Anyone heard of the Capitol in Lincoln? Do you suppose it was never built? This story is dated 5/3/20:
Lincoln’s New Theater to Be Named the Capitol
Manager Garman announces that the new theater to be built by the Princess Amusement company, operating the Rialto, Liberty, Lyric and Sun theaters will be named after New York City’s magnificent amusement palace, the Capitol. Twenty-five of the principal cities throughout the country are now building beautiful theaters to be named the Capitol and all, including Lincoln, will present the best in motion picture art, music, stage novelties and entertainers. Not one of these theaters will seat less than two thousand, while many in the larger cities will seat over five thousand. Each theater will be equipped with a large stage and dressing rooms and be capable of playing the biggest attractions that tour the country. Work will start on Lincoln’s new theater, the Capitol in about sixty days. The location will be announced shortly.
Roger Bailey, of Patchogue, LA captured the 25-lap feature midget auto race at Candlelite Stadium yesterday afternoon. The racing program marked the close of Candlelite Stadium as a sporting arena and it will be torn down for a drive-in motion picture theater which is expected to be completed before July 1.
Part of the grandstand and all the bleachers on the left field side of the baseball diamond already have been razed. The several hundred fans who watched the midget racers yesterday sat in the right field bleachers and on the terrace.
Some hungry kids were entertained at the Rex in December 1955:
CHRISTMAS VACATION IS A DOUBLE VACATION for Safety Patrol membersâ€"from patrol duties as well as studies. Like the postman who makes his rounds in all weather, the Safety Patrol cadets guard school crossings winter and summer, rain or shine. Wednesday they started their Christmas holidays with a gala Christmas party sponsored by the Sheboygan Association of Commerce with various organizations and firms joining in to make their party a thorough success.
The 625 cadets spent two hours watching movies at the Rex Theatre in the morning as guests of The Sheboygan Press, then left the theater to parade down N. 8th St., displaying safety signs en route. Taking time out for lunch served by Jaycees at Central High School, the boys and girls ate 114 dozen rolls, 145 pounds of hot dogs, 50 cases of soft drinks, 660 ice cream bars, 660 bags of potato chips, and enough mustard and catsup to last the average family several years.
I’ve come across hundreds of drive-ins from the 40s and 50s that could be listed on CT, but the time involved would be extraordinary. Besides, there are plenty of websites with comprehensive lists of “dead theaters” if you’re interested in that area.
My mother collected green stamps from gas stations. She used to fill up her tank once a week, always for $2, and she would drive practically to another state to find someone who was giving away those stamps.
The change of ownership would probably coincide with this 1950 lawsuit:
Sues to Get Theater Sale Commission
A suit brought by the Savereide Theater Brokers, Des Moines, against Waterloo Theater, Inc., Bob Hunerberg, Robert L. Barnes, both of Waterloo, and John E. Behnke, Parkersburg, asking $7,500 for alleged breach of contract, was on file Friday in the office of Ira W. Blough, clerk of district court.
The petition alleges that on July 3 of this year the defendants sold the Waterloo theater to Glenn Dickinson of Mission, Mo., for $25,000 plus the assumption of certain other obligations in the amount of $3,000. It is the contention of the plaintiffs that the Savereide Theater Brokers had a contract with the defendants to sell the theater for $37,500 and that the $7,500 asked would have represented the commission on that amount.
The contract, according to the petition, was entered into on Dec. 19, 1949. It is alleged in the petition that the plaintiffs sold the theater to Dickinson after “he had been interested, introduced and sent to the defendants by the Savereide Theater Brokers.” It is also alleged by the plaintiffs that the sale was negotiated at Waterloo and closed at Mission, Mo., “in wilful disregard of the plaintiffs rights without any agreement with the plaintiff or without affording him any opportunity to be present at the closing of the sale. The plaintiff alleges that the $7,500 "is the reasonable commission due the plaintiff had the theater been sold at a price commensurate with its actual value.” Alfred Rothschild is attorney for the plaintiff.
4/17/56 – A Torrance theater manager and his one-armed assistant subdued an armed bandit with his own gun Monday afternoon after they had been tied with bailing wire and then released with orders to open another safe. Just after being untied, Fred Chancia, manager of the Torrance Drive-in Theater, 5503 W. Torrance Blvd., slugged the bandit on the head with an electric heater. Then one-armed Leonard Cicorio, a maintenance man at the theater, grabbed the robber’s gun and fired five shots, all misses. But it took another 20 minutes of scuffling to subdue the man.
Booked at the Lennox Sheriffs station on suspicion of armed robbery was Louis Baca, 32. Deputies said he could have escaped safely with $700 but his greed got him in trouble. After walking into the theater office and producing a .32 caliber revolver, Baca tied up Chancia and Cicorio, deputies said, after forcing the manager to open the safe. Baca calmly removed more than $700 from the safe, counted it and put it in two cloth bags. Then he became convinced there was a second safe in another roomâ€"and untied both victims, so they could lead him to it. That’s when Chancia and Cicorio turned the tables on Baca, deputies said.
Fire starting in a popcorn storage room routed 250 patrons Sunday night at the Towne Theater, 4425 Atlantic Ave. One policeman was overcome by smoke and an usher suffered a cut hand combating the blaze. The audience filed quietly out rear exits and most of the patrons were unaware that a fire was blazing in the lobby as theater personnel directed them quickly to rear exits.
USHERS Christian Lewis and Bill Stahl, who discovered the fire, isolated the flames from the audience and manned a theater fire hose until the first contingent of 20 firemen under command of Battalion Chief Harold Maas arrived. Police Officer James Allen Welch, 33, was overcome when he relieved the ushers at a fire hose. The fire started amid paper containers of soft drink flavoring and spread quickly to stacks of pre-popped popcorn.
Chief Maas said the theater lobby suffered extensive fire, smoke and water damage. However, theater manager Paul Cayler said he could see no reason why the theater vill not open at 6 p.m. today as usual.
Miss O'Hara Takes Stand in LA. Trial
Not in Grauman’s Since ‘The Robe’ in 1953, Testifies
LOS ANGELES â€"Confidential magazine’s “petting” story about her was untrue, actress Maureen O'Hara testified here today. Moist-eyed and quietly indignant, Miss O'Hara said she attended the September 1953 premier of “The Robe,” but had not been in Grauman’s Chinese Theater anytime since in 1953 or 1954. The magazine, charged with criminal libel and obscenity, reported Miss O'Hara cuddled with a Latin lover in Grauman’s Row 35 in November 1953. Miss O'Hara, who gave her name in court as Maureen FitzSimons, entered the eighth-floor Superior courtroom at 11:15 a.m. She appeared as a voluntary witness for the prosecution. Her appearance followed a court and jury inspection of Grauman’s Theater at 10 a.m. today.
THE O'HARA cuddling story has become the cause celebre of the four-week-old trial. The prosecution apparently intends to use Miss O'Hara’s denial as a major weapon in proving that Confidential printed lies.
Dep. Dist. Atty. William Ritzi finished his questioning of the beautiful, hazel-eyed actress in about 15 minutes. The preliminary questioning dealt with Miss O'Hara’s passport which showed her to be on a filmmaking trip abroad during the time of the alleged theater petting incident. It showed she left Los Angeles Oct. 6, 1953, returning Jan. 12, 1954. Defense Atty. Arthur J. Crowley began his cross-examination shortly before the noon recess.
WEARING her red hair shoulder length and covered with a white hat, Miss O'Hara was attired in a blue and white striped cotton dress. She posed graciously for news photographers at the witness stand before court resumed after the theater field trip. She told the court her September 1953 visit to Grauman’s was in the company of her brother, Charles FitzSimons.
MISS O'HARA, a witness before the Grand Jury that indicted Confidential on charges of conspiracy to commit criminal libel and circulate obscene literature, produced passports, photos and other documents to prove she was out of the country in November 1953, the month Craig said the love scene was played. She has filed a five million dollar libel suit over the March 1957 story.
The jury spent 20 minutes in the theater, examining the aisles and the two rows of loges. Judge Walker acted as director of the prosecution, motioning the cast here and there and saying “now let us go out and take a look at the foyer.”
Firemen Fail To Find Fire at Theater Showing “Face of Fire”
Firemen were called to the Capitol Theater last night during a performance of “The Face of Fire.” The alarm was not for a fire, but for an unexplainable odor that was corning from the projection booth. Firemen quickly searched the building. They discovered that the mysterious odor was coming out of the kitchen exhaust duct of the China Clipper restaurant next door and was entering the projection booth through an open window Some sort of fish was cooking, they reported.
Here is a blurb in the Van Nuys News dated 3/16/50. There was also an ad for the Cracker Barrel supermarket on the corner of Van Nuys and Burbank. I drive past that intersection quite often, but I don’t think there’s a market on that corner now.
THEATER PARTY TO BENEFIT CATHOLIC SCHOOL IN ENCINO
A theater party to raise money for the building fund of the Encino Our Lady of Grace School will be held tomorrow at 2 p.m. at the Encino Theatre, 16342 Ventura Blvd. Cowboy Slim, children’s television favorite, will be on hand to start off the program which will include a showing of cartoons and door prizes. The public, as well as school children, and their parents, is invited to attend. Tickets for the event will be on sale at the Encino Theatre. This is the first in a series of events held for the benefit of the school.
An ad in the Hardin County Index dated 8/28/53 touts the grand opening of the New Grand Theater, with a panoramic wide screen. Opening features were “Dangerous When Wet”, starring Esther Williams, “Arrowhead”, starring Charlton Heston and Jack Palance (as an Indian), “Stalag 17” and “Pickup on South Street”, a great Sam Fuller film.
TAFT, Feb. 22. The Hippodrome Theater, valued at $500,000, was destroyed by fire today along with five stores housed in the theater building. Flames were first discovered in the balcony at 2:40 a.m. and investigators theorized that a cigarette may have caused the fire. The 1800-seat theater was built 20 years ago.
Alden Brinham, a theater manager of 31 years experience, has become active head of the Reseda Theatre, 18445 Sherman Way, coming here from management of the 101 Drive-in Theater in Ventura. Owners Henry Kern and Bud Grensbach are suspending their active participation in the picture house, as Kern plans an extensive tour of Europe starting this month and Grensbach will be associated with a motion picture studio. Manager Brinham, who also has managed theaters in Santa Monica, Toledo, Ohio; Pittsburgh, Pa,, and Massilon, Ohioâ€"where he was established for 16 yearsâ€"states that some of his plans for local operation already are in effect. He stressed particularly that a juvenile officer and policeman will be on duty as usher and ticket-taker. “We wish to assure parents of the absolute safety of their children from any harm while in Reseda Theater,” he emphasized.
I’m surprised no one has commented on this, as it appears or appeared to have been quite a place.
Legal problems in the seventies:
http://tinyurl.com/3bfspm
Legal problems in 1976:
http://tinyurl.com/38nmpn
Here is the obscenity case:
http://tinyurl.com/3dbstk
Anyone heard of the Capitol in Lincoln? Do you suppose it was never built? This story is dated 5/3/20:
Lincoln’s New Theater to Be Named the Capitol
Manager Garman announces that the new theater to be built by the Princess Amusement company, operating the Rialto, Liberty, Lyric and Sun theaters will be named after New York City’s magnificent amusement palace, the Capitol. Twenty-five of the principal cities throughout the country are now building beautiful theaters to be named the Capitol and all, including Lincoln, will present the best in motion picture art, music, stage novelties and entertainers. Not one of these theaters will seat less than two thousand, while many in the larger cities will seat over five thousand. Each theater will be equipped with a large stage and dressing rooms and be capable of playing the biggest attractions that tour the country. Work will start on Lincoln’s new theater, the Capitol in about sixty days. The location will be announced shortly.
This story is dated 5/2/55:
Roger Bailey, of Patchogue, LA captured the 25-lap feature midget auto race at Candlelite Stadium yesterday afternoon. The racing program marked the close of Candlelite Stadium as a sporting arena and it will be torn down for a drive-in motion picture theater which is expected to be completed before July 1.
Part of the grandstand and all the bleachers on the left field side of the baseball diamond already have been razed. The several hundred fans who watched the midget racers yesterday sat in the right field bleachers and on the terrace.
Some hungry kids were entertained at the Rex in December 1955:
CHRISTMAS VACATION IS A DOUBLE VACATION for Safety Patrol membersâ€"from patrol duties as well as studies. Like the postman who makes his rounds in all weather, the Safety Patrol cadets guard school crossings winter and summer, rain or shine. Wednesday they started their Christmas holidays with a gala Christmas party sponsored by the Sheboygan Association of Commerce with various organizations and firms joining in to make their party a thorough success.
The 625 cadets spent two hours watching movies at the Rex Theatre in the morning as guests of The Sheboygan Press, then left the theater to parade down N. 8th St., displaying safety signs en route. Taking time out for lunch served by Jaycees at Central High School, the boys and girls ate 114 dozen rolls, 145 pounds of hot dogs, 50 cases of soft drinks, 660 ice cream bars, 660 bags of potato chips, and enough mustard and catsup to last the average family several years.
I’ve come across hundreds of drive-ins from the 40s and 50s that could be listed on CT, but the time involved would be extraordinary. Besides, there are plenty of websites with comprehensive lists of “dead theaters” if you’re interested in that area.
My mother collected green stamps from gas stations. She used to fill up her tank once a week, always for $2, and she would drive practically to another state to find someone who was giving away those stamps.
The change of ownership would probably coincide with this 1950 lawsuit:
Sues to Get Theater Sale Commission
A suit brought by the Savereide Theater Brokers, Des Moines, against Waterloo Theater, Inc., Bob Hunerberg, Robert L. Barnes, both of Waterloo, and John E. Behnke, Parkersburg, asking $7,500 for alleged breach of contract, was on file Friday in the office of Ira W. Blough, clerk of district court.
The petition alleges that on July 3 of this year the defendants sold the Waterloo theater to Glenn Dickinson of Mission, Mo., for $25,000 plus the assumption of certain other obligations in the amount of $3,000. It is the contention of the plaintiffs that the Savereide Theater Brokers had a contract with the defendants to sell the theater for $37,500 and that the $7,500 asked would have represented the commission on that amount.
The contract, according to the petition, was entered into on Dec. 19, 1949. It is alleged in the petition that the plaintiffs sold the theater to Dickinson after “he had been interested, introduced and sent to the defendants by the Savereide Theater Brokers.” It is also alleged by the plaintiffs that the sale was negotiated at Waterloo and closed at Mission, Mo., “in wilful disregard of the plaintiffs rights without any agreement with the plaintiff or without affording him any opportunity to be present at the closing of the sale. The plaintiff alleges that the $7,500 "is the reasonable commission due the plaintiff had the theater been sold at a price commensurate with its actual value.” Alfred Rothschild is attorney for the plaintiff.
Paging Richard Kimble:
One-Armed Man Helps Subdue Bandit
4/17/56 – A Torrance theater manager and his one-armed assistant subdued an armed bandit with his own gun Monday afternoon after they had been tied with bailing wire and then released with orders to open another safe. Just after being untied, Fred Chancia, manager of the Torrance Drive-in Theater, 5503 W. Torrance Blvd., slugged the bandit on the head with an electric heater. Then one-armed Leonard Cicorio, a maintenance man at the theater, grabbed the robber’s gun and fired five shots, all misses. But it took another 20 minutes of scuffling to subdue the man.
Booked at the Lennox Sheriffs station on suspicion of armed robbery was Louis Baca, 32. Deputies said he could have escaped safely with $700 but his greed got him in trouble. After walking into the theater office and producing a .32 caliber revolver, Baca tied up Chancia and Cicorio, deputies said, after forcing the manager to open the safe. Baca calmly removed more than $700 from the safe, counted it and put it in two cloth bags. Then he became convinced there was a second safe in another roomâ€"and untied both victims, so they could lead him to it. That’s when Chancia and Cicorio turned the tables on Baca, deputies said.
This article from the Harvard Crimson is dated 9/12/51:
http://tinyurl.com/34ctdb
There was a fire at the Towne in November 1961:
250 Flee From Fire in Theater
Fire starting in a popcorn storage room routed 250 patrons Sunday night at the Towne Theater, 4425 Atlantic Ave. One policeman was overcome by smoke and an usher suffered a cut hand combating the blaze. The audience filed quietly out rear exits and most of the patrons were unaware that a fire was blazing in the lobby as theater personnel directed them quickly to rear exits.
USHERS Christian Lewis and Bill Stahl, who discovered the fire, isolated the flames from the audience and manned a theater fire hose until the first contingent of 20 firemen under command of Battalion Chief Harold Maas arrived. Police Officer James Allen Welch, 33, was overcome when he relieved the ushers at a fire hose. The fire started amid paper containers of soft drink flavoring and spread quickly to stacks of pre-popped popcorn.
Chief Maas said the theater lobby suffered extensive fire, smoke and water damage. However, theater manager Paul Cayler said he could see no reason why the theater vill not open at 6 p.m. today as usual.
I did not know that. Thanks for rescuscitating him.
That’s a bit tacky, isn’t it?
Guido’s link has gone to internet heaven. Too bad.
The Grand was robbed in 1971, which apparently was big news in Keokuk
http://tinyurl.com/3x9q4u
This article was in a Long Beach paper on 9/3/57:
PETTING LIE, MAUREEN TELLS JURY
Miss O'Hara Takes Stand in LA. Trial
Not in Grauman’s Since ‘The Robe’ in 1953, Testifies
LOS ANGELES â€"Confidential magazine’s “petting” story about her was untrue, actress Maureen O'Hara testified here today. Moist-eyed and quietly indignant, Miss O'Hara said she attended the September 1953 premier of “The Robe,” but had not been in Grauman’s Chinese Theater anytime since in 1953 or 1954. The magazine, charged with criminal libel and obscenity, reported Miss O'Hara cuddled with a Latin lover in Grauman’s Row 35 in November 1953. Miss O'Hara, who gave her name in court as Maureen FitzSimons, entered the eighth-floor Superior courtroom at 11:15 a.m. She appeared as a voluntary witness for the prosecution. Her appearance followed a court and jury inspection of Grauman’s Theater at 10 a.m. today.
THE O'HARA cuddling story has become the cause celebre of the four-week-old trial. The prosecution apparently intends to use Miss O'Hara’s denial as a major weapon in proving that Confidential printed lies.
Dep. Dist. Atty. William Ritzi finished his questioning of the beautiful, hazel-eyed actress in about 15 minutes. The preliminary questioning dealt with Miss O'Hara’s passport which showed her to be on a filmmaking trip abroad during the time of the alleged theater petting incident. It showed she left Los Angeles Oct. 6, 1953, returning Jan. 12, 1954. Defense Atty. Arthur J. Crowley began his cross-examination shortly before the noon recess.
WEARING her red hair shoulder length and covered with a white hat, Miss O'Hara was attired in a blue and white striped cotton dress. She posed graciously for news photographers at the witness stand before court resumed after the theater field trip. She told the court her September 1953 visit to Grauman’s was in the company of her brother, Charles FitzSimons.
MISS O'HARA, a witness before the Grand Jury that indicted Confidential on charges of conspiracy to commit criminal libel and circulate obscene literature, produced passports, photos and other documents to prove she was out of the country in November 1953, the month Craig said the love scene was played. She has filed a five million dollar libel suit over the March 1957 story.
The jury spent 20 minutes in the theater, examining the aisles and the two rows of loges. Judge Walker acted as director of the prosecution, motioning the cast here and there and saying “now let us go out and take a look at the foyer.”
This is from the Berkshire Eagle, 10/9/59:
Firemen Fail To Find Fire at Theater Showing “Face of Fire”
Firemen were called to the Capitol Theater last night during a performance of “The Face of Fire.” The alarm was not for a fire, but for an unexplainable odor that was corning from the projection booth. Firemen quickly searched the building. They discovered that the mysterious odor was coming out of the kitchen exhaust duct of the China Clipper restaurant next door and was entering the projection booth through an open window Some sort of fish was cooking, they reported.
Unacceptable behavior:
http://tinyurl.com/2cskbv
There is another Carmike 16 in Wilmington, according to this document:
http://tinyurl.com/2yfv9e
Here is a blurb in the Van Nuys News dated 3/16/50. There was also an ad for the Cracker Barrel supermarket on the corner of Van Nuys and Burbank. I drive past that intersection quite often, but I don’t think there’s a market on that corner now.
THEATER PARTY TO BENEFIT CATHOLIC SCHOOL IN ENCINO
A theater party to raise money for the building fund of the Encino Our Lady of Grace School will be held tomorrow at 2 p.m. at the Encino Theatre, 16342 Ventura Blvd. Cowboy Slim, children’s television favorite, will be on hand to start off the program which will include a showing of cartoons and door prizes. The public, as well as school children, and their parents, is invited to attend. Tickets for the event will be on sale at the Encino Theatre. This is the first in a series of events held for the benefit of the school.
An ad in the Hardin County Index dated 8/28/53 touts the grand opening of the New Grand Theater, with a panoramic wide screen. Opening features were “Dangerous When Wet”, starring Esther Williams, “Arrowhead”, starring Charlton Heston and Jack Palance (as an Indian), “Stalag 17” and “Pickup on South Street”, a great Sam Fuller film.
The fire was on 2/22/50:
Fire Razes $500,000 Theater at Taft
TAFT, Feb. 22. The Hippodrome Theater, valued at $500,000, was destroyed by fire today along with five stores housed in the theater building. Flames were first discovered in the balcony at 2:40 a.m. and investigators theorized that a cigarette may have caused the fire. The 1800-seat theater was built 20 years ago.
From the Valley News, June 21, 1951:
Alden Brinham, a theater manager of 31 years experience, has become active head of the Reseda Theatre, 18445 Sherman Way, coming here from management of the 101 Drive-in Theater in Ventura. Owners Henry Kern and Bud Grensbach are suspending their active participation in the picture house, as Kern plans an extensive tour of Europe starting this month and Grensbach will be associated with a motion picture studio. Manager Brinham, who also has managed theaters in Santa Monica, Toledo, Ohio; Pittsburgh, Pa,, and Massilon, Ohioâ€"where he was established for 16 yearsâ€"states that some of his plans for local operation already are in effect. He stressed particularly that a juvenile officer and policeman will be on duty as usher and ticket-taker. “We wish to assure parents of the absolute safety of their children from any harm while in Reseda Theater,” he emphasized.