The records of the Lake Charles, Louisiana, architectural firm Dunn & Quinn list many theater projects for the Southern Amusement Company during the 1930s and 1940s. A new theater at Crowley, dated July, 1940, is among them. The theater’s name is not given but it must be the Rice Theatre, as that appears to have been the only new theater built in Crowley in 1940.
The architect of the Century’s Argo Theatre was Samuel Lewis Malkind, who also designed the Parsons Theatre in Flushing, New York. Early in his career, Malkind worked as a draftsman in Thomas Lamb’s office.
Later, he was a partner in the firm of Malkind & Weinstein, with Martyn Weinstein (who later changed his name to Martyn Weston.) Malkind & Weinstein were associate architects (with the firm of Reilly & Hall) in the design of Loew’s Coney Island Theatre (later renamed the Shore Theatre) in Brooklyn.
Malkind might have designed other theaters on his own as well, but so far the Argo and the Parsons are the only ones I’ve been able to track down.
Plans for the St. George Playhouse were announced in the March 27, 1927, issue of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. The project was budgeted at $175,000. The location was given as the south side of Pineapple Street, 38 feet west of Fulton Street. Fulton Street is now Cadman Plaza West.
Incidentally, why doesn’t Brooklyn Heights get a neighborhood section in Cinema Treasures' listings, the way other districts of Brooklyn do? I had to click through ten pages of maps and take several side trips before I found this theater.
An item in the September 13, 1919, issue of The American Contractor said that a new moving picture theater was to be built on Hennepin Avenue between 7th and 8th Streets in Minneapolis for the Blue Mouse Theater Corporation. The surprising thing is that the theater was being designed not by one of the well-known theater architects in the Great Lakes area, but by Harry Lawrie, whose office was in Omaha. Though Lawrie’s firm, Fisher & Lawrie (dissolved in 1913,) apparently designed the original Creighton Theatre in Omaha, and he drew plans for an Omaha house called the Princess Theatre in 1916, he was not known as a theater architect.
The August 9, 1919, issue of The American Contractor said that John Eberson had drawn the plans for the Regent Theatre, to be built at Flint for the Butterfield circuit.
The November 15, 1919, issue of trade journal Motion Picture News had this item in its section on Cleveland:
:“The Shaw-Hayden, also a 1200 seat photoplay house opened its doors to the public for the first time October 25. The Shaw-Hayden is the biggest neighborhood theatre to be built on the East Side. Nothing has been spared to make it complete both in structure, equipment, decorations or program. J. J. Mellert, who also runs the Fulton theatre, Cleveland, is manager of the new Shaw-Hayden.”
A closer reading of the Madison County Historical Society page I linked to in my previous comment reveals that the Starland Theatre became the Times Theatre on March 29, 1942.
koosmal: The Times and Riviera Theatres were on the same block, but were not the same theater. The Times has not been demolished, but the Riviera has. The Times Theatre was in the building next to the alley, as shown in the current Street View. The theater on the corner in the photo Don Lewis linked to in the first comment was the Riviera. You can see a bit of the Times' marquee up the block in that photo.
This photo from Indiana Memory shows the three houses from a slightly different angle, with a slightly better view of the facade of the Times.
The Times Theatre opened on Christmas Day, 1913, as the Starland Theatre. The opening of the Starland was noted in the January 24, 1914, issue of The Moving Picture World. This page from the Madison County Historical Society gives the address of the Starland Theatre as 1115 S. Meridian, and the address of the Riviera as 1135 S. Meridian.
The caption of this photo from Indiana Memory indicates that the name Starland was moved at some point to the former Grand Opera House, which had been converted to a vaudeville house called the Granada Theatre in 1924. I tdoesn’t give a date for the renaming to Starland, but it must have been when the original Starland became the Times.
This photo of 2nd and Spring, which Flickr user Rob Ketcherside dates to ca.1911, shows the Palace-Hip building in place, but the marquee says Majestic on it.
Robert Grau’s 1910 book “The Business Man in the Amusement World” has a few paragraphs about vaudeville impresario John W. Considine, including the following lines:
“In his own city of Seattle, Mr. Considine is one of the financial, social and political powers. He is giving his city beautiful buildings, such as the new Majestic Theatre which is declared the finest vaudeville structure in America, and the new Orpheum Theatre, to be ready for business by September 1st.”
A photo of the Majestic appears a couple of pages later (scroll down in the Google Books scan.)
The photos show that the theater was at the southeast corner of 2nd and Spring (2nd Avenue is fairly level, but Spring Street runs sharply uphill east of 2nd.) The Majestic most likely opened in 1910, and certainly no earlier than 1909. I’ve found references to the Hippodrome Theatre in Seattle as early as 1912, so the name must have changed no later than that year.
Here is an extract from a biographical sketch of T. C. White in volume 2 of the 1919 “History of Fresno County, California” by Paul E. Vandor:
“Mr. White owns the corner of I and Merced Streets, 150x150 feet, 50x150 feet having been improved with a three-story building many years ago. Seeing the need for a modern theater building, and the time being ripe, he improved the balance of the lot with the New White Theater, 100x150 feet. This is one of the most modern
theaters in the state, special attention having been given to ventilating, cooling, heating, safety and fire escapes. The theater has a seating capacity of
1,500, and is the largest in the Valley. The front is built four stories and is fitted up especially for the University Club, of which Mr. White is an honorary member.”
I Street was later renamed Broadway Street. Merced Street has been converted partly into a pedestrian mall and partly into a parking lot.
The J. Murrey Atkins Library at UNC Charlotte has a collection of drawings and blueprints of projects built by the Mecklenburg Iron Works, and the Belvedere Theatre is among them. The Mecklenburg collection is not yet among the library’s special collections that are available online. If someone with access to the library could take a look at them, the name of the architect is probably on them. As the drawings are in a special collection, the library might require advance notice from anyone who wants to examine them. Here is the library’s web site.
A brief biography of Francis M. Davis appeared in Volume 4 of “History of Idaho: Gem of the Mountains” by James H. Hawley, which was published in 1920. Here is the part pertaining to the theater: “Since the fall of 1915 Mr. Davis has been engaged in the moving picture business. In the spring of 1918 he erected a modern theatre building on an elaborate scale, costing thirty thousand dollars, and which would be a credit to a larger town than Shelley. The theatre is splendidly equipped and is well supported by the citizens.”
Both of Emmett’s theaters, the Ideal and the Liberty, were in operation by 1920. Volume 4 of “History of Idaho: The Gem of the Mountains” by James H. Hawley, which was published that year, said that the Ideal Theatre was owned by Claude D. Bucknam, who also owned a half interest in the Liberty Theatre.
Both of Emmett’s theaters, the Ideal and the Liberty, were in operation by 1920. Volume 4 of “History of Idaho: The Gem of the Mountains” by James H. Hawley, which was published that year, said that the Ideal Theatre was owned by Claude D. Bucknam, who also owned a half interest in the Liberty Theatre.
Google Maps has its pin icon in the wrong place again, about a mile north of the theater’s actual location. It’s probably because the address should read simply Overland Avenue, not N. Overland Avenue.
Here is the biography of Stanley J. Osika from volume 4 of “History of Idaho: Gem of the Mountains” by James H. Hawley, which was published in 1920:
“Stanley J. Osika is the proprietor and manager of the Burley Theatre and is numbered among the most alert and energetic young business men of the town of Burley. The width of the continent separates him from his birthplace, for he is a native son of Brooklyn, New York. He was born February 8, 1886, his parents, Peter and Plagnar Osika. The first twelve years of his life were spent in his native city and he then accompanied his parents on their removal westward, their destination being Park City, Utah. He there attended school and also continued his studies in Salt Lake. He took up the study of music under Antone Peterson, specializing in harmony and the trombone, and he has figured prominently in musical circles at Salt Air resorts and in the Liberty and American theatres organized and maintained at various places throughout the country. In October, 1914, he came to Burley, Idaho, where he established a moving picture house where the Blue Bird is now located. In December, 1917, he removed to the Burley Theatre, securing larger and more commodious and modern quarters. He today has one of the finest moving picture houses of Idaho and maintains a six-piece orchestra. He presents the finest attractions of the film world and has a liberal patronage, the business having long since reached profitable proportions.”
It’s not clear if Osika owned the theater building itself or only leased it, but as the book refers to him as the proprietor of the theater he must have owned the business. Stanley J. Osika was listed as a resident of Cassia County, Idaho, in the 1920 U.S. census, but the 1930 census lists him as a resident of Erie, New York.
This page still needs to be updated to attribute the design of the Cinema 70 to Lusk & Wallace (Dietz Lusk Jr. and John J. Wallace) rather than Mel C. Glatz, and to remove the erroneous AKA of Cooper 70 Theatre.
Dietz Lusk didn’t include any of his theaters among the works listed in his entry in the 1970 edition of the AIA’s guide to American architects. By that time the firm was designing a great variety of projects, but so far I’ve found no theaters later than this one among their works.
The Cooper Foundation’s web site once had a PDF with a history of Cooper Theaters, but it is no longer available. The PDF said that the Cooper 70 and the Ute 70 projects were both designed by Mel C. Glatz of Mel C. Glatz & Associates, in association with architect Maynard Rorman. The same team designed the conversion of the Cooper into a triplex.
The records of the Lake Charles, Louisiana, architectural firm Dunn & Quinn list many theater projects for the Southern Amusement Company during the 1930s and 1940s. A new theater at Crowley, dated July, 1940, is among them. The theater’s name is not given but it must be the Rice Theatre, as that appears to have been the only new theater built in Crowley in 1940.
The architect of the Century’s Argo Theatre was Samuel Lewis Malkind, who also designed the Parsons Theatre in Flushing, New York. Early in his career, Malkind worked as a draftsman in Thomas Lamb’s office.
Later, he was a partner in the firm of Malkind & Weinstein, with Martyn Weinstein (who later changed his name to Martyn Weston.) Malkind & Weinstein were associate architects (with the firm of Reilly & Hall) in the design of Loew’s Coney Island Theatre (later renamed the Shore Theatre) in Brooklyn.
Malkind might have designed other theaters on his own as well, but so far the Argo and the Parsons are the only ones I’ve been able to track down.
Plans for the St. George Playhouse were announced in the March 27, 1927, issue of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. The project was budgeted at $175,000. The location was given as the south side of Pineapple Street, 38 feet west of Fulton Street. Fulton Street is now Cadman Plaza West.
Incidentally, why doesn’t Brooklyn Heights get a neighborhood section in Cinema Treasures' listings, the way other districts of Brooklyn do? I had to click through ten pages of maps and take several side trips before I found this theater.
An item in the September 13, 1919, issue of The American Contractor said that a new moving picture theater was to be built on Hennepin Avenue between 7th and 8th Streets in Minneapolis for the Blue Mouse Theater Corporation. The surprising thing is that the theater was being designed not by one of the well-known theater architects in the Great Lakes area, but by Harry Lawrie, whose office was in Omaha. Though Lawrie’s firm, Fisher & Lawrie (dissolved in 1913,) apparently designed the original Creighton Theatre in Omaha, and he drew plans for an Omaha house called the Princess Theatre in 1916, he was not known as a theater architect.
The August 9, 1919, issue of The American Contractor said that John Eberson had drawn the plans for the Regent Theatre, to be built at Flint for the Butterfield circuit.
The November 15, 1919, issue of trade journal Motion Picture News had this item in its section on Cleveland:
The occupant of the building now on the Palace Theatre’s site, Second Avenue Partners LLC, uses the address 1000 Second Avenue, Seattle, WA 98104.
This page from the Madison County Historical Society web site says that the Madison Theatre was located at 8 West Eighth Street.
A closer reading of the Madison County Historical Society page I linked to in my previous comment reveals that the Starland Theatre became the Times Theatre on March 29, 1942.
koosmal: The Times and Riviera Theatres were on the same block, but were not the same theater. The Times has not been demolished, but the Riviera has. The Times Theatre was in the building next to the alley, as shown in the current Street View. The theater on the corner in the photo Don Lewis linked to in the first comment was the Riviera. You can see a bit of the Times' marquee up the block in that photo.
This photo from Indiana Memory shows the three houses from a slightly different angle, with a slightly better view of the facade of the Times.
The Times Theatre opened on Christmas Day, 1913, as the Starland Theatre. The opening of the Starland was noted in the January 24, 1914, issue of The Moving Picture World. This page from the Madison County Historical Society gives the address of the Starland Theatre as 1115 S. Meridian, and the address of the Riviera as 1135 S. Meridian.
The caption of this photo from Indiana Memory indicates that the name Starland was moved at some point to the former Grand Opera House, which had been converted to a vaudeville house called the Granada Theatre in 1924. I tdoesn’t give a date for the renaming to Starland, but it must have been when the original Starland became the Times.
This photo of 2nd and Spring, which Flickr user Rob Ketcherside dates to ca.1911, shows the Palace-Hip building in place, but the marquee says Majestic on it.
Robert Grau’s 1910 book “The Business Man in the Amusement World” has a few paragraphs about vaudeville impresario John W. Considine, including the following lines:
A photo of the Majestic appears a couple of pages later (scroll down in the Google Books scan.)The photos show that the theater was at the southeast corner of 2nd and Spring (2nd Avenue is fairly level, but Spring Street runs sharply uphill east of 2nd.) The Majestic most likely opened in 1910, and certainly no earlier than 1909. I’ve found references to the Hippodrome Theatre in Seattle as early as 1912, so the name must have changed no later than that year.
Here is an extract from a biographical sketch of T. C. White in volume 2 of the 1919 “History of Fresno County, California” by Paul E. Vandor:
I Street was later renamed Broadway Street. Merced Street has been converted partly into a pedestrian mall and partly into a parking lot.Boxoffice of January 6, 1951, published a two-page article about the Watts Theatre.
An ad for the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company in the January 6, 1951, issue of Boxoffice featured a photo of the Vestal Theatre’s streamlined facade.
Here is a fresh link to the 1951 photo of the Marrh Theatre in Boxoffice.
The AKA Carolina Theatre needs to be added. The building is now occupied by a jewelery store.
The J. Murrey Atkins Library at UNC Charlotte has a collection of drawings and blueprints of projects built by the Mecklenburg Iron Works, and the Belvedere Theatre is among them. The Mecklenburg collection is not yet among the library’s special collections that are available online. If someone with access to the library could take a look at them, the name of the architect is probably on them. As the drawings are in a special collection, the library might require advance notice from anyone who wants to examine them. Here is the library’s web site.
This biography of architect Hugh Edward White attributes the design of the Webb Theatre to him, and dates the project as ca.1927.
Here is the new location to the 1951 Boxoffice photo of the Belvedere Theatre that Gerald DeLuca linked to in an earlier comment.
A brief biography of Francis M. Davis appeared in Volume 4 of “History of Idaho: Gem of the Mountains” by James H. Hawley, which was published in 1920. Here is the part pertaining to the theater: “Since the fall of 1915 Mr. Davis has been engaged in the moving picture business. In the spring of 1918 he erected a modern theatre building on an elaborate scale, costing thirty thousand dollars, and which would be a credit to a larger town than Shelley. The theatre is splendidly equipped and is well supported by the citizens.”
Both of Emmett’s theaters, the Ideal and the Liberty, were in operation by 1920. Volume 4 of “History of Idaho: The Gem of the Mountains” by James H. Hawley, which was published that year, said that the Ideal Theatre was owned by Claude D. Bucknam, who also owned a half interest in the Liberty Theatre.
Both of Emmett’s theaters, the Ideal and the Liberty, were in operation by 1920. Volume 4 of “History of Idaho: The Gem of the Mountains” by James H. Hawley, which was published that year, said that the Ideal Theatre was owned by Claude D. Bucknam, who also owned a half interest in the Liberty Theatre.
Google Maps has its pin icon in the wrong place again, about a mile north of the theater’s actual location. It’s probably because the address should read simply Overland Avenue, not N. Overland Avenue.
Here is the biography of Stanley J. Osika from volume 4 of “History of Idaho: Gem of the Mountains” by James H. Hawley, which was published in 1920:
It’s not clear if Osika owned the theater building itself or only leased it, but as the book refers to him as the proprietor of the theater he must have owned the business. Stanley J. Osika was listed as a resident of Cassia County, Idaho, in the 1920 U.S. census, but the 1930 census lists him as a resident of Erie, New York.This page still needs to be updated to attribute the design of the Cinema 70 to Lusk & Wallace (Dietz Lusk Jr. and John J. Wallace) rather than Mel C. Glatz, and to remove the erroneous AKA of Cooper 70 Theatre.
Dietz Lusk didn’t include any of his theaters among the works listed in his entry in the 1970 edition of the AIA’s guide to American architects. By that time the firm was designing a great variety of projects, but so far I’ve found no theaters later than this one among their works.
The Cooper Foundation’s web site once had a PDF with a history of Cooper Theaters, but it is no longer available. The PDF said that the Cooper 70 and the Ute 70 projects were both designed by Mel C. Glatz of Mel C. Glatz & Associates, in association with architect Maynard Rorman. The same team designed the conversion of the Cooper into a triplex.