“JG”’s sentiments about saving old theatres are commendable, but his advice to talk to me is innacurate. One must approach the Theatre Historical Society directly if one would like to make a proposal to write an ANNUAL on a particular theatre, or sub-topic. While they do have a publication schedule, they will be very encouraging of any serious attempts, and have editors and rewriters that will be of help if desired. Of course, they would make available any relevant photos they have, of course. Do not contact me, but do contact their Ex. Dir., Rich Sklenar, at the address on the bottom of their front page at: www.historictheatres.org
It would be most helpful to click on their link there: BACK ISSUES to first learn what has been covered. For those listed as “Out of Print” note that the major obstacle to reprinting them is money, so if you can make a sizeable donation to that goal, it is possible that one of interest to you will again be available.
Photos of virtually every major theatre in America are at the Theatre Historical Society of America, and they can be reached via their web site: www.historictheatres.org where on their front page is the link ARCHIVE; the fee to search for and copy their photos is given there.
It is ironic that you ask about the very theatre from which you removed so much of the terra cotta ornamentation before demolition as shown by the article about it in the “Milwaukee Journal” of Dec. 28th, 1990. A photo there shows not only the boarded-up entry, but also you standing among the removed artifacts.
In an article in the same paper of the Spring of that year (given to me without date or page number), titled: “Boarded-up Buildings, Demolition work hits a brick wall because of shortfall, fears of blight” by Daniel E. Linhoffer, it is explained that the entire block containing the long-closed theatre was to be demolished per city order to reduce the then 900-some count of boarded-up buildings awaiting city demolition.
Aside from closing due to the prevalence of porn on video destroying its patronage, I do not know the legal reason that the property became the city’s, though non-payment of taxes due to abandoment is the likely cause. As far as I know, the last owner/operator of it was Don Bohatka, now owner/operator of Video Adventures store on Brady at Farwell.
No, THSA does NOT have an ANNUAL about the Music Hall, though it was the subject of more than one major MARQUEE article, and you can find a listing of all ANNUALS and major articles in MARQUEE under the link Back Issues on their front page at: www.historictheatres.org The Music Hall’s web site does have a nice and colorful booklet about it for sale and there is at least one hardbound book about it at Amazon.
Also, there are no ANNUALS on the Roxy or the Valencia either, though both have had major articles in MARQUEE, some of which are still available. (They can’t cover every theatre, and it is quite expensive to produce them, so if you really want one on a theatre, volunteer to do the reseach and write up a treatment of it, and likely they already have enough photos.)
Mr Valens' strident self promotion might have been somewhat vindicated had he mentioned some connection with this theater: the Pabst, but there apparently is none. As it is therefore, it is just more time-wasting SPAM! I trust the Pabst will therefore see his double post as an indication of one who does not mind sullying other peoples' space, and hence a morality too low to grace the caliber of the Pabst. “Former Legend”? Hardly, but the operative word is ‘former.’
The above post is by “Irajoel” who is just polluting this theatre’s page as he has many others here. It is a pity that he cares nothing for the theatres but only for his own profit. Others speaking here have some nobility of purpose, but not such huckstrers! To patronize such greedy and brazen merchants is to do a DISservice to us all. If only there were a way to block such spammers!
“ij” is “irajoel” who is a spamer advertising his wares on other theatre pages here. Unfortunately, he is not interested in enriching our knowledge of this theatre or any other; merely getting our money into his pocket. There may be a place for yet more advertising, but this isn’t it. Pity there isn’t a ‘Spam Deleter’ on this site! And, NO, just because something makes money for someone doesn’t mean its ‘holy and just.’ Please go and foul the waters somewhere else.
Ed is right! These are pages about theatres, and are not for spam. There are provisions under the NEWS link at the top of each page to post such advertising rather than waste limited space on other pages. “Irajoe” is not performing a service advertising his posters; he is just just hawking something for his profit— not ours. And the reason people don’t openly list their E-mails is precisely to prevent such abuse of their privacy by the spam of such inconsiderate and greedy ‘merchants.’ Just because something may be distantly related to theatre architecture doesn’t mean it belongs on pages such as this!
According to a few accounts from the 20s, they left the stars ‘on’ during the show along with dimmed-down blue horizon lights. The brighter amber or white lighting in the facades along the walls and such, were turned almost ‘off’ until intermission, and then back to full as also during overtures, stage acts, etc. This is partially how the electrician-stage hands earned their wages. They were proud to show off their lighting effects back then when they had thousands of admissions daily to pay for all that.
In our day, there are rarely any stage hands aside from those brought in for individual shows, so most lighting is automated with the projectors which often just turn out the lights rather than dim them which requires more expense in equipment.
What happened in the “glory days” is described on page 200 of “The Best Remaining Seats” by the late Ben M. Hall thusly: “Remember how the curtains used to start closing as the picture unreeled the final embreace, so that "The End” was projected on the rippling velour? And how the colored spotlights from the sides of the proscenium used to play across the curtains as the footlights faded up from purple to violet to red to orange and their final golden burst, making the fringe and the rhinestone butterflies sparkle? This spelled out real CLASS, and when you saw it, you knew now something marvelous was about to take place."
We’ve come a long way from those “glory days” and into a day without showmanship, where the sole concern is profits and ‘to-hell-with-the-public.’ From the ‘50s onward, the greedy salivation for profits coupled with the far smaller audiences now living in suburbia, meant there was no more time for niceties of exhibition, only a race to send off the daily box office report to distant accountants as the everyone raced out the door of the shoe-box multiplexes to commute home. There was no more neighborhood, no more artists on any stage, and managements trained in MBAs rather than as Showmen. As Ben Hall so well put it in his closing chapter, They had changed from Empressarios to candy salesmen!
That ANNUAL is No.2, from 1975, and is “THE Paradise, Bronx, NY” and is listed on their site’s Link on their front page at: www.historictheatres.org under either ANNUALS or BACK ISSUES. You may find in that back issues list other theatres of interest. Some of the ANNUALS and Marquees do have latter day color photos, but they usually are of ‘restorations’ of a sort, rarely including the lavish draperies, unfortunately, such as you will see in black and white in the original Paradise photos. A suggeston to all: if any title on that list sounds interesting, don’t hesistate to order it, since once they go Out-of-Print, it is seldom that they are reprinted due to the high costs involved. Some titles, such as “Grand Drapes, Tormentors, and Teasers” (types of stage draperies) (#10 from 1983) and “Pictorial History of Marquees” (#7, 1980) contain photos of dozens of theatres across the nation, and are therefore a good way tomlearn if you want to know more about an individual place. The “Grand Drapes” one even comes with a fold-out professional Drawing showing how these 3,000-pound extravaganzas were planned. The photos in this ANNUAL are not just of draperies, but of entire auditoriums.
For those who would like to make a collection of ANNUALS there are Albums to store them archivally (acid-free) from such as www,lightimpressionsdirect.com Their “Panoramic Albumn” #9236 is of the proper ‘Long’ format: View link
Their “Scrapbook Page” for this Albumn, #9216, will enclose one or two entire ANNUALS away from air, light and dust: View link
The Society has many thousands of photos that have never been published and virtually all their photos are available as 8x10 prints for you; write or E-mail them with your subject of interest and eventually a volunteer there will get back to you with what is available. See the details on their site under ARCHIVE— “Photograph and Slide Reproduction.”
Well, “Life” I may be at the age for a coronary, but your comment above re the San Francisco FOX book won’t give me one. The 7-pound tome you are referring to is titled: “FOX—The Last Word” by the late Preston Kaufmann in 1980. It is still sometimes for sale used at www.amazon.com for hundreds of dollars, but one could order it through Inter-Library Loan at most libraries. It is probably the high water mark in theatres books, and well worth owning if one can afford this voloume about a fabulous theatre! Yes, it does have color photos, but all of them are from the 1950s on, since there was no COLOR STILL photography until after the second world war. It also does have color renderings (paintings) of the place at opening.
By the way, I got an E-mail from one:
“Adrienne OBrien” who says that she is trying to contact you re Paul Warshauer. I explained that you give no contact information on your Profile page (obtained for any Registered member when one clicks one a person’s name in blue at the bottom of a comment). If you wish people to contact you, merely click on the word Profile in the upper right corner of any page (if you have manually or automatically signed-in) and correct the CONTACT INFO field as you wish. If you also choose to put your name at the top, you will probably get more intelligent messages from more people; and your E-mail service will allow you to block the addresses of those whom you would rather not talk to.
Ah, to replace all light bulbs! Consider: in the 1920s a light bulb cost 2 cents, the electric rate was about ½ cent per kilowat hour, and bulb replacement labor was around 30 cents or less the hour; now we have nearly a dollar per standard bulb, around 8 cents per kilowat hour, and probably $15 per hour labor. It is a miracle that they found the thousands needed to pay for all that work! Few of us ever get to see a movie palace’s thousands of bulbs fully lit for just these reasons! I dearly hope someone takes photos of the newly illuminated space before about 700 hours pass and most of the bulbs are again burned out without again the money to replace them.
I also hope that the contractor will be careful of the fragile items: paint, plaster and textiles which can easily be damaged by rough fellows on the hurry-up, which all contractors are in order to make the most money. This is why I prefer volunteers if possible to do relamping; presumably they care. Such a theatre is just too precious a learning experience for a contractor who is there one day with his minimum wage crew, and gone the next! Let us hope that the owner keeps at least one ‘clerk-of-the-works’ on site at ALL times to keep the contractor and crews considerate of the building, and right there with a camera to document any damage they do. It would be good to let it leak that there are hidden security cameras in the attic and all areas to monitor all doings!
Ah, vclamp, if you are antsy, I’m almost heartbroken, since I have been in almost adoration of the WARNER’s design since I first saw it in the mid 60s! One of these days I will take the two hours that it takes my dial-up to upload the two vintage 1931 8x10s I have of its auditorium at opening so that people everywhere can savor possibly the finest of Rapp & Rapp’s medium scale designs. Of course that will have to be at Cinema Tour since this CT is not allowing photos now.
Brian: I think you are quite right that Marcus is immitating Muvico. Of course, it could be that the founder, the late Ben Marcus, had his flagship “Palace” in the WARNER, which he promptly renamed The CENTRE after he bought it in 1966 (he renamed it the GRAND in ‘82), so now maybe his 65-year-old son Steve, who is Chairman and CEO, wants to immitate —or trump— his father with his own version of a palace: the MAJESTIC. (Remember the movie of a few years ago by that name? Coincidence? I think not.)
It does sound like a great experience, Patrick; thanks for sharing.
To answer Life’s question in general: the open-air cinemas are as old as projection, and in many cities they predated even the nickelodeons as the most casual, tent-sided plots around. They were warm weather entities, obviously, in northern cities but there were at least two of them in Milwaukee alone.
Patrick: it looks like a much more sturdy wall there; is that genuine neon glass mounted along the wall? Ah, the luxury of a climate without winter! Such glass tubing in such a position here would not last one snow/ice storm —the reason one doesn’t see more neon up north.
Ed: the caption in bold is on the bottom of page 136 of the First Edition, though the later editions may not follow the pagination of the First exactly. The plates I mentioned are actually six images: the first being the Frontice piece: a rendering of the aud. of the ROXY. The others are on pages 137 through 140: the aud. of the MISSOURI in St. Joseph; the lobby mural of the STATE in Syracuse. Pgs 138/9 are a spread of the rendering of the aud. of the PARADISE in the Bronx; pg. 140 has the aud. of the KIMO in Albuquerque (pre fire); and the proscenium of the PARAMOUNT in Plainfield, NJ. All of these are surrounded by black ink artwork from the AVALON (now NEW REGAL) in Chicago, though not attributed there.
If you want to tip in these color plates to your edition, you don’t have to resort to color photocopies from the First Edition; you can look in used books stores for collections of the defunct hardbound magazine “American Heritage” from October, 1961. Therein are the 5 color plates with slightly different captions within the article: “The Best Ree-maining Seats” by the same Mr. Hall.
Apparently, what “Spike” is referring to are the outdoor Exit flood lights (such as they were) as required by building safety codes in the 1920s. Since such exit doors opened upon usually unlit alleys, there had to be some way for potentially fleeing patrons to see where they were going, and these little hooded, single-light-bulb fixtures were their way of complying with the code. So, these lights above the outside doors were for people, not “ghosts.”
“THE BEST REMAINING SEATS, The Story of the Golden Age of the Movie Palace” is available under that full title of the hard bound first edition, or truncated titles of two later reprintings with some editing. It can be found at many larger libraries or they can have it lent to you on Inter-Library Loan. You can also find copies for sale (used) at such as www.amazon.com Note that only the first edition of 1961 contains the 5 color plates — though the latter editions retain the caption for the missing plates! Its author, the late Ben M. Hall, would have been delighted to see how well his magnum opus has stood the test of time!
I hope that Warren or someone will explain “which Palace” so that comments about it here can be directed to its page, and not continue here on the KINGS' page. It is already a long download without having comments about another theatre making it longer!
(I’m sure it won’t have Crying Rooms! Yesterday they released architect’s renderings, and as suspected, it will be a “Movie Palace” in name only, with the decor being a glitzy version of so-called High Tech, and no, the staircases will not be marble!)
If no one else knows, contact the Theatre Historical Society of America which is headquarted outside of Chicago in Elmhurst at: www.historictheatres.org
All too common. This is why organ chambers are usually locked. Even if a thief doesn’t have a fence for the parts for organ use, he knows that there is a black market for old pipes and such — if only as valuable scrap metal. One can only wonder at how many dope habits were maintained with the sale of such pipe organ metals.
I hate to be the cold voice of reason here, but Taxes are Taxes, and are hardly unexpected to open-eyed adults. I can’t imagine that Mr. Burrows was unaware of all the taxes his business would be accountable for; he sounds like a mature adult and taxpayer to me. Taxes are part of the process of making a business plan to figure if one can make enough profit to stay in business. Unlike attandance figures, taxes are a foreknown cost of doing business. Was Mr. Burrows negligent in not doing a realistic estimate, or did the market change beyond his control? If the market changed, then he is only suffering as does every other business when such happens.
The city is not to blame unless they created the tax without notice during the time he was in business. His recourse is the same as that of any citizen who doesn’t like what the government does: lobby to have the practice or tax changed, and failing that, work to unseat the affected politicians in the next election. If none of this helps in a democracy, one must move to a land where he can be king or maker of all laws.
I sympathize with Mr. Burrows and any other Exhibitor; making money in the business these days is very tough, especially as a small independent, and I wish there were some magic advice I could give him, but there isn’t. Business is a world of cut throats, but city taxes are not to blame for that. For more insights, read the Archives of the FORUMS at: www.bigscreenbiz.com Best Wishes!
This is by no means the first time that a university refused to save an historic building. In Milwaukee, for example, there was on Marquette university land the smaller but lavish limestone Romanesque, Plankinton Mansion of 1890, which was landmarked, but the Jesuits (again) said that they needed the land for university “development” and it remains a field of grass since demolition circa 1985. When the city stalled in issuing a demolition permit while they explored re-use under landmark status, “Father” so-and-so phoned one of his dear parishoners who owned a large excavator-on-treads early one sunday morning to come and push down the stone and copper porch of the building, which he did, so as to render its landmark status moot. There was a bit of a public outcry, but the church just sat back and smugly replied “fait acoumpli.” The Catholic church gets what it wants in Milw. and Chicago —if not also everywhere else. They care only about their own history, not that of anyone else.
Of course the gorgeous GRANADA was not “rotten.” That is just a lie that they also said in Milw. about the Mansion. Look at the link to Loyla above and the description: it is now just there 23rd building and is advertised as the school equivalent of a luxury hotel. Historic preservation was furthest from their minds — MONEY from this huge hotel was the closest — and the public wishes be damned! After all, any property owner has the right to do what they want with their land; is that not so? Just ask the many who have demolished theatres over the years and they will tell you so. Soooo, don’t expect that they are likely to save any part of a theatre if ‘god’ says it must go!
Your best bet would be to go to such references as The Film Daily Yearbook and look for movie theatres in New York from the earliest year you can find down through later volumes. Your quest will not be easy, but possibly the Theatre Historical Society of America will know something more. They are at their convention in Boston until July 5th or so, but after then contact their Richard Sklenar through his E-mail given on their web page at: www.historictheatres.org
If you are limiting to film houses only, your search is more elusive, since in the earliest days many nickelodeons did not advertise (and legitimate theatres sometimes showing ‘flickers’ occasionally, didn’t always admit it), and show houses changed names often as you point out. Many in the smaller towns were little known and the states did not regulate or license businesses — that is the job of the municipalities — so there is no central registry to refer to. Perhaps you would do best to bill its Centennial something like: “…thought to be the longest running film venue in the state.” This is what many do elsewhere to be authoriative without being adamant when they could later be proved wrong.
For live action venues, there is an entire book on this subject published by a former director of the League of Historic American Theatres at: www.lhat.org The title escapes me at the moment.
Your state Historic Preservation Officer in Albany might know more, so a visit or letter might be worthwhile. Best Wishes.
The “open bulb” type of sign that Brian refers to is called a SKELETON sign, and was quite popular for its big impact and lower cost. Incandescent versions were most common, but neon versions also existed, especially in the less storm and ice prone areas.
As to why it seemed so redundant in multiple wordings, remember the tenor of times: the Second world War was over and the country was newly flush with money, materials for bigger signs, and the guys back from the war to make and install these things. Sign companies saw it as a bonanza for them as they would usually give a prominent palace a sweet dealm to ‘upgrade’ its signage so that their salesmen could flash new color photos of the newness to owners/operators of other theatres and claim the palace had increased its gate by some mythical percentage as a result of the new, larger, brighter signs attracting the eye of the passerby.
One must also remember that automobile ownership ballooned after the war and so passerbys were now often speeding by, so it took a bigger spectacle to assure they would see an exhibitor’s sign amid the clutter of many other new, larger signs of all businesses. This competition for always bigger and brighter got so extreme that social standards groups started campaigns to return to “sane” non-garish signage, and politicians who sensed the change in the wind of public acceptance, lost no time in enacting leglislation to limit the size and character of signs, and it was the theatre Vertical that was the most conspicuous and therefore often the first to go.
By the end of the Sixties, the country’s moral climate changed from the moral and conservative of the war years, to the permissive and amoral. Sign restrictions were seen as part of the old Blue Laws and were repealed — or simply unenforced — across the land. The psychedelic era arrived along with strobe lights, so bright lights were hip again and who would restrain trade? Some places will now accept Verticals, some won’t in the typical patchwork quilt of laws in this country. Read back issues of “Signs Of The Times” magazine for articles.
“JG”’s sentiments about saving old theatres are commendable, but his advice to talk to me is innacurate. One must approach the Theatre Historical Society directly if one would like to make a proposal to write an ANNUAL on a particular theatre, or sub-topic. While they do have a publication schedule, they will be very encouraging of any serious attempts, and have editors and rewriters that will be of help if desired. Of course, they would make available any relevant photos they have, of course. Do not contact me, but do contact their Ex. Dir., Rich Sklenar, at the address on the bottom of their front page at: www.historictheatres.org
It would be most helpful to click on their link there: BACK ISSUES to first learn what has been covered. For those listed as “Out of Print” note that the major obstacle to reprinting them is money, so if you can make a sizeable donation to that goal, it is possible that one of interest to you will again be available.
Photos of virtually every major theatre in America are at the Theatre Historical Society of America, and they can be reached via their web site: www.historictheatres.org where on their front page is the link ARCHIVE; the fee to search for and copy their photos is given there.
It is ironic that you ask about the very theatre from which you removed so much of the terra cotta ornamentation before demolition as shown by the article about it in the “Milwaukee Journal” of Dec. 28th, 1990. A photo there shows not only the boarded-up entry, but also you standing among the removed artifacts.
In an article in the same paper of the Spring of that year (given to me without date or page number), titled: “Boarded-up Buildings, Demolition work hits a brick wall because of shortfall, fears of blight” by Daniel E. Linhoffer, it is explained that the entire block containing the long-closed theatre was to be demolished per city order to reduce the then 900-some count of boarded-up buildings awaiting city demolition.
Aside from closing due to the prevalence of porn on video destroying its patronage, I do not know the legal reason that the property became the city’s, though non-payment of taxes due to abandoment is the likely cause. As far as I know, the last owner/operator of it was Don Bohatka, now owner/operator of Video Adventures store on Brady at Farwell.
No, THSA does NOT have an ANNUAL about the Music Hall, though it was the subject of more than one major MARQUEE article, and you can find a listing of all ANNUALS and major articles in MARQUEE under the link Back Issues on their front page at: www.historictheatres.org The Music Hall’s web site does have a nice and colorful booklet about it for sale and there is at least one hardbound book about it at Amazon.
Also, there are no ANNUALS on the Roxy or the Valencia either, though both have had major articles in MARQUEE, some of which are still available. (They can’t cover every theatre, and it is quite expensive to produce them, so if you really want one on a theatre, volunteer to do the reseach and write up a treatment of it, and likely they already have enough photos.)
Mr Valens' strident self promotion might have been somewhat vindicated had he mentioned some connection with this theater: the Pabst, but there apparently is none. As it is therefore, it is just more time-wasting SPAM! I trust the Pabst will therefore see his double post as an indication of one who does not mind sullying other peoples' space, and hence a morality too low to grace the caliber of the Pabst. “Former Legend”? Hardly, but the operative word is ‘former.’
The above post is by “Irajoel” who is just polluting this theatre’s page as he has many others here. It is a pity that he cares nothing for the theatres but only for his own profit. Others speaking here have some nobility of purpose, but not such huckstrers! To patronize such greedy and brazen merchants is to do a DISservice to us all. If only there were a way to block such spammers!
“ij” is “irajoel” who is a spamer advertising his wares on other theatre pages here. Unfortunately, he is not interested in enriching our knowledge of this theatre or any other; merely getting our money into his pocket. There may be a place for yet more advertising, but this isn’t it. Pity there isn’t a ‘Spam Deleter’ on this site! And, NO, just because something makes money for someone doesn’t mean its ‘holy and just.’ Please go and foul the waters somewhere else.
Ed is right! These are pages about theatres, and are not for spam. There are provisions under the NEWS link at the top of each page to post such advertising rather than waste limited space on other pages. “Irajoe” is not performing a service advertising his posters; he is just just hawking something for his profit— not ours. And the reason people don’t openly list their E-mails is precisely to prevent such abuse of their privacy by the spam of such inconsiderate and greedy ‘merchants.’ Just because something may be distantly related to theatre architecture doesn’t mean it belongs on pages such as this!
According to a few accounts from the 20s, they left the stars ‘on’ during the show along with dimmed-down blue horizon lights. The brighter amber or white lighting in the facades along the walls and such, were turned almost ‘off’ until intermission, and then back to full as also during overtures, stage acts, etc. This is partially how the electrician-stage hands earned their wages. They were proud to show off their lighting effects back then when they had thousands of admissions daily to pay for all that.
In our day, there are rarely any stage hands aside from those brought in for individual shows, so most lighting is automated with the projectors which often just turn out the lights rather than dim them which requires more expense in equipment.
What happened in the “glory days” is described on page 200 of “The Best Remaining Seats” by the late Ben M. Hall thusly: “Remember how the curtains used to start closing as the picture unreeled the final embreace, so that "The End” was projected on the rippling velour? And how the colored spotlights from the sides of the proscenium used to play across the curtains as the footlights faded up from purple to violet to red to orange and their final golden burst, making the fringe and the rhinestone butterflies sparkle? This spelled out real CLASS, and when you saw it, you knew now something marvelous was about to take place."
We’ve come a long way from those “glory days” and into a day without showmanship, where the sole concern is profits and ‘to-hell-with-the-public.’ From the ‘50s onward, the greedy salivation for profits coupled with the far smaller audiences now living in suburbia, meant there was no more time for niceties of exhibition, only a race to send off the daily box office report to distant accountants as the everyone raced out the door of the shoe-box multiplexes to commute home. There was no more neighborhood, no more artists on any stage, and managements trained in MBAs rather than as Showmen. As Ben Hall so well put it in his closing chapter, They had changed from Empressarios to candy salesmen!
That ANNUAL is No.2, from 1975, and is “THE Paradise, Bronx, NY” and is listed on their site’s Link on their front page at: www.historictheatres.org under either ANNUALS or BACK ISSUES. You may find in that back issues list other theatres of interest. Some of the ANNUALS and Marquees do have latter day color photos, but they usually are of ‘restorations’ of a sort, rarely including the lavish draperies, unfortunately, such as you will see in black and white in the original Paradise photos. A suggeston to all: if any title on that list sounds interesting, don’t hesistate to order it, since once they go Out-of-Print, it is seldom that they are reprinted due to the high costs involved. Some titles, such as “Grand Drapes, Tormentors, and Teasers” (types of stage draperies) (#10 from 1983) and “Pictorial History of Marquees” (#7, 1980) contain photos of dozens of theatres across the nation, and are therefore a good way tomlearn if you want to know more about an individual place. The “Grand Drapes” one even comes with a fold-out professional Drawing showing how these 3,000-pound extravaganzas were planned. The photos in this ANNUAL are not just of draperies, but of entire auditoriums.
For those who would like to make a collection of ANNUALS there are Albums to store them archivally (acid-free) from such as www,lightimpressionsdirect.com Their “Panoramic Albumn” #9236 is of the proper ‘Long’ format: View link
Their “Scrapbook Page” for this Albumn, #9216, will enclose one or two entire ANNUALS away from air, light and dust:
View link
The Society has many thousands of photos that have never been published and virtually all their photos are available as 8x10 prints for you; write or E-mail them with your subject of interest and eventually a volunteer there will get back to you with what is available. See the details on their site under ARCHIVE— “Photograph and Slide Reproduction.”
Well, “Life” I may be at the age for a coronary, but your comment above re the San Francisco FOX book won’t give me one. The 7-pound tome you are referring to is titled: “FOX—The Last Word” by the late Preston Kaufmann in 1980. It is still sometimes for sale used at www.amazon.com for hundreds of dollars, but one could order it through Inter-Library Loan at most libraries. It is probably the high water mark in theatres books, and well worth owning if one can afford this voloume about a fabulous theatre! Yes, it does have color photos, but all of them are from the 1950s on, since there was no COLOR STILL photography until after the second world war. It also does have color renderings (paintings) of the place at opening.
By the way, I got an E-mail from one:
“Adrienne OBrien” who says that she is trying to contact you re Paul Warshauer. I explained that you give no contact information on your Profile page (obtained for any Registered member when one clicks one a person’s name in blue at the bottom of a comment). If you wish people to contact you, merely click on the word Profile in the upper right corner of any page (if you have manually or automatically signed-in) and correct the CONTACT INFO field as you wish. If you also choose to put your name at the top, you will probably get more intelligent messages from more people; and your E-mail service will allow you to block the addresses of those whom you would rather not talk to.
Ah, to replace all light bulbs! Consider: in the 1920s a light bulb cost 2 cents, the electric rate was about ½ cent per kilowat hour, and bulb replacement labor was around 30 cents or less the hour; now we have nearly a dollar per standard bulb, around 8 cents per kilowat hour, and probably $15 per hour labor. It is a miracle that they found the thousands needed to pay for all that work! Few of us ever get to see a movie palace’s thousands of bulbs fully lit for just these reasons! I dearly hope someone takes photos of the newly illuminated space before about 700 hours pass and most of the bulbs are again burned out without again the money to replace them.
I also hope that the contractor will be careful of the fragile items: paint, plaster and textiles which can easily be damaged by rough fellows on the hurry-up, which all contractors are in order to make the most money. This is why I prefer volunteers if possible to do relamping; presumably they care. Such a theatre is just too precious a learning experience for a contractor who is there one day with his minimum wage crew, and gone the next! Let us hope that the owner keeps at least one ‘clerk-of-the-works’ on site at ALL times to keep the contractor and crews considerate of the building, and right there with a camera to document any damage they do. It would be good to let it leak that there are hidden security cameras in the attic and all areas to monitor all doings!
Ah, vclamp, if you are antsy, I’m almost heartbroken, since I have been in almost adoration of the WARNER’s design since I first saw it in the mid 60s! One of these days I will take the two hours that it takes my dial-up to upload the two vintage 1931 8x10s I have of its auditorium at opening so that people everywhere can savor possibly the finest of Rapp & Rapp’s medium scale designs. Of course that will have to be at Cinema Tour since this CT is not allowing photos now.
Brian: I think you are quite right that Marcus is immitating Muvico. Of course, it could be that the founder, the late Ben Marcus, had his flagship “Palace” in the WARNER, which he promptly renamed The CENTRE after he bought it in 1966 (he renamed it the GRAND in ‘82), so now maybe his 65-year-old son Steve, who is Chairman and CEO, wants to immitate —or trump— his father with his own version of a palace: the MAJESTIC. (Remember the movie of a few years ago by that name? Coincidence? I think not.)
It does sound like a great experience, Patrick; thanks for sharing.
To answer Life’s question in general: the open-air cinemas are as old as projection, and in many cities they predated even the nickelodeons as the most casual, tent-sided plots around. They were warm weather entities, obviously, in northern cities but there were at least two of them in Milwaukee alone.
Patrick: it looks like a much more sturdy wall there; is that genuine neon glass mounted along the wall? Ah, the luxury of a climate without winter! Such glass tubing in such a position here would not last one snow/ice storm —the reason one doesn’t see more neon up north.
Ed: the caption in bold is on the bottom of page 136 of the First Edition, though the later editions may not follow the pagination of the First exactly. The plates I mentioned are actually six images: the first being the Frontice piece: a rendering of the aud. of the ROXY. The others are on pages 137 through 140: the aud. of the MISSOURI in St. Joseph; the lobby mural of the STATE in Syracuse. Pgs 138/9 are a spread of the rendering of the aud. of the PARADISE in the Bronx; pg. 140 has the aud. of the KIMO in Albuquerque (pre fire); and the proscenium of the PARAMOUNT in Plainfield, NJ. All of these are surrounded by black ink artwork from the AVALON (now NEW REGAL) in Chicago, though not attributed there.
If you want to tip in these color plates to your edition, you don’t have to resort to color photocopies from the First Edition; you can look in used books stores for collections of the defunct hardbound magazine “American Heritage” from October, 1961. Therein are the 5 color plates with slightly different captions within the article: “The Best Ree-maining Seats” by the same Mr. Hall.
Apparently, what “Spike” is referring to are the outdoor Exit flood lights (such as they were) as required by building safety codes in the 1920s. Since such exit doors opened upon usually unlit alleys, there had to be some way for potentially fleeing patrons to see where they were going, and these little hooded, single-light-bulb fixtures were their way of complying with the code. So, these lights above the outside doors were for people, not “ghosts.”
“THE BEST REMAINING SEATS, The Story of the Golden Age of the Movie Palace” is available under that full title of the hard bound first edition, or truncated titles of two later reprintings with some editing. It can be found at many larger libraries or they can have it lent to you on Inter-Library Loan. You can also find copies for sale (used) at such as www.amazon.com Note that only the first edition of 1961 contains the 5 color plates — though the latter editions retain the caption for the missing plates! Its author, the late Ben M. Hall, would have been delighted to see how well his magnum opus has stood the test of time!
I hope that Warren or someone will explain “which Palace” so that comments about it here can be directed to its page, and not continue here on the KINGS' page. It is already a long download without having comments about another theatre making it longer!
Pray tell, Graig: What are “Ghost Lights”???
(I’m sure it won’t have Crying Rooms! Yesterday they released architect’s renderings, and as suspected, it will be a “Movie Palace” in name only, with the decor being a glitzy version of so-called High Tech, and no, the staircases will not be marble!)
If no one else knows, contact the Theatre Historical Society of America which is headquarted outside of Chicago in Elmhurst at: www.historictheatres.org
All too common. This is why organ chambers are usually locked. Even if a thief doesn’t have a fence for the parts for organ use, he knows that there is a black market for old pipes and such — if only as valuable scrap metal. One can only wonder at how many dope habits were maintained with the sale of such pipe organ metals.
I hate to be the cold voice of reason here, but Taxes are Taxes, and are hardly unexpected to open-eyed adults. I can’t imagine that Mr. Burrows was unaware of all the taxes his business would be accountable for; he sounds like a mature adult and taxpayer to me. Taxes are part of the process of making a business plan to figure if one can make enough profit to stay in business. Unlike attandance figures, taxes are a foreknown cost of doing business. Was Mr. Burrows negligent in not doing a realistic estimate, or did the market change beyond his control? If the market changed, then he is only suffering as does every other business when such happens.
The city is not to blame unless they created the tax without notice during the time he was in business. His recourse is the same as that of any citizen who doesn’t like what the government does: lobby to have the practice or tax changed, and failing that, work to unseat the affected politicians in the next election. If none of this helps in a democracy, one must move to a land where he can be king or maker of all laws.
I sympathize with Mr. Burrows and any other Exhibitor; making money in the business these days is very tough, especially as a small independent, and I wish there were some magic advice I could give him, but there isn’t. Business is a world of cut throats, but city taxes are not to blame for that. For more insights, read the Archives of the FORUMS at: www.bigscreenbiz.com Best Wishes!
This is by no means the first time that a university refused to save an historic building. In Milwaukee, for example, there was on Marquette university land the smaller but lavish limestone Romanesque, Plankinton Mansion of 1890, which was landmarked, but the Jesuits (again) said that they needed the land for university “development” and it remains a field of grass since demolition circa 1985. When the city stalled in issuing a demolition permit while they explored re-use under landmark status, “Father” so-and-so phoned one of his dear parishoners who owned a large excavator-on-treads early one sunday morning to come and push down the stone and copper porch of the building, which he did, so as to render its landmark status moot. There was a bit of a public outcry, but the church just sat back and smugly replied “fait acoumpli.” The Catholic church gets what it wants in Milw. and Chicago —if not also everywhere else. They care only about their own history, not that of anyone else.
Of course the gorgeous GRANADA was not “rotten.” That is just a lie that they also said in Milw. about the Mansion. Look at the link to Loyla above and the description: it is now just there 23rd building and is advertised as the school equivalent of a luxury hotel. Historic preservation was furthest from their minds — MONEY from this huge hotel was the closest — and the public wishes be damned! After all, any property owner has the right to do what they want with their land; is that not so? Just ask the many who have demolished theatres over the years and they will tell you so. Soooo, don’t expect that they are likely to save any part of a theatre if ‘god’ says it must go!
Your best bet would be to go to such references as The Film Daily Yearbook and look for movie theatres in New York from the earliest year you can find down through later volumes. Your quest will not be easy, but possibly the Theatre Historical Society of America will know something more. They are at their convention in Boston until July 5th or so, but after then contact their Richard Sklenar through his E-mail given on their web page at: www.historictheatres.org
If you are limiting to film houses only, your search is more elusive, since in the earliest days many nickelodeons did not advertise (and legitimate theatres sometimes showing ‘flickers’ occasionally, didn’t always admit it), and show houses changed names often as you point out. Many in the smaller towns were little known and the states did not regulate or license businesses — that is the job of the municipalities — so there is no central registry to refer to. Perhaps you would do best to bill its Centennial something like: “…thought to be the longest running film venue in the state.” This is what many do elsewhere to be authoriative without being adamant when they could later be proved wrong.
For live action venues, there is an entire book on this subject published by a former director of the League of Historic American Theatres at: www.lhat.org The title escapes me at the moment.
Your state Historic Preservation Officer in Albany might know more, so a visit or letter might be worthwhile. Best Wishes.
The “open bulb” type of sign that Brian refers to is called a SKELETON sign, and was quite popular for its big impact and lower cost. Incandescent versions were most common, but neon versions also existed, especially in the less storm and ice prone areas.
As to why it seemed so redundant in multiple wordings, remember the tenor of times: the Second world War was over and the country was newly flush with money, materials for bigger signs, and the guys back from the war to make and install these things. Sign companies saw it as a bonanza for them as they would usually give a prominent palace a sweet dealm to ‘upgrade’ its signage so that their salesmen could flash new color photos of the newness to owners/operators of other theatres and claim the palace had increased its gate by some mythical percentage as a result of the new, larger, brighter signs attracting the eye of the passerby.
One must also remember that automobile ownership ballooned after the war and so passerbys were now often speeding by, so it took a bigger spectacle to assure they would see an exhibitor’s sign amid the clutter of many other new, larger signs of all businesses. This competition for always bigger and brighter got so extreme that social standards groups started campaigns to return to “sane” non-garish signage, and politicians who sensed the change in the wind of public acceptance, lost no time in enacting leglislation to limit the size and character of signs, and it was the theatre Vertical that was the most conspicuous and therefore often the first to go.
By the end of the Sixties, the country’s moral climate changed from the moral and conservative of the war years, to the permissive and amoral. Sign restrictions were seen as part of the old Blue Laws and were repealed — or simply unenforced — across the land. The psychedelic era arrived along with strobe lights, so bright lights were hip again and who would restrain trade? Some places will now accept Verticals, some won’t in the typical patchwork quilt of laws in this country. Read back issues of “Signs Of The Times” magazine for articles.