The Oklahoma City column of Boxoffice, September 17, 1938, says this: “…a Negro house, the Jewel, 400 seater at Ardmore, being opened by P. H. James who also operates the new Jewel, Negro house, here….” That’s the earliest mention of James or the Jewel I’ve found in Boxoffice.
A brief notice of the death of P. H. James appeared in the Oklahoma City column of Boxoffice, November 15, 1965: “P. H. James, former operator of the Jewell Theatres here and in Ardmore, died in a nursing home. He also had owned and operated the Jay-Kola Bottling Co. Survivors include the wife, two daughters, two sons, a brother and one sister.”
The April 13, 1940, issue of Boxoffice said that the new Campus Theatre in College Station was expected to open in about fifteen days. It was built by Ben Ferguson and Bill Underwood, but by 1961 it was being operated by the Schulmans, operators of the theaters in nearby Bryan, Texas.
The December 2, 1939, issue of Boxoffice reported that the rebuilt Queen Theatre had opened the previous Tuesday. It was being operated by Mrs. Morris Schulman, who also operated the Palace and Dixie Theatres at Bryan. She had bought the Queen, then dark, in 1938, according to Boxoffice of October 1 that year.
An early report on plans for this theater in Boxoffice of September 3, 1973, said that it was to be a twin with each auditorium having 500 seats. The twins were to be called the Duke and the Duchess. The theater was to be operated by the Sameric Theatre Corporation of Philadelphia.
By late 1974 Boxoffice was reporting that construction on the project had not yet begun due to disputes with the city over parking requirements. The house finally opened as the Eric Twin in June, 1975, according to a later Boxoffice item.
The September 18, 1978, issue of Boxoffice said that two additional screens would be added to the Eric Easton Twin. The original auditoriums, it said, seated 665 and 352, and the new auditoriums would seat 364 and 378. The project was to be completed before Christmas that year, but an August, 1983, Boxoffice item about the planned expansion of the house to six screens said the the expansion to four screens had been completed in June, 1980.
The 1983 item said that the fifth and sixth auditoriums of the Eric 6 would have 350 and 434 seats respectively. This would have brought the total seating capacity to 2,532. I haven’t found the exact opening date for the last two screens, or confirmation of their seating capacity, but the city allowed the fifth and sixth screens to operate for thirty days in October, 1983, according to that month’s issue of Boxoffice. A final permit to operate would be contingent on the developers completing work on sidewalks, parking facilities, and some interior work on the complex.
The last mention I’ve found of the Easton Eric Six in Boxoffice was a report in September, 1988, about a taxicab that had jumped the curb and crashed into the lobby. I haven’t found either the Marquis or the Cinema Paradiso mentioned in Boxoffice at all.
This theater was opened as the Cinema I and Cinema II in 1968 by Alliance Amusements, and house the office of the circuit’s city manager. It was described in Boxoffice’s issue of August 26, not long after the opening. These were fairly luxurious theaters, featuring continental seating arrangements in rows 40 inches wide, 20x40-foot screens, and 70mm capability in the 854-seat Cinema I. Cinema II had 610 seats. Alliance then operated more than 80 theaters and five CATV systems in four states.
The August 18, 1969, issue of Boxoffice referred to the house as the Markland Twin Cinemas I & II, and said they were operated by the Cinecom Theatres Midwest States, Inc. division.
I’ve been unable to find anything about this theater between then and 1991, when the November issue of Boxoffice said that construction had begun to add two screens at the Markland 3 in Kokomo, and that the house would be renamed the Markland 5.
Photos of the Belcourt Playhouse are here in the July 8, 1963, issue of Boxoffice. The theater had recently been taken over and remodeled by Rockwood Amusement Company, and was operated as an art house. Seating had been reduced from 550 to 344. The article says the house had also been known as the Children’s Theatre after being called the Community Playhouse.
Rockwood Amusement must have operated the Belcourt Playhouse for only a year or so, as by August, 1964, Boxoffice was calling it the Belcourt Cinema and said it was being operated by the Nashville Theatre Company. In 1968 it was part of Fred Massey’s Masco circuit, and the August 26 issue of Boxoffice carried the announcement of Masco’s intention to add a second auditorium to the house. The January 20, 1969, issue listed the Belcourt Cinema II as being under construction. I’ve been unable to find an opening date.
Boxoffice of August 27, 1979, has an item about the opening of a new twin theater of 900+ seats called the World West in the Rimrock Mall. It, too, was to be a Theatre Operators house. I don’t see it listed at Cinema Treasures.
There’s a December 19, 1965, Boxoffice item that contradicts some of the introduction above- saying that the Trans-Lux West was to open around Easter, 1967, that it was the Trans-Lux Broadway that was being remodeled (with plans by Drew Eberson, who had designed the Trans-Lux East) and that the Trans-Lux Broadway had opened in 1933.
Then the April 24, 1967, issue of Boxoffice says that reconstruction had begun on the Trans-Lux Broadway, which was to reopen as the Trans-Lux West on May 22. (This Boxoffice item contradicts the earlier one by saying that the Trans-Lux Broadway had been in operation for 36 years, which would give an opening of 1931 instead of 1933. Did Boxoffice also confuse this house with the earlier one in the Brill Building?)
I do find Boxoffice referring to this house as the Trans-Lux 49th Street in issues from 1956 and 1957, but before and after that the magazine always calls it the Trans-Lux Broadway.
Boxoffice has uploaded its archive to issuu.com. The 1978 mention of the 1863 Cinema is brief, and is the only one I’ve found in the magazine. It is simply listed among a number of theaters for which Mid America Theatre Service was doing booking and buying.
The Meyerland Cinema I and II was being designed by Boston architects William Riseman & Associates, with local architect Thompson McCleary associated, according to a Boxoffice Magazine item of July 20, 1964.
William Riseman designed many multi-screen theaters for General Cinema and other companies during this period. It’s likely that all the “butterfly” style twins GC built at the time were Riseman’s work.
Boxoffice of January 4, 1965, reported that 1000 invited guests had attended the formal opening of the Cinema Theatre on December 16, 1964. The article said that Cinema 1 had 705 seats and Cinema 2 seated 1,100. The project was designed by architect William Riseman.
The January 15, 1968, issue of Boxoffice listed Redstone’s Cinema 3, with 1,140 seats, among theaters that had been opened in 1967.
The Toledo twin was not unique. An October 5, 1964, Boxoffice item said that Redstone Management was building a twin theater at Pontiac, Michigan, which “…will be identical with other Redstone projects at Toledo, Louisville, Washington, and Springfield, Mass.” All of Redstone’s theaters during this period appear to have been designed by William Riseman & Associates. The same firm designed a number of locations for General Cinema during this period, too, which probably accounts for the similarities noted by CWalczac.
The first item Boxoffice published about this theater, in 1963, gave the address where the project was to be built as 3436 Secor Road. An Internet search on that address today fetches various real estate web sites that say it is a 13 acre parcel of vacant land, being offered for sale at $7,000,000. Has the Showcase been demolished?
An article about the Laurel Theatre appeared in Boxoffice Magazine’s issue of July 2, 1949, and a photo of the theater’s lounge was featured on the cover of that issue’s Modern Theatre section.
Information about the Laurel’s architect, Frederick W. Quandt, is scant on the Internet, but Therese Poletti and Tom Paiva’s book “Art Deco San Francisco: The Architecture of Timothy Pflueger” contains the interesting revelation that Pflueger’s maternal grandfather was named Frederick Quandt. I’ve been unable to confirm a connection, but it seems possible that architects Frederick W. Quandt and Timothy Pflueger were cousins.
Quandt designed more theaters then the two currently listed at Cinema Treasures (the Stockton Theatre was the other), but I’ve tracked down only two others, and can’t confirm that either of these projects was completed. A June, 1938, report in Architect & Engineer said that Quandt had drawn plans for a theater to be constructed at Sonora, California, by Harvey Amusement.
An article in the Eugene (Oregon) Register-Guard of February 8, 1946, said that theater operator A. West Johnson had gone to San Francisco to consult with architect Frederick Quandt on the final plans for a new theater he would build at Broadway and Charnelton Street in Eugene. Construction was to begin as soon as materials became available.
There’s also a possibility that Quandt designed the Manor Theatre in San Mateo, built in 1941 for Westland Theatres, a company associated with Harvey Amusement. Other houses designed for Harvey or Westland during the 1930s and 1940s might be Quandt designs, but I’ve been unable to find any confirmation for any of them.
If anybody has additional information about Frederick Quandt please share it.
I think I had a comment on this page, too, and it’s gone. It looks as though the comments on the page all got lost in some sort of digital disaster. Blasted computers.
Anyway.
The January 2, 1978, issue of Boxoffice mentions the 1863 Cinema at Smithers, West Virginia, operated by James Kilburn.
It appears that Bill and Al Thalhimer’s Logan Theatres operated the Fountain Theatre for a while in the late 1940s-early 1950s, according to a couple of mentions in Boxoffice. I’ve been unable to find any connection between Logan Theatres and the Fountain in later issues of Boxoffice.
In fact I’ve not found the Fountain mentioned in Boxoffice later than 1955, but it’s mentioned in the May 19, 1931, issue of Exhibitor’s Forum as one of several houses that had recently installed Photophone (or Phototone) sound equipment.
The Cummins photo collection at Lane Libraries has a photo of a demolition site captioned “Future Jefferson Theatre.” It’s dated 1901, so the theater must have been completed that year or the next.
There is also an undated photo of the house as Smith’s Theatre.
The Cummins Collection has pictures of several theaters in Hamilton, most of which are not yet listed at Cinema Treasures. The most glaring absence is the 1931 Paramount, a Rapp & Rapp design.
Boxoffice usually misspelled this theater’s name as Emcee instead of the Emsee that clearly appears on the marquee.
The August 17, 1946, issue of Boxoffice reported that the Emsee Theatre had opened on August 10. Though an earlier Boxoffice report of its construction said it would have 900 seats, the opening announcement said there were 1,062 seats. The Emsee was originally operated under lease by Roy A. Shook. The March 10, 1958, issue of Boxoffice said: “The Emcee Theatre at Mount Clemens is switching to an art film policy and being rechristened the Emcee Art Theatre.” The house was then run by Robert Vickrey’s R&V Theatres.
A page of Boxoffice Magazine’s issue of October 25, 1971, was devoted to the Alpine Twin Theatre (its original name.) There were a few pictures of the theater. The twin auditoriums each had 325 seats in a continental arrangement. The side walls were curtained, and the back walls were faced with acoustic tile. The project was designed by Mel Glatz Associates.
The Colby was remodeled in 1971 but apparently not twinned at that time. It was scheduled to reopen on October 27, according to the October 25 issue of Boxoffice, and the opening feature would be “Big Jake” with John Wayne. There were 430 seats. The remodeling project was designed by Mel C. Glatz. I don’t know if Glatz was responsible for the shingled faux-mansard the building now sports, but the brick front with carriage lamps was part of his design.
The Colby Theatre was long run by Don Phillips, who also operated the town’s drive-in and a theater called the Lyric, which dated back to at least 1925 (then being operated by J.P. Phillips) and was open part time at least as late as 1956.
Boxoffice of October 25, 1971, has an item about Lake Theatre operator John Huebel’s intention to build a 296-seat theater next to the Lake. The two houses would have separate entrances, but would share lounge space and concessions area, and would share one box office during most of the year but would use separate box offices during the summer season.
I don’t know if this project was carried out or not, but the Boxoffice item says that the architect for the small theater, Lloyd Borget, had worked with architect Alden Dow on the original plans for the Lake Theatre in 1942, and was the architect for a remodeling of the Lake done about 1967.
I’ve been unable to find any other movie theaters designed by Alden Dow, but he was the architect of McMorran Place, a public facility in Port Huron, Michigan, which includes a small arena, a convention hall, and a 1,157-seat theater used primarily for live events but which is also equipped to show movies. McMorran Place dates from the early 1960s.
I’ve been unable to find any other theaters attributable to Lloyd Borget, either, but he did work for the Houston architectural firm MacKie & Kamrath during part of the period during which they designed several theaters in Texas.
The Lake’s web site is gone, but it now has a MySpace page.
I’d just assumed that it was a renaming that took place in 1934. The Boxoffice item didn’t give any details, and didn’t mention the name Liberty, but that’s often the case with Boxoffice items.
I found a May 14, 1949, Boxoffice item about the remodeling of the Manos that year, and it said that Victor A. Rigaumont was one of the guests at the reopening, so he was most likely the architect for the project. He did design a number of projects for the Manos circuit.
The Electric Theatre was a couple of doors north of the Liberty, in a much plainer building. It is listed at Cinema Treasures under its later name, Glockner’s Automatic Theatre.
The Kayton Theatre in Franklin opened May 8, 1946, as reported in Boxoffice of May 18. The new theater, designed by architect Victor A. Rigaumont, replaced the smaller (550 seat) Park Theatre which had burned in November, 1944, not long after a costly renovation. The Kayton’s lobby occupied the site of the Park, and the auditorium was built on formerly vacant land behind the Park’s site. On opening, the Kayton had 1037 seats. The house became the flagship of the small Kayton Amusement Company circuit.
On June 1, 1946, Boxoffice published a photo of the Kayton’s spacious auditorium, but it was printed upside down. The art moderne ceiling looked as though it would have made a splendid dance floor.
The Kayton was originally operated by a partnership consisting of Leonard T. Houghton of Franklin and Paul V. McKay of Montgomery, West Virginia, where they operated another Kayton Theatre. The partners also then operated the Avalon Theatre in Montgomery, the Orpheum in Franklin, and the Camden and Hollywood theaters in Weston, West Virginia. A Kayton Theatre the partners had operated in Grove City, Pennsylvania, at least as early as 1938 had been sold in early 1946 and renamed the Lee Theatre by the new owners.
Not especially relevant, but the history section of the Barrow Civic Theatre’s web site features the delightful observation that “…in 1991, provenance shined on Civic through the generosity of Franklin native Charles A. Barrow.” Oh, how wonderful it is when provenance shines- especially in some place more needful of its shining than, say, Rhode Island!
The Kayton at Montgomery was in operation prior to 1946, when its operators, Leonard T. Houghton of Franklin, Pennsylvania, and Paul V. McKay of Montgomery, opened another Kayton Theatre in Franklin. The Kayton Amusement Company also operated the Orpheum Theatre in Montgomery during this period.
There had also been a Kayton Theatre at Grove City, Pennsylvania, operating at least as early as 1938, but it had been sold in early 1946 and renamed the Lee Theatre by its new owners.
The July 17, 1937, issue of Boxoffice said “F. W. Rolands is about to build a 1,500-seat house at 1336 E. Main St., Columbus. General contract has been let to N. J. Mulligan, Columbus.” An August 3, 1946, Boxoffice item mentioned that “Contractors… Mulligan & Case… designed and built the Main Theatre.”
The December 25, 1937, issue of Boxoffice said that Fred Rowlands was opening his new Main Theatre in Columbus on Christmas Day. Rowlands also operated the Parsons Theatre in Columbus.
On April 3, 1954, Boxoffice said “Fred Rowlands' Main neighborhood was the first subsequent-run house here to install CinemaScope equipment.”
On January 16, 1961, Boxoffice said “Frank Yassenoff purchased the Main from Fred Rowlands and installed a reserved-seat policy for ‘Can-Can.’”
An item in the July 31, 1937, issue of Boxoffice said that J.G. Carruthers and H.M. Carruthers had bought the Guthrie Theatre from Mrs. Martha Guthrie, widow of the original owner, and would take over operation of the house on August 2. John Guthrie had opened the house ten years earlier, on August 1, 1927. The Guthrie Theatre had 870 seats at the time of the sale.
An August 7 Boxoffice item about the sale said that J.G. Carruthers had begun his theater career in John Guthrie’s Lyric Theatre at Grove City, the town’s first movie house, which Guthrie had opened in 1907. Carruthers mentioned the Guthrie Theatre’s mascot, a stuffed eagle then mounted over the foyer fireplace, which had originally been placed over the boxoffice of the Lyric and had thereafter been displayed in each of Guthrie’s theaters.
Mrs. Guthrie, who had taken over the theater after her husband’s death in December, 1934, was interviewed for Boxoffice Magazine’s issue of June 1, 1935. The article included three small photos of the theater, and said that Mrs. Guthrie (to whom it referred rather quaintly- or perhaps disturbingly- as “an exhibitress”) had recently redecorated the theater. She described it thus:
“The stage set represents a Spanish exterior, side walls treated with over drapes and backings decorated with placques copied from the ‘Guthrie’ and ‘Montgomery’ coats of arms (Martha Montgomery having been my former name.) The curtain is appliqued with a Spanish character design. The organ grilles have balconies decorated with Spanish shawls, carrying out the same scheme as the balcony of the theatre. The foyer arch and standee rail are also draped, and double doors with glass panels were also added to the foyer, as well as a fireplace which was built in. The ceiling is covered in a canopy effect. A baby grand piano refinished in antique ivory is placed on the stage. The organ has been entirely overhauled by Mr. Herman Stahl of Erie, Pa., who built it.”
The accompanying photo of the auditorium shows the expanse of fabric it sported, including the great billows suspended from the ceiling. It makes me wonder what her fire insurance must have cost, and how the place ever escaped becoming an inferno during her tenure there.
Martha Guthrie made use of her Mad Decorating Skilz later on, as the August 28, 1943, issue of Boxoffice said that she was then running an interior decoration business in Grove City. She continued to be mentioned in the magazine occasionally as late as 1948, then vanished until 1969 when the issue of July 28 carried a brief notice of her recent death. By then she had become a “former exhibitor,” rather than a former “exhibitress.”
The Oklahoma City column of Boxoffice, September 17, 1938, says this: “…a Negro house, the Jewel, 400 seater at Ardmore, being opened by P. H. James who also operates the new Jewel, Negro house, here….” That’s the earliest mention of James or the Jewel I’ve found in Boxoffice.
A brief notice of the death of P. H. James appeared in the Oklahoma City column of Boxoffice, November 15, 1965: “P. H. James, former operator of the Jewell Theatres here and in Ardmore, died in a nursing home. He also had owned and operated the Jay-Kola Bottling Co. Survivors include the wife, two daughters, two sons, a brother and one sister.”
The April 13, 1940, issue of Boxoffice said that the new Campus Theatre in College Station was expected to open in about fifteen days. It was built by Ben Ferguson and Bill Underwood, but by 1961 it was being operated by the Schulmans, operators of the theaters in nearby Bryan, Texas.
The December 2, 1939, issue of Boxoffice reported that the rebuilt Queen Theatre had opened the previous Tuesday. It was being operated by Mrs. Morris Schulman, who also operated the Palace and Dixie Theatres at Bryan. She had bought the Queen, then dark, in 1938, according to Boxoffice of October 1 that year.
An early report on plans for this theater in Boxoffice of September 3, 1973, said that it was to be a twin with each auditorium having 500 seats. The twins were to be called the Duke and the Duchess. The theater was to be operated by the Sameric Theatre Corporation of Philadelphia.
By late 1974 Boxoffice was reporting that construction on the project had not yet begun due to disputes with the city over parking requirements. The house finally opened as the Eric Twin in June, 1975, according to a later Boxoffice item.
The September 18, 1978, issue of Boxoffice said that two additional screens would be added to the Eric Easton Twin. The original auditoriums, it said, seated 665 and 352, and the new auditoriums would seat 364 and 378. The project was to be completed before Christmas that year, but an August, 1983, Boxoffice item about the planned expansion of the house to six screens said the the expansion to four screens had been completed in June, 1980.
The 1983 item said that the fifth and sixth auditoriums of the Eric 6 would have 350 and 434 seats respectively. This would have brought the total seating capacity to 2,532. I haven’t found the exact opening date for the last two screens, or confirmation of their seating capacity, but the city allowed the fifth and sixth screens to operate for thirty days in October, 1983, according to that month’s issue of Boxoffice. A final permit to operate would be contingent on the developers completing work on sidewalks, parking facilities, and some interior work on the complex.
The last mention I’ve found of the Easton Eric Six in Boxoffice was a report in September, 1988, about a taxicab that had jumped the curb and crashed into the lobby. I haven’t found either the Marquis or the Cinema Paradiso mentioned in Boxoffice at all.
This theater was opened as the Cinema I and Cinema II in 1968 by Alliance Amusements, and house the office of the circuit’s city manager. It was described in Boxoffice’s issue of August 26, not long after the opening. These were fairly luxurious theaters, featuring continental seating arrangements in rows 40 inches wide, 20x40-foot screens, and 70mm capability in the 854-seat Cinema I. Cinema II had 610 seats. Alliance then operated more than 80 theaters and five CATV systems in four states.
The August 18, 1969, issue of Boxoffice referred to the house as the Markland Twin Cinemas I & II, and said they were operated by the Cinecom Theatres Midwest States, Inc. division.
I’ve been unable to find anything about this theater between then and 1991, when the November issue of Boxoffice said that construction had begun to add two screens at the Markland 3 in Kokomo, and that the house would be renamed the Markland 5.
Photos of the Belcourt Playhouse are here in the July 8, 1963, issue of Boxoffice. The theater had recently been taken over and remodeled by Rockwood Amusement Company, and was operated as an art house. Seating had been reduced from 550 to 344. The article says the house had also been known as the Children’s Theatre after being called the Community Playhouse.
Rockwood Amusement must have operated the Belcourt Playhouse for only a year or so, as by August, 1964, Boxoffice was calling it the Belcourt Cinema and said it was being operated by the Nashville Theatre Company. In 1968 it was part of Fred Massey’s Masco circuit, and the August 26 issue of Boxoffice carried the announcement of Masco’s intention to add a second auditorium to the house. The January 20, 1969, issue listed the Belcourt Cinema II as being under construction. I’ve been unable to find an opening date.
Boxoffice of August 27, 1979, has an item about the opening of a new twin theater of 900+ seats called the World West in the Rimrock Mall. It, too, was to be a Theatre Operators house. I don’t see it listed at Cinema Treasures.
I’ve got more confusion for everyone.
There’s a December 19, 1965, Boxoffice item that contradicts some of the introduction above- saying that the Trans-Lux West was to open around Easter, 1967, that it was the Trans-Lux Broadway that was being remodeled (with plans by Drew Eberson, who had designed the Trans-Lux East) and that the Trans-Lux Broadway had opened in 1933.
Article here.
Then the April 24, 1967, issue of Boxoffice says that reconstruction had begun on the Trans-Lux Broadway, which was to reopen as the Trans-Lux West on May 22. (This Boxoffice item contradicts the earlier one by saying that the Trans-Lux Broadway had been in operation for 36 years, which would give an opening of 1931 instead of 1933. Did Boxoffice also confuse this house with the earlier one in the Brill Building?)
Article here.
I do find Boxoffice referring to this house as the Trans-Lux 49th Street in issues from 1956 and 1957, but before and after that the magazine always calls it the Trans-Lux Broadway.
Boxoffice has uploaded its archive to issuu.com. The 1978 mention of the 1863 Cinema is brief, and is the only one I’ve found in the magazine. It is simply listed among a number of theaters for which Mid America Theatre Service was doing booking and buying.
The scan is here. The mention is in the “Cincinnati” column.
The Meyerland Cinema I and II was being designed by Boston architects William Riseman & Associates, with local architect Thompson McCleary associated, according to a Boxoffice Magazine item of July 20, 1964.
William Riseman designed many multi-screen theaters for General Cinema and other companies during this period. It’s likely that all the “butterfly” style twins GC built at the time were Riseman’s work.
Boxoffice of January 4, 1965, reported that 1000 invited guests had attended the formal opening of the Cinema Theatre on December 16, 1964. The article said that Cinema 1 had 705 seats and Cinema 2 seated 1,100. The project was designed by architect William Riseman.
The January 15, 1968, issue of Boxoffice listed Redstone’s Cinema 3, with 1,140 seats, among theaters that had been opened in 1967.
The Toledo twin was not unique. An October 5, 1964, Boxoffice item said that Redstone Management was building a twin theater at Pontiac, Michigan, which “…will be identical with other Redstone projects at Toledo, Louisville, Washington, and Springfield, Mass.” All of Redstone’s theaters during this period appear to have been designed by William Riseman & Associates. The same firm designed a number of locations for General Cinema during this period, too, which probably accounts for the similarities noted by CWalczac.
The first item Boxoffice published about this theater, in 1963, gave the address where the project was to be built as 3436 Secor Road. An Internet search on that address today fetches various real estate web sites that say it is a 13 acre parcel of vacant land, being offered for sale at $7,000,000. Has the Showcase been demolished?
An article about the Laurel Theatre appeared in Boxoffice Magazine’s issue of July 2, 1949, and a photo of the theater’s lounge was featured on the cover of that issue’s Modern Theatre section.
Information about the Laurel’s architect, Frederick W. Quandt, is scant on the Internet, but Therese Poletti and Tom Paiva’s book “Art Deco San Francisco: The Architecture of Timothy Pflueger” contains the interesting revelation that Pflueger’s maternal grandfather was named Frederick Quandt. I’ve been unable to confirm a connection, but it seems possible that architects Frederick W. Quandt and Timothy Pflueger were cousins.
Quandt designed more theaters then the two currently listed at Cinema Treasures (the Stockton Theatre was the other), but I’ve tracked down only two others, and can’t confirm that either of these projects was completed. A June, 1938, report in Architect & Engineer said that Quandt had drawn plans for a theater to be constructed at Sonora, California, by Harvey Amusement.
An article in the Eugene (Oregon) Register-Guard of February 8, 1946, said that theater operator A. West Johnson had gone to San Francisco to consult with architect Frederick Quandt on the final plans for a new theater he would build at Broadway and Charnelton Street in Eugene. Construction was to begin as soon as materials became available.
There’s also a possibility that Quandt designed the Manor Theatre in San Mateo, built in 1941 for Westland Theatres, a company associated with Harvey Amusement. Other houses designed for Harvey or Westland during the 1930s and 1940s might be Quandt designs, but I’ve been unable to find any confirmation for any of them.
If anybody has additional information about Frederick Quandt please share it.
I think I had a comment on this page, too, and it’s gone. It looks as though the comments on the page all got lost in some sort of digital disaster. Blasted computers.
Anyway.
The January 2, 1978, issue of Boxoffice mentions the 1863 Cinema at Smithers, West Virginia, operated by James Kilburn.
It appears that Bill and Al Thalhimer’s Logan Theatres operated the Fountain Theatre for a while in the late 1940s-early 1950s, according to a couple of mentions in Boxoffice. I’ve been unable to find any connection between Logan Theatres and the Fountain in later issues of Boxoffice.
In fact I’ve not found the Fountain mentioned in Boxoffice later than 1955, but it’s mentioned in the May 19, 1931, issue of Exhibitor’s Forum as one of several houses that had recently installed Photophone (or Phototone) sound equipment.
Oh, wait. The Paramount is already listed. I just didn’t click the link to the second page of theaters in places called Hamilton. D'OH!
The Cummins photo collection at Lane Libraries has a photo of a demolition site captioned “Future Jefferson Theatre.” It’s dated 1901, so the theater must have been completed that year or the next.
There is also an undated photo of the house as Smith’s Theatre.
The Cummins Collection has pictures of several theaters in Hamilton, most of which are not yet listed at Cinema Treasures. The most glaring absence is the 1931 Paramount, a Rapp & Rapp design.
Boxoffice usually misspelled this theater’s name as Emcee instead of the Emsee that clearly appears on the marquee.
The August 17, 1946, issue of Boxoffice reported that the Emsee Theatre had opened on August 10. Though an earlier Boxoffice report of its construction said it would have 900 seats, the opening announcement said there were 1,062 seats. The Emsee was originally operated under lease by Roy A. Shook. The March 10, 1958, issue of Boxoffice said: “The Emcee Theatre at Mount Clemens is switching to an art film policy and being rechristened the Emcee Art Theatre.” The house was then run by Robert Vickrey’s R&V Theatres.
A page of Boxoffice Magazine’s issue of October 25, 1971, was devoted to the Alpine Twin Theatre (its original name.) There were a few pictures of the theater. The twin auditoriums each had 325 seats in a continental arrangement. The side walls were curtained, and the back walls were faced with acoustic tile. The project was designed by Mel Glatz Associates.
The Colby was remodeled in 1971 but apparently not twinned at that time. It was scheduled to reopen on October 27, according to the October 25 issue of Boxoffice, and the opening feature would be “Big Jake” with John Wayne. There were 430 seats. The remodeling project was designed by Mel C. Glatz. I don’t know if Glatz was responsible for the shingled faux-mansard the building now sports, but the brick front with carriage lamps was part of his design.
The Colby Theatre was long run by Don Phillips, who also operated the town’s drive-in and a theater called the Lyric, which dated back to at least 1925 (then being operated by J.P. Phillips) and was open part time at least as late as 1956.
Boxoffice of October 25, 1971, has an item about Lake Theatre operator John Huebel’s intention to build a 296-seat theater next to the Lake. The two houses would have separate entrances, but would share lounge space and concessions area, and would share one box office during most of the year but would use separate box offices during the summer season.
I don’t know if this project was carried out or not, but the Boxoffice item says that the architect for the small theater, Lloyd Borget, had worked with architect Alden Dow on the original plans for the Lake Theatre in 1942, and was the architect for a remodeling of the Lake done about 1967.
I’ve been unable to find any other movie theaters designed by Alden Dow, but he was the architect of McMorran Place, a public facility in Port Huron, Michigan, which includes a small arena, a convention hall, and a 1,157-seat theater used primarily for live events but which is also equipped to show movies. McMorran Place dates from the early 1960s.
I’ve been unable to find any other theaters attributable to Lloyd Borget, either, but he did work for the Houston architectural firm MacKie & Kamrath during part of the period during which they designed several theaters in Texas.
The Lake’s web site is gone, but it now has a MySpace page.
I’d just assumed that it was a renaming that took place in 1934. The Boxoffice item didn’t give any details, and didn’t mention the name Liberty, but that’s often the case with Boxoffice items.
I found a May 14, 1949, Boxoffice item about the remodeling of the Manos that year, and it said that Victor A. Rigaumont was one of the guests at the reopening, so he was most likely the architect for the project. He did design a number of projects for the Manos circuit.
The Electric Theatre was a couple of doors north of the Liberty, in a much plainer building. It is listed at Cinema Treasures under its later name, Glockner’s Automatic Theatre.
The Kayton Theatre in Franklin opened May 8, 1946, as reported in Boxoffice of May 18. The new theater, designed by architect Victor A. Rigaumont, replaced the smaller (550 seat) Park Theatre which had burned in November, 1944, not long after a costly renovation. The Kayton’s lobby occupied the site of the Park, and the auditorium was built on formerly vacant land behind the Park’s site. On opening, the Kayton had 1037 seats. The house became the flagship of the small Kayton Amusement Company circuit.
On June 1, 1946, Boxoffice published a photo of the Kayton’s spacious auditorium, but it was printed upside down. The art moderne ceiling looked as though it would have made a splendid dance floor.
The Kayton was originally operated by a partnership consisting of Leonard T. Houghton of Franklin and Paul V. McKay of Montgomery, West Virginia, where they operated another Kayton Theatre. The partners also then operated the Avalon Theatre in Montgomery, the Orpheum in Franklin, and the Camden and Hollywood theaters in Weston, West Virginia. A Kayton Theatre the partners had operated in Grove City, Pennsylvania, at least as early as 1938 had been sold in early 1946 and renamed the Lee Theatre by the new owners.
Not especially relevant, but the history section of the Barrow Civic Theatre’s web site features the delightful observation that “…in 1991, provenance shined on Civic through the generosity of Franklin native Charles A. Barrow.” Oh, how wonderful it is when provenance shines- especially in some place more needful of its shining than, say, Rhode Island!
The Kayton at Montgomery was in operation prior to 1946, when its operators, Leonard T. Houghton of Franklin, Pennsylvania, and Paul V. McKay of Montgomery, opened another Kayton Theatre in Franklin. The Kayton Amusement Company also operated the Orpheum Theatre in Montgomery during this period.
There had also been a Kayton Theatre at Grove City, Pennsylvania, operating at least as early as 1938, but it had been sold in early 1946 and renamed the Lee Theatre by its new owners.
The July 17, 1937, issue of Boxoffice said “F. W. Rolands is about to build a 1,500-seat house at 1336 E. Main St., Columbus. General contract has been let to N. J. Mulligan, Columbus.” An August 3, 1946, Boxoffice item mentioned that “Contractors… Mulligan & Case… designed and built the Main Theatre.”
The December 25, 1937, issue of Boxoffice said that Fred Rowlands was opening his new Main Theatre in Columbus on Christmas Day. Rowlands also operated the Parsons Theatre in Columbus.
On April 3, 1954, Boxoffice said “Fred Rowlands' Main neighborhood was the first subsequent-run house here to install CinemaScope equipment.”
On January 16, 1961, Boxoffice said “Frank Yassenoff purchased the Main from Fred Rowlands and installed a reserved-seat policy for ‘Can-Can.’”
An item in the July 31, 1937, issue of Boxoffice said that J.G. Carruthers and H.M. Carruthers had bought the Guthrie Theatre from Mrs. Martha Guthrie, widow of the original owner, and would take over operation of the house on August 2. John Guthrie had opened the house ten years earlier, on August 1, 1927. The Guthrie Theatre had 870 seats at the time of the sale.
An August 7 Boxoffice item about the sale said that J.G. Carruthers had begun his theater career in John Guthrie’s Lyric Theatre at Grove City, the town’s first movie house, which Guthrie had opened in 1907. Carruthers mentioned the Guthrie Theatre’s mascot, a stuffed eagle then mounted over the foyer fireplace, which had originally been placed over the boxoffice of the Lyric and had thereafter been displayed in each of Guthrie’s theaters.
Mrs. Guthrie, who had taken over the theater after her husband’s death in December, 1934, was interviewed for Boxoffice Magazine’s issue of June 1, 1935. The article included three small photos of the theater, and said that Mrs. Guthrie (to whom it referred rather quaintly- or perhaps disturbingly- as “an exhibitress”) had recently redecorated the theater. She described it thus:
The accompanying photo of the auditorium shows the expanse of fabric it sported, including the great billows suspended from the ceiling. It makes me wonder what her fire insurance must have cost, and how the place ever escaped becoming an inferno during her tenure there.Martha Guthrie made use of her Mad Decorating Skilz later on, as the August 28, 1943, issue of Boxoffice said that she was then running an interior decoration business in Grove City. She continued to be mentioned in the magazine occasionally as late as 1948, then vanished until 1969 when the issue of July 28 carried a brief notice of her recent death. By then she had become a “former exhibitor,” rather than a former “exhibitress.”