The cover of the Images of America book Sidney, by Erin Andrews and the Sidney Historical Association, has a photo of this theater on its cover with the name Smalley’s on the marquee (Google Books Preview.) There’s also a photo of the auditorium in the book, the caption for which says the house opened in 1922 with 880 seats, was sold in 1957, and operated as a theater until 1997.
this web page extracts a bit about the theater from a 2002 publication. It gives the exact opening date of Smalley’s Theatre as September 21, 1922, and adds that, as of 2002, the building was being partly demolished, but doesn’t specify which part. The Images of America book says that the building is now occupied by the Emerald City Salon and Joe and Vinny’s Pizzeria.
Google Maps' pin icon is in the wrong place again. The theater building is on the east side of Main Street between Liberty and Avery Streets, almost directly opposite the end of Division Street. In satellite view it looks like the whole, theater-sized building is still there, though it’s possible that a stage house has been removed.
The history section of the Walton Theatre’s official web site says that the original village hall, built around 1883, burned in December, 1912, and the present building opened on April 21, 1914. The building was designed by architect William T. Towner. Movies were shown as early as September, 1914, and became regular fare after the house was leased to William Smalley in 1923.
According to this web page, the Lyric Theatre had two successive locations: 401 Chestnut Street and 907 High Street. It says the Chestnut Street location opened in 1939, but also quotes a December, 1939, newspaper item saying that the Lyric Theatre was participating in a PTA Christmas program for the second year in a row, so maybe it was actually open by late 1938.
The first Lyric was destroyed by a fire, and the new High Street location was in operation by 1945. The facade of the second Lyric is still standing, but the page says that the roof of the building is gone. There are photos of both locations.
Portsmouth Virginia, by Cassandra L. Newby Alexander and Mae Breckenridge-Haywood (Google Books preview) says that the Lyric, along with two other houses in the neighborhood, the Bland and the Capitol, catered to African American audiences.
In 1969, Portland produced a book for its centennial. The town’s web site has a page listing the sponsors of the book, including the “Sun Theater, Operated by Kortes Family since 1929.” I’m not sure the building dates from 1929, though. It looks like it would date from the late 1930s or the 1940s. It might have been remodeled, or could have been an entirely new building replacing an earlier Sun Theatre.
The Kortes family’s Sun Theatre Company also operated houses called the Sun in Grand Lodge, Plainwell and Vicksburg, as well as the Otsego Theatre in Otsego, the 131 Drive-In at Plainwell, the Skyway Drive-In at Hubbard Lake, and the Star Theatre at Rockford.
A list of theaters designed by architect George J. Bachmann published in the 1949-50 edition of Theatre Catalog includes the Eagle Theatre in Pontiac, with the design dated 1925.
The list of Bachmann’s works includes three other theaters in Pontiac: the Orpheum, dated 1920, the State, dated 1921, and the Strand, dated 1925.
A history of Genesee County published in 1916 features a biographical sketch of Flint, Michigan, architect George J. Bachmann, and mentions the Strand Theatre at Owosso as one of his works. Bachmann would later design the Capitol Theatre (Lebowsky Center) as well. The August 19, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World said that the new Strand Theatre in Owosso had been opened on July 6.
A history of Genesee County published in 1916 includes a biographical sketch of architect George J. Bachmann, and mentions the Strand Theatre in Flint as one of his works. He also designed the Strand Theatre at Owosso.
The Strand is one of thirteen theaters listed in the 1915 Flint City Directory. Here is the list:
Bijou Theatre, 124-126 E 1st
Della Theatre, 521 S Saginaw
Elite Theatre, 312 S Saginaw
Lyric Theatre, 113 S Saginaw
New Folly Theatre, 2913 Industrial av
Orpheum Theatre, 513-515 S Saginaw
Royal Theatre, 203 S Saginaw
Palestra Theatre, 803 Harriet
Rex Theatre, 1206 N Saginaw
Savoy Theatre, 302 S Saginaw
Star Theatre, 1618 N Saginaw
Stone Theatre, Harrison s e cor E 1st
Strand Theatre The, 507-509 S Saginaw
A list of theaters designed by George J. Bachmann, published in the 1949-50 Theatre Catalog, includes the following theaters in Flint, with the year he designed them. Some of these might have been remodeling jobs:
I misspelled the architect’s name in my previous comment. The 1949-50 Theatre Catalog, and some period sources including a history of Genesee County published in 1916, which has a biographical sketch of him, spell his surname Bachmann.
The 1949-50 edition of Theatre Catalog lists the Orpheum at Pontiac as having been built in 1920. Google Books has only a snippet view of this book available, but I was able to puzzle out from other theaters on the list that it is a list of theaters designed by architect George J. Bachman.
Construction of Kleist Amusement Enterprises' Orpheum Theatre was underway in Pontiac, according to an item in the October 16, 1920, issue of The American Contractor. The item confirms Bachman as the architect, but says that after the steel had been erected, work on the project would be suspended until 1921. There was no explanation why.
The theater is barely visible at right in this photo, from about 1937, but worth posting as photos with the name President Theatre on the marquee are rarely seen.
I ought to have used the zoom feature on that photo. It does say Civic Theatre above the billboard, and so does a smaller vertical sign over the entrance.
I searched the Allen County photo web site, and can’t find any photos of a Capitol Theatre.
The history section of the web site of the Fort Wayne Civic Theatre says that the company was founded in 1927 as the Fort Wayne Community Theatre Guild, changed its name to Old Fort Players in 1931, moved into the Majestic Theatre that same year, changed its name to Fort Wayne Civic Theatre in 1940, and moved their operations to the Palace Theatre in 1957. The Civic Theatre company mounted 231 productions at the Majestic over the years. The page doesn’t say what became of the Majestic after the Civic Theatre company moved to the Palace.
Assuming that the theater was renamed for the company in 1940, and retained that name until the company moved out in 1957, then it couldn’t have been called the Capitol during the period when our introduction currently says it was.
A list of Indiana’s movie theaters available here in PDF format has a Capitol Theatre in Fort Wayne, with the AKA Little Cinema, but the only additional information is that it has been demolished. The Majestic is also on the list, with no AKA’s.
The correct zip code is 23607. Google’s pin icon and street view are several miles too far north. The actual view of the 2200 block of Jefferson Avenue shows that the Dixie Theatre has been demolished.
Given the size, age, name, and location of the Jamaica Theatre, it must be the theater that the January 15, 1921, issue of The American Contractor said was then under construction:
“Theater (M. P.): 2 sty. 120x83. Hyde Sq. Jamaica Plain. Archt. Wm. Dykeman, 120 Tremont st. Owner Jamaica Amusement Co., Fred'k Greene, 37 Tremont st. Fdn. let to Jos. Imhof, 6 Ashley St., Jamaica Plain. Work started.”
The AKA Tokay Theatre needs to be added, per the article in rivest266’s link in the previous comment. A March 12, 1937, Lodi News-Sentinel article here tells of the purchase of the Tokay Theatre by the T&D Jr. circuit. The house had been closed for several years a that time.
The March 12 article says that the Tokay Theatre began operating in 1908, but a May 8, 1915, article in the Lodi Sentinel said that construction was underway on the Tokay Theatre, and that it would be opened by June 1, so apparently the house was rebuilt that year.
A major remodeling was carried out in 1928, as told in this article from the April 7 issue of the Sentinel. A short time later, the Tokay Theatre was taken over by National Theatres, then also operators of the Lodi Theatre.
In its last days, the State operated as a Spanish language house, but this proved unsuccessful. The State Theatre had ended its run as a movie house by November, 1961, when it was converted into a dance hall.
The Arbor Theatre was opened as a 196-seat, single-screen house in May, 1980, by Jack and Janice Smith. As told in this article from the Lodi News-Sentinel of July 16, 1981, the house opened with standard Hollywood fare, but low attendance led the Smiths to begin programming Spanish language movies in December, 1980. The new policy proved a success.
The Arbor Square Theatre closed in 1995, and was later converted into a church.
Here is an updated link to the 1953 Boxoffice article about the Empress Theatre.
Paul G. Carlson was not the original architect of the 1927 Empress. He was born in 1912, and received his degree in architecture from the University of Washington in 1935. Partners Barney Grevstad and Frederick R. Eley were about the same age.
Carlson was an associate in the office of theater architect Bjarne Moe from 1935 to 1941, and participated in the design of the Liberty Theatre at Ellensburg, Washington and the second Green Lake Theatre in Seattle, both built in 1937.
Frederick R. Eley was the son of Fred H. Eley, a prominent architect in Santa Ana, California, in the early 20th century.
A questionnaire (PDF file here) prepared for the AIA by the office of architect J. Lloyd Conrich in 1946 lists two theaters among the projects for which he was architect or was associated with others: the “Shasta Theater” (the Cascade Theatre) in Redding and the “Theater del Mar” in Santa Cruz. Both houses were built for Golden State Theatres.
A 2001 post by Warren E. Bechtolt on a message board says: “Research from AIA lists over 190 projects designed by Conrich, 31 of which are theatres.” The post doesn’t name any of these theaters other than the Cascade, but now we know there are at least two survivors among them. Farther down the message board thread the architect’s son, Bob Conrich, posted that “…all of his original tracings are archived at the California Historical Society in San Francisco.” If someone in the Bay Area has access to the collection, maybe they could compile a list of Conrich’s theater designs for us.
The cover of the Images of America book Sidney, by Erin Andrews and the Sidney Historical Association, has a photo of this theater on its cover with the name Smalley’s on the marquee (Google Books Preview.) There’s also a photo of the auditorium in the book, the caption for which says the house opened in 1922 with 880 seats, was sold in 1957, and operated as a theater until 1997.
this web page extracts a bit about the theater from a 2002 publication. It gives the exact opening date of Smalley’s Theatre as September 21, 1922, and adds that, as of 2002, the building was being partly demolished, but doesn’t specify which part. The Images of America book says that the building is now occupied by the Emerald City Salon and Joe and Vinny’s Pizzeria.
Google Maps' pin icon is in the wrong place again. The theater building is on the east side of Main Street between Liberty and Avery Streets, almost directly opposite the end of Division Street. In satellite view it looks like the whole, theater-sized building is still there, though it’s possible that a stage house has been removed.
The Boxoffice item Tinseltoes linked to says that the Colonial Theatre was designed by architect Paul Brysselbout.
The history section of the Walton Theatre’s official web site says that the original village hall, built around 1883, burned in December, 1912, and the present building opened on April 21, 1914. The building was designed by architect William T. Towner. Movies were shown as early as September, 1914, and became regular fare after the house was leased to William Smalley in 1923.
The official web site link is not working. The wt/ has to be removed from the end of it.
According to this web page, the Lyric Theatre had two successive locations: 401 Chestnut Street and 907 High Street. It says the Chestnut Street location opened in 1939, but also quotes a December, 1939, newspaper item saying that the Lyric Theatre was participating in a PTA Christmas program for the second year in a row, so maybe it was actually open by late 1938.
The first Lyric was destroyed by a fire, and the new High Street location was in operation by 1945. The facade of the second Lyric is still standing, but the page says that the roof of the building is gone. There are photos of both locations.
Portsmouth Virginia, by Cassandra L. Newby Alexander and Mae Breckenridge-Haywood (Google Books preview) says that the Lyric, along with two other houses in the neighborhood, the Bland and the Capitol, catered to African American audiences.
Smith & Welton was definitely a department store.
The American Theatre was listed in the 1913-1914 edition of Julius Chan’s guide, with the note “Theatre plays pictures only.”
In 1969, Portland produced a book for its centennial. The town’s web site has a page listing the sponsors of the book, including the “Sun Theater, Operated by Kortes Family since 1929.” I’m not sure the building dates from 1929, though. It looks like it would date from the late 1930s or the 1940s. It might have been remodeled, or could have been an entirely new building replacing an earlier Sun Theatre.
The Kortes family’s Sun Theatre Company also operated houses called the Sun in Grand Lodge, Plainwell and Vicksburg, as well as the Otsego Theatre in Otsego, the 131 Drive-In at Plainwell, the Skyway Drive-In at Hubbard Lake, and the Star Theatre at Rockford.
The correct spelling of the architect’s surname is Bachmann.
A list of theaters designed by architect George J. Bachmann published in the 1949-50 edition of Theatre Catalog includes the Eagle Theatre in Pontiac, with the design dated 1925.
The list of Bachmann’s works includes three other theaters in Pontiac: the Orpheum, dated 1920, the State, dated 1921, and the Strand, dated 1925.
The correct spelling of the architect’s surname is Bachmann.
A history of Genesee County published in 1916 features a biographical sketch of Flint, Michigan, architect George J. Bachmann, and mentions the Strand Theatre at Owosso as one of his works. Bachmann would later design the Capitol Theatre (Lebowsky Center) as well. The August 19, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World said that the new Strand Theatre in Owosso had been opened on July 6.
A history of Genesee County published in 1916 includes a biographical sketch of architect George J. Bachmann, and mentions the Strand Theatre in Flint as one of his works. He also designed the Strand Theatre at Owosso.
The Strand is one of thirteen theaters listed in the 1915 Flint City Directory. Here is the list:
A list of theaters designed by George J. Bachmann, published in the 1949-50 Theatre Catalog, includes the following theaters in Flint, with the year he designed them. Some of these might have been remodeling jobs:The list is not exhaustive.I misspelled the architect’s name in my previous comment. The 1949-50 Theatre Catalog, and some period sources including a history of Genesee County published in 1916, which has a biographical sketch of him, spell his surname Bachmann.
The 1949-50 edition of Theatre Catalog lists the Orpheum at Pontiac as having been built in 1920. Google Books has only a snippet view of this book available, but I was able to puzzle out from other theaters on the list that it is a list of theaters designed by architect George J. Bachman.
Construction of Kleist Amusement Enterprises' Orpheum Theatre was underway in Pontiac, according to an item in the October 16, 1920, issue of The American Contractor. The item confirms Bachman as the architect, but says that after the steel had been erected, work on the project would be suspended until 1921. There was no explanation why.
The theater is barely visible at right in this photo, from about 1937, but worth posting as photos with the name President Theatre on the marquee are rarely seen.
I ought to have used the zoom feature on that photo. It does say Civic Theatre above the billboard, and so does a smaller vertical sign over the entrance.
I searched the Allen County photo web site, and can’t find any photos of a Capitol Theatre.
The history section of the web site of the Fort Wayne Civic Theatre says that the company was founded in 1927 as the Fort Wayne Community Theatre Guild, changed its name to Old Fort Players in 1931, moved into the Majestic Theatre that same year, changed its name to Fort Wayne Civic Theatre in 1940, and moved their operations to the Palace Theatre in 1957. The Civic Theatre company mounted 231 productions at the Majestic over the years. The page doesn’t say what became of the Majestic after the Civic Theatre company moved to the Palace.
Assuming that the theater was renamed for the company in 1940, and retained that name until the company moved out in 1957, then it couldn’t have been called the Capitol during the period when our introduction currently says it was.
A list of Indiana’s movie theaters available here in PDF format has a Capitol Theatre in Fort Wayne, with the AKA Little Cinema, but the only additional information is that it has been demolished. The Majestic is also on the list, with no AKA’s.
The correct zip code is 23607. Google’s pin icon and street view are several miles too far north. The actual view of the 2200 block of Jefferson Avenue shows that the Dixie Theatre has been demolished.
Given the size, age, name, and location of the Jamaica Theatre, it must be the theater that the January 15, 1921, issue of The American Contractor said was then under construction:
Here is The entrance to the former theater, with the box office intact.
The AKA Tokay Theatre needs to be added, per the article in rivest266’s link in the previous comment. A March 12, 1937, Lodi News-Sentinel article here tells of the purchase of the Tokay Theatre by the T&D Jr. circuit. The house had been closed for several years a that time.
The March 12 article says that the Tokay Theatre began operating in 1908, but a May 8, 1915, article in the Lodi Sentinel said that construction was underway on the Tokay Theatre, and that it would be opened by June 1, so apparently the house was rebuilt that year.
A major remodeling was carried out in 1928, as told in this article from the April 7 issue of the Sentinel. A short time later, the Tokay Theatre was taken over by National Theatres, then also operators of the Lodi Theatre.
In its last days, the State operated as a Spanish language house, but this proved unsuccessful. The State Theatre had ended its run as a movie house by November, 1961, when it was converted into a dance hall.
The Arbor Theatre was opened as a 196-seat, single-screen house in May, 1980, by Jack and Janice Smith. As told in this article from the Lodi News-Sentinel of July 16, 1981, the house opened with standard Hollywood fare, but low attendance led the Smiths to begin programming Spanish language movies in December, 1980. The new policy proved a success.
The Arbor Square Theatre closed in 1995, and was later converted into a church.
Here is an updated link to the 1946 Boxoffice article about the Bal Theatre.
Here is an updated link to the 1937 Boxoffice article about The Green Lake Theatre.
Here is an updated link to the 1953 Boxoffice article about the Empress Theatre.
Paul G. Carlson was not the original architect of the 1927 Empress. He was born in 1912, and received his degree in architecture from the University of Washington in 1935. Partners Barney Grevstad and Frederick R. Eley were about the same age.
Carlson was an associate in the office of theater architect Bjarne Moe from 1935 to 1941, and participated in the design of the Liberty Theatre at Ellensburg, Washington and the second Green Lake Theatre in Seattle, both built in 1937.
Frederick R. Eley was the son of Fred H. Eley, a prominent architect in Santa Ana, California, in the early 20th century.
A questionnaire (PDF file here) prepared for the AIA by the office of architect J. Lloyd Conrich in 1946 lists two theaters among the projects for which he was architect or was associated with others: the “Shasta Theater” (the Cascade Theatre) in Redding and the “Theater del Mar” in Santa Cruz. Both houses were built for Golden State Theatres.
A 2001 post by Warren E. Bechtolt on a message board says: “Research from AIA lists over 190 projects designed by Conrich, 31 of which are theatres.” The post doesn’t name any of these theaters other than the Cascade, but now we know there are at least two survivors among them. Farther down the message board thread the architect’s son, Bob Conrich, posted that “…all of his original tracings are archived at the California Historical Society in San Francisco.” If someone in the Bay Area has access to the collection, maybe they could compile a list of Conrich’s theater designs for us.