The Paramount was one of the three Nebraska City theaters operated by Booth Brothers that was remodeled in 1927 with plans by architect Charles W. Steinbaugh, as noted in this article from the August 20 issue of Movie Age:
“Booth Bros. Improving Nebraska City Theatres; Modern Stage At Empress
“The three theatres at Nebraska City, owned by Booth Brothers are undergoing extensive alterations and improvements, according to Wesley Booth who was in Omaha last week.
“The Paramount Theatre, which is an exclusive picture house, is to have a Spanish front with a tile roof. New storm doors are also added. Music in the Paramount is furnished by a $10,000 Hilgren-Lane organ.
“At the Empress Theatre the building has been extended to the alley to make room for a large modern stage with fly room. When completed it will be equipped for vaudeville or stock shows. At the present it is planned to use the Empress for pictures and tabloid shows. A five piece orchestra is used in this house.
“The Overland Theatre is being repainted, recarpeted and will have a new stage set and new draperies. In this house the Booth Brothers plan to have pictures and bigger vaudeville acts as well as road shows. A ten piece orchestra furnishes the music at this house.
“When the work is finished on these houses, Booth Brothers will have three modern theatres in Nebraska City with a total seating capacity of over 1800 seats. They are spending over $15,000 in their remodeling program, and the work is being done by James Welch, contractor. Plans for the changes were handled by Chas. Steinbaugh, Omaha architect.”
A “Twenty Years Ago” column in Boxoffice of October 23, 1948 ran this news about Auburn from 1928:
“Work is progressing rapidly on the new Masonic temple at Auburn, Neb., the lower floor of which will be operated by the Booth Bros, of Nebraska City. It is rumored the Booths contemplate a chain for that section of the state.”
The March 2, 1937 issue of Film Daily reported that “William J. Schulte Circuit’s new Radio City Theater opened recently in Ferndale, Mich., with the Mayor, Council and other officials present.”
The Colby was most likely built as a replacement for a 500-seat upstairs house called the Bingham Theatre which was destroyed by fire in 1937, as reported in the March 2 issue of Film Daily.
Jesse Cooper was associated with this theater as early as 1937, as noted in this item from the March 1 Film Daily that year: “Antlers, Okla.— The Antlers Theater here, has been opened by Earl Barrett and Jess Cooper.”
The Time Theatre is listed in the 1937 FDY, but with no seating capacity given. As it was included in the 1937 Yearbook, it could have opened before the end of 1936. It might have been this project noted in the September 17, 1936 issue of Film Daily: “Mitchell, S. D.— Work is underway on the Mitchell, leased by Baron Brothers from Minnesota Amusement Co., Minneapolis.”
In addition to the Time, the Roxy, and the Paramount, the 1937 FDY lists a 350-seat house called the Lyric at Mitchell.
Here is evidence of an earlier Mainstreet Theatre in Fremont, from the July 2, 1938 issue of Boxoffice: “Bob Booth opened his Mainstreet Theatre at Fremont, Neb., this week. We understand from many sources it is one of the prettiest small houses in the Omaha trade territory.” The Main Street Theatre is listed in the 1940 FDY with 350 seats.
The Dixie Theatre first appears in the Film Daily Yearbook in 1927. No seating capacity is noted, but the house was open four days a week. The Dixie continues to be listed through 1929. Magnolia does not appear in the 1930 Yearbook, but in 1931 a house called the Strand is listed, with an asterisk, denoting that it is not wired for sound. The Strand is listed again in 1932 and 1933, but with the notation that it is closed.
In the 1926 Yearbook, Magnolia has two theaters listed, called the Magnolia and the Palace. It could be that one or the other became the Dixie the next year. Earlier mentions of Magnolia in the trade journals are sparse. In 1916, the October 7 issue of Moving Picture World says that Xavier A. Kramer of Magnolia had plans to build a theater called the Dixie, but the house was to be in McComb, not Magnolia. Perhaps of interest, in the late 1920s Xavier Kramer became the operator of Jacob’s Theatre in McComb.
In 1920, a Miss Bella Harris of the Liberty Theatre in Magnolia submitted two capsule movie reviews to the October 2 issue of Exhibitors Herald. I’ve found no other mentions of either Miss Harris or a Liberty Theatre at Magnolia. It could be that the Liberty became either the Magnolia Theatre or the Palace Theatre listed in 1926. Magnolia does not appear in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. Maybe it had no theaters then, or perhaps it was just overlooked when the directory was compiled.
An interesting article published in the McComb Enterprise-Journal on July 31, 2017 has the story of Jacob’s Theatre as told by original operator Jacob Alford’s grandson. The article says that Jacob Alford operated the theater from 1916 to 1926.
The house is listed in Film Daily Yearbook through 1929 as Jacobs Theatre (no apostrophe) and then in 1930 the only house listed at McComb is the State Theatre, its first appearance. The newspaper article says that Jacob Alford built the State Theatre after leaving Jacob’s Theatre.
Jacob’s Theatre was an upstairs house, and the ground floor was occupied by a bank. In later years, a new owner, Xavier Kramer, added another floor to the building where he operated a roller skating rink called Kramer’s Roof, while the lower floors were leased to the J.C. Penney company for a store. Later still, the entire building, which was located at Main and Broadway Streets, became the location of the Jubilee Performing Arts Center, which occupied the building until 2017. In July of that year, the upper floors of the building suddenly collapsed. The lower floors have been salvaged, however, and today house a banquet facility called Kramer’s Roof.
I’ve found no evidence that this Adelphi Theatre operated any earlier than 1938. The Broad Street Adelphi was still in operation at least as late as 1930, and wasn’t demolished until 1937. The automobile showroom that David Supowitz converted into the Adelphi on 52nd Street may have been built in 1922, but the theater opened in 1938.
The reports of the Casino Theatre’s demise in the 1938 hurricane may not have been exaggerated. A list of theater projects reported in the last half of 1938 was published in the January 7, 1939 issue of Motion Picture Herald, and a 700-seat Casino Theatre at Narraganset was among them.
The October 12, 1940 issue of Boxoffice noted that “Joe Applebaum has installed new projection and sound equipment in his Roosevelt at Hollandale. Miss.”
The October 27, 1956 issue of Motion Picture Herald said that “Edward E. Storey, Jr., Hollandale, Miss., has bought the Booth and Roosevelt theatres at Hollandale from A. A. Orr and B. F. Jackson.”
The Booth Theatre is listed in Eric Ledell Smith’s African American Theater Buildings.
The Ritz was sold by Strand Enterprises to E. B. Taylor of Parkin in 1956, as noted in the October 27 issue of Motion Picture Herald. Mr. Taylor bought the Strand Theatre in Earle, Arkansas, as part of the same deal.
The Strand got a remodeling job in 1948, according to the May 8 issue of Motion Picture Herald:
“The Strand theatre at Earle, Ark., has been completely remodeled, Richard Owen, manager, reports. The project included enlargement of the lobby, new projection equipment and seats, and redecorating.”
The Strand changed hands in 1956, according to the October 27 issue of the same journal:
E. B. Taylor, Parkin, Ark., purchased the Strand theatre, Earle, Ark., and Ritz theatre, Parkin, Ark., from Strand Enterprises of Memphis.“
In 1921, Harrisburg had a movie house called the Empire Theatre whose owner, one R. M. Parkhurst, sent a few capsule movie reviews to Exhibitors Herald in July and August. By 1926, the only theater listed at Harrisburg in the FDY was called the Pastime.
The Grand Theatre was listed with 270 seats in the 1956-57 Yearbook of the Canadian Motion Picture Industry. Also listed at Creston was the 341-seat Tivoli. The Tivoli was licensed to an L. Johnston, while the Grand was licensed to F. C. Rodgers. Interestingly, F. C. Rodgers had sent capsule movie reviews of films he had shown at the Grand to the trade journal Exhibitor’s Herald in 1924 and 1925.
According to this page at the Creston Museum’s web site, the Rodgers family built the Grand Theatre in 1920, and it replaced a movie theater called the Peekin which had opened the previous year. A link on the museum page leads to an article about the Peekin, which also reveals that the Grand opened in December, 1920.
My mother’s family moved from Phoenix to Culver City when she was about six or seven years old, which would have been 1921 or 1922. She remembered going to both the first and the second Meraltas. As she remembered it, theater owners Pearl Merrill and Laura Peralta were sisters, but she was apparently mistaken about that. Pearl and Laura must have been close friends as well as business partners and a vaudeville duo, as they lived together for many years in an apartment above the second Meralta.
One thing my mom remembered from the Meralta’s Saturday matinees, was that the partners, one of them playing the piano, would lead the audience, mostly children, in community sings.
The Auditorium is listed in the 1906-1907 Cahn guide as a ground floor house with 1,439 seats. It is listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory, though with the address 413 High Street. Then there is this item from the January 27, 1929 issue of Film Daily: “Burlington, N. J.— Jacob B. Fox has opened his new Auditorium here.” Other sources indicate that Fox bought the Auditorium in 1923 and remodeled it that year, when a 2-manual Kimball organ was installed, so I can’t explain the reference to a “new Auditorium” in the 1929 item. Perhaps a more extensive remodeling?
In December, 1944, the Fox Theatre was destroyed by a fire. The December 11 issue of the Trenton Evening Times reported that Presidents Taft and Wilson had been among the many statesmen who had spoken at the Auditorium “…in the course of the past half-century,” so the building probably dated from the 1890s. The newspaper description said that nothing remained of the building bout the walls, so if there was a Fox Theatre at this address in later years it must have been a new house built inside the shell of the old one.
This was the announcement in the January 27, 1929 issue of Film Daily: “Stroudsburg, Pa.— H. A. and Fred F. Scheurmann have opened their Sherman here.”
The Sun must have been rebuilt or moved to a new location in 1929, when the January 27 issue of Film Daily said that “[t]he new Sun Theater will open here soon.” The earlier Sun was mentioned in the September 20, 1924 issue of Moving Picture World, when it was operated by an L. F. Cowger. The only theater listed at Coin in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory was called the Gem.
There’s an ad for this theater showing that it had two screens, with “Deliverance” on one screen and “Cries and Whispers” on the other. Both movies are from 1972, so unless it was showing them as revivals it was a twin by then.
The Idle Hour Theatre is listed in the 1913 city directory, but the address was 6524 Hollywood Boulevard, which would be on the south side of the street west of Wilcox Avenue. In the 1914 directory, the same address is listed as the Iris Theatre. As kencmcintyre noted, in the 1915 directory the Iris is listed at 6417 Hollywood.
The March 28, 1914 issue of Southwest Contractor notes a 450-seat theater to be built on Hollywood Boulevard between Cahuenga and Wilcox (the 6400 block) for Miss De Longpre. As the Iris is first listed in the 1915 directory and is the only theater in the 6400 block of Hollywood Boulevard, I think it must have been this project. The item says that plans had been prepared by E. Fossler, who also had the contract to build the house. Other issues of the journal indicate that Fossler was primarily a builder and contractor, not an architect, but it’s possible that in 1914 builders were still allowed to design projects, or his firm, which was quite busy, might have had an architect or engineer on its staff.
The Paramount was one of the three Nebraska City theaters operated by Booth Brothers that was remodeled in 1927 with plans by architect Charles W. Steinbaugh, as noted in this article from the August 20 issue of Movie Age:
A “Twenty Years Ago” column in Boxoffice of October 23, 1948 ran this news about Auburn from 1928:
The Strand Theatre is listed at Wadsworth in the 1926 FDY, though with only 400 seats.
The March 2, 1937 issue of Film Daily said “[t]he new Palace at Childress, Tex., will open in [a] few days.”
The March 2, 1937 issue of Film Daily reported that “William J. Schulte Circuit’s new Radio City Theater opened recently in Ferndale, Mich., with the Mayor, Council and other officials present.”
The Colby was most likely built as a replacement for a 500-seat upstairs house called the Bingham Theatre which was destroyed by fire in 1937, as reported in the March 2 issue of Film Daily.
Jesse Cooper was associated with this theater as early as 1937, as noted in this item from the March 1 Film Daily that year: “Antlers, Okla.— The Antlers Theater here, has been opened by Earl Barrett and Jess Cooper.”
The Time Theatre is listed in the 1937 FDY, but with no seating capacity given. As it was included in the 1937 Yearbook, it could have opened before the end of 1936. It might have been this project noted in the September 17, 1936 issue of Film Daily: “Mitchell, S. D.— Work is underway on the Mitchell, leased by Baron Brothers from Minnesota Amusement Co., Minneapolis.”
In addition to the Time, the Roxy, and the Paramount, the 1937 FDY lists a 350-seat house called the Lyric at Mitchell.
Here is evidence of an earlier Mainstreet Theatre in Fremont, from the July 2, 1938 issue of Boxoffice: “Bob Booth opened his Mainstreet Theatre at Fremont, Neb., this week. We understand from many sources it is one of the prettiest small houses in the Omaha trade territory.” The Main Street Theatre is listed in the 1940 FDY with 350 seats.
One exterior and one interior photo of the Overland Theatre on this Facebook page. The Overland was at 120 (historically 116) S. 6th Street.
The Dixie Theatre first appears in the Film Daily Yearbook in 1927. No seating capacity is noted, but the house was open four days a week. The Dixie continues to be listed through 1929. Magnolia does not appear in the 1930 Yearbook, but in 1931 a house called the Strand is listed, with an asterisk, denoting that it is not wired for sound. The Strand is listed again in 1932 and 1933, but with the notation that it is closed.
In the 1926 Yearbook, Magnolia has two theaters listed, called the Magnolia and the Palace. It could be that one or the other became the Dixie the next year. Earlier mentions of Magnolia in the trade journals are sparse. In 1916, the October 7 issue of Moving Picture World says that Xavier A. Kramer of Magnolia had plans to build a theater called the Dixie, but the house was to be in McComb, not Magnolia. Perhaps of interest, in the late 1920s Xavier Kramer became the operator of Jacob’s Theatre in McComb.
In 1920, a Miss Bella Harris of the Liberty Theatre in Magnolia submitted two capsule movie reviews to the October 2 issue of Exhibitors Herald. I’ve found no other mentions of either Miss Harris or a Liberty Theatre at Magnolia. It could be that the Liberty became either the Magnolia Theatre or the Palace Theatre listed in 1926. Magnolia does not appear in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. Maybe it had no theaters then, or perhaps it was just overlooked when the directory was compiled.
An interesting article published in the McComb Enterprise-Journal on July 31, 2017 has the story of Jacob’s Theatre as told by original operator Jacob Alford’s grandson. The article says that Jacob Alford operated the theater from 1916 to 1926.
The house is listed inFilm Daily Yearbook through 1929 as Jacobs Theatre (no apostrophe) and then in 1930 the only house listed at McComb is the State Theatre, its first appearance. The newspaper article says that Jacob Alford built the State Theatre after leaving Jacob’s Theatre.
Jacob’s Theatre was an upstairs house, and the ground floor was occupied by a bank. In later years, a new owner, Xavier Kramer, added another floor to the building where he operated a roller skating rink called Kramer’s Roof, while the lower floors were leased to the J.C. Penney company for a store. Later still, the entire building, which was located at Main and Broadway Streets, became the location of the Jubilee Performing Arts Center, which occupied the building until 2017. In July of that year, the upper floors of the building suddenly collapsed. The lower floors have been salvaged, however, and today house a banquet facility called Kramer’s Roof.
I’ve found no evidence that this Adelphi Theatre operated any earlier than 1938. The Broad Street Adelphi was still in operation at least as late as 1930, and wasn’t demolished until 1937. The automobile showroom that David Supowitz converted into the Adelphi on 52nd Street may have been built in 1922, but the theater opened in 1938.
The reports of the Casino Theatre’s demise in the 1938 hurricane may not have been exaggerated. A list of theater projects reported in the last half of 1938 was published in the January 7, 1939 issue of Motion Picture Herald, and a 700-seat Casino Theatre at Narraganset was among them.
The October 12, 1940 issue of Boxoffice noted that “Joe Applebaum has installed new projection and sound equipment in his Roosevelt at Hollandale. Miss.”
The October 27, 1956 issue of Motion Picture Herald said that “Edward E. Storey, Jr., Hollandale, Miss., has bought the Booth and Roosevelt theatres at Hollandale from A. A. Orr and B. F. Jackson.”
The Booth Theatre is listed in Eric Ledell Smith’s African American Theater Buildings.
The Ritz was sold by Strand Enterprises to E. B. Taylor of Parkin in 1956, as noted in the October 27 issue of Motion Picture Herald. Mr. Taylor bought the Strand Theatre in Earle, Arkansas, as part of the same deal.
The Strand got a remodeling job in 1948, according to the May 8 issue of Motion Picture Herald:
The Strand changed hands in 1956, according to the October 27 issue of the same journal:In 1921, Harrisburg had a movie house called the Empire Theatre whose owner, one R. M. Parkhurst, sent a few capsule movie reviews to Exhibitors Herald in July and August. By 1926, the only theater listed at Harrisburg in the FDY was called the Pastime.
The Grand Theatre was listed with 270 seats in the 1956-57 Yearbook of the Canadian Motion Picture Industry. Also listed at Creston was the 341-seat Tivoli. The Tivoli was licensed to an L. Johnston, while the Grand was licensed to F. C. Rodgers. Interestingly, F. C. Rodgers had sent capsule movie reviews of films he had shown at the Grand to the trade journal Exhibitor’s Herald in 1924 and 1925.
According to this page at the Creston Museum’s web site, the Rodgers family built the Grand Theatre in 1920, and it replaced a movie theater called the Peekin which had opened the previous year. A link on the museum page leads to an article about the Peekin, which also reveals that the Grand opened in December, 1920.
My mother’s family moved from Phoenix to Culver City when she was about six or seven years old, which would have been 1921 or 1922. She remembered going to both the first and the second Meraltas. As she remembered it, theater owners Pearl Merrill and Laura Peralta were sisters, but she was apparently mistaken about that. Pearl and Laura must have been close friends as well as business partners and a vaudeville duo, as they lived together for many years in an apartment above the second Meralta.
One thing my mom remembered from the Meralta’s Saturday matinees, was that the partners, one of them playing the piano, would lead the audience, mostly children, in community sings.
The Auditorium is listed in the 1906-1907 Cahn guide as a ground floor house with 1,439 seats. It is listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory, though with the address 413 High Street. Then there is this item from the January 27, 1929 issue of Film Daily: “Burlington, N. J.— Jacob B. Fox has opened his new Auditorium here.” Other sources indicate that Fox bought the Auditorium in 1923 and remodeled it that year, when a 2-manual Kimball organ was installed, so I can’t explain the reference to a “new Auditorium” in the 1929 item. Perhaps a more extensive remodeling?
In December, 1944, the Fox Theatre was destroyed by a fire. The December 11 issue of the Trenton Evening Times reported that Presidents Taft and Wilson had been among the many statesmen who had spoken at the Auditorium “…in the course of the past half-century,” so the building probably dated from the 1890s. The newspaper description said that nothing remained of the building bout the walls, so if there was a Fox Theatre at this address in later years it must have been a new house built inside the shell of the old one.
This was the announcement in the January 27, 1929 issue of Film Daily: “Stroudsburg, Pa.— H. A. and Fred F. Scheurmann have opened their Sherman here.”
The Sun must have been rebuilt or moved to a new location in 1929, when the January 27 issue of Film Daily said that “[t]he new Sun Theater will open here soon.” The earlier Sun was mentioned in the September 20, 1924 issue of Moving Picture World, when it was operated by an L. F. Cowger. The only theater listed at Coin in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory was called the Gem.
There’s an ad for this theater showing that it had two screens, with “Deliverance” on one screen and “Cries and Whispers” on the other. Both movies are from 1972, so unless it was showing them as revivals it was a twin by then.
The Idle Hour Theatre is listed in the 1913 city directory, but the address was 6524 Hollywood Boulevard, which would be on the south side of the street west of Wilcox Avenue. In the 1914 directory, the same address is listed as the Iris Theatre. As kencmcintyre noted, in the 1915 directory the Iris is listed at 6417 Hollywood.
The March 28, 1914 issue of Southwest Contractor notes a 450-seat theater to be built on Hollywood Boulevard between Cahuenga and Wilcox (the 6400 block) for Miss De Longpre. As the Iris is first listed in the 1915 directory and is the only theater in the 6400 block of Hollywood Boulevard, I think it must have been this project. The item says that plans had been prepared by E. Fossler, who also had the contract to build the house. Other issues of the journal indicate that Fossler was primarily a builder and contractor, not an architect, but it’s possible that in 1914 builders were still allowed to design projects, or his firm, which was quite busy, might have had an architect or engineer on its staff.