The theater’s aka should be Capri-70, not Capri 75. It was a 70mm Cinerama house. See the opening day ad on this web page.
It should probably also have the aka Pike Theatre, as the Capri 70 was an addition to the Pike, which was renamed the Capri Theatre when the second auditorium was built. Of course, that would create a problem with the “status” field, as the original Pike Theatre has been largely demolished, while the second auditorium building is still standing. I don’t think the status field was designed to display both closed and closed/demolished.
The photos on the page ken mc linked to above (and most prticularly this photo) show that the architectural style of the Electric Theatre was Italian Renaissance, at least on the exterior. I haven’t been able to find any interior photos, but that facade usd many elements suggestive of Brunelleschi’s Ospedale degli Innocenti in Florence.
The existing building is the same one the theater occupied. Two buildings, the theater and its neighbor, were visually integrated at some time by having the theater building’s roofline extended across the front of the adjacent building, so the building now looks twice as wide as it did in the old photo of the theater.
Also, the facade details have been removed, the second floor windows filled in, the intricate pattern of the face brick painted over, and the tile has been removed from the roof, but the distinctive brackets under the eaves can still be made out in the Google street view if you zoom in.
According to this online photo exhibit from the Saskatoon Public Library, this house was the second theater in Saskatoon to be called the Daylight. Photo #6 shows the original Daylight Theatre which opened at 321 22nd Street East in 1912.
The second Daylight Theatre opened at 136 Second Street South on January 1, 1917. It is featured in photos #9, #10, and #20 of the library’s exhibit. In 1966, the Daylight was drastically remodeled, losing its Palladian facade, and was renamed the Paramount Theatre in August that year. The exhibit has no photos of the house as the Paramount, but there’s one here.
The text accompanying photo #10 of the library’s exhibit says that the “…interior of the Daylight Theatre was originally likely designed by the architectural firm of Thompson, Daniels and Colthurst.”
A 1911 Saskatoon City Directory has the firm’s name correctly listed as Thompson, Daniel and Colthurst, and gives the individual names as Norman L. Thompson, T. Brammall Daniel, and G. Buller Colthurst. When I searched for additional information about these architects, the results included the Cinema Treaasures page for the Red Triangle Theatre in Plaistow, London, England, which was located in a 1919 building designed by T. Brammall Daniel. A directory of British architects working between 1834 and 1914 says that Daniel began practicing in Saskatoon in 1911, after having worked in Manchester, England, for a number of years. He must have returned to England not long after the Daylight was built, but the directory doesn’t say.
The Lyric is a bit mysterious, as Adam Marsland said. However, a couple of sources about Binghamton architect Sanford O. Lacey mention the Lyric as being of his design. I’m not sure when it was built, but I don’t find it listed in any of Julius Cahn’s Guides from the late 19th or early 20th century.
There are dozens of references to boxing matches being held at the Lyric around 1916-1917, and one reference to a bout held there as early as 1909. My guess would be that the Lyric was opened sometime between 1905, when the 1906 Cahn Guide (the most recent edition available to me) probably went to press, and March 26, 1909, when Battling Jim Johnson in his first fight defeated Battling Brooks by a TKO.
The architect of the Goodwill Theatre was Sanford O. Lacey, then a partner in the firm of Lacey, Schenck, & Cummings. The Goodwill Theatre was built in 1920, and was designed in the Georgian Revival style (a subset of the Colonial Revival style.)
Although the house operated for decades as the Enjoy Theatre, it is now under renovation as part of a project that will include three performance halls as well as other arts facilities, all to be operated by The Goodwill Theatre Inc. (official web site.)
So far, the only performance space in operation appears to be the Firehouse Stage, located (of course) the the town’s former firehouse, at the other end of the block from the Goodwill Theatre. I can’t find anything on the web site about how the renovation is proceding, or when the theater might be expected to open.
An essay at this web page is primarily about the Strand Theatre, but also has some information about the Star.
The Star Theatre opened on October 20, 1913. It was the second theater of that name to operate on this site, the first having been converted from a storefront cafe in 1908. The house was originally called the Nickle Theater, but operator Ned Kornblite soon renamed it the Star. It was the first regular movie theater in Binghamton.
The 1913 building that replaced it was designed by architect Sanford O. Lacey, who had also designed the Stone Opera House (later called the Riviera Theatre) a few doors down the block. In 1920, Kornblite built the Strand Theatre on a lot next door to the Opera House. He continued to operate both the Star and the Strand until 1935, when he sold them to Comerford Theatres.
The Strand and the Riviera are still standing, though in a sorry state of decay, but the Star Theatre was demolished some time before 1966.
The architectural firm of Leon H. Lempert & Son designed the Cook Opera House. The firm was located in Rochester, and designed numerous theaters there. The other Rochester theaters they had designed, as listed in an ad for the firm in the 1905 editionof Julius Cahn’s Official Theatrical Guide, were the National, the Baker, the Lyceum, the Empire, and the Corinthian.
The Rochester, New York, architectural firm Leon H. Lempert & Son placed an ad in the 1905 edition of Julius Cahn’s Theatrical Guide. It listed a number of theaters the firm had designed, and the Gilger Opera House in Norwalk, Ohio, was among them.
Joe Vogel
commented about
Vixenon
Nov 23, 2010 at 3:48 am
The entry for Chicago architect John van der Meulen in the 1962 American Architects Directory lists this 1955 theater among his works. Later in his career van der Meulen and his architectural partner Ralph Rapson became known for the American embassies they designed in various cities, including Stockholm, Copenhagen, and The Hague.
The McHenry Theater could still be a handsome Midcentury Modern building if they’d rip that shingled fake mansard and other accumulated bits of ticky-tacky off of it. It deserves better treatment than it’s had.
Here is a history of the Star Theatre as a legitimate house, from 1888 to 1919. It only mentions briefly that it then became a movie house called the Criterion.
The Art Institute of Chicago provides this drawing, captioned “Levi Theatre, for Emanuel Levi, Buffalo, N.Y.” The drawing might be by the theater’s architect, William Worth Carlin. The building was designed in the Romanesque Revival style.
In 1899 the Garrick’s architect, William Albert Swasey, designed a building for the Masons at 1042 N. Grand Avenue, which included a theater that operated as the Odeon for over thirty years. I’ve been unable to discover if the Odeon ever operated as a movie house, though. Does anybody know? It would have to have been before 1936, the year the building was condemned and demolished following a major fire.
Here is a biographical sketch of W.A. Swasey from the Landmarks Association of St. Louis. It mentions the Garrick as well as the Odeon, but only briefly.
The public library of Henderson County, North Carolina, has published a book titled “Buildings as History” which is about the works of Hendersonville architect Erle G. Stillwell. The State Theatre in Greenwood, South Carolina, is listed as one of the many theaters he designed.
The public library of Henderson County, North Carolina, has published a book titled “Buildings as History” which is about the works of Hendersonville architect Erle G. Stillwell. The Calhoun Theatre in Anniston, Alabama, is listed as one of the many theaters he designed.
The description accompanying this photo of the Center Theatre from the Kingsport Public Library collection, gives the address as 119-121 Commerce Street.
The public library of Henderson County, North Carolina, has published a book titled “Buildings as History” which is about the works of Hendersonville architect Erle G. Stillwell. The Center Theatre in Kingsport is listed as one of the many theaters he designed.
The public library of Henderson County, North Carolina, has published a book titled “Buildings as History” which is about the works of Hendersonville architect Erle G. Stillwell. The Diamond Theatre in Tuscaloosa is listed as one of the many theaters he designed.
The public library of Henderson County, North Carolina, has published a book titled “Buildings as History” which is about the works of Hendersonville architect Erle G. Stillwell. The State Theatre in Anderson, South Carolina, is listed as one of the many theaters he designed.
The theater first built on this site was opened on April 1, 1925, as the Nu-Strand, according to Margaret Ripley Wolfe’s book “Kingsport, Tennessee: a Planned American City” (Google Books preview.)
Following the disastrous fire in December, 1945, the Strand Theatre was rebuilt on the same site, and opened in July, 1947. The rebuilt house seated 1040, about a 20% greater capacity than the 1925 Strand.
The Kingsport Public Library has several photos of the 1947 Strand, and one of the original Strand (which became the Gem Theatre) on Main Street, but there are no photos of the theater building that stood on this site from 1925 to 1945.
This theater opened as the Strand, but was never called the Nu-Strand. When the Nu-Strand Theatre opened on Broad Street in 1925, the original Strand on Main Street became the Gem.
This aerial photo, ca.1916, shows the original Strand/Gem Theatre at center.
The description accompanying this 1946 photo of the Rialto and a neighboring store gives the theater’s address as 400 Cherokee Street. It also says that the buildings on this block have been demolished to make way for a parking lot.
The Colonial Theatre is mentioned in a magazine at least as early as 1913, when the January 13 issue of trade journal Electrical Review and Western Electrician said “The Daupin Electrical Supplies Company of Harrisburg, Pa., …recently wired the Colonial Theater, in Harrisburg….”
More interesting is an item in a magazine called New York Topics and International Courier, issue of June 27, 1914:[quote]“‘Local talent is now being enlisted in the 'Moviement,’ according to an advertisement appearing in newspapers of the Pennsylvania Capital:
“‘WANTEDâ€"Motion picture plays, motion picture players. The Colonial Theater announces the formation of a motion picture dramatic company, to be composed of Harrisburg actors and to pose for films made in Harrisburg. Harrisburg comedies, Harrisburg dramas. Harrisburg tragedies. Company will be made up at once. If you want to be a motion picture player, apply now for a position in the companyâ€"no experience required. Scenarios wanted. Cash prizes for the best motion picture stories with scenes laid in Harrisburg. Write your own motion picture and see it played on the screen. Full particulars upon inquiry at the Colonial Theater. If you can act, become a motion picture actor If you can write, become a motion picture author.’
“Well, if Gifford Pinchot wins that Keystone State Senatorship there will be a fine bunch of Penrose machine politicians available as ‘movie actors’ in Harrisburg.”[/quote]I’ve found nothing else about this attempt to launch a local movie production industry in Harrisburg, but it apparently did nothing to help business at the Colonial. The July 31, 1915, issue of The Moving Picture World ran this item:
“The Colonial theater, Harrisburg, Pa., prominent vaudeville and moving picture establishment, recently closed its doors to the public and will remain so for several months to come, according to announcement made by the management. No definite reasons were assigned for the temporary closing of the theater, but it is generally supposed that the closing Is a matter of business policy decided upon to prevent operation at a loss, for at this season of the year the theatrical business is very poor. The coming to Harrisburg of an International League baseball team has had a decided effect upon the attendance of the afternoon matinees at the theaters.”
The Little Theatre’s marquee reads “Admission Free” in the first of two additional photos linked from this page (photos 2 and 3 are accessed via links after the “view other images” note on the right, above the thumbnail.) The double bill consisted of two movies released in 1952. As the house was not first-run, the photo might have been from 1953 or later.
The directly linked photo shows patrons, apparently leaving the theater, passing by a table with a jar on it, and a sign reading “You may donate any amount of money that you think your evening’s entertainment was worth.” I don’t know if that was then the regular policy of the house (it was certainly unique if it was) or if it was just for this one program.
The part of the facade visible in these night shots showed some nice architectural detail, probably of terra cotta, but parts of it looked to be deteriorating even at that date.
The theater’s aka should be Capri-70, not Capri 75. It was a 70mm Cinerama house. See the opening day ad on this web page.
It should probably also have the aka Pike Theatre, as the Capri 70 was an addition to the Pike, which was renamed the Capri Theatre when the second auditorium was built. Of course, that would create a problem with the “status” field, as the original Pike Theatre has been largely demolished, while the second auditorium building is still standing. I don’t think the status field was designed to display both closed and closed/demolished.
The photos on the page ken mc linked to above (and most prticularly this photo) show that the architectural style of the Electric Theatre was Italian Renaissance, at least on the exterior. I haven’t been able to find any interior photos, but that facade usd many elements suggestive of Brunelleschi’s Ospedale degli Innocenti in Florence.
The existing building is the same one the theater occupied. Two buildings, the theater and its neighbor, were visually integrated at some time by having the theater building’s roofline extended across the front of the adjacent building, so the building now looks twice as wide as it did in the old photo of the theater.
Also, the facade details have been removed, the second floor windows filled in, the intricate pattern of the face brick painted over, and the tile has been removed from the roof, but the distinctive brackets under the eaves can still be made out in the Google street view if you zoom in.
According to this online photo exhibit from the Saskatoon Public Library, this house was the second theater in Saskatoon to be called the Daylight. Photo #6 shows the original Daylight Theatre which opened at 321 22nd Street East in 1912.
The second Daylight Theatre opened at 136 Second Street South on January 1, 1917. It is featured in photos #9, #10, and #20 of the library’s exhibit. In 1966, the Daylight was drastically remodeled, losing its Palladian facade, and was renamed the Paramount Theatre in August that year. The exhibit has no photos of the house as the Paramount, but there’s one here.
The text accompanying photo #10 of the library’s exhibit says that the “…interior of the Daylight Theatre was originally likely designed by the architectural firm of Thompson, Daniels and Colthurst.”
A 1911 Saskatoon City Directory has the firm’s name correctly listed as Thompson, Daniel and Colthurst, and gives the individual names as Norman L. Thompson, T. Brammall Daniel, and G. Buller Colthurst. When I searched for additional information about these architects, the results included the Cinema Treaasures page for the Red Triangle Theatre in Plaistow, London, England, which was located in a 1919 building designed by T. Brammall Daniel. A directory of British architects working between 1834 and 1914 says that Daniel began practicing in Saskatoon in 1911, after having worked in Manchester, England, for a number of years. He must have returned to England not long after the Daylight was built, but the directory doesn’t say.
The Paramount is also listed under its original name, the Daylight Theatre, as the name change is noted in the ad Mike Rivest linked to above.
Donovan A. Shilling’s book “Rochester: Labor and Leisure” (Google Books preview) says that the Cook Opera House became the Family Theatre in 1913.
The Lyric is a bit mysterious, as Adam Marsland said. However, a couple of sources about Binghamton architect Sanford O. Lacey mention the Lyric as being of his design. I’m not sure when it was built, but I don’t find it listed in any of Julius Cahn’s Guides from the late 19th or early 20th century.
There are dozens of references to boxing matches being held at the Lyric around 1916-1917, and one reference to a bout held there as early as 1909. My guess would be that the Lyric was opened sometime between 1905, when the 1906 Cahn Guide (the most recent edition available to me) probably went to press, and March 26, 1909, when Battling Jim Johnson in his first fight defeated Battling Brooks by a TKO.
The architect of the Goodwill Theatre was Sanford O. Lacey, then a partner in the firm of Lacey, Schenck, & Cummings. The Goodwill Theatre was built in 1920, and was designed in the Georgian Revival style (a subset of the Colonial Revival style.)
Although the house operated for decades as the Enjoy Theatre, it is now under renovation as part of a project that will include three performance halls as well as other arts facilities, all to be operated by The Goodwill Theatre Inc. (official web site.)
So far, the only performance space in operation appears to be the Firehouse Stage, located (of course) the the town’s former firehouse, at the other end of the block from the Goodwill Theatre. I can’t find anything on the web site about how the renovation is proceding, or when the theater might be expected to open.
An essay at this web page is primarily about the Strand Theatre, but also has some information about the Star.
The Star Theatre opened on October 20, 1913. It was the second theater of that name to operate on this site, the first having been converted from a storefront cafe in 1908. The house was originally called the Nickle Theater, but operator Ned Kornblite soon renamed it the Star. It was the first regular movie theater in Binghamton.
The 1913 building that replaced it was designed by architect Sanford O. Lacey, who had also designed the Stone Opera House (later called the Riviera Theatre) a few doors down the block. In 1920, Kornblite built the Strand Theatre on a lot next door to the Opera House. He continued to operate both the Star and the Strand until 1935, when he sold them to Comerford Theatres.
The Strand and the Riviera are still standing, though in a sorry state of decay, but the Star Theatre was demolished some time before 1966.
The architectural firm of Leon H. Lempert & Son designed the Cook Opera House. The firm was located in Rochester, and designed numerous theaters there. The other Rochester theaters they had designed, as listed in an ad for the firm in the 1905 editionof Julius Cahn’s Official Theatrical Guide, were the National, the Baker, the Lyceum, the Empire, and the Corinthian.
The Rochester, New York, architectural firm Leon H. Lempert & Son placed an ad in the 1905 edition of Julius Cahn’s Theatrical Guide. It listed a number of theaters the firm had designed, and the Gilger Opera House in Norwalk, Ohio, was among them.
The entry for Chicago architect John van der Meulen in the 1962 American Architects Directory lists this 1955 theater among his works. Later in his career van der Meulen and his architectural partner Ralph Rapson became known for the American embassies they designed in various cities, including Stockholm, Copenhagen, and The Hague.
The McHenry Theater could still be a handsome Midcentury Modern building if they’d rip that shingled fake mansard and other accumulated bits of ticky-tacky off of it. It deserves better treatment than it’s had.
Here is a history of the Star Theatre as a legitimate house, from 1888 to 1919. It only mentions briefly that it then became a movie house called the Criterion.
The Art Institute of Chicago provides this drawing, captioned “Levi Theatre, for Emanuel Levi, Buffalo, N.Y.” The drawing might be by the theater’s architect, William Worth Carlin. The building was designed in the Romanesque Revival style.
In 1899 the Garrick’s architect, William Albert Swasey, designed a building for the Masons at 1042 N. Grand Avenue, which included a theater that operated as the Odeon for over thirty years. I’ve been unable to discover if the Odeon ever operated as a movie house, though. Does anybody know? It would have to have been before 1936, the year the building was condemned and demolished following a major fire.
Here is a biographical sketch of W.A. Swasey from the Landmarks Association of St. Louis. It mentions the Garrick as well as the Odeon, but only briefly.
The public library of Henderson County, North Carolina, has published a book titled “Buildings as History” which is about the works of Hendersonville architect Erle G. Stillwell. The State Theatre in Greenwood, South Carolina, is listed as one of the many theaters he designed.
The public library of Henderson County, North Carolina, has published a book titled “Buildings as History” which is about the works of Hendersonville architect Erle G. Stillwell. The Calhoun Theatre in Anniston, Alabama, is listed as one of the many theaters he designed.
The description accompanying this photo of the Center Theatre from the Kingsport Public Library collection, gives the address as 119-121 Commerce Street.
The public library of Henderson County, North Carolina, has published a book titled “Buildings as History” which is about the works of Hendersonville architect Erle G. Stillwell. The Center Theatre in Kingsport is listed as one of the many theaters he designed.
The public library of Henderson County, North Carolina, has published a book titled “Buildings as History” which is about the works of Hendersonville architect Erle G. Stillwell. The Diamond Theatre in Tuscaloosa is listed as one of the many theaters he designed.
The public library of Henderson County, North Carolina, has published a book titled “Buildings as History” which is about the works of Hendersonville architect Erle G. Stillwell. The State Theatre in Anderson, South Carolina, is listed as one of the many theaters he designed.
Here is a 1947 photo of the State Theatre’s auditorium, showing part of the original Mediterranean atmospheric decoration of the sidewall.
The theater first built on this site was opened on April 1, 1925, as the Nu-Strand, according to Margaret Ripley Wolfe’s book “Kingsport, Tennessee: a Planned American City” (Google Books preview.)
Following the disastrous fire in December, 1945, the Strand Theatre was rebuilt on the same site, and opened in July, 1947. The rebuilt house seated 1040, about a 20% greater capacity than the 1925 Strand.
The Kingsport Public Library has several photos of the 1947 Strand, and one of the original Strand (which became the Gem Theatre) on Main Street, but there are no photos of the theater building that stood on this site from 1925 to 1945.
This theater opened as the Strand, but was never called the Nu-Strand. When the Nu-Strand Theatre opened on Broad Street in 1925, the original Strand on Main Street became the Gem.
This aerial photo, ca.1916, shows the original Strand/Gem Theatre at center.
The description accompanying this 1946 photo of the Rialto and a neighboring store gives the theater’s address as 400 Cherokee Street. It also says that the buildings on this block have been demolished to make way for a parking lot.
The Colonial Theatre is mentioned in a magazine at least as early as 1913, when the January 13 issue of trade journal Electrical Review and Western Electrician said “The Daupin Electrical Supplies Company of Harrisburg, Pa., …recently wired the Colonial Theater, in Harrisburg….”
More interesting is an item in a magazine called New York Topics and International Courier, issue of June 27, 1914:[quote]“‘Local talent is now being enlisted in the 'Moviement,’ according to an advertisement appearing in newspapers of the Pennsylvania Capital:
“‘WANTEDâ€"Motion picture plays, motion picture players. The Colonial Theater announces the formation of a motion picture dramatic company, to be composed of Harrisburg actors and to pose for films made in Harrisburg. Harrisburg comedies, Harrisburg dramas. Harrisburg tragedies. Company will be made up at once. If you want to be a motion picture player, apply now for a position in the companyâ€"no experience required. Scenarios wanted. Cash prizes for the best motion picture stories with scenes laid in Harrisburg. Write your own motion picture and see it played on the screen. Full particulars upon inquiry at the Colonial Theater. If you can act, become a motion picture actor If you can write, become a motion picture author.’
“Well, if Gifford Pinchot wins that Keystone State Senatorship there will be a fine bunch of Penrose machine politicians available as ‘movie actors’ in Harrisburg.”[/quote]I’ve found nothing else about this attempt to launch a local movie production industry in Harrisburg, but it apparently did nothing to help business at the Colonial. The July 31, 1915, issue of The Moving Picture World ran this item:
The Little Theatre’s marquee reads “Admission Free” in the first of two additional photos linked from this page (photos 2 and 3 are accessed via links after the “view other images” note on the right, above the thumbnail.) The double bill consisted of two movies released in 1952. As the house was not first-run, the photo might have been from 1953 or later.
The directly linked photo shows patrons, apparently leaving the theater, passing by a table with a jar on it, and a sign reading “You may donate any amount of money that you think your evening’s entertainment was worth.” I don’t know if that was then the regular policy of the house (it was certainly unique if it was) or if it was just for this one program.
The part of the facade visible in these night shots showed some nice architectural detail, probably of terra cotta, but parts of it looked to be deteriorating even at that date.