Seth, the 1914-1915 Gus Hill directory says that the Library Theatre “Plays R. V. P.” meaning Road Shows, Vaudeville, and Pictures. They also had concerts, as I came across a listing of a matinee performance there by the John Philip Sousa band in 1913.
Here is an item from the April 19, 1919 issue of The American Contractor: “Punxsutawney, Pa. -М. Р. Theater: $18,000. 1 sty. 40x150. Archt. H. S. Bair, Vandergrift bldg., Pittsburgh, Pa. Owner James Crivello, Punxsutawney. Sketches.”
If the project was still at the sketch stage in April, 1919, the house probably wasn’t opened for several months. Mr. Crivello didn’t get to run his theater for long, as ill health forced him to lease the Alpine to his rivals McCartney and Johnson about a year after the above notice appeared.
Could the Majestic have moved in 1918? This item appeared in the June 8 issue of Moving Picture World that year: “PUNXSUTAWNEY, PA. — Drummond building will be converted into moving picture theater to be known as the Majestic.” As the house was reported being renovated in 1917 it seems extravagant to move, unless they badly needed more space, for example. I’ve found nothing else about the event though, so perhaps it fell through, or the item was simply mistaken.
The Eden Palace is also mentioned in the December 7, 1907 Billboard. The problem is that the 1906 and 1912 Sanborn maps of Punxsutawney show a wood framed building occupied by a dwelling and three small spaces serving as stores or (one of them in 1912) an office. Perhaps a theater could have been installed in some part of this odd space, but if so it didn’t last for long.
The April, 1911 issue of Motography said “[t]he Gem moving picture theater was recently opened at Punxsutawney under the management of Harry P. Hillard.” As no other unidentified theaters appear on the 1912 Sanborn map, The house at 109 E. Mahoning must have been the Gem.
Seth, the April, 1911 issue of Motogrpahy notes the opening of the Gem Theatre at Punxsutawney, so if this address was a wooden house in 1912, the Gem was somewhere else.
The June 13, 1925 issue of Moving Picture World said that the Majestic and Jefferson theaters at Punxsutawney had been added to the Rowland & Clark chain. They were among four houses purchased from McCartney, Johnson and Kurtz, the other two being the Strand at Ridgeway and the Ritz at Indiana.
Additional information appeared in the October 13, 1917 Dramatic Mirror: “PUNXSUTAWNEY, PA. (Special). -Peter Johnson recently acquired a part ownership in the Majestic Theater with W. Penn McCartney. McCartney had been the sole owner and manager for a number of years. Since the partnership was formed the Majestic has been entirely renovated both inside and out, and a new pipe organ has been installed at considerable expense, and as a result business has been on the boom. Now that these two have bought the Jefferson Theater, with a seating capacity of 1,300, they are assured of getting the theatrical business of Punxsutawney.”
The June 13, 1925 issue of Moving Picture World said that the Majestic and Jefferson theaters at Punxsutawney had been added to the Rowland & Clark chain.
As the house that opened as the Vernon theatre was reported to be under construction in the April 9, 1938 issue of Film Daily, the Lyric had to have been closed and demolished by early 1938 or maybe late 1937. The editors of Film Daily’s Year Books were not very good at keeping their lists up-to-date, though that might have been at least partly the fault of the theater owners, who certainly had the option of informing the publishers of any changes.
After General Cinema, this drive-in was operated by Cinemette, but for only two years. The August 9, 1976 issue of Boxoffice said that manager Gary E. Witt had taken over as an independent operator.
I wonder what delayed the opening of the Cinemette South? The November 19, 1973 issue of Boxoffice said that the Cinemette South was completed and equipped, and ready for opening. Yet the grand opening ad in the Post-Gazette did not appear until June 26, 1974, about seven months later.
I got turned around when checking the map for my earlier comment. The Lyric and Vernon were at the southwest corner of the square, of course, not the southeast, and the Grand was on the east side of the square at the corner of High Street, not Main.
Thanks to r1zr1z1 for confirming the complete demolition of the old Lyric. It deserves its own Cinema Treasures page.
In an odd coincidence, the address 232-234 S. Main Street is shown as being occupied by “Motion Pictures” on the 1913 Sanborn map of Mount Vernon. All the theaters listed at Mount Vernon in the 1914-1915 AMPD were at other addresses, so whatever house was at this location didn’t last long. I don’t know when the building that housed the nameless theater was demolished, but it might have been torn down for the Colonial Cinemas project.
The 1914-1915 AMPD lists five movie theaters at Mount Vernon, two of them on the public square, but with no numbers given. The 1913 Sanborn map of Mount Vernon shows two theaters on the square: the Grand, on the east side of the north corner of the square with Main Street, address 1 Public Square; and a house labeled “Motion Pictures” at 19 Public Square, which would be the southeast corner of the square. By process of elimination, this had to have been the house listed in the AMPD as the Lyric Theatre. The Lyric was still listed in the FDY in 1938, the year the Vernon was built at the same address. Like its replacement, the Lyric was part of the Schine circuit.
What I haven’t been able to discover is if the Vernon was entirely new construction, or if it incorporated part of the Lyric Theatre’s building. The entrance of the Vernon was exactly where the entrance of the Lyric would have been, and in the photos of the Vernon the entrance doesn’t look old at all, so it might be that the Lyric, which was last listed with only 229 seats, was entirely demolished (except perhaps for the common sidewall it probably shared with the neighboring building.)
News about the Vine Theatre appeared in Moving Picture World of May 14,1937: “Harry Smoots is now sole owner of the Vine Theatre, Mount Vernon, Ohio, having purchased the interests of F. J. Harris. The partnership of Harris and Smoots has existed for nine years with Harry Smoots active in the management of the theatre to which he has devoted all his time since March, 1926, when he sold other business interests to give his whole heart to the theatre activity. While there will be, Mr. Smoots announces, no change in the personnel of the theatre staff, there are to be a number of improvements.”
I’m pretty sure that the Biola Theatre was at 12553 G Street. this page from the real estate site Compass shows a rather theatrical façade on a building of 5985 square feet, built in 1948. The property is not on the market. Google street view shows one storefront occupied by an AA facility, but there’s no indication of what might be in the remainder of the building, which nevertheless appears to be in fairly good shape.
A tantalizing obsolete web page at an estate sale site lists items being sold at auction from “…an old movie theater crammed full of goodies, Antiques, Advertising, Classic autos, and more. Items stored away for decades.” The site was in Biola, California, so it had to be this theater. The theater must have served as storage for some dealer or collector who is no longer active. The auction page is undated, and no longer displays the theater’s address, but I’m pretty sure this is it.
One more bit I came across is that the Biola Theatre was designed by the Fresno consulting engineering firm of Johnson & Moore, who also designed the Azteca Theatre in Fresno. Designer J. C. Johnson was an English-born architect who did not have credentials to practice in the United States, and thus partnered with licensed engineer Moore.
The NRHP registration form for the Azteca Theatre (PDF here) says that the building was designed by the Fresno firm of Johnson & Moore, Consulting Engineers. The designer was J. C. Johnson, an English-born architect who was not credentialed in the United States, necessitating his partnership with licensed engineer Moore. The firm is also credited with designing the Biola Theatre in Biola, California, and with alterations to the Warnor’s Theatre in Fresno.
The October 17, 1953 issue of Motion Picture Herald had this item about the Marco Theatre: “Charles Reynolds, manager of the Marco
theatre, Waterford, Calif., and frequent contributor to ‘What the Picture Did For ME’ — running a magic show on stage as a special attraction.”
The September 24, 1955 issue of Boxoffice said that F. L. and Hazel Reese had recently bought the Marco Theatre from Charles Reynolds. Another item datelined Waterford in the same issue said that “[t]he Marco Theatre has been reopened here over Slaughter’s Market, with F. L. Rees and son managing the house. Admission prices have been reduced to 50 cents, 40 cents and 20 cents.”
The line “over Slaughter’s Market” was a bit puzzling, given that upstairs theaters had been largely phased out in California well before the 1950s. I was unable to find anything about Slaughter’s Market, but a local Facebook page has a post headed “you remember the theater above pizza plus…the old vally food center”…. One comment said “Marco Theater!” and the other said “Yes, I went there when I was a kid and got a bag of candy and an apple and orange from Santa!”
As strange as it seems, the Marco Theatre must have been upstairs in the building now housing the Pizza Plus at 12705 Bentley Street. Couchman Community Hall must have occupied the upper floor of the building, which the parapet says is called the Gordon Block. As seen in the current Google street view, the former theater space is occupied by the resource center of a charter school, with its entrance at the west end of the building on E Street, though search gives the address as that of the pizza parlor, 12705 Bentley. Google street view approximates the address as 301 N. E Street, but it might be easiest to simply list the theater at Bentley Street and E Street, if Apple Maps can handle it.
This Facebook page has a discussion about the Round Mountain Theatre among long-time Covelo residents. A number of the comments mention the Tuttles. It’s not easy to puzzle out details from all the (sometimes conflicting) memories, but what is clear is that the theater was in the 76300 block of Main Street. Either before or after the building was moved it was next door to what is now Eel River Charter School, which is at 76350 Main.
The theater, which had wooden seats, was a large redwood building which, after its theater days, may have been a church for a while, then the offices of a publishing company, and finally a building supply store. It eventually burned down. The Facebook post has a photo of the entrance area (there were wooden stairs up to a narrow porch), but you can’t tell much from it.
The 1914 Gus Hill directory lists the Grand Opera House at Anthony as playing only roadshows. By that year it was listing most small town theaters as showing both R (roadshows) and P (pictures.) It is also listed with only 650 seats. It might be that the gallery had been abandoned.
The 1929 FDY lists the Novelty and a house called the Palace at Anthony, each with 400 seats. I wonder if Palace could have been an aka for the old Opera House?
This item appeared in the January 10, 1947 issue of Film Daily: “Washburn, Ill.— A. Terria will open the Washburn Theater with National Theatre Supply equipment.” The 350-seat Washburn Theatre is the only house listed at Washburn, Illinois, in the 1950 FDY. The listing is the same in 1951 and 1952. I have no access to more recent editions. I suppose Bonny Theatre might have been a brief renaming, or maybe the FDY just missed the change.
Noting Brassman’s second comment earlier, about the Parke Beatty Theatre having moved into this building around 1921, I think the 650-seat Park Theatre listed in the 1929 and 1930 FDYs must be the same house. I’ve found the Park advertised in the local paper as early as August, 1922 and as late as May, 1930, and it’s listed in the 1926 FDY, but with only 300 seats.
Oddly, only a 650-seat Opera House is listed at Carrollton in the 1927 and 1928 FDYs. That was the name of an older theater on North (now Second) Street, which according to the 1914 Gus Hill directory had been showing movies at least that early, and was advertising in the local paper into the early 1920s. I don’t know if the Park was expanded and adopted the name Opera House in 1927, or if the old Opera House was reopened that year and the Park only expanded later, but one or the other must have happened. The 650-seat Park is last listed in 1930, and the 700-seat Virginia appears alone in 1931.
The most recent Sanborn map of Carrollton available is from 1921, and the space at 81 W. Main Street is still a barber shop on the ground floor of the three-story Colonial Hotel. Behind the barber shop was a generous vacant area, which is where the theater’s auditorium building is in modern satellite views. It seems most likely that the Park, which probably opened in 1922 and was later expanded from 3oo to 650 seats, became the Virginia, and did so sometime before the end of 1931.
Joe Vogel
commented about
Workzon
Jun 9, 2026 at 6:34 pm
The September 4, 1924 issue of The Free Press-Standard of Carrollton, Ohio, ran an article about the opening of a new theater at Cuyahoga Falls the previous night. Though the name of the house was not mentioned, it was probably the Falls. Some Carrollton citizens who had been involved in the project had attended the opening of the $125,000 theater, which the developers had sold to M. B. Horwick of Cleveland, operator of a chain of eleven movie houses. The article mentioned a “mammoth pipe organ,” and said the stage of the new theatre was suitable for the presentation of plays. The Falls Theatre was listed in the 1926 FDY with 800 seats.
Seth, the 1914-1915 Gus Hill directory says that the Library Theatre “Plays R. V. P.” meaning Road Shows, Vaudeville, and Pictures. They also had concerts, as I came across a listing of a matinee performance there by the John Philip Sousa band in 1913.
From the May 15, 1910 issue of The Nickelodeon: “CORRY, PA.-The Amuse-U, a new moving picture theater, has been opened in this city by I. Davis.”
Here is an item from the April 19, 1919 issue of The American Contractor: “Punxsutawney, Pa. -М. Р. Theater: $18,000. 1 sty. 40x150. Archt. H. S. Bair, Vandergrift bldg., Pittsburgh, Pa. Owner James Crivello, Punxsutawney. Sketches.”
If the project was still at the sketch stage in April, 1919, the house probably wasn’t opened for several months. Mr. Crivello didn’t get to run his theater for long, as ill health forced him to lease the Alpine to his rivals McCartney and Johnson about a year after the above notice appeared.
The Gem was still open in 1919, when it was mentioned in the March 1 issue of Moving Picture World.
Could the Majestic have moved in 1918? This item appeared in the June 8 issue of Moving Picture World that year: “PUNXSUTAWNEY, PA. — Drummond building will be converted into moving picture theater to be known as the Majestic.” As the house was reported being renovated in 1917 it seems extravagant to move, unless they badly needed more space, for example. I’ve found nothing else about the event though, so perhaps it fell through, or the item was simply mistaken.
The Eden Palace is also mentioned in the December 7, 1907 Billboard. The problem is that the 1906 and 1912 Sanborn maps of Punxsutawney show a wood framed building occupied by a dwelling and three small spaces serving as stores or (one of them in 1912) an office. Perhaps a theater could have been installed in some part of this odd space, but if so it didn’t last for long.
The April, 1911 issue of Motography said “[t]he Gem moving picture theater was recently opened at Punxsutawney under the management of Harry P. Hillard.” As no other unidentified theaters appear on the 1912 Sanborn map, The house at 109 E. Mahoning must have been the Gem.
Seth, the April, 1911 issue of Motogrpahy notes the opening of the Gem Theatre at Punxsutawney, so if this address was a wooden house in 1912, the Gem was somewhere else.
The June 13, 1925 issue of Moving Picture World said that the Majestic and Jefferson theaters at Punxsutawney had been added to the Rowland & Clark chain. They were among four houses purchased from McCartney, Johnson and Kurtz, the other two being the Strand at Ridgeway and the Ritz at Indiana.
Additional information appeared in the October 13, 1917 Dramatic Mirror: “PUNXSUTAWNEY, PA. (Special). -Peter Johnson recently acquired a part ownership in the Majestic Theater with W. Penn McCartney. McCartney had been the sole owner and manager for a number of years. Since the partnership was formed the Majestic has been entirely renovated both inside and out, and a new pipe organ has been installed at considerable expense, and as a result business has been on the boom. Now that these two have bought the Jefferson Theater, with a seating capacity of 1,300, they are assured of getting the theatrical business of Punxsutawney.”
The June 13, 1925 issue of Moving Picture World said that the Majestic and Jefferson theaters at Punxsutawney had been added to the Rowland & Clark chain.
As the house that opened as the Vernon theatre was reported to be under construction in the April 9, 1938 issue of Film Daily, the Lyric had to have been closed and demolished by early 1938 or maybe late 1937. The editors of Film Daily’s Year Books were not very good at keeping their lists up-to-date, though that might have been at least partly the fault of the theater owners, who certainly had the option of informing the publishers of any changes.
After General Cinema, this drive-in was operated by Cinemette, but for only two years. The August 9, 1976 issue of Boxoffice said that manager Gary E. Witt had taken over as an independent operator.
I wonder what delayed the opening of the Cinemette South? The November 19, 1973 issue of Boxoffice said that the Cinemette South was completed and equipped, and ready for opening. Yet the grand opening ad in the Post-Gazette did not appear until June 26, 1974, about seven months later.
I got turned around when checking the map for my earlier comment. The Lyric and Vernon were at the southwest corner of the square, of course, not the southeast, and the Grand was on the east side of the square at the corner of High Street, not Main.
Thanks to r1zr1z1 for confirming the complete demolition of the old Lyric. It deserves its own Cinema Treasures page.
In an odd coincidence, the address 232-234 S. Main Street is shown as being occupied by “Motion Pictures” on the 1913 Sanborn map of Mount Vernon. All the theaters listed at Mount Vernon in the 1914-1915 AMPD were at other addresses, so whatever house was at this location didn’t last long. I don’t know when the building that housed the nameless theater was demolished, but it might have been torn down for the Colonial Cinemas project.
The 1914-1915 AMPD lists five movie theaters at Mount Vernon, two of them on the public square, but with no numbers given. The 1913 Sanborn map of Mount Vernon shows two theaters on the square: the Grand, on the east side of the north corner of the square with Main Street, address 1 Public Square; and a house labeled “Motion Pictures” at 19 Public Square, which would be the southeast corner of the square. By process of elimination, this had to have been the house listed in the AMPD as the Lyric Theatre. The Lyric was still listed in the FDY in 1938, the year the Vernon was built at the same address. Like its replacement, the Lyric was part of the Schine circuit.
What I haven’t been able to discover is if the Vernon was entirely new construction, or if it incorporated part of the Lyric Theatre’s building. The entrance of the Vernon was exactly where the entrance of the Lyric would have been, and in the photos of the Vernon the entrance doesn’t look old at all, so it might be that the Lyric, which was last listed with only 229 seats, was entirely demolished (except perhaps for the common sidewall it probably shared with the neighboring building.)
News about the Vine Theatre appeared in Moving Picture World of May 14,1937: “Harry Smoots is now sole owner of the Vine Theatre, Mount Vernon, Ohio, having purchased the interests of F. J. Harris. The partnership of Harris and Smoots has existed for nine years with Harry Smoots active in the management of the theatre to which he has devoted all his time since March, 1926, when he sold other business interests to give his whole heart to the theatre activity. While there will be, Mr. Smoots announces, no change in the personnel of the theatre staff, there are to be a number of improvements.”
I’m pretty sure that the Biola Theatre was at 12553 G Street. this page from the real estate site Compass shows a rather theatrical façade on a building of 5985 square feet, built in 1948. The property is not on the market. Google street view shows one storefront occupied by an AA facility, but there’s no indication of what might be in the remainder of the building, which nevertheless appears to be in fairly good shape.
A tantalizing obsolete web page at an estate sale site lists items being sold at auction from “…an old movie theater crammed full of goodies, Antiques, Advertising, Classic autos, and more. Items stored away for decades.” The site was in Biola, California, so it had to be this theater. The theater must have served as storage for some dealer or collector who is no longer active. The auction page is undated, and no longer displays the theater’s address, but I’m pretty sure this is it.
One more bit I came across is that the Biola Theatre was designed by the Fresno consulting engineering firm of Johnson & Moore, who also designed the Azteca Theatre in Fresno. Designer J. C. Johnson was an English-born architect who did not have credentials to practice in the United States, and thus partnered with licensed engineer Moore.
The NRHP registration form for the Azteca Theatre (PDF here) says that the building was designed by the Fresno firm of Johnson & Moore, Consulting Engineers. The designer was J. C. Johnson, an English-born architect who was not credentialed in the United States, necessitating his partnership with licensed engineer Moore. The firm is also credited with designing the Biola Theatre in Biola, California, and with alterations to the Warnor’s Theatre in Fresno.
The October 17, 1953 issue of Motion Picture Herald had this item about the Marco Theatre: “Charles Reynolds, manager of the Marco theatre, Waterford, Calif., and frequent contributor to ‘What the Picture Did For ME’ — running a magic show on stage as a special attraction.”
The September 24, 1955 issue of Boxoffice said that F. L. and Hazel Reese had recently bought the Marco Theatre from Charles Reynolds. Another item datelined Waterford in the same issue said that “[t]he Marco Theatre has been reopened here over Slaughter’s Market, with F. L. Rees and son managing the house. Admission prices have been reduced to 50 cents, 40 cents and 20 cents.”
The line “over Slaughter’s Market” was a bit puzzling, given that upstairs theaters had been largely phased out in California well before the 1950s. I was unable to find anything about Slaughter’s Market, but a local Facebook page has a post headed “you remember the theater above pizza plus…the old vally food center”…. One comment said “Marco Theater!” and the other said “Yes, I went there when I was a kid and got a bag of candy and an apple and orange from Santa!”
As strange as it seems, the Marco Theatre must have been upstairs in the building now housing the Pizza Plus at 12705 Bentley Street. Couchman Community Hall must have occupied the upper floor of the building, which the parapet says is called the Gordon Block. As seen in the current Google street view, the former theater space is occupied by the resource center of a charter school, with its entrance at the west end of the building on E Street, though search gives the address as that of the pizza parlor, 12705 Bentley. Google street view approximates the address as 301 N. E Street, but it might be easiest to simply list the theater at Bentley Street and E Street, if Apple Maps can handle it.
This Facebook page has a discussion about the Round Mountain Theatre among long-time Covelo residents. A number of the comments mention the Tuttles. It’s not easy to puzzle out details from all the (sometimes conflicting) memories, but what is clear is that the theater was in the 76300 block of Main Street. Either before or after the building was moved it was next door to what is now Eel River Charter School, which is at 76350 Main.
The theater, which had wooden seats, was a large redwood building which, after its theater days, may have been a church for a while, then the offices of a publishing company, and finally a building supply store. It eventually burned down. The Facebook post has a photo of the entrance area (there were wooden stairs up to a narrow porch), but you can’t tell much from it.
The 1914 Gus Hill directory lists the Grand Opera House at Anthony as playing only roadshows. By that year it was listing most small town theaters as showing both R (roadshows) and P (pictures.) It is also listed with only 650 seats. It might be that the gallery had been abandoned.
The 1929 FDY lists the Novelty and a house called the Palace at Anthony, each with 400 seats. I wonder if Palace could have been an aka for the old Opera House?
This item appeared in the January 10, 1947 issue of Film Daily: “Washburn, Ill.— A. Terria will open the Washburn Theater with National Theatre Supply equipment.” The 350-seat Washburn Theatre is the only house listed at Washburn, Illinois, in the 1950 FDY. The listing is the same in 1951 and 1952. I have no access to more recent editions. I suppose Bonny Theatre might have been a brief renaming, or maybe the FDY just missed the change.
Noting Brassman’s second comment earlier, about the Parke Beatty Theatre having moved into this building around 1921, I think the 650-seat Park Theatre listed in the 1929 and 1930 FDYs must be the same house. I’ve found the Park advertised in the local paper as early as August, 1922 and as late as May, 1930, and it’s listed in the 1926 FDY, but with only 300 seats.
Oddly, only a 650-seat Opera House is listed at Carrollton in the 1927 and 1928 FDYs. That was the name of an older theater on North (now Second) Street, which according to the 1914 Gus Hill directory had been showing movies at least that early, and was advertising in the local paper into the early 1920s. I don’t know if the Park was expanded and adopted the name Opera House in 1927, or if the old Opera House was reopened that year and the Park only expanded later, but one or the other must have happened. The 650-seat Park is last listed in 1930, and the 700-seat Virginia appears alone in 1931.
The most recent Sanborn map of Carrollton available is from 1921, and the space at 81 W. Main Street is still a barber shop on the ground floor of the three-story Colonial Hotel. Behind the barber shop was a generous vacant area, which is where the theater’s auditorium building is in modern satellite views. It seems most likely that the Park, which probably opened in 1922 and was later expanded from 3oo to 650 seats, became the Virginia, and did so sometime before the end of 1931.
The September 4, 1924 issue of The Free Press-Standard of Carrollton, Ohio, ran an article about the opening of a new theater at Cuyahoga Falls the previous night. Though the name of the house was not mentioned, it was probably the Falls. Some Carrollton citizens who had been involved in the project had attended the opening of the $125,000 theater, which the developers had sold to M. B. Horwick of Cleveland, operator of a chain of eleven movie houses. The article mentioned a “mammoth pipe organ,” and said the stage of the new theatre was suitable for the presentation of plays. The Falls Theatre was listed in the 1926 FDY with 800 seats.