s. The company’s ownership of the village ended in the early 1930s, and it was annexed to the City of Danville in 1951.
I’m not sure how long the theater remained in operation, but the movie Backfire, showing at the North Theatre in the ad posted above, was released in 1950. Adventure in Baltimore was released in 1949 and High Fury in 1947, so the Schoolfield must have been a very late run house by that time.
In the unlikely event that Donboss is still checking this page, the Schoolfield Theatre has a Cinema Treasures page here. Very little is known about it, though.
The 1913 edition of the Cahn guide lists the Majestic Theatre in Danville with a total of 1,101 seats, of which 426 were on the main floor and 275 in the balcony. Closing the 366-seat gallery and the boxes with their collective 40 seats would have reduced capacity to 701.
The L.A. County Assessor’s office gives an original construction date of 1922 and an effectively built date of 1935 (a major renovation) for the 11,532 square foot building at this address. The 1923 City Directory has no theater listed at 3645 E. 1st St., but the Unique Theatre is listed at that address in the 1926 directory.
As the 1923 directory lists the Unique Theatre at 4007 ½ E. 1st, I wonder if the street numbers were adjusted for this section of 1st Street sometime between 1923 and 1926? That would be odd, though, as I’ve found no indication that any other streets in the area were renumbered during that time.
It’s possible that the building was converted into a theater from some other use, but it’s also possible that the address listed for the Unique in the 1923 directory was simply a mistake. If a 1924 directory becomes available and it lists the Unique at 3645, I’d certainly believe the address listed in 1923 to have been an error. IN any case, the Unique Theatre was definitely in operation at this address by 1926.
An article about San Francisco’s movie theaters in the July 15, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World said that the Garrick Theatre had 1,600 seats. In 1916, the Garrick was being operated as a five-cent movie house by Von Hagen Brothers.
The Moving Picture World article Tinseltoes linked to says that this house was the second New Fillmore Theatre. The first was an 800-seat that had been built on the lot next door and opened in early 1915. The lobby of the original theater had been incorporated into the lobby of the new house, and the old auditorium had been converted into a room with a dance floor for private parties, though it was still equipped for showing movies as well.
As the 1915 house had also been called the New Fillmore, it suggests that there was an even earlier Fillmore Theatre for it to be Newer than, but so far I’ve been unable to track down anything about it.
The July 15, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World had an article about San Francisco’s movie theaters which included a paragraph about the 1915 New Fillmore and a nearby house called the Progress Theatre:
“Kahn & Greenfield have a splendid foothold in the Fillmore district with the New Fillmore and Progress theaters located within a block of each other. The former is one of the finest houses in the city and was opened a little more than a year ago. It has a seating capacity of 1,000 and features the Paramount program at ten cents. Joseph E. Levin is manager. The Progress theater nearby was recently remodeled and the price of admission raised to ten cents, Triangle and Metro services being used. It seats 800. For a time Kahn & Greenfield also had two other houses in this district, but disposed of these in order to give more attention to the two largest ones.”
I don’t think the Progress is listed at Cinema Treasures yet. Several other Fillmore area houses mentioned in the article (scan at Google Books) aren’t listed yet either.
Dream Star Cinemas no longer operates the Captiol (they are down to one two-screen theater in Pella, Iowa.) At some point the Capitol was taken over by Big Time Cinema,which operates seven houses in Iowa and two in Missouri.
The plans of the Lyric Theatre Company of Ellendale, North Dakota, were noted in the February 7, 1914, issue of Construction News:
"Hebry” was apparently a typo. I’ve found several references to an Aberdeen architect named J. W. Henry, but no others to a J. W. Hebry.The Rodgers Theatre opened in February, 1938, according to the 1954 book 100 Years of Progress: The Centennial History of Anna, Illinois.
The 1940 Boxoffice article cited earlier identifies the architect of the Varsity Theatre as Oliver W. Stiegemeyer.
A 1954 book, 100 Years of Progress: The Centennial History of Anna, Illinois, says that the Anna Drive-In opened on July 1, 1953. Its pre-CinemaScope screen was 44 feet high and 58 feet wide.
There is no such address as 226 S. Main Street in Anna. Street View shows that addresses go from 214 on one side of the alley (King’s Wok Chinese Restaurant) to 300 on the other side (This N That Flea Market and Resale Shop.) Given that fact, it seems more likely that the Yale Theatre was indeed at 327 S. Main.
A book called 100 Years of Progress: The Centennial History of Anna, Illinois, published in 1954, says that when the Yale opened in 1914 it was called the Main Theatre. It was renamed the Yale in 1922, the year before I. W. Rodgers took over the lease. In 1933 Rodgers bought the theater and had it remodeled and enlarged. The Yale Theatre was still in operation at the time the book went to press.
Comparing vintage photos of the Gem linked earlier, and from Bill2’s statement that the Stadium Theatre is now a woodworking shop, it’s clear that the two photos uploaded by Norman Plant depict the Stadium Theatre, not the Gem. The Stadium is not yet listed at Cinema Treasures.
From the 1990s photo of the Gem linked by lostmemory, it is clear that the red brick sidewalls of the theater building were much older than the white brick front. Its possible that the 1936 opening date for the Gem was actually a reopening of a remodeled and perhaps renamed theater.
It’s also possible that the Gem was the theater mentioned in the May 20, 1916, issue of The American Contractor:
. The Gem appears to be about 40 feet wide, and the airdome could have been on the adjacent parcel where a smaller building shows in the 1990s photo. However, various issues of The Moving Picture World from 1918 name three movie theaters then operating in Caruthers; the Exchange, the Dixie, and the Liberty. Any of these might have been the 1916 project, but any of them might also have been the Gem under an earlier name.Architect M. E. Worcester also designed a theater in Cape Girardeau in 1916, though I’ve been unable to track down its name or discover if the project was ever carried out.
The history of the Baldwin Theatre that seymourcox linked to says that it was destroyed by fire on January 6, 1909. It’s possible that it never operated as a movie house, though it might have presented exhibitions of early films as a technological curiosity.
This web page from the Springfield-Greene County Library, says that the Landers Theatre opened on September 18, 1909 (our introduction currently says 1890 for some reason.)
The Landers Theatre suffered a major fire on December 17, 1920, and was not reopened until 1922. David and Noelle’s list of known Boller Brothers theaters lists the Landers Theatre as both a 1909 and 1921 project, so Robert Boller, who took over the Kansas City office when Carl moved to California around 1920, should also be credited as architect, as he probably did the plans for the rebuilding.
The official web site says that during the period when the theater was part of the Orpheum circuit, it was called the Landers Orpheum Theatre. The Landers Orpheum sign on the stage house has been restored, and can be seen here. The house was apparently never called just the Orpheum Theatre.
Although the official web site’s main page is captioned Springfield Little Theatre, the site uses the name Landers Theatre throughout, including in the company’s mission statement which says:
It appears that they still call the theater itself by its original name, while Springfield Little Theatre is only the name of the organization.The description of this photo of the New Grand Theatre, ca.1914, says that, as the Lyric, the house showed movies into the 1970s.
However, the Lyric might have been open only intermittently during its later years. In this 1963 photo, signage indicates that the theater was closed. The marquee advertised the Nor Shor Theatre.
The Minnesota Digital Library also has this photo depicting the original Lyric Theatre, which was at 114-116 W. Superior Street.
The address is one number off, but this item in the December 27, 1913, issue of The Construction News is surely about the Zelda Theatre:
Wangenstein & Giliuson (John J. Wangenstein and Ephraim C. Giliuson) also designed the Lyric Theatre, which opened in the next block of Superior Street in 1914 as the New Grand Theatre.The Majestic Theatre was still in operation at Belle Plaine in 1915 when the July 24 issue of The Moving Picture World reported that it had been sold to A. D. Beaudreaux of Wadena by the manager, a Mr. Webber.
Although two photos from the Minnesota Digital Library give the Alhambra Theatre the same address as the Doric, a third photo gives what is apparently the correct address. The Alhambra Theatre was at 321 N. Central Avenue. The Doric was apparently the only theater ever located at 5715 Grand Avenue.
Also, the Minnesota Digital Library provides this photo of the Lyric Theatre. The movie Golden Gloves was released in August, 1940, according to IMDb.
This article from Zenith City Online has a photo of the Lyric Theatre and a brief history of it. At the bottom of the article are links to four PDF files with scans of articles about the theater that were published in 1914.
The house opened as the New Grand Theatre on August 20, 1914. It was designed in the French Renaissance style by local architects John J. Wangenstein and Ephraim C. Giliuson. The New Grand was operated as a vaudeville house, originally by Marcus Loew, who had taken over parts of the Sullivan & Considine circuit. Apparently the Grand had originally been slated to be a Sullivan & Considine house.
In 1922, the Grand Theatre merged with the Lyric Theatre, a house across the street, and the Lyric name was moved to the Grand. The article gives the address of the Grand/Lyric as 213 W. Superior, so I would surmise that the 214 we currently have listed for it was actually the address of the original Lyric. The article doesn’t say what became of the original Lyric’s building, but I would imagine that it was closed when the operation moved across the street.
The article says that the Grand/Lyric Theatre was demolished in 1976, but doesn’t say when it closed.
Architects Wangenstein & Giliuson also designed the Zelda Theatre which opened in the next block of Superior Street the same year as the New Grand.
The Minnesota Digital Library also has a 1913 photo of a theater called the Alhambra. The caption says that it was also at 5715 Grand Avenue. If that address is correct, the Doric Theatre must have been either a replacement for, or an expansion of, the Alhambra.
The Alhambra Theatre opened on September 15, 1913, with seating for 500, according to the February 21, 1914, issue of The Moving Picture World.
The Minnesota Digital Library dates this photo of the Doric Theatre 1919. They might be a bit early, as the Doric was probably the project that the October 18, 1919, issue of The American Contractor said was ready for bids:
In the photo, the theater looks like it’s already in operation, and it seems unlikely that the building would have been completed before the end of 1919 if it was only going out for bids on October 18. W. P. Allred was probably also the architect of the Orpheum Theatre in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, which is now the Fergus Falls Center for the Arts.It is likely that the Orpheum was the theater project noted in the “Bids Desired” section of Engineering News-Record on March 25, 1920:
W. P. Allred also designed the Doric Theatre in Duluth.The village of Schoolfield was a company town built for the employees of Dan River Mills, a textile firm founded by the Schoolfield brothers. The town was founded in 1903 and the theater was in operation by the early 1920s. The company’s ownership of the village ended in the early 1930s, and it was annexed to the City of Danville in 1951.
I’m not sure how long the theater remained in operation, but the movie Backfire, showing at the North Theatre in the ad posted above, was released in 1950. Adventure in Baltimore was released in 1949 and High Fury in 1947, so the Schoolfield must have been a very late run house by that time.
In the unlikely event that Donboss is still checking this page, the Schoolfield Theatre has a Cinema Treasures page here. Very little is known about it, though.
The 1913 edition of the Cahn guide lists the Majestic Theatre in Danville with a total of 1,101 seats, of which 426 were on the main floor and 275 in the balcony. Closing the 366-seat gallery and the boxes with their collective 40 seats would have reduced capacity to 701.
The L.A. County Assessor’s office gives an original construction date of 1922 and an effectively built date of 1935 (a major renovation) for the 11,532 square foot building at this address. The 1923 City Directory has no theater listed at 3645 E. 1st St., but the Unique Theatre is listed at that address in the 1926 directory.
As the 1923 directory lists the Unique Theatre at 4007 ½ E. 1st, I wonder if the street numbers were adjusted for this section of 1st Street sometime between 1923 and 1926? That would be odd, though, as I’ve found no indication that any other streets in the area were renumbered during that time.
It’s possible that the building was converted into a theater from some other use, but it’s also possible that the address listed for the Unique in the 1923 directory was simply a mistake. If a 1924 directory becomes available and it lists the Unique at 3645, I’d certainly believe the address listed in 1923 to have been an error. IN any case, the Unique Theatre was definitely in operation at this address by 1926.
An article about San Francisco’s movie theaters in the July 15, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World said that the Garrick Theatre had 1,600 seats. In 1916, the Garrick was being operated as a five-cent movie house by Von Hagen Brothers.
The Moving Picture World article Tinseltoes linked to says that this house was the second New Fillmore Theatre. The first was an 800-seat that had been built on the lot next door and opened in early 1915. The lobby of the original theater had been incorporated into the lobby of the new house, and the old auditorium had been converted into a room with a dance floor for private parties, though it was still equipped for showing movies as well.
As the 1915 house had also been called the New Fillmore, it suggests that there was an even earlier Fillmore Theatre for it to be Newer than, but so far I’ve been unable to track down anything about it.
The July 15, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World had an article about San Francisco’s movie theaters which included a paragraph about the 1915 New Fillmore and a nearby house called the Progress Theatre:
I don’t think the Progress is listed at Cinema Treasures yet. Several other Fillmore area houses mentioned in the article (scan at Google Books) aren’t listed yet either.