Mike Manos opened the Manos Theatre in Ellwood City in 1934, according to the “Ten Years Ago” feature in Boxoffice of September 16, 1944.
The May 21, 1949, issue of Boxoffice revealed that the Manos Theatre had reopened after a $70,000 remodeling. The May 28 issue gave the exact date of the reopening as May 5.
An October 15, 1949, Boxoffice item about a remodeling of the Majestic said the house had originally opened in 1917. Through most of its history, the Majestic was operated by members of the Biordi family. The web site Ellwood City Memories says that Frank Biordi operated the Majestic from either 1918 or 1921 (the page has contradictory information) until selling it in 1924, then repurchased the theater in 1936.
Andy Biordi is mentioned as operator of the Majestic in many issues of Boxoffice from the 1930s into the 1960s. Mrs. Frank Biordi was mentioned as owner of the Majestic in Boxoffice Magazine as late as 1977. Frank Biordi died on October 29, 1974, according to a notice in Boxoffice of December 16.
norelco, the Internets can help jog your memory of the date. The story of the Strand projectionist who died in the booth appeared in the November 2, 1970, issue of Boxoffice, and it said the event had taken place on Monday, October 9.
The scan of the magazine online is a bit fuzzy, but it looks like it says the unfortunate projectionist’s name was Clermont M. Zimmerman. If my given name were Clermont, I think I’d prefer to be called Harry, too.
An architect’s rendering of the proposed Texas Theatre in Kingsville was published in the July 2, 1949, issue of Boxoffice. The Texas Theatre was designed by Jack Corgan.
The Don Theatre was built in 1947. Boxoffice Magazine’s issue of December 6 that year featured an illustrated article about this strikingly modern house. The base of the facade was described as being faced with Minnesota cold water granite at the base, and the upper portion of the facade was of horizontally fluted blue porcelain, striped with aluminum.
The interior was rather severe, except for the leaf-pattern carpet used throughout the lobby and auditorium, but the auditorium had a stepped ceiling with coved lighting. The curved walls of the auditorium narrowed sharply toward the screen, and I would imagine that installing a full-sized CinemaScope screen would have necessitated removing a few front rows of seats in order to bring it far enough forward to accommodate its width. I don’t know if this was done or not, but the original proscenium would have been much too narrow to accommodate a proper wide screen.
The Don Theatre was the fifth house in the small circuit operated by Don George. According to Boxoffice it had 1,200 seats.
Boxoffice misspelled the names of the Don Theatre’s architects as Nield and Sobol once, and as Nield & Sombal once, but the correct name was Neild & Somdal. The successor firm, Somdal Associates, is now the oldest architecture firm in the state of Louisiana, founder Edward F. Neild having begun his practice in Shreveport in 1908.
Edward F. Neild, lead architect of the firm until his death in 1955, was one of the architects who worked on the reconstruction of the White House during the Truman administration, and was the lead architect for Truman’s Presidential Library, though he died before that project was completed.
It’s especially unfortunate that this theater has been demolished, as it might have been the only movie theater designed by this regionally important firm that was actually built. The Somdal Associates web site features a time line that shows a small drawing of a hotel and theater project planned for the Interstate Company, on a site on Lafayette Street in Baton Rouge, in 1931. Although the hotel was built, and is now called the Hotel King, I’ve been unable to confirm that the theater part of the project was ever completed.
Boxoffice Magazine of April 3, 1948, said that the Capitol Theatre had closed on March 31 that year. The building had been leased to Rubenstein’s Department Store and was to be remodeled for their use. The building had been converted into the theater in 1925.
I wonder if this theater could have been called the Grand at one time? The July 14, 1945, issue of Boxoffice has an item saying “Lloyd Royal of Meridian is expected to open the new Grand in Waynesboro, Miss., July 12.”
The Strand was extensively remodeled by United Paramount Theatres in 1951. The project included the demolition of a building next door to provide space for a greatly expanded facade and lobby. Boxoffice Magazine of March 3, 1951, says that Michael J. DeAngelis was the architect for the remodeling.
Jack: I can find plenty of references to the firm of Marr & Holman, formed in 1913, but I’ve been unable to find anything about an architect named Arch who was ever associated with the firm. Could somebody have been using “Arch” as an abbreviation of Architects?
It’s certainly possible that Marr & Holman designed the Woodland, as they were among Nashville’s busiest architects during the 1920s, and theaters were one of their specialties.
Beginning in the 1920s, they had a long-running contract with the Crescent Amusement Company to design all the circuit’s theaters in the Nashville region. The Woodland was definitely part of the Crescent circuit by the 1940s, and it it was built for Crescent, then it was almost a certainly a Marr & Holman design.
Here is a PDF of the nomination form seeking the addition of a number of Marr & Holman works to the National Register of Historic Places. Though it has little information about their theaters (none of which were among the buildings being nominated), it does say they designed 61 theaters over the fifty-year history of the firm, and spcifically names the Princess Theatres at Bowling Green and Murphreesboro, Tennessee, as being among them.
ziggy (Sept 16 comment above) is correct. The Midland is far too ornate to be considered Adam in style. It looks like a hybrid French-Italian interior with a Renaissance Revival exterior.
The August 3, 1957, issue of Boxoffice refers to “…Gus Kerasotes, pioneer exhibitor who opened one of the nation’s first movie theatres, the Royal at Springfield, in 1909.”
And the photo linked above does show that the building is indeed still standing.
Boxoffice of August 9, 1965, said that “Lord Jim” had opened at Storey’s new North DeKalb Theatre in Decatur. That must have been the premier feature at the theater, as the August 23 issue of Boxoffice mentioned that the house had opened “Two weeks ago….”
Two small photos depicting the North DeKalb’s marquee and lobby appeared in Boxoffice of April 17, 1967. The article was about the Storey circuit’s new Lakewood Theatre in Atlanta, and said that both the Lakewood and the North DeKalb had been designed by the same architects, the Atlanta firm of Finch, Alexander, Barnes, Rothschild & Paschal, which was fairly active in theater design about this time. Each of these theaters had 900 seats, according to Boxoffice.
The June 21, 1976, issue of Boxoffice reported that the North DeKalb Twin had opened the previous month, bringing the total number of screens operated by the Storey circuit to 21. The twinned house had 450 seats on each side, according to Boxoffice, so given that the single-screen configuration had also provided 900 seats, and some space must have been sacrificed for the new dividing wall, the new seats must have been somewhat smaller.
The June 1, 1971, issue of Boxoffice reported that Georgia Theatres had opened its new South DeKalb Twin Cinemas on May 20. Each of the auditoriums had 550 seats, according to Boxoffice. The opening features were “In Search of the Castaways” and “Cactus Flower.”
The project was designed by Atlanta architectural firm Stevens & Wilkinson. I’ve been unable to discover if any other theaters were designed by this noted firm (which is still in business, now as Stevens & Wilkinson Stang & Newdow) but they did design an office building for the Wilby-Kincey circuit in 1955.
For page update: note that former manager Stan Malone, in his comment of Jan 14, 2006, above, gives the seating capacity of this house as 1,312 after it was reconfigured as a quad in 1977.
The earliest mention of the Glen Theatre I’ve found in Boxoffice appears in the January 10, 1953 issue. The owner/operator was named William Greene. William and Lavinda Ann Greene are noted as owners of the Glen in a Boxoffice item on March 20, 1961. That is the most recent mention of the Glen I’ve found in the magazine.
Prior to 1953, William Greene is mentioned a few times as operator of the Palmetto Theatre in Palmetto, Georgia.
I’ve been unable to find any references at all to a Glenwood Theatre at Decatur in Boxoffice, though the Glenwood Drive-In is mentioned a few times.
The October 23, 1937, issue of Boxoffice said that the DeKalb Theatre in Decatur was being remodeled at a cost of $14,000. In 1937 this sum bought an entirely new front, plus the construction of a balcony that increased the theater’s seating capacity from 500 to 800. The DeKalb was then being operated by Lucas & Jenkins Theatres.
The January 17, 1953, issue of Boxoffice said “Fred Storey of Storey Theatres is closing the DeKalb Theatre in Decatur, GA., and has installed a Synchro-Screen in the Decatur Theatre.”
The DeKalb apparently opened in 1927. The September 27, 1941, issue of Boxoffice contained this brief notice: “Lucas & Jenkins' DeKalb Theatre, Decatur, Ga., celebrated its 14th anniversary this week with special programs.”
Various issues of Boxoffice from late 1971 show the McClurg Court in operation by that time. The December 20 issue, for example, reported that “Fiddler On the Roof” had done good business in its fourth week at the McClurg Court. The house had to have been open by November, 1971.
The Hippodrome was remodeled and renamed the Wabash in 1948, according to an item in Boxoffice, October 2 that year, which said the house had recently opened. Currently, the theater’s official web site gives 1949 as the year the Wabash opened.
The July 24, 1948, issue of Boxoffice had said that the remodeling was to cost about $250,000. The renovated house was to be operated as a first-run theater by Fourth Avenue Amusement Company, a Louisville-based circuit then operating several theaters in Kentucky and Indiana. The item also said that the Hippodrome had been dark for years.
A June 4, 1940, Boxoffice item mentions a Wabash Theatre in Terre Haute, operated by J.B. Stine. As later Boxoffice items mentioned the Hippodrome being renamed the Wabash in 1948, either this must have been a different theater, or Boxoffice made an error. Stine is most often mentioned in Boxoffice as the operator of the Garfield Theatre in Terre Haute.
This one is a real puzzle, and I’ve pretty much come to a dead end. I haven’t found a single reference to it in Boxoffice or any of that magazine’s predecessors. The only other reference to the Hippodrome I’ve found on the Internet is in a 1911 book (hosted at Google Books) listing an “Indianapolis Hippodrome Company” which had filed articles of incorporation at Cincinnati on April 2, 1910.
Information about this theater will probably be hard to track down. It might have been an old house that didn’t survive far into the 20th century (the 1910 incorporation doesn’t mean the theater was new in 1910. It might have been a new operating company formed to operate an existing theater.)
Or the place might have burned, as many theaters did in those days, or the land might have become valuable for other purposes, and the theater demolished, or the theater might have been renamed and the original name largely forgotten- in which case the house might already be listed at Cinema Treasures under a later name and that page simply be missing the aka Hippodrome.
I think that somebody who has access to old publications and public records in Indianapolis itself will have to research the Hippodrome before we’ll find out much more about it. It must have been listed in city directories and advertised in local newspapers, and there might be news articles about it.
The Guild was one of the world’s rare reverse theaters even before an extensive remodeling took place in 1956. After several years of successful operation as an art house (before 1948 it had been a triple-feature grind house for some years) the operators spent $70,000 on a remodeling, for which they engaged the noted Portland architectural firm of Wick & Hilgers.
The theater’s reverse auditorium was retained, largely unchanged except for redecoration, but the rest of the interior was reconfigured, with the former stage being removed to provide space for a two-level lobby and lounge area, as well as space for a curved baffle to minimize light leaking from the new lobby into the auditorium. A more spacious entrance was also provided by moving the box office.
Photos of the remodeled Guild appeared with an article published in Boxoffice of October 20, 1956. The remodeling was done over a period of six months, while the theater remained open.
According to an article in Boxoffice of November 16, 1946, the Fox Theatre in Leadville had opened as the Liberty Bell Theatre on January 1, 1917, and became part of the Fox circuit on August 1, 1935.
A 1968 Boxoffice item about a new theater then being built in Leadville said that the town had been without a theater since the closing of the Fox. This item didn’t give the date the Fox closed, but I’ve found references to it being in operation as late as 1963. I’ve been unable to find out when it reopened as the Silver City Cinema.
The 1946 article said that Fox was also then operating the Elks Opera House in Leadville, a theater which had opened as the Tabor Opera House in 1879. In addition, the article said, Fox was operating a theater at Climax, Colorado, about 13 miles from Leadville. Other issues of Boxoffice indicate that this was the 200-seat Climax Theatre, opened in late 1938 or early 1937.
According to an item in Boxoffice of March 30, 1957, Paul Volkman took over operation of the Liberty Theatre from his parents in 1933 and operated it until 1957. The purchaser in 1957 was C.A. Dunn. However, a February 21, 1953, Boxoffice obituary of Joseph Blaschke said the Blaschke had built the Liberty in 1920 and had run it until turning it over to his grandson in October, 1933.
The 1957 item mentioned that Volkman had earlier rebuilt and remodeled the Liberty. This rebuilding was covered in an October 7, 1946, Boxoffice article which said that Volkman was then in the process of rebuilding the house. The project was to include the addition of a 400-seat section of stadium seating. The wording of the article is imprecise, but the rebuilt Liberty was apparently to have 775 seats.
The article said that Paul Volkman was trained in architecture and had taught architectural drawing at the high school level, and that he had drawn the plans for the rebuilding of the Liberty, as he had drawn the plans for his second theater at Wapato, the Dickon, in 1939.
The letting of the contract for construction of what was to become the Vale Theatre was announced in Boxoffice, May 4, 1946. The new house was to be operated by Ted Wilson, operator of the Kent Theatre in Kent.
Before the Vale was completed, Wilson sold his entire operation in Kent to brothers Will and Roy Andre, operators of the Community Theatre in Tacoma, according to Boxoffice of November 6, 1946. The Vale probably opened later that year or early in 1947. The Vale was still being reported as owned by Will Andre in issues of Boxoffice as late as 1954. After that I don’t find it mentioned at all.
The El Rancho was featured in an illustrated article in Boxoffice of October 2, 1954. The style of the theater was Rustic, all its buildings being built of cedar logs and having cedar shake roofs. A photo of the concession stand showed the employees dressed in western outfits, with cowboy hats. The drive-in could accommodate 575 cars.
Boxoffice didn’t give the name of an architect, but said “The El Rancho was engineered and is being managed by Oscar L. Chiniquy who has spent 20 years with National Theatre Supply and has devoted a lot of time in advising others on how to build.”
The article gave the names of Chiniquy’s partners as Fay Honey and Lloyd Honey. Boxoffice and its predecessor Movie Age frequently mention Fay Honey, as far back as 1929 and into the 1950s. His son Lloyd Honey died in 1977, and his obituary appeared in the May 2 issue of Boxoffice that year.
The name Elton Fay appears in a brief item in Boxoffice of August 28, 1954, about the opening of the El Rancho. That is the only appearance of the name Elton Fay in Boxoffice.
The February 5, 1955 issue of Boxoffice said that Oscar Chiniquy had sold his interest in the El Rancho to William Foreman and associates.
Mike Manos opened the Manos Theatre in Ellwood City in 1934, according to the “Ten Years Ago” feature in Boxoffice of September 16, 1944.
The May 21, 1949, issue of Boxoffice revealed that the Manos Theatre had reopened after a $70,000 remodeling. The May 28 issue gave the exact date of the reopening as May 5.
An October 15, 1949, Boxoffice item about a remodeling of the Majestic said the house had originally opened in 1917. Through most of its history, the Majestic was operated by members of the Biordi family. The web site Ellwood City Memories says that Frank Biordi operated the Majestic from either 1918 or 1921 (the page has contradictory information) until selling it in 1924, then repurchased the theater in 1936.
Andy Biordi is mentioned as operator of the Majestic in many issues of Boxoffice from the 1930s into the 1960s. Mrs. Frank Biordi was mentioned as owner of the Majestic in Boxoffice Magazine as late as 1977. Frank Biordi died on October 29, 1974, according to a notice in Boxoffice of December 16.
norelco, the Internets can help jog your memory of the date. The story of the Strand projectionist who died in the booth appeared in the November 2, 1970, issue of Boxoffice, and it said the event had taken place on Monday, October 9.
The scan of the magazine online is a bit fuzzy, but it looks like it says the unfortunate projectionist’s name was Clermont M. Zimmerman. If my given name were Clermont, I think I’d prefer to be called Harry, too.
An architect’s rendering of the proposed Texas Theatre in Kingsville was published in the July 2, 1949, issue of Boxoffice. The Texas Theatre was designed by Jack Corgan.
The July 2, 1949, issue of Boxoffice has an architect’s rendering of the proposed Ben Bolt Theatre. It, too, attributes the design to Boller & Lusk.
The Don Theatre was built in 1947. Boxoffice Magazine’s issue of December 6 that year featured an illustrated article about this strikingly modern house. The base of the facade was described as being faced with Minnesota cold water granite at the base, and the upper portion of the facade was of horizontally fluted blue porcelain, striped with aluminum.
The interior was rather severe, except for the leaf-pattern carpet used throughout the lobby and auditorium, but the auditorium had a stepped ceiling with coved lighting. The curved walls of the auditorium narrowed sharply toward the screen, and I would imagine that installing a full-sized CinemaScope screen would have necessitated removing a few front rows of seats in order to bring it far enough forward to accommodate its width. I don’t know if this was done or not, but the original proscenium would have been much too narrow to accommodate a proper wide screen.
The Don Theatre was the fifth house in the small circuit operated by Don George. According to Boxoffice it had 1,200 seats.
Boxoffice misspelled the names of the Don Theatre’s architects as Nield and Sobol once, and as Nield & Sombal once, but the correct name was Neild & Somdal. The successor firm, Somdal Associates, is now the oldest architecture firm in the state of Louisiana, founder Edward F. Neild having begun his practice in Shreveport in 1908.
Edward F. Neild, lead architect of the firm until his death in 1955, was one of the architects who worked on the reconstruction of the White House during the Truman administration, and was the lead architect for Truman’s Presidential Library, though he died before that project was completed.
It’s especially unfortunate that this theater has been demolished, as it might have been the only movie theater designed by this regionally important firm that was actually built. The Somdal Associates web site features a time line that shows a small drawing of a hotel and theater project planned for the Interstate Company, on a site on Lafayette Street in Baton Rouge, in 1931. Although the hotel was built, and is now called the Hotel King, I’ve been unable to confirm that the theater part of the project was ever completed.
Boxoffice Magazine of April 3, 1948, said that the Capitol Theatre had closed on March 31 that year. The building had been leased to Rubenstein’s Department Store and was to be remodeled for their use. The building had been converted into the theater in 1925.
I wonder if this theater could have been called the Grand at one time? The July 14, 1945, issue of Boxoffice has an item saying “Lloyd Royal of Meridian is expected to open the new Grand in Waynesboro, Miss., July 12.”
The Strand was extensively remodeled by United Paramount Theatres in 1951. The project included the demolition of a building next door to provide space for a greatly expanded facade and lobby. Boxoffice Magazine of March 3, 1951, says that Michael J. DeAngelis was the architect for the remodeling.
Jack: I can find plenty of references to the firm of Marr & Holman, formed in 1913, but I’ve been unable to find anything about an architect named Arch who was ever associated with the firm. Could somebody have been using “Arch” as an abbreviation of Architects?
It’s certainly possible that Marr & Holman designed the Woodland, as they were among Nashville’s busiest architects during the 1920s, and theaters were one of their specialties.
Beginning in the 1920s, they had a long-running contract with the Crescent Amusement Company to design all the circuit’s theaters in the Nashville region. The Woodland was definitely part of the Crescent circuit by the 1940s, and it it was built for Crescent, then it was almost a certainly a Marr & Holman design.
Here is a PDF of the nomination form seeking the addition of a number of Marr & Holman works to the National Register of Historic Places. Though it has little information about their theaters (none of which were among the buildings being nominated), it does say they designed 61 theaters over the fifty-year history of the firm, and spcifically names the Princess Theatres at Bowling Green and Murphreesboro, Tennessee, as being among them.
This page still needs an update for the architects.
ziggy (Sept 16 comment above) is correct. The Midland is far too ornate to be considered Adam in style. It looks like a hybrid French-Italian interior with a Renaissance Revival exterior.
The August 3, 1957, issue of Boxoffice refers to “…Gus Kerasotes, pioneer exhibitor who opened one of the nation’s first movie theatres, the Royal at Springfield, in 1909.”
And the photo linked above does show that the building is indeed still standing.
Boxoffice of August 9, 1965, said that “Lord Jim” had opened at Storey’s new North DeKalb Theatre in Decatur. That must have been the premier feature at the theater, as the August 23 issue of Boxoffice mentioned that the house had opened “Two weeks ago….”
Two small photos depicting the North DeKalb’s marquee and lobby appeared in Boxoffice of April 17, 1967. The article was about the Storey circuit’s new Lakewood Theatre in Atlanta, and said that both the Lakewood and the North DeKalb had been designed by the same architects, the Atlanta firm of Finch, Alexander, Barnes, Rothschild & Paschal, which was fairly active in theater design about this time. Each of these theaters had 900 seats, according to Boxoffice.
The June 21, 1976, issue of Boxoffice reported that the North DeKalb Twin had opened the previous month, bringing the total number of screens operated by the Storey circuit to 21. The twinned house had 450 seats on each side, according to Boxoffice, so given that the single-screen configuration had also provided 900 seats, and some space must have been sacrificed for the new dividing wall, the new seats must have been somewhat smaller.
The June 1, 1971, issue of Boxoffice reported that Georgia Theatres had opened its new South DeKalb Twin Cinemas on May 20. Each of the auditoriums had 550 seats, according to Boxoffice. The opening features were “In Search of the Castaways” and “Cactus Flower.”
The project was designed by Atlanta architectural firm Stevens & Wilkinson. I’ve been unable to discover if any other theaters were designed by this noted firm (which is still in business, now as Stevens & Wilkinson Stang & Newdow) but they did design an office building for the Wilby-Kincey circuit in 1955.
For page update: note that former manager Stan Malone, in his comment of Jan 14, 2006, above, gives the seating capacity of this house as 1,312 after it was reconfigured as a quad in 1977.
The earliest mention of the Glen Theatre I’ve found in Boxoffice appears in the January 10, 1953 issue. The owner/operator was named William Greene. William and Lavinda Ann Greene are noted as owners of the Glen in a Boxoffice item on March 20, 1961. That is the most recent mention of the Glen I’ve found in the magazine.
Prior to 1953, William Greene is mentioned a few times as operator of the Palmetto Theatre in Palmetto, Georgia.
I’ve been unable to find any references at all to a Glenwood Theatre at Decatur in Boxoffice, though the Glenwood Drive-In is mentioned a few times.
The October 23, 1937, issue of Boxoffice said that the DeKalb Theatre in Decatur was being remodeled at a cost of $14,000. In 1937 this sum bought an entirely new front, plus the construction of a balcony that increased the theater’s seating capacity from 500 to 800. The DeKalb was then being operated by Lucas & Jenkins Theatres.
The January 17, 1953, issue of Boxoffice said “Fred Storey of Storey Theatres is closing the DeKalb Theatre in Decatur, GA., and has installed a Synchro-Screen in the Decatur Theatre.”
The DeKalb apparently opened in 1927. The September 27, 1941, issue of Boxoffice contained this brief notice: “Lucas & Jenkins' DeKalb Theatre, Decatur, Ga., celebrated its 14th anniversary this week with special programs.”
Various issues of Boxoffice from late 1971 show the McClurg Court in operation by that time. The December 20 issue, for example, reported that “Fiddler On the Roof” had done good business in its fourth week at the McClurg Court. The house had to have been open by November, 1971.
The Hippodrome was remodeled and renamed the Wabash in 1948, according to an item in Boxoffice, October 2 that year, which said the house had recently opened. Currently, the theater’s official web site gives 1949 as the year the Wabash opened.
The July 24, 1948, issue of Boxoffice had said that the remodeling was to cost about $250,000. The renovated house was to be operated as a first-run theater by Fourth Avenue Amusement Company, a Louisville-based circuit then operating several theaters in Kentucky and Indiana. The item also said that the Hippodrome had been dark for years.
A June 4, 1940, Boxoffice item mentions a Wabash Theatre in Terre Haute, operated by J.B. Stine. As later Boxoffice items mentioned the Hippodrome being renamed the Wabash in 1948, either this must have been a different theater, or Boxoffice made an error. Stine is most often mentioned in Boxoffice as the operator of the Garfield Theatre in Terre Haute.
This one is a real puzzle, and I’ve pretty much come to a dead end. I haven’t found a single reference to it in Boxoffice or any of that magazine’s predecessors. The only other reference to the Hippodrome I’ve found on the Internet is in a 1911 book (hosted at Google Books) listing an “Indianapolis Hippodrome Company” which had filed articles of incorporation at Cincinnati on April 2, 1910.
Information about this theater will probably be hard to track down. It might have been an old house that didn’t survive far into the 20th century (the 1910 incorporation doesn’t mean the theater was new in 1910. It might have been a new operating company formed to operate an existing theater.)
Or the place might have burned, as many theaters did in those days, or the land might have become valuable for other purposes, and the theater demolished, or the theater might have been renamed and the original name largely forgotten- in which case the house might already be listed at Cinema Treasures under a later name and that page simply be missing the aka Hippodrome.
I think that somebody who has access to old publications and public records in Indianapolis itself will have to research the Hippodrome before we’ll find out much more about it. It must have been listed in city directories and advertised in local newspapers, and there might be news articles about it.
The Guild was one of the world’s rare reverse theaters even before an extensive remodeling took place in 1956. After several years of successful operation as an art house (before 1948 it had been a triple-feature grind house for some years) the operators spent $70,000 on a remodeling, for which they engaged the noted Portland architectural firm of Wick & Hilgers.
The theater’s reverse auditorium was retained, largely unchanged except for redecoration, but the rest of the interior was reconfigured, with the former stage being removed to provide space for a two-level lobby and lounge area, as well as space for a curved baffle to minimize light leaking from the new lobby into the auditorium. A more spacious entrance was also provided by moving the box office.
Photos of the remodeled Guild appeared with an article published in Boxoffice of October 20, 1956. The remodeling was done over a period of six months, while the theater remained open.
According to an article in Boxoffice of November 16, 1946, the Fox Theatre in Leadville had opened as the Liberty Bell Theatre on January 1, 1917, and became part of the Fox circuit on August 1, 1935.
A 1968 Boxoffice item about a new theater then being built in Leadville said that the town had been without a theater since the closing of the Fox. This item didn’t give the date the Fox closed, but I’ve found references to it being in operation as late as 1963. I’ve been unable to find out when it reopened as the Silver City Cinema.
The 1946 article said that Fox was also then operating the Elks Opera House in Leadville, a theater which had opened as the Tabor Opera House in 1879. In addition, the article said, Fox was operating a theater at Climax, Colorado, about 13 miles from Leadville. Other issues of Boxoffice indicate that this was the 200-seat Climax Theatre, opened in late 1938 or early 1937.
According to an item in Boxoffice of March 30, 1957, Paul Volkman took over operation of the Liberty Theatre from his parents in 1933 and operated it until 1957. The purchaser in 1957 was C.A. Dunn. However, a February 21, 1953, Boxoffice obituary of Joseph Blaschke said the Blaschke had built the Liberty in 1920 and had run it until turning it over to his grandson in October, 1933.
The 1957 item mentioned that Volkman had earlier rebuilt and remodeled the Liberty. This rebuilding was covered in an October 7, 1946, Boxoffice article which said that Volkman was then in the process of rebuilding the house. The project was to include the addition of a 400-seat section of stadium seating. The wording of the article is imprecise, but the rebuilt Liberty was apparently to have 775 seats.
The article said that Paul Volkman was trained in architecture and had taught architectural drawing at the high school level, and that he had drawn the plans for the rebuilding of the Liberty, as he had drawn the plans for his second theater at Wapato, the Dickon, in 1939.
The letting of the contract for construction of what was to become the Vale Theatre was announced in Boxoffice, May 4, 1946. The new house was to be operated by Ted Wilson, operator of the Kent Theatre in Kent.
Before the Vale was completed, Wilson sold his entire operation in Kent to brothers Will and Roy Andre, operators of the Community Theatre in Tacoma, according to Boxoffice of November 6, 1946. The Vale probably opened later that year or early in 1947. The Vale was still being reported as owned by Will Andre in issues of Boxoffice as late as 1954. After that I don’t find it mentioned at all.
The El Rancho was featured in an illustrated article in Boxoffice of October 2, 1954. The style of the theater was Rustic, all its buildings being built of cedar logs and having cedar shake roofs. A photo of the concession stand showed the employees dressed in western outfits, with cowboy hats. The drive-in could accommodate 575 cars.
Boxoffice didn’t give the name of an architect, but said “The El Rancho was engineered and is being managed by Oscar L. Chiniquy who has spent 20 years with National Theatre Supply and has devoted a lot of time in advising others on how to build.”
The article gave the names of Chiniquy’s partners as Fay Honey and Lloyd Honey. Boxoffice and its predecessor Movie Age frequently mention Fay Honey, as far back as 1929 and into the 1950s. His son Lloyd Honey died in 1977, and his obituary appeared in the May 2 issue of Boxoffice that year.
The name Elton Fay appears in a brief item in Boxoffice of August 28, 1954, about the opening of the El Rancho. That is the only appearance of the name Elton Fay in Boxoffice.
The February 5, 1955 issue of Boxoffice said that Oscar Chiniquy had sold his interest in the El Rancho to William Foreman and associates.