This item is from the February 2, 1924 issue of Moving Picture World: “E. E. Lucy and W. S. Wilkinson have purchased the Crystal Theatre at Hoisington, Kas., and have started dismantling it to be
used for other purpose. The passing of the Crystal leaves only the Royal Theatre at Hoisington.”
Back in 1914, the 300-seat Crystal was the only house in Hoisington listed in that year’s edition of Gus Hill’s theatrical guide.
And in 1911, the February 25 issue of The Nickelodeon said that the Crystal and a house called the Pastime Theatrium had been consolidated. The Crystal would continue to operate, but the Pastime had been closed “…for the time….”
If this was in fact the first Odeon, which does seem likely, it was in operation by 1909, when the October 21 issue of The Lyons Daily News reported that a stage was being built at the house so vaudeville could be presented as well as movies. Since the house didn’t even get a sloped floor until the 1911 rebuild, it must have been a pretty primitive theater in its early years. The Odeon is also mentioned in the Daily News in 1915 and 1917, but I’ve found no mentions in between 1909 and 1915.
In fact I’ve found no mentions of any theaters in Lyons during that period in either the newspaper or trade journals, though the Lyric was listed in the 1914 AMPD, and I know there was a Butler Opera House listed in the 1897 and 1900 Cahn guides (a 500-seat upstairs house.) The opera house building was still standing in 1924, when it suffered damage in a fire, but by then the theater was gone. The remodeled building might have been largely intact until 2023, when the roof collapsed and the upper floor was subsequently removed (Reddit post.) The absence of the Odeon from the AMPD might have been an oversight. Clearly it existed in late 1911 when its photo appeared in The Billboard, and it existed in one location or the other in 1915, when it was mentioned in the newspaper.
I’m going to upload the 1911 photo here. If we discover that the first Odeon was somewhere else the photo can be removed.
Here is an item about the Lawrence Theatre from the January 7, 1937 issue of Film Daily: “Bedford, Ind.—The Lawrence Theater, dark for many years and recently acquired by Theatrical Managers, Inc., has been renovated and reopened by H. E. McCarrell.”
I don’t know if it was the same theater or not, but by 1940 the FDY is listing a 300-seat house called the Claflin Theatre at Claflin. This house was probably also the one that was later called the Lux Theatre. A Boxoffice item from 1948 mentions a theater owner named Wheatcraft at Claflin, and a Google Books snippet view of an item from a 1960 issue of Independent Film Journal says that “…Wm. Wheatcraft closed his Lux Theatre in Claflin, Kans., and operation was taken over by the junior class of the local high school. Wheatcraft, who manages the Moore in Plainville, is buying and booking for the …” (snippet ends.) A 1963 newspaper item says that the public library at Claflin was moving out of the lobby of the Claflin theater (uncapitalized) where it had been for several years. I don’t know if this indicates a return to the name Claflin Theatre or not, and there’s no clear indication that the house was even still open that late.
The earliest mention I’ve found of the Odeon in movie industry trade journals is from the January 13, 1923 issue of Moving Picture World, which said that owner J. H. Townsley had recently given a free show to demonstrate his appreciation for the patronage the house had received over the previous year. However, the local Lyons daily News had mentioned the Odeon at least as early as February 26, 1915.
But here is the most interesting (and puzzling) bit: The December 9, 1911 issue of The Billboard has a photo of the front of a theater titled “ODEON THEATRE, LYONS, KANSAS” and the May 31 issue of The Western Contractor that same year had published this item: “LYONS, KANS.-The Odeon theatre is to be completely remodeled this summer. A new stucco front, inclined floors, ventilating system, fire exits, seats, decorations, etc., will be installed and a 40x24 foot addition to rear of building erected. Manager Skilkett owns the house.”
As the premises at 115 West Avenue S. were occupied by a hardware store in 1912, the earlier Odeon must have been at a different location, but I’ve been unable to discover where, or what became of it. An item in the February 25, 1913 issue of a trade publication called The Furniture Journal said that J. P. Blevins' furniture store at Lyons, Kansas had been completely destroyed on the night of January 29 by a fire which began when a stove exploded in an adjoining moving picture theater. Though it doesn’t give the name of the theater, it does seem quite possible that it was this earlier Odeon, and that the theater was also completely destroyed by the fire, forcing its relocation to 115 West Avenue.
There was a listing for the “Music Hall or Opera House, National Bank Bldg., Main Street” in the 1914-1915 AMPD. The only other house listed at Keyser was called the Pickwick, which might have been an earlier name for the Liberty Theatre. The National Bank Building was built at the corner of Main and Center streets in 1888, with a hall on the top floor.
The Music Hall, managed by J. T. Carskadon, is listed in the 1900-1901 Cahn guide with 800 seats. The building suffered a major fire in February, 1919, but the theater was back in operation by the early 1920s, when trade journals published many capsule movie reviews by an N. R. Carskadon, manager of the house.
The Liberty and the Music Hall were the two theaters listed at Keyser in editions of the FDY in the later 1920s. Keyser does not appear in the 1926 edition, though the Music Hall is mentioned in trade journals in the early 1920s. Both houses are listed in 1927. The 1914-1915 AMPD lists the Music Hall and a house called the Pickwick, which might have been an earlier name for the Liberty.
The May 27, 1959 issue of Motion Picture Exhibitor reported that the Liberty Theatre in Keyser, West Virginia, had been closed.
The February 1, 1923 opening of the Tivoli was just a few days short of the second anniversary of the destruction of its predecessor, the Garden Theatre, by a fire on February 4, 1921. The Tivoli’s last show was presented on November 30, 1972.
The Garden Theatre came to the end of its career in 1921, not long after being acquired by the Wallerstein brothers. Two trade journal items noted the events. The March 5, 1921 Moving Picture World had this somewhat belated item headed “$100,000 Sale:”
“Jacob Wallerstein, of Michigan City, and Abe Wallerstein, of Laporte, his brother, have bought the Garden Theatre Building at Michigan City from the Central States Theatre Company, of Chicago, for the reported sum of $100,000. Its seating capacity will be increased from 1,400 to
1,800. The Wallersteins now own every theatre in Michigan City.”
The March 26 issue of the same publication brought this news, headed “Are Rebuilding Theatre:”
“Wallenstein Brothers are reconstructing their theatre, formerly known as the Garden, in Michigan City, Ind., which burned down about a month ago. Plans for a fine 1,500-seat house, thoroughly modern and attractive, are being carried out. The building is of concrete and steel. A beautiful balcony and mezzanine, and comfortable retiring rooms are provided for, and the balcony is equipped with a tier of smoking boxes and family loges.”
The fire that destroyed the Garden Theatre took place on February 4, 1921. The replacement house was of course the Tivoli Theatre, opened in 1923, closed in 1972 and demolished in 1973.
The 1914 edition of Gus Hill’s theatrical guide lists four motion picture theaters at Rockford, including a 200-seat, five cent house called the Lyric, operated by an Albin G. Hoof. The house is also listed in the 1914-1915 AMPD.
An item datelined Little Rock in the March 1, 1910 issue of The Nickelodeon says that “[t]he Jo Jo Moving Picture theater, 222 Main street, has been enlarged and fitted up with new chairs. J. E. England is manager.”
One source says this house opened around 1930 as the Little Roxy Theatre. It was one of the smallest theaters downtown, but was much admired as Little Rock’s leading house for fans of western movies. It closed around 1955, at the dawn of the wide screen era.
The Crystal Theatre was listed at 118 W. 2nd Street in the 1914-1915 AMPD, but later that year the building at that address became the home of the Crescent Theatre, and the Crystal decamped, apparently to 723 S. Main Street, a building which became the Rialto Theatre in 1924. I believe that the photo I’m seeing above does indeed depict the house at 118 2nd, and should be moved to the Crescent Theatre page. This page is, I fear, now redundant, and the venerable name Crystal Theatre, dating back in Little Rock as far as 1908, must be reduced to mere aka’s on the Crescent and Rialto pages. Alas, poor Crystal, we hardly knew ye!
This house might have become the Lyric as early as 1908. The house at 118 W. 2nd Street that became the Crescent Theatre in 1914 had previously housed the Crystal Theatre since 1908, and prior to that had been the location of a Lyric Theatre. I don’t have proof that the Lyric listed at 511 Main in the 1914-1915 AMPD was the same Lyric that had operated at 118 W. 2nd until 1908, but it’s definitely a possibility.
Prior to the November, 1914 opening of the Crescent Theatre, the building at 118 W. 2nd Street had been occupied since 1908 by the Crystal Theatre, which moved to another location I haven’t been able to discover.
According to a history of Little Rock’s downtown theaters on this web page, even earlier the building had housed the Lyric Theatre, which by 1914 had moved to 511 Main Street (presumably in 1908, when the Crystal opened at 118.)
As for the Crescent, it closed on January 21, 1956. Most likely it was another victim of the cost (and spatial needs) of converting theaters to present wide-screen processes.
Two different theaters are currently conflated on this page. The house at 712 W. Ninth Street was an African-American house opened in 1922 as the Nesbitt Theatre. In 1923 it became the Plaza Theater, and in 1934 it was renamed the Metropolitan. It finally became the Gem in 1936, and operated under that name until closing in 1968.
We need another page for the earlier Gem Theatre, which opened on September 5, 1910, at 113 W. Third Street. It was a ten cent silent movie house that burned down in February, 1929.
Opened on April 2, 1906, the Majestic billed itself as “the home of classy vaudeville” It was still advertising vaudeville in January, 1914, but was also listed that year in the American Motion Picture Directory.
A history of Little Rock’s movie houses on this web page says that the Princess opened at 122 W. Markham Street on March 18, 1909. It also says the house closed a few months later following a fire and “apparently never reopened,” but that can’t be right, as the Princess is listed at 120 W. Markham in the 1914-1915 AMPD. An ad for the theater said that it was located in the Old City Hall building. The municipal government moved into a new City Hall in April, 1908, freeing up the 1867 building at 120-122 Markham for conversion.
Little Rock’s Palace Theatre was designed by architect S. C. P. Vosper. Samuel Charles Phelps Vosper, after attending Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, had apprenticed in several New York City architectural firms, and studied theater design under Theodore Van Crua, designer of New York’s Metropolitan Opera House.
In 1913, he joined the Famous Players-Lasky company and spent the next seven years traveling around the country designing movie theaters, the Palace having been one of his earliest projects for the chain, if not the first. Many of the architects with whom he had studied in New York had been graduates of the Ecole de Beaux Arts in Paris, and the influence of that institution’s program was certainly on full display in the splendid Palace.
This item is from the February 2, 1924 issue of Moving Picture World: “E. E. Lucy and W. S. Wilkinson have purchased the Crystal Theatre at Hoisington, Kas., and have started dismantling it to be used for other purpose. The passing of the Crystal leaves only the Royal Theatre at Hoisington.”
Back in 1914, the 300-seat Crystal was the only house in Hoisington listed in that year’s edition of Gus Hill’s theatrical guide.
And in 1911, the February 25 issue of The Nickelodeon said that the Crystal and a house called the Pastime Theatrium had been consolidated. The Crystal would continue to operate, but the Pastime had been closed “…for the time….”
If this was in fact the first Odeon, which does seem likely, it was in operation by 1909, when the October 21 issue of The Lyons Daily News reported that a stage was being built at the house so vaudeville could be presented as well as movies. Since the house didn’t even get a sloped floor until the 1911 rebuild, it must have been a pretty primitive theater in its early years. The Odeon is also mentioned in the Daily News in 1915 and 1917, but I’ve found no mentions in between 1909 and 1915.
In fact I’ve found no mentions of any theaters in Lyons during that period in either the newspaper or trade journals, though the Lyric was listed in the 1914 AMPD, and I know there was a Butler Opera House listed in the 1897 and 1900 Cahn guides (a 500-seat upstairs house.) The opera house building was still standing in 1924, when it suffered damage in a fire, but by then the theater was gone. The remodeled building might have been largely intact until 2023, when the roof collapsed and the upper floor was subsequently removed (Reddit post.) The absence of the Odeon from the AMPD might have been an oversight. Clearly it existed in late 1911 when its photo appeared in The Billboard, and it existed in one location or the other in 1915, when it was mentioned in the newspaper.
I’m going to upload the 1911 photo here. If we discover that the first Odeon was somewhere else the photo can be removed.
Here is an item about the Lawrence Theatre from the January 7, 1937 issue of Film Daily: “Bedford, Ind.—The Lawrence Theater, dark for many years and recently acquired by Theatrical Managers, Inc., has been renovated and reopened by H. E. McCarrell.”
I don’t know if it was the same theater or not, but by 1940 the FDY is listing a 300-seat house called the Claflin Theatre at Claflin. This house was probably also the one that was later called the Lux Theatre. A Boxoffice item from 1948 mentions a theater owner named Wheatcraft at Claflin, and a Google Books snippet view of an item from a 1960 issue of Independent Film Journal says that “…Wm. Wheatcraft closed his Lux Theatre in Claflin, Kans., and operation was taken over by the junior class of the local high school. Wheatcraft, who manages the Moore in Plainville, is buying and booking for the …” (snippet ends.) A 1963 newspaper item says that the public library at Claflin was moving out of the lobby of the Claflin theater (uncapitalized) where it had been for several years. I don’t know if this indicates a return to the name Claflin Theatre or not, and there’s no clear indication that the house was even still open that late.
The earliest mention I’ve found of the Odeon in movie industry trade journals is from the January 13, 1923 issue of Moving Picture World, which said that owner J. H. Townsley had recently given a free show to demonstrate his appreciation for the patronage the house had received over the previous year. However, the local Lyons daily News had mentioned the Odeon at least as early as February 26, 1915.
But here is the most interesting (and puzzling) bit: The December 9, 1911 issue of The Billboard has a photo of the front of a theater titled “ODEON THEATRE, LYONS, KANSAS” and the May 31 issue of The Western Contractor that same year had published this item: “LYONS, KANS.-The Odeon theatre is to be completely remodeled this summer. A new stucco front, inclined floors, ventilating system, fire exits, seats, decorations, etc., will be installed and a 40x24 foot addition to rear of building erected. Manager Skilkett owns the house.”
As the premises at 115 West Avenue S. were occupied by a hardware store in 1912, the earlier Odeon must have been at a different location, but I’ve been unable to discover where, or what became of it. An item in the February 25, 1913 issue of a trade publication called The Furniture Journal said that J. P. Blevins' furniture store at Lyons, Kansas had been completely destroyed on the night of January 29 by a fire which began when a stove exploded in an adjoining moving picture theater. Though it doesn’t give the name of the theater, it does seem quite possible that it was this earlier Odeon, and that the theater was also completely destroyed by the fire, forcing its relocation to 115 West Avenue.
There was a listing for the “Music Hall or Opera House, National Bank Bldg., Main Street” in the 1914-1915 AMPD. The only other house listed at Keyser was called the Pickwick, which might have been an earlier name for the Liberty Theatre. The National Bank Building was built at the corner of Main and Center streets in 1888, with a hall on the top floor.
The Music Hall, managed by J. T. Carskadon, is listed in the 1900-1901 Cahn guide with 800 seats. The building suffered a major fire in February, 1919, but the theater was back in operation by the early 1920s, when trade journals published many capsule movie reviews by an N. R. Carskadon, manager of the house.
The Liberty and the Music Hall were the two theaters listed at Keyser in editions of the FDY in the later 1920s. Keyser does not appear in the 1926 edition, though the Music Hall is mentioned in trade journals in the early 1920s. Both houses are listed in 1927. The 1914-1915 AMPD lists the Music Hall and a house called the Pickwick, which might have been an earlier name for the Liberty.
The May 27, 1959 issue of Motion Picture Exhibitor reported that the Liberty Theatre in Keyser, West Virginia, had been closed.
The theater in Washington Park, Michigan City, is mentioned in the July 20, 1912 issue of The Billboard as playing movies, and vaudeville sometimes.
The February 1, 1923 opening of the Tivoli was just a few days short of the second anniversary of the destruction of its predecessor, the Garden Theatre, by a fire on February 4, 1921. The Tivoli’s last show was presented on November 30, 1972.
The Garden Theatre came to the end of its career in 1921, not long after being acquired by the Wallerstein brothers. Two trade journal items noted the events. The March 5, 1921 Moving Picture World had this somewhat belated item headed “$100,000 Sale:”
“Jacob Wallerstein, of Michigan City, and Abe Wallerstein, of Laporte, his brother, have bought the Garden Theatre Building at Michigan City from the Central States Theatre Company, of Chicago, for the reported sum of $100,000. Its seating capacity will be increased from 1,400 to 1,800. The Wallersteins now own every theatre in Michigan City.”
The March 26 issue of the same publication brought this news, headed “Are Rebuilding Theatre:”
“Wallenstein Brothers are reconstructing their theatre, formerly known as the Garden, in Michigan City, Ind., which burned down about a month ago. Plans for a fine 1,500-seat house, thoroughly modern and attractive, are being carried out. The building is of concrete and steel. A beautiful balcony and mezzanine, and comfortable retiring rooms are provided for, and the balcony is equipped with a tier of smoking boxes and family loges.”
The fire that destroyed the Garden Theatre took place on February 4, 1921. The replacement house was of course the Tivoli Theatre, opened in 1923, closed in 1972 and demolished in 1973.
The 1914 edition of Gus Hill’s theatrical guide lists four motion picture theaters at Rockford, including a 200-seat, five cent house called the Lyric, operated by an Albin G. Hoof. The house is also listed in the 1914-1915 AMPD.
An item datelined Little Rock in the March 1, 1910 issue of The Nickelodeon says that “[t]he Jo Jo Moving Picture theater, 222 Main street, has been enlarged and fitted up with new chairs. J. E. England is manager.”
One history of downtown Little Rock Theaters says the New Theatre was primarily a sub-run and “B” movie house, but it survived into the early 1960s.
One source says this house opened around 1930 as the Little Roxy Theatre. It was one of the smallest theaters downtown, but was much admired as Little Rock’s leading house for fans of western movies. It closed around 1955, at the dawn of the wide screen era.
Wait! I just saw a photo of the Rialto, and it’s the same house in our picture of the Crystal above, so don’t move that photo to the Crescent page.
Drat, I just realized we don’t have a page for the Rialto. I’ll cobble one together with what I know about it and submit it.
The Crystal Theatre was listed at 118 W. 2nd Street in the 1914-1915 AMPD, but later that year the building at that address became the home of the Crescent Theatre, and the Crystal decamped, apparently to 723 S. Main Street, a building which became the Rialto Theatre in 1924. I believe that the photo I’m seeing above does indeed depict the house at 118 2nd, and should be moved to the Crescent Theatre page. This page is, I fear, now redundant, and the venerable name Crystal Theatre, dating back in Little Rock as far as 1908, must be reduced to mere aka’s on the Crescent and Rialto pages. Alas, poor Crystal, we hardly knew ye!
This house might have become the Lyric as early as 1908. The house at 118 W. 2nd Street that became the Crescent Theatre in 1914 had previously housed the Crystal Theatre since 1908, and prior to that had been the location of a Lyric Theatre. I don’t have proof that the Lyric listed at 511 Main in the 1914-1915 AMPD was the same Lyric that had operated at 118 W. 2nd until 1908, but it’s definitely a possibility.
Prior to the November, 1914 opening of the Crescent Theatre, the building at 118 W. 2nd Street had been occupied since 1908 by the Crystal Theatre, which moved to another location I haven’t been able to discover.
According to a history of Little Rock’s downtown theaters on this web page, even earlier the building had housed the Lyric Theatre, which by 1914 had moved to 511 Main Street (presumably in 1908, when the Crystal opened at 118.)
As for the Crescent, it closed on January 21, 1956. Most likely it was another victim of the cost (and spatial needs) of converting theaters to present wide-screen processes.
The Center Theatre closed in 1973 and the building was demolished as recently as 2009.
Two different theaters are currently conflated on this page. The house at 712 W. Ninth Street was an African-American house opened in 1922 as the Nesbitt Theatre. In 1923 it became the Plaza Theater, and in 1934 it was renamed the Metropolitan. It finally became the Gem in 1936, and operated under that name until closing in 1968.
We need another page for the earlier Gem Theatre, which opened on September 5, 1910, at 113 W. Third Street. It was a ten cent silent movie house that burned down in February, 1929.
At the time of its closing in 1977, the Arkansas was the last movie theater operating in downtown Little Rock.
Opened on April 2, 1906, the Majestic billed itself as “the home of classy vaudeville” It was still advertising vaudeville in January, 1914, but was also listed that year in the American Motion Picture Directory.
A history of Little Rock’s movie houses on this web page says that the Princess opened at 122 W. Markham Street on March 18, 1909. It also says the house closed a few months later following a fire and “apparently never reopened,” but that can’t be right, as the Princess is listed at 120 W. Markham in the 1914-1915 AMPD. An ad for the theater said that it was located in the Old City Hall building. The municipal government moved into a new City Hall in April, 1908, freeing up the 1867 building at 120-122 Markham for conversion.
Little Rock’s Palace Theatre was designed by architect S. C. P. Vosper. Samuel Charles Phelps Vosper, after attending Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, had apprenticed in several New York City architectural firms, and studied theater design under Theodore Van Crua, designer of New York’s Metropolitan Opera House.
In 1913, he joined the Famous Players-Lasky company and spent the next seven years traveling around the country designing movie theaters, the Palace having been one of his earliest projects for the chain, if not the first. Many of the architects with whom he had studied in New York had been graduates of the Ecole de Beaux Arts in Paris, and the influence of that institution’s program was certainly on full display in the splendid Palace.