This page of the souvenir program of an event held in 1924 contains an advertisement for the Ambridge Amusement Company, operators of the Prince and Regent Theatres.
I’m wondering if this item from The Moving Picture World of April 10, 1915, could have been about the Liberty Theatre:
“NEW PENN AVENUE HOUSE.
“The moving picture theater to be erected on the property of the Nicola Land Company, On Penn avenue, near Frankstown avenue. East End, Pittsburg, Pa., is to be completed by October 1, as ground will be broken for it around May 1. Plans of the building are being hurried to completion by H. E. Kennedy & Company and call for a seating capacity of 1,550. The building will front 100 feet on Penn avenue and will have a depth of 171 feet, making it the largest motion picture theater in the city, and with its numerous unique features, its owners mean to also make it one of the most attractive in the country. There will be no storerooms connected with it, which omission will give the building a most imposing appearance, and will allow a much handsomer front than would be possible if there were stores alongside the entrance.
The mention of H. E. Kennedy Company as architects is especially interesting in light of Edward J. Schulte’s claim that the designed the Liberty Theatre while working in the Kennedy Company’s office. The Liberty as built doesn’t perfectly match the description of the unnamed theater in the article, but the location appears to be right, the size is close, and the absence of any shops in the Liberty building matches the proclaimed desire of the owners of the mystery project.
The April 10, 1915, issue of The Moving Picture World had an item about the Majestic Theatre, which was probably opened before the issue’s date:
“CHARLEROI HOUSE TO OPEN.
“Work is rapidly nearing completion on the new Majestic theater in Charleroi, Pa., which is being erected by H. C. Hepler and C. J. Matthews. It is expected to have it completed about April 1. J. H. Megown, a well known Pittsburgh film man and a former exhibitor, will manage this house. It will have a capacity of 500. The building is two stories. The order for equipment has been placed with the Feature Film & Calcium Light company, which included two Powers 6-A motor-driven machines and a mirroroide screen.”
This weblog post features a photo of the Butler Theatr. The caption mistakenly says that the theater was torn down in 1960, though the movie on the marquee was released in 1965.
This house might have been a replacement for (or rebuilding of) the Butler Theatre that was mentioned in the October 23, 1915, issue of Motography:
“The new Butler theater, formerly the Orpheum, in Butler, opened the twenty-third of September.”
The October 23, 1915, issue of Motography had this item about the opening of the Hamilton Theatre in Allentown:
“After weeks of preparation on the part of the decorators and electricians, the new Hamilton theater, located on Hamilton street, near Second, Allentown, has been opened. The theater, which will be devoted to the exclusive showing of feature photoplays, is one of the prettiest in the city. It has a seating capacity of 500 people and is constructed along strictly fire-proof lines. Herbert M. Meeker is manager.”
It seems unlikely that any theater other than the Hippodrome would have ended up being called the Hipp. They must be the same house.
Here is a snippet from a 1936 issue of The Motion Picture Herald which mentions the Hipp Theatre:
“A. H. Blank, head of the Tri-States Theatres, Inc., took over six independent theatres in Sioux City, Ia. Mr. Blank already operated the Capitol and Princess theatres prior to his taking over the Rialto, Granada, Loop, Circle, Iowa and Hipp.”
Snippet views of the 1938 and 1942 editions of Film Daily Yearbook at Google Books also mention the Hipp.
The original interior of the RKO Orpheum Theatre was designed by the noted industrial designer Henry Dreyfuss. A photo of one of the lighting fixtures he designed for the theater can be seen on page 60 of Twentieth Century Limited: Industrial Design In America 1925-1939, by Jeffrey Meikle (Google Books preview.)
A photo montage of Sioux City Theatres unearthed by CSWalczak shows a house called the Rialto at bottom left which is a perfect match for the Victory Theatre building seen in the photo Chuck linked to. They have to be the same theater.
The montage comes from this page, which has extracts from a book published in 1923. It says that the Rialto opened in 1907 as the Lyric Theatre and soon after became the Orpheum. When Sioux City’s second Orpheum opened in 1919, the first Orpheum became the Rialto.
The Orpheum is mentioned multiple times in The Billboard in 1908, so it wasn’t the Lyric for very long. Chuck’s photo shows that the Rialto was renamed the Victory by 1940. I don’t know whether or not there were other names in between.
This PDF contains a brochure for a “walking tour” of Nebraska Street, showing many historic buildings that have been demolished. The caption for the photo of the Capitol Theatre (#10) says that it opened in 1912 and was called the Isis Theatre and the U.S.A. Theatre as well as the Orpheum Theatre before finally becoming the Capitol.
This theater was the second Orpheum Theatre in Sioux city, opened in 1919. Compare the 1955 photo of the Capitol in the walking tour brochure with an earlier photo of the Orpheum (bottom row, second from right) in this montage (published in 1923) unearthed by CSWalczak. They are unmistakably the same building.
The text from which the montage comes says that the Orpheum circuit built a new theater in 1918, which contradicts the walking tour brochure’s claim that the house that became the second Orpheum had been built in 1912. In fact, an October 5, 1912, item about the Isis Theatre in The Moving Picture World shows that the Isis was in a single-story building, 50x100 feet, and it had only 400 seats. It’s possible that parts of the Isis' building were incorporated into the new Orpheum, but unless the Isis had already been greatly expanded from its original size at some point, reconstruction for its conversion to the Orpheum had to have been extensive.
The brochure doesn’t give a time line for the names, so I’m not sure when it was called the U.S.A. Theatre. It might have been during the one-year gap between the opening of the third Orpheum and this theater’s reopening as the Capitol. But it could also have simply remained closed through most of 1928, in which case it would have been the called U.S.A. for a while before becoming the Orpheum in 1919.
The Moving Picture World of March 15, 1919, confirms J.D.’s surmise that the Wichita Theatre was designed by Carl Boller. The article says nothing of a Reproduco, or any organ or piano at this time, but says that the Wichita Theatre had a 12-piece orchestra accompanying the movies at both the evening and the matinée performances.
The caption of a photo of the Camden Theatre in Parkersburg In Vintage Postcards, by Christy and Jeff Little, says that the Camden Theatre opened on September 10, 1902 (Google Books preview.)
An article about Fayette C. Smoot, operator of the Camden, in the March 8, 1919, issue of The Moving Picture World says that “[t]he Camden Theatre is 7 years old.” That would have meant a 1912 opening, but it must have been a mistake. The Camden is listed (and recognizably described) in the 1906-1907 edition of Julius Cahn’s guide.
An item in the “Theatres to be Built” column of the April 1, 1915, issue of The New York Clipper could be about about the Regent, given the fall, 1915 opening of the house. It says that a $50,000 theater was to be built for the Pittsburgh-based Harton Theatre Company at Elmira, New York. Pittsburgh architect Harry S. Bair was drawing the plans.
The “Theatres to be Built” column in the April 1, 1915, issue of The New York Clipper listed a project at Utica for the Alhambra Amusement Company, c/o A. Lux, Alhambra Theatre, Utica. This sounds like it was to be a new building for an existing theater. The architects for the project were E. A. Howard & Son, of Syracuse.
Here is an early postcard photo of Elmira with the Regent Theatre’s vertical sign and entrance in the foreground. The caption says that the Regent opened on October 4, 1915. As the picture is from Cezar Del Valle’s Flickr photostream I’d say that’s probably the right date.
According to his obituary on this web page, Stanislaus Russell was the associate architect of Carlin’s Drive-In. It was his last commission. Half a century earlier he had been involved with the design of two Baltimore Theatres; the Carey Theatre in 1915 and the Little Theatre in 1927.
The Wallace Theatre was in operation at least as early as 1909, when an item in the April 23 issue of the Rochester Sentinel said that Charles Holden, owner of a stock company then playing at the Park Theatre in Indianapolis, had secured a lease on the Wallace Theatre in Peru. Holden already controlled the Eagles Theatre in Wabash, and later that year would take over the Manitou Theatre in Rochester, a vaudeville house which he would convert into a movie theater.
The Manitou Theatre began operating as a movie house in 1909, when the September 24 issue of the Rochester Sentinel said that the Manitou Theatre was to be reopened with Charles A. Holden as the manager. Holden had taken over the Wallace Theatre at Peru, Indiana, earlier that year.
The Manitou had been a vaudeville theater prior to 1909, according to this 2009 article in the Sentinel. The article also notes that Charles Holden, a former stage actor, later had a successful career as a movie actor.
Joseph Shea’s intention to build a movie theater on Broad Street in Valley Falls was announced in the April 10, 1915, issue of The New York Clipper. The plans were by Providence architect John F. O'Malley, who later designed the Leroy Theatre in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.
The Grand Theatre was on the southeast corner of Center and Philadelphia Streets. When Lincoln Avenue was built, around 1980, it incorporated many parts of Center Street, but not the part where Center crosses Philadelphia. The correct modern address for the Grand Theatre would thus be the same as its historic address, 305 E. Center Street. I’ve set Street View to the parking lot that now occupies the site of the Grand Theatre. The Google Maps pin icon is, for now, still a block north of the Grand’s actual location.
Here is a brief article about the Grand Theatre from the July 1, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World:
“NEW GRAND AT ANAHEIM OPENS.
“Beautiful Theater, Costing $35,000 and Seating 700 Persons, Shows ‘Ramona’ at Initial Performances.
“AT Anaheim the New Grand theater, at East Center and Philadelphia streets, has opened and will give as its first production ‘Ramona,’ produced by the Clune company. The New Grand is one of the most beautiful theaters in Southern California. The building was erected by Mrs. Sadie Froham at a cost of $35,000. Although it contains two storerooms on the ground floor and sixteen office rooms in the second story, these are secondary to the theater and nothing in its construction was sacrificed to them. The room is 62 by 140 feet in dimensions, has a cement sloping floor and will seat 700 persons. The chairs are in circular rows, and are twenty inches wide.
“The house is under the management of Edward Mozart. Mr. Mozart has been in the theater business for more than forty years. He declares the New Grand is going to acquire a reputation for giving nothing but the best films that can be procured for money, and expects to maintain it. He is starting with one of the best presentations in filmdom and one that especially appeals to this region.”
We won’t be able to get a good Google Street View, as it looks like the camera truck didn’t go down South Mill. Bing Maps has a decent Bird’s-eye view.
Alfred B. Mullett died in 1890. The 1911 Opera House was designed by his son, Thomas A. Mullett, though the firm was apparently still called A. B. Mullett & Company.
Here is a PDF of the NRHP nomination form for the Old Opera House. Among it’s interesting bits of information is the fact that an electric machine for popping corn and toasting peanuts was installed in the Opera House in 1916. This is the earliest instance I’ve yet come across of a theater having popcorn.
This page of the souvenir program of an event held in 1924 contains an advertisement for the Ambridge Amusement Company, operators of the Prince and Regent Theatres.
I’m wondering if this item from The Moving Picture World of April 10, 1915, could have been about the Liberty Theatre:
The mention of H. E. Kennedy Company as architects is especially interesting in light of Edward J. Schulte’s claim that the designed the Liberty Theatre while working in the Kennedy Company’s office. The Liberty as built doesn’t perfectly match the description of the unnamed theater in the article, but the location appears to be right, the size is close, and the absence of any shops in the Liberty building matches the proclaimed desire of the owners of the mystery project.The April 10, 1915, issue of The Moving Picture World had an item about the Majestic Theatre, which was probably opened before the issue’s date:
This weblog post features a photo of the Butler Theatr. The caption mistakenly says that the theater was torn down in 1960, though the movie on the marquee was released in 1965.
This house might have been a replacement for (or rebuilding of) the Butler Theatre that was mentioned in the October 23, 1915, issue of Motography:
The October 23, 1915, issue of Motography had this item about the opening of the Hamilton Theatre in Allentown:
Also, the photos CSWalczak linked to are from a book published in 1923 (excerpted here), so the theater was at least that old.
It seems unlikely that any theater other than the Hippodrome would have ended up being called the Hipp. They must be the same house.
Here is a snippet from a 1936 issue of The Motion Picture Herald which mentions the Hipp Theatre:
Snippet views of the 1938 and 1942 editions of Film Daily Yearbook at Google Books also mention the Hipp.The original interior of the RKO Orpheum Theatre was designed by the noted industrial designer Henry Dreyfuss. A photo of one of the lighting fixtures he designed for the theater can be seen on page 60 of Twentieth Century Limited: Industrial Design In America 1925-1939, by Jeffrey Meikle (Google Books preview.)
The Plaza Theatre was in operation by 1919, when it was mentioned in The Moving Picture World.
A photo montage of Sioux City Theatres unearthed by CSWalczak shows a house called the Rialto at bottom left which is a perfect match for the Victory Theatre building seen in the photo Chuck linked to. They have to be the same theater.
The montage comes from this page, which has extracts from a book published in 1923. It says that the Rialto opened in 1907 as the Lyric Theatre and soon after became the Orpheum. When Sioux City’s second Orpheum opened in 1919, the first Orpheum became the Rialto.
The Orpheum is mentioned multiple times in The Billboard in 1908, so it wasn’t the Lyric for very long. Chuck’s photo shows that the Rialto was renamed the Victory by 1940. I don’t know whether or not there were other names in between.
This PDF contains a brochure for a “walking tour” of Nebraska Street, showing many historic buildings that have been demolished. The caption for the photo of the Capitol Theatre (#10) says that it opened in 1912 and was called the Isis Theatre and the U.S.A. Theatre as well as the Orpheum Theatre before finally becoming the Capitol.
This theater was the second Orpheum Theatre in Sioux city, opened in 1919. Compare the 1955 photo of the Capitol in the walking tour brochure with an earlier photo of the Orpheum (bottom row, second from right) in this montage (published in 1923) unearthed by CSWalczak. They are unmistakably the same building.
The text from which the montage comes says that the Orpheum circuit built a new theater in 1918, which contradicts the walking tour brochure’s claim that the house that became the second Orpheum had been built in 1912. In fact, an October 5, 1912, item about the Isis Theatre in The Moving Picture World shows that the Isis was in a single-story building, 50x100 feet, and it had only 400 seats. It’s possible that parts of the Isis' building were incorporated into the new Orpheum, but unless the Isis had already been greatly expanded from its original size at some point, reconstruction for its conversion to the Orpheum had to have been extensive.
The brochure doesn’t give a time line for the names, so I’m not sure when it was called the U.S.A. Theatre. It might have been during the one-year gap between the opening of the third Orpheum and this theater’s reopening as the Capitol. But it could also have simply remained closed through most of 1928, in which case it would have been the called U.S.A. for a while before becoming the Orpheum in 1919.
As can be seen from the photo I just uploaded, the Wichita Theatre was much more Spanish than French in style.
The Moving Picture World of March 15, 1919, confirms J.D.’s surmise that the Wichita Theatre was designed by Carl Boller. The article says nothing of a Reproduco, or any organ or piano at this time, but says that the Wichita Theatre had a 12-piece orchestra accompanying the movies at both the evening and the matinée performances.
The caption of a photo of the Camden Theatre in Parkersburg In Vintage Postcards, by Christy and Jeff Little, says that the Camden Theatre opened on September 10, 1902 (Google Books preview.)
An article about Fayette C. Smoot, operator of the Camden, in the March 8, 1919, issue of The Moving Picture World says that “[t]he Camden Theatre is 7 years old.” That would have meant a 1912 opening, but it must have been a mistake. The Camden is listed (and recognizably described) in the 1906-1907 edition of Julius Cahn’s guide.
An item in the “Theatres to be Built” column of the April 1, 1915, issue of The New York Clipper could be about about the Regent, given the fall, 1915 opening of the house. It says that a $50,000 theater was to be built for the Pittsburgh-based Harton Theatre Company at Elmira, New York. Pittsburgh architect Harry S. Bair was drawing the plans.
The “Theatres to be Built” column in the April 1, 1915, issue of The New York Clipper listed a project at Utica for the Alhambra Amusement Company, c/o A. Lux, Alhambra Theatre, Utica. This sounds like it was to be a new building for an existing theater. The architects for the project were E. A. Howard & Son, of Syracuse.
Here is an early postcard photo of Elmira with the Regent Theatre’s vertical sign and entrance in the foreground. The caption says that the Regent opened on October 4, 1915. As the picture is from Cezar Del Valle’s Flickr photostream I’d say that’s probably the right date.
According to his obituary on this web page, Stanislaus Russell was the associate architect of Carlin’s Drive-In. It was his last commission. Half a century earlier he had been involved with the design of two Baltimore Theatres; the Carey Theatre in 1915 and the Little Theatre in 1927.
The Wallace Theatre was in operation at least as early as 1909, when an item in the April 23 issue of the Rochester Sentinel said that Charles Holden, owner of a stock company then playing at the Park Theatre in Indianapolis, had secured a lease on the Wallace Theatre in Peru. Holden already controlled the Eagles Theatre in Wabash, and later that year would take over the Manitou Theatre in Rochester, a vaudeville house which he would convert into a movie theater.
The Manitou Theatre began operating as a movie house in 1909, when the September 24 issue of the Rochester Sentinel said that the Manitou Theatre was to be reopened with Charles A. Holden as the manager. Holden had taken over the Wallace Theatre at Peru, Indiana, earlier that year.
The Manitou had been a vaudeville theater prior to 1909, according to this 2009 article in the Sentinel. The article also notes that Charles Holden, a former stage actor, later had a successful career as a movie actor.
Joseph Shea’s intention to build a movie theater on Broad Street in Valley Falls was announced in the April 10, 1915, issue of The New York Clipper. The plans were by Providence architect John F. O'Malley, who later designed the Leroy Theatre in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.
The Grand Theatre was on the southeast corner of Center and Philadelphia Streets. When Lincoln Avenue was built, around 1980, it incorporated many parts of Center Street, but not the part where Center crosses Philadelphia. The correct modern address for the Grand Theatre would thus be the same as its historic address, 305 E. Center Street. I’ve set Street View to the parking lot that now occupies the site of the Grand Theatre. The Google Maps pin icon is, for now, still a block north of the Grand’s actual location.
Here is a brief article about the Grand Theatre from the July 1, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World:
We won’t be able to get a good Google Street View, as it looks like the camera truck didn’t go down South Mill. Bing Maps has a decent Bird’s-eye view.
Alfred B. Mullett died in 1890. The 1911 Opera House was designed by his son, Thomas A. Mullett, though the firm was apparently still called A. B. Mullett & Company.
Here is a PDF of the NRHP nomination form for the Old Opera House. Among it’s interesting bits of information is the fact that an electric machine for popping corn and toasting peanuts was installed in the Opera House in 1916. This is the earliest instance I’ve yet come across of a theater having popcorn.