Bob: The April 8, 1950, Boxoffice item I cited said that N.W. Hart was naming his new theater after his three granddaughters. I’d presume that their initials were arranged into the somewhat pronounceable word. The item didn’t reveal the girls' names. Maybe somebody who knew (or knows) them will discover this page and tell us. For now I’m just imagining that the one who provided the useful vowel was called Ann, and that if she’d been named Sharon this theater might have become the Shmrr.
IA: Thanks for the correction. When I submitted this theater, I did say that the El Dorado was the first house in Tucson equipped for 70mm films (I kept a copy of my original submission, and just checked it.) The text must have been edited by a moderator after Michael Coate’s comment was posted.
An item in Boxoffice from around the time of the El Dorado’s opening was my source, but unfortunately I failed to make a note of the specific issue in which it appeared.
Wrens had two theaters called the Dixie. Here’s an item from Boxoffice of April 24, 1948: “Construction of the new Dixie Theatre, a 550-seater, is underway here. Mrs. Louis Williams, manager, said the project would cost about $40,000. The house will seat 350 on the main floor and 200 in the balcony. The present Dixie Theatre, opened 12 years ago, seats 215.”
The very next issue of Boxoffice, May 1, has additional, but somewhat belated, news from Wrens: “The Dixie Theatre was damaged by fire the morning of April 8. Several thousands of dollars damage was done to the screen and sound equipment. The Dixie is owned by Mrs. Violet Edwards and managed by Mrs. Louise Williams.”
Given the timing of the two articles, the phrasing of the first, and the lack of detail in both, I can’t tell if the new Dixie was a rebuilding of the original theater after the fire, or if its construction had been begun before the fire at a different location. I’ve found no other Boxoffice items that would clear up the mystery. Maybe somebody from the area knows.
The December 3, 1949, issue of Boxoffice said that the new theater as Shullsburg was almost ready to open. The new house had been designed by Milwaukee architect Myles Belongia. Boxoffice of January 23, 1950, gave the seating capacity of the Burg Theatre as 420.
There was an earlier theater at Shullsburg, which I’ve found mentioned only once in Boxoffice, in the issue of October 8, 1949. The single line said “The Opera House at Shullsburg has been closed due to the death of F. F. Lee, who operated the theatre for many years.”
Motion Picture Times of July 7, 1928, says: “While Holger Jorgensen and Mrs. Jorgensen are motoring through Colorado, Walter Jorgensen is in charge of the East Grand, Dallas neighborhood house.”
The State was apparently not built in 1933 as the current intro of this page says. It probably dated from the 1920s, and maybe earlier. A May 12, 1969, Boxoffice item about the opening of a new Harkins theater said that Dwight Harkins “…took over the old State Theatre….” in 1933.
A March, 1998, Boxoffice article about the Harkins chain said that in 1933 Dwight Harkins, then an 18 year old college student, “…put a $50 downpayment on the lease on the State Theatre in Tempe….”
Also there’s a November 2, 1940, item about the College Theatre, then nearing completion, which says that when the new theater opened Harkins planned to dismantle the State. It’s very unlikely he’d have dismantled a theater that was only seven years old.
JosephF: The information you provided is very helpful indeed. Learning the names of the architects led me to several interesting discoveries.
According to an item in the November, 1927, issue of the trade publication Architect & Engineer, Edwin J. Symmes and Clarence Cullimore had just formed their partnership, so the Granada was probably one of their first collaborations. The firm of Symmes & Cullmore designed a number of buildings in the San Joaquin Valley, many of them public schools. Symmes died in 1935, but Cullimore appears to have returned to an individual practice in 1932, designing primarily residential buildings after that. He was also noted for his research into the architecture and building of the Spanish and Mexican periods in California, which led to his 1948 book, Adobes of Santa Barbara.
This page at the web site of the Kern County Museum includes a partial list of buildings designed by Symmes and Cullimore, individually and in partnership. There are no theaters listed other than the Granada. The page also has a link to a small photo of the Granada ca.1941.
Google Documents provides an 2004 article called Spohn’s Old Granada Theatre, by Carla LaFong and Gilbert Gia. It includes a few period photos, history, and a fairly detailed description of the Granada at the time the article was written. The article can also be downloaded in pdf format from Gilbert Gia’s web site (follow the “persons” link.)
Walnut Hill Productions featured the Granada’s hybrid Robert Morgan/Wurlitzer theater organ on its web site in August, 2007. In addition to numerous photos and technical information, the page includes links to downloadable recordings made on the Granada organ.
The Rio became the Surf in 1949. The March 12 issue of Boxoffice reported the reopening of the house under its new name. The theater had been remodeled by its owner/operator since at least 1943, Ed Barnard. Barnard operated the Surf Theatre at least as late as 1954, when he was mentioned in the May 8 issue of Boxoffice.
The Rio had been remodeled previously, when it was given a new stucco front in 1939, as reported in Boxoffice of May 13 that year. The owner at that time was not named.
Boxoffice of May 29, 1937, reported that Southwestern Theatre Equipment Company had sold a motor to the Rio Theatre at Rockport. The August 7 issue said that the Dallas branch of National Theatre Supply had recently sold the Rio complete projection equipment.
In 1930 a theater at Rockport, Texas, was being operated by W.H. Smith. Motion Picture Times of March 18 that year reported that Smith had renamed his theater the Peoples. The previous name was not mentioned. I’ve found no mentions of theaters in Rockport between then and 1937.
Interestingly, Rockport, Indiana, also had a theater called the Rio, previously called the Alhambra, operating from 1939 until at least 1961. Its frequent appearance in Boxoffice made researching the Texas Rio rather frustrating.
Boxoffice of July 27, 1957, said that the Ponta Delgada Drive-In had opened at North Tiverton on July 9. The 900-car situation was owned by Hyman E. Lepes and Norman Zalkin. The first movie shown was “Amazon Ship.”
Ponta Delgada is apparently the proper form for this Portuguese name, by the way, regardless of how The Providence Journal presents it. Delgada is all one word on the marquee, as well.
The Dulamae Theatre, currently given above as an aka for the Dane, was actually a different theater. Boxoffice of February 15, 1947, said that when Frank Lundy opened his new Dane Theatre he would operate the Dulamae only on Saturdays. Boxoffice of February 22 said that the Dane had been opened on February 17. The May 10 issue of Boxoffice mentions Frank Lundy as operator of the Dane and Dulamae theaters at Denmark.
The Dulamae is then mentioned in Boxoffice of June 21, 1947, but the scan is damaged and only the first three letters (dis) of the line giving the fate of the theater can be read. It must say either that Lundy “disposed of” or “dismantled” the house. As that’s the last time the Dulamae is mentioned in Boxoffice, as far as I’ve found, it was closed that year.
However, in a post on a Facebook page about Denmark, a lacal named Eddie Hightower says that after Freank Lundy closed the Dulamae Theatre, a few local men reopened it as the Joy Theatre. I haven’t been able to find the Joy mentioned in Boxoffice, so I have no idea how long it remained open.
Boxoffice of June 19, 1954, reported that Harris Theatre Sales had sold CinemaScope equipment to the Dane Theatre. It didn’t say whether or not the equipment had been installed yet.
Frank Lundy operated the Dulamae Theatre at least as early as 1938, and operated the Dane Theatre at least into 1961. By 1964, the Dane was taken over by Robert Saxton, according to the August 31 issue of Boxoffice.
There have been a couple of comments remarking on the theater’s name, so it might be useful to note that Franz Lehár’s operetta “The Merry Widow” had its premier in Vienna in 1905, the year before this theater’s forerunner was opened. The composer’s “Merry Widow Waltz” became one of the most popular songs of the period, so the name would have been familiar even to people who had never seen the operetta.
Boxoffice of April 8, 1950, announced that the foundations had been laid for N.W. Hart’s new Marrh Theatre in North Augusta. The house was to be of steel and brick construction, and would have 794 seats.
It would be North Augusta’s first theater.
The Marrh opened abou t November 1, 1950, according to the caption of a small photo in Boxoffice of January 6, 1951.
The Marrh was closed for a while, though I’ve been unable to discover for how long, starting in either 1954 or 1955. Boxoffice of August 20, 1955, said that the house had reopened under new ownership after some interior remodeling and repainting. The new manager was T.W. Owings.
I haven’t found any later mentions of the Marrh in Boxoffice. The only mention of the Carolina Theatre at North Augusta I’ve found is from the issue of May 4, 1959. The operator of the Carolina was named Pierce McCoy. However, there is a Caroline Theatre mentioned in Boxoffice of September 25, 1961 (perhaps it was just a typo.) The item said that the house had been closed for some time but had been reopened September 14 by Horace Geisling. After that I find nothing about any theaters in North Augusta.
The Wedgwood was scheduled to open in March, 1967, according to a Boxoffice item published on the 20th of that month. It was the latest house in an expansion of the Interstate chain which had begun in 1965. The Wedgwood was originally a 900-seat single-screener.
The Boxoffice item listed the theaters that had already opened as part of the expansion: “…the Westwood, Richardson; Belaire, Hurst; Clear Lake, near Houston; Parkview, Pasadena; Northgate, El Paso; Westwood, Abilene; Lake Air Drive-In, Waco, and Wonder, San Antonio.” Projects slated to open later were the Ridgewood at Garland and the Northshore in Houston.
Photos of the Plains and three other Corgan-designed theaters appeared in Boxoffice of December 6, 1947. The other houses featured in the article are the Agnew and May theatres in Oklahoma City, and the Boomer, Norman, Oklahoma.
Photos of the Boomer and three other Corgan-designed theaters appeared in Boxoffice of December 6, 1947. The other houses featured in the article (on the two previous pages) are the Agnew and May theatres in Oklahoma City, and the Plains, Rosswell, New Mexico.
Photos of the May and three other Corgan-designed theaters appeared in Boxoffice of December 6, 1947. The other houses featured in the article are the Agnew, Oklahoma City; the Boomer, Norman; and the Plains, Rosswell, New Mexico.
Photos of the Agnew and three other Corgan-designed theaters appeared in Boxoffice of December 6, 1947. The other houses featured in the article are the May, Oklahoma City; the Boomer, Norman; and the Plains, Roswell, New Mexico.
Boxoffice of October 6, 1945, said that that Robb & Rowley’s Heights Theatre was under construction in Little Rock. It was one of four R&R projects then underway, and several more were in the planning stage.
At the time Western Amusement was building the Grove they already owned an existing theater called the Upland. As of July 6, 1946, according to a Boxoffice item of that date, the company was operating fourteen southland houses. They had just purchased Bard’s Adams and Bard’s Fremont from Mike Bard (this is the first time I’ve ever heard that there even was a Bard’s Fremont.) They had also acquired the San Gabriel Theatre in San Gabriel from O.W. Lewis.
Other Western Amusement houses mentioned by name were the Campus, Hunley, and Vista, all in or near Hollywood. The company also operated two theaters each in Victorville, Orange, and Fillmore, and a single house in Glendora.
Western Amusement was formed in 1944. It had originally been planned by Texas showman R.E. Griffith, who died before the company was organized, but Ted Jones, who had been associated with Griffith Theatres for many years, continued the project.
By the time the Grove opened, Western Amusement had expanded to 22 theaters, according to the February 22, 1947, Boxoffice item about the Grove’s opening. There is a small photo of the opening night of the Grove, at which Roddy McDowall acted as master of ceremonies.
The L.A. Library’s California Index has cards making reference to two theater names in Upland. They were the Lyric, in 1914, and the Colonial, in 1930. I haven’t found either mentioned in Boxoffice. Given the time spread, either or both might have been earlier names for the Upland Theatre, which I’ve found mentioned in Boxoffice no earlier than 1939.
It turns out that the Bristol Theatre had a late aka, though it might have lasted only a year or so.
Stanley Warner operated the Bristol Theatre until some time in 1977 or 1978 (the last mention of it as an operating SW house I’ve found is in Boxoffice of January 17, 1977.) After they closed the house, it was taken over by a local physician and movie buff, Dr. Brian Hennessey, who remodeled and reopened it in late 1978 as a cinema dinner theater. Dr. Hennessey’s plans were noted in Boxoffice as early as May that year, but the opening was long delayed. Boxoffice of October 23 said that the Carberry Cinema Classics Dinner Theatre had finally been opened. Seating had been reduced to 298, and the first movie shown was the Marx Brothers' “A Day At the Races.”
Though a November 27 Boxoffice item indicated that the theater had gotten a positive public response, I don’t think the house remained open very long. The last mention of it in Boxoffice is from January 1, 1979, in an item saying that Hennesey had named Sean Sullivan manager of the operation.
Boxoffice of August 31, 1970, says that the Westown was housed in a geodesic dome. The theater was designed by a Calfiornia architect named David Jacobson Jr., according to the Boxoffice item. I’m not sure if it’s the same David Jacobson who designed many buidlings in Las Vegas and Atlantic City, including a number of major projects for Donald Trump, but odds are it was.
There were two theaters on this site. The original Bristol Theatre burned down in 1939. Boxoffice of October 19, 1940, reported that Warners would open the new Bristol Theatre on or shortly after October 18. The new theater had been designed by John Eberson.
The actual destruction of the Cameo apparently didn’t take place until 1963. Boxoffice of August 19 that year said: “The former Stanley Warner Theatre on North Main Street has been demolished to make way for a redevelopment project.” Though it doesn’t mention the name Cameo, the item must refer to that house. I can’t find any indication that Stanley Warner ever operated an eponymous theater in Bristol.
Boxoffice indicates that this house opened in 1941. The December 8, 1940, issue of the magazine said: “Joe Faith of Terryville, Unionville, and Collinsville, will be ready to open his 700-seat theatre in Bristol in February… The house is being converted from a meeting hall.” The opening was delayed, though, and the March 15 issue of Boxoffice said the opening was scheduled for Wednesday of that week. In this item the seating was given as 650.
In 1945 and 1946 there are Boxoffice items saying that Joe Faith was presenting Vaudeville-film combination shows at the Carberry. These were mostly one-night-weekly events, booked into the house by a Hartford bureau run by Jack Gordon.
On January 15, 1955, Boxoffice reported that CinemaScope equipment had been installed in the Carberry, but the end was near. Joe Faith shuttered the Carberry in 1956, according to Boxoffice of August 4 that year. Later issues of Boxoffice indicate that the house remained dark for several years. A July 11, 1960, Boxoffice item about the closing of the Bristol Theater said that the Carberry had then been shuttered for four years.
The January 29, 1962, issue of Boxoffice carried a report that a Stanley-Warner subsidiary had purchased the Carberry from the Faith estate and planned to remodel and reopen the house. Boxoffice of February 4, 1963, included the Carberry on a list of theaters remodeled and reopened the previous year, but I’ve found no other items about the house during this period, nor any indication of how long it continued in operation.
Bob: The April 8, 1950, Boxoffice item I cited said that N.W. Hart was naming his new theater after his three granddaughters. I’d presume that their initials were arranged into the somewhat pronounceable word. The item didn’t reveal the girls' names. Maybe somebody who knew (or knows) them will discover this page and tell us. For now I’m just imagining that the one who provided the useful vowel was called Ann, and that if she’d been named Sharon this theater might have become the Shmrr.
IA: Thanks for the correction. When I submitted this theater, I did say that the El Dorado was the first house in Tucson equipped for 70mm films (I kept a copy of my original submission, and just checked it.) The text must have been edited by a moderator after Michael Coate’s comment was posted.
An item in Boxoffice from around the time of the El Dorado’s opening was my source, but unfortunately I failed to make a note of the specific issue in which it appeared.
Wrens had two theaters called the Dixie. Here’s an item from Boxoffice of April 24, 1948: “Construction of the new Dixie Theatre, a 550-seater, is underway here. Mrs. Louis Williams, manager, said the project would cost about $40,000. The house will seat 350 on the main floor and 200 in the balcony. The present Dixie Theatre, opened 12 years ago, seats 215.”
The very next issue of Boxoffice, May 1, has additional, but somewhat belated, news from Wrens: “The Dixie Theatre was damaged by fire the morning of April 8. Several thousands of dollars damage was done to the screen and sound equipment. The Dixie is owned by Mrs. Violet Edwards and managed by Mrs. Louise Williams.”
Given the timing of the two articles, the phrasing of the first, and the lack of detail in both, I can’t tell if the new Dixie was a rebuilding of the original theater after the fire, or if its construction had been begun before the fire at a different location. I’ve found no other Boxoffice items that would clear up the mystery. Maybe somebody from the area knows.
The December 3, 1949, issue of Boxoffice said that the new theater as Shullsburg was almost ready to open. The new house had been designed by Milwaukee architect Myles Belongia. Boxoffice of January 23, 1950, gave the seating capacity of the Burg Theatre as 420.
There was an earlier theater at Shullsburg, which I’ve found mentioned only once in Boxoffice, in the issue of October 8, 1949. The single line said “The Opera House at Shullsburg has been closed due to the death of F. F. Lee, who operated the theatre for many years.”
Motion Picture Times of July 7, 1928, says: “While Holger Jorgensen and Mrs. Jorgensen are motoring through Colorado, Walter Jorgensen is in charge of the East Grand, Dallas neighborhood house.”
The State was apparently not built in 1933 as the current intro of this page says. It probably dated from the 1920s, and maybe earlier. A May 12, 1969, Boxoffice item about the opening of a new Harkins theater said that Dwight Harkins “…took over the old State Theatre….” in 1933.
A March, 1998, Boxoffice article about the Harkins chain said that in 1933 Dwight Harkins, then an 18 year old college student, “…put a $50 downpayment on the lease on the State Theatre in Tempe….”
Also there’s a November 2, 1940, item about the College Theatre, then nearing completion, which says that when the new theater opened Harkins planned to dismantle the State. It’s very unlikely he’d have dismantled a theater that was only seven years old.
JosephF: The information you provided is very helpful indeed. Learning the names of the architects led me to several interesting discoveries.
According to an item in the November, 1927, issue of the trade publication Architect & Engineer, Edwin J. Symmes and Clarence Cullimore had just formed their partnership, so the Granada was probably one of their first collaborations. The firm of Symmes & Cullmore designed a number of buildings in the San Joaquin Valley, many of them public schools. Symmes died in 1935, but Cullimore appears to have returned to an individual practice in 1932, designing primarily residential buildings after that. He was also noted for his research into the architecture and building of the Spanish and Mexican periods in California, which led to his 1948 book, Adobes of Santa Barbara.
This page at the web site of the Kern County Museum includes a partial list of buildings designed by Symmes and Cullimore, individually and in partnership. There are no theaters listed other than the Granada. The page also has a link to a small photo of the Granada ca.1941.
Google Documents provides an 2004 article called Spohn’s Old Granada Theatre, by Carla LaFong and Gilbert Gia. It includes a few period photos, history, and a fairly detailed description of the Granada at the time the article was written. The article can also be downloaded in pdf format from Gilbert Gia’s web site (follow the “persons” link.)
Walnut Hill Productions featured the Granada’s hybrid Robert Morgan/Wurlitzer theater organ on its web site in August, 2007. In addition to numerous photos and technical information, the page includes links to downloadable recordings made on the Granada organ.
The Rio became the Surf in 1949. The March 12 issue of Boxoffice reported the reopening of the house under its new name. The theater had been remodeled by its owner/operator since at least 1943, Ed Barnard. Barnard operated the Surf Theatre at least as late as 1954, when he was mentioned in the May 8 issue of Boxoffice.
The Rio had been remodeled previously, when it was given a new stucco front in 1939, as reported in Boxoffice of May 13 that year. The owner at that time was not named.
Boxoffice of May 29, 1937, reported that Southwestern Theatre Equipment Company had sold a motor to the Rio Theatre at Rockport. The August 7 issue said that the Dallas branch of National Theatre Supply had recently sold the Rio complete projection equipment.
In 1930 a theater at Rockport, Texas, was being operated by W.H. Smith. Motion Picture Times of March 18 that year reported that Smith had renamed his theater the Peoples. The previous name was not mentioned. I’ve found no mentions of theaters in Rockport between then and 1937.
Interestingly, Rockport, Indiana, also had a theater called the Rio, previously called the Alhambra, operating from 1939 until at least 1961. Its frequent appearance in Boxoffice made researching the Texas Rio rather frustrating.
Boxoffice of July 13, 1957, said that the Blue Hills Drive-In at Canton had opened recently. The original owners were the Minasian brothers.
Boxoffice of July 27, 1957, said that the Ponta Delgada Drive-In had opened at North Tiverton on July 9. The 900-car situation was owned by Hyman E. Lepes and Norman Zalkin. The first movie shown was “Amazon Ship.”
Ponta Delgada is apparently the proper form for this Portuguese name, by the way, regardless of how The Providence Journal presents it. Delgada is all one word on the marquee, as well.
The Dulamae Theatre, currently given above as an aka for the Dane, was actually a different theater. Boxoffice of February 15, 1947, said that when Frank Lundy opened his new Dane Theatre he would operate the Dulamae only on Saturdays. Boxoffice of February 22 said that the Dane had been opened on February 17. The May 10 issue of Boxoffice mentions Frank Lundy as operator of the Dane and Dulamae theaters at Denmark.
The Dulamae is then mentioned in Boxoffice of June 21, 1947, but the scan is damaged and only the first three letters (dis) of the line giving the fate of the theater can be read. It must say either that Lundy “disposed of” or “dismantled” the house. As that’s the last time the Dulamae is mentioned in Boxoffice, as far as I’ve found, it was closed that year.
However, in a post on a Facebook page about Denmark, a lacal named Eddie Hightower says that after Freank Lundy closed the Dulamae Theatre, a few local men reopened it as the Joy Theatre. I haven’t been able to find the Joy mentioned in Boxoffice, so I have no idea how long it remained open.
Boxoffice of June 19, 1954, reported that Harris Theatre Sales had sold CinemaScope equipment to the Dane Theatre. It didn’t say whether or not the equipment had been installed yet.
Frank Lundy operated the Dulamae Theatre at least as early as 1938, and operated the Dane Theatre at least into 1961. By 1964, the Dane was taken over by Robert Saxton, according to the August 31 issue of Boxoffice.
There have been a couple of comments remarking on the theater’s name, so it might be useful to note that Franz Lehár’s operetta “The Merry Widow” had its premier in Vienna in 1905, the year before this theater’s forerunner was opened. The composer’s “Merry Widow Waltz” became one of the most popular songs of the period, so the name would have been familiar even to people who had never seen the operetta.
Boxoffice of April 8, 1950, announced that the foundations had been laid for N.W. Hart’s new Marrh Theatre in North Augusta. The house was to be of steel and brick construction, and would have 794 seats.
It would be North Augusta’s first theater.
The Marrh opened abou t November 1, 1950, according to the caption of a small photo in Boxoffice of January 6, 1951.
The Marrh was closed for a while, though I’ve been unable to discover for how long, starting in either 1954 or 1955. Boxoffice of August 20, 1955, said that the house had reopened under new ownership after some interior remodeling and repainting. The new manager was T.W. Owings.
I haven’t found any later mentions of the Marrh in Boxoffice. The only mention of the Carolina Theatre at North Augusta I’ve found is from the issue of May 4, 1959. The operator of the Carolina was named Pierce McCoy. However, there is a Caroline Theatre mentioned in Boxoffice of September 25, 1961 (perhaps it was just a typo.) The item said that the house had been closed for some time but had been reopened September 14 by Horace Geisling. After that I find nothing about any theaters in North Augusta.
The Wedgwood was scheduled to open in March, 1967, according to a Boxoffice item published on the 20th of that month. It was the latest house in an expansion of the Interstate chain which had begun in 1965. The Wedgwood was originally a 900-seat single-screener.
The Boxoffice item listed the theaters that had already opened as part of the expansion: “…the Westwood, Richardson; Belaire, Hurst; Clear Lake, near Houston; Parkview, Pasadena; Northgate, El Paso; Westwood, Abilene; Lake Air Drive-In, Waco, and Wonder, San Antonio.” Projects slated to open later were the Ridgewood at Garland and the Northshore in Houston.
Photos of the Plains and three other Corgan-designed theaters appeared in Boxoffice of December 6, 1947. The other houses featured in the article are the Agnew and May theatres in Oklahoma City, and the Boomer, Norman, Oklahoma.
Photos of the Boomer and three other Corgan-designed theaters appeared in Boxoffice of December 6, 1947. The other houses featured in the article (on the two previous pages) are the Agnew and May theatres in Oklahoma City, and the Plains, Rosswell, New Mexico.
Photos of the May and three other Corgan-designed theaters appeared in Boxoffice of December 6, 1947. The other houses featured in the article are the Agnew, Oklahoma City; the Boomer, Norman; and the Plains, Rosswell, New Mexico.
Photos of the Agnew and three other Corgan-designed theaters appeared in Boxoffice of December 6, 1947. The other houses featured in the article are the May, Oklahoma City; the Boomer, Norman; and the Plains, Roswell, New Mexico.
Boxoffice of October 6, 1945, said that that Robb & Rowley’s Heights Theatre was under construction in Little Rock. It was one of four R&R projects then underway, and several more were in the planning stage.
At the time Western Amusement was building the Grove they already owned an existing theater called the Upland. As of July 6, 1946, according to a Boxoffice item of that date, the company was operating fourteen southland houses. They had just purchased Bard’s Adams and Bard’s Fremont from Mike Bard (this is the first time I’ve ever heard that there even was a Bard’s Fremont.) They had also acquired the San Gabriel Theatre in San Gabriel from O.W. Lewis.
Other Western Amusement houses mentioned by name were the Campus, Hunley, and Vista, all in or near Hollywood. The company also operated two theaters each in Victorville, Orange, and Fillmore, and a single house in Glendora.
Western Amusement was formed in 1944. It had originally been planned by Texas showman R.E. Griffith, who died before the company was organized, but Ted Jones, who had been associated with Griffith Theatres for many years, continued the project.
By the time the Grove opened, Western Amusement had expanded to 22 theaters, according to the February 22, 1947, Boxoffice item about the Grove’s opening. There is a small photo of the opening night of the Grove, at which Roddy McDowall acted as master of ceremonies.
The L.A. Library’s California Index has cards making reference to two theater names in Upland. They were the Lyric, in 1914, and the Colonial, in 1930. I haven’t found either mentioned in Boxoffice. Given the time spread, either or both might have been earlier names for the Upland Theatre, which I’ve found mentioned in Boxoffice no earlier than 1939.
It turns out that the Bristol Theatre had a late aka, though it might have lasted only a year or so.
Stanley Warner operated the Bristol Theatre until some time in 1977 or 1978 (the last mention of it as an operating SW house I’ve found is in Boxoffice of January 17, 1977.) After they closed the house, it was taken over by a local physician and movie buff, Dr. Brian Hennessey, who remodeled and reopened it in late 1978 as a cinema dinner theater. Dr. Hennessey’s plans were noted in Boxoffice as early as May that year, but the opening was long delayed. Boxoffice of October 23 said that the Carberry Cinema Classics Dinner Theatre had finally been opened. Seating had been reduced to 298, and the first movie shown was the Marx Brothers' “A Day At the Races.”
Though a November 27 Boxoffice item indicated that the theater had gotten a positive public response, I don’t think the house remained open very long. The last mention of it in Boxoffice is from January 1, 1979, in an item saying that Hennesey had named Sean Sullivan manager of the operation.
Boxoffice of August 31, 1970, says that the Westown was housed in a geodesic dome. The theater was designed by a Calfiornia architect named David Jacobson Jr., according to the Boxoffice item. I’m not sure if it’s the same David Jacobson who designed many buidlings in Las Vegas and Atlantic City, including a number of major projects for Donald Trump, but odds are it was.
There were two theaters on this site. The original Bristol Theatre burned down in 1939. Boxoffice of October 19, 1940, reported that Warners would open the new Bristol Theatre on or shortly after October 18. The new theater had been designed by John Eberson.
The actual destruction of the Cameo apparently didn’t take place until 1963. Boxoffice of August 19 that year said: “The former Stanley Warner Theatre on North Main Street has been demolished to make way for a redevelopment project.” Though it doesn’t mention the name Cameo, the item must refer to that house. I can’t find any indication that Stanley Warner ever operated an eponymous theater in Bristol.
Boxoffice indicates that this house opened in 1941. The December 8, 1940, issue of the magazine said: “Joe Faith of Terryville, Unionville, and Collinsville, will be ready to open his 700-seat theatre in Bristol in February… The house is being converted from a meeting hall.” The opening was delayed, though, and the March 15 issue of Boxoffice said the opening was scheduled for Wednesday of that week. In this item the seating was given as 650.
In 1945 and 1946 there are Boxoffice items saying that Joe Faith was presenting Vaudeville-film combination shows at the Carberry. These were mostly one-night-weekly events, booked into the house by a Hartford bureau run by Jack Gordon.
On January 15, 1955, Boxoffice reported that CinemaScope equipment had been installed in the Carberry, but the end was near. Joe Faith shuttered the Carberry in 1956, according to Boxoffice of August 4 that year. Later issues of Boxoffice indicate that the house remained dark for several years. A July 11, 1960, Boxoffice item about the closing of the Bristol Theater said that the Carberry had then been shuttered for four years.
The January 29, 1962, issue of Boxoffice carried a report that a Stanley-Warner subsidiary had purchased the Carberry from the Faith estate and planned to remodel and reopen the house. Boxoffice of February 4, 1963, included the Carberry on a list of theaters remodeled and reopened the previous year, but I’ve found no other items about the house during this period, nor any indication of how long it continued in operation.