Well, here we go. 1927 and 1928 FDYs also list the Grand, the 1928 edition giving it 211 seats. The Roscoe first appears in 1929, also with 211 seats, and the only theater listed at Roscoe that year. That definitely looks like a name change, but maybe it was more. A comment by Robert Deavers on a photo of the Grand on this Flickr page says of the original wooden theater that “[in] either 1927 or 28 it burned down and was replaced by a brick building.” Since seating capacity wasn’t listed until 1928, maybe that was the new “brick building” already in use before the name change.
As for the original Grand, the photo shows signage for Pathé Newsreels (first made in 1910,) actress Ruth Roland (who made her first movie in 1911) and Baroness Blanc’s Talking Pictures, which were a topic of discussion as early as 1911, so the photo could actually be quite early. Pathé and Ruth Roland were around through the entire silent era. Baroness Blanc was more of a nine days wonder, and I haven’t found references to her later than 1917, so the photo most likely dates from the 1910s.
robboehm: I don’t think that’s a safe presumption. It’s merely one possible explanation, suggesting one avenue of exploration. The Star might also have been on Wayne Street and become the Roscoe. The Palace and Star might both have closed and another theater of unknown name could have opened and later become the Roscoe. The only theater listed at Roscoe in the 1926 FDY is called the Grand. The Grand might have become the Roscoe. The Grand itself might have been either the Palace or the Star renamed, or Grand could have been the new name of a third theater (or a fourth or a fifth or….) And the Roscoe might have been newly opened at some point, either in a new building or a remodeled existing building. In other words, the theatrical history of Roscoe is largely still a mystery that is yet to be revealed. But at least this is a start.
The 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory listed two theaters at Roscoe; the Palace Theatre on Wayne Street and the Star Theatre, no location given.
The original National Theatre appears to have closed in late 1950 or early 1951, and the name was moved to the former Palace Theatre, which had been remodeled. This was reported in the January 6, 1951 issue of Boxoffice. Maurice Easterling then owned both houses, as well as the Mexia Theatre, opened in late 1949.
A bit of name switching took place in Mexia in 1951. The January 6 issue of Boxoffice said that the former Palace Theatre had been remodeled and reopened as the National Theatre. Both houses had been owned by Maurice Easterling, who also owned the newer Mexia Theatre.
The Mexia Theatre was in the planning stage as early as 1947, with the plans being drawn by Dallas theater architect Raymond Smith, but construction was delayed by postwar materials shortages. Boxoffice of June 28, 1948, said that construction was slated to begin as soon as long-delayed structural steel became available. Apparently there was further delay, as the recent opening of the Mexia Theatre was noted in the November 19, 1949 issue of Boxoffice. The Mexia was built for Maurice Easterling, then owner of the National and Palace Theatres in Mexia. The house opened with 680 seats.
The Liberty Theatre was advertised in the May 19, 1939 issue of the local newspaper. It had still been advertised as the American Theatre at least as late as March 26, 1937.
The American Theatre at Mexia was mentioned in the June 10, 1922 issue of Moving Picture World, along with some good advice:
“Lest You Forget
“The donkey stunt still works. Ray Stemmit, of the American Theatre, Mexia, Tex., used it lately to good advantage, the jack carrying a sign which read, ‘I am a jackass because I have not seen "Over the Hill.”’
“A better wording is, ‘I have not seen "Over the Hill,” but that’s because I’m a jackass.’“
rdimucci: Yes, the Boulevard Theatre was the first home of the Inner City Cultural Center, from its founding in 1966 until 1972. The Center moved into the former Masonic Temple at 1308 S. New Hampshire Avenue in 1972 and acquired the Ivar Theatre in Hollywood in 1986.
The Coronet opened in late 1962. It was still under construction when Boxoffice of September 3 mentioned the project in an article about twin cinemas, several of which were slated to open or begin construction over the next several months. Rugoff’s Cinema I and II down the block from the Baronet had already opened on July 25.
This item from the March 1, 1924 issue of Moving Picture World has to be about this theater, though the hotel was downsized from five stories to three before it was built:
“CADIZ, O.— Cadiz Prospect Company has plans by Hubert L. Wardner, 522 Everett Building, Akron, for five-story brick theatre, store and hotel building, 78 by 147 and 22 by 100 feet, to cost about $200,000.”
Also please note correct name, address and seating capacity provided in the previous comment by Comfortably Cool. Both the theater and the hotel have now been completely demolished, though the hotel still appears in the Google street view dated July, 2012.
This item about the new Ritz Theatre in Blytheville is from the November 14, 1925 issue of Moving Picture World:
“Got an Invite
“Mr. and Mrs. O. W. McCutcheon have been busier than ‘repeaters’ just before election day — but not in the same way, because these two up-and-doing folks have been getting the work finished up on their new Ritz Theatre, in Blytheville, Arkansas.
“They sent in an invitation to the opening. As the grand occasion was to be October 29th and the invitation just landed in the office on that day, it was too late. But from what I’ve heard of the ability of these folks, the opening was bound to be a great success.”
This web page (and the subsequent one) has a brief history and a few photos of the Romina Theatre. Some original decorative details remain in the building’s interior even now.
The same web site offers this page, with the text of an article from one local newspaper’s January 2, 1929 edition, the day before the house opened. It has a description of the theater and other details, including the name of the architect, R. E. Carpenter.
There is also this web page with the text of the article about the theater from the issue of The Forest City Courier published the day of the opening. It goes into more detail about the plans for the opening night program.
This web page is mostly about the Romina Theatre, but also says that the Griffin Theatre was opened in 1948 and operated until the summer of 1972. The theater was owned and operated by James W. Griffin Jr, whose parents owned the Romina Theatre and a smaller movie house across the street from it, the Grace Theatre.
The 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory lists no fewer than five theaters called the Lyric then operating in Philadelphia, including this one at 2nd and Morris Streets. The other four are not yet listed at Cinema Treasures (unless perhaps they are listed under later names and are missing the aka Lyric.)
The other Lyrics were at 2129 S. 6th Street; 728 Girard Avenue; 1710 Crosky Avenue; and 816 S. 10th Street.
The correct address is 104 E. Washington (I’m not sure where I got west in my earlier comment. I might have been drunk that night.) Also, the Star is not one of the two movie theater names listed at Rockingham in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory (Lyric and Wonderland) so the house was probably operated under one of those names then. A 1918 Sanborn map shows the building as “Electric Theatre”, but I don’t know if that was the operating name at that time or it was just being used by Sanborn as a generic term for a movie theater in that instance.
The Rockingham Opera House opened in 1908. Items in Manufacturers Record from early that year and late 1907 say that the house was designed by Columbia, South Carolina architect Charles C. Wilson. The listing of the Opera House in the 1909 Cahn guide says it was a ground floor theater seating 550 with a stage 50x20 featuring a 24 foot wide proscenium. A 1918 Sanborn insurance map shows a long, narrow entrance hall leading to an almost square auditorium with a horseshoe balcony.
The Opera House was not listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory, unless it was using one of the two names that were listed, the Lyric Theatre or the Wonderland Theatre. The local historical society says that the Opera House was operating as a movie house under the name Garden Theatre in the early 1920s, and that in late 1929 it was renamed the Rockingham Theatre.
A major rebuilding was undertaken in 1935, giving the house a modernized auditorium with increased seating capacity, a wider entrance, and an Art Deco façade with a new marquee. Historic aerial photos show that the building was still standing in 1956, but had been demolished by 1983.
As of the evening of December 30, most of Louisville and all of the adjacent town of Superior are under evacuation orders due to a wildfire that has burned almost 600 buildings, including a large hotel, a Target store, and more than 500 houses. No word at this hour of whether or not the theater has suffered any damage.
Here is David Zornig’s link in clickable form. We have indeed been conflating two different theaters, and apparently we’re not the only ones. The University of North Carolina’s database of architects and builders says that the Rockingham Opera House “…is probably….” the current Richmond Community Theatre, but if the Richmond County Historical Society page David Zornig linked to is correct (and it probably is), it wasn’t.
The 1935 Film Daily Yearbook does list a 400-seat house called Joe’s Theatre for the first time. The 500-seat Richmond Theatre is still listed as well. The house is listed as Joe’s Theatre through 1938. I don’t have the 1939 FDY, but the 1940 edition lists the Strand instead of Joe’s. The 1940 edition also lists the Richmond, and the Little Theatre, no capacity given, and a house called the Hanna Picket, with 300 seats. Rockingham’s leading employer then was a textile company called Hannah Pickett Mills, and I suspect that the Hanna Picket Theatre was operated by that company for its employee
A plaque on the Richmond Community Theatre says that Herman and Claire Meiselman operated the Strand Theatre from 1939 until December 17, 1976, at which time their family donated the building to the city.
As late as July, 1941, the Movie Parade Theatre advertised its location as Gordon and Sunset. By September that year it was at 1737 N. Highland. The house was open prior to 1941, as Jimmie Fidler’s “In Hollywood” column from December 20, 1940, mentioned actor Wallace Beery taking his eight-year-old daughter to the Movie Parade Revival Theatre to see one of his early comedies.
The April 7, 1958 issue of Boxoffice said that 114 formerly closed theaters had been reopened nationwide since January 1. Listed among then was the Town & Country Theatre, formerly the Penn, at Conemaugh. The house had been reopened by Joe Averi, who was mentioned again in the June 15, 1959 issue of Boxoffice, which said that he had negotiated a lease on the long-dark Smith Theatre in Barnestown [sic: it was actually Barnesboro] and planned to reopen that house the next month. Averi was then also operating the Ideal Theatre in Johnstown. Averi was still operating all three houses when he was mentioned again in the August 29, 1960 issue of Boxoffice.
The January 9, 1936 issue of Film Daily mentions Needville and Mart Cole, though the theater name is different:
“Mart Cole has taken back operation of the following ten Texas houses: Angleton, Angleton; Avalon, Eagle Lake; Cole’s, Hallettsville; Alcove, Needville; Queen, Richmond; Queen, Rosenberg; Texas, Sealy; Queen, West Columbia, and the Grand and Ritz, Yoakum.”
Well, here we go. 1927 and 1928 FDYs also list the Grand, the 1928 edition giving it 211 seats. The Roscoe first appears in 1929, also with 211 seats, and the only theater listed at Roscoe that year. That definitely looks like a name change, but maybe it was more. A comment by Robert Deavers on a photo of the Grand on this Flickr page says of the original wooden theater that “[in] either 1927 or 28 it burned down and was replaced by a brick building.” Since seating capacity wasn’t listed until 1928, maybe that was the new “brick building” already in use before the name change.
As for the original Grand, the photo shows signage for Pathé Newsreels (first made in 1910,) actress Ruth Roland (who made her first movie in 1911) and Baroness Blanc’s Talking Pictures, which were a topic of discussion as early as 1911, so the photo could actually be quite early. Pathé and Ruth Roland were around through the entire silent era. Baroness Blanc was more of a nine days wonder, and I haven’t found references to her later than 1917, so the photo most likely dates from the 1910s.
robboehm: I don’t think that’s a safe presumption. It’s merely one possible explanation, suggesting one avenue of exploration. The Star might also have been on Wayne Street and become the Roscoe. The Palace and Star might both have closed and another theater of unknown name could have opened and later become the Roscoe. The only theater listed at Roscoe in the 1926 FDY is called the Grand. The Grand might have become the Roscoe. The Grand itself might have been either the Palace or the Star renamed, or Grand could have been the new name of a third theater (or a fourth or a fifth or….) And the Roscoe might have been newly opened at some point, either in a new building or a remodeled existing building. In other words, the theatrical history of Roscoe is largely still a mystery that is yet to be revealed. But at least this is a start.
The 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory listed two theaters at Roscoe; the Palace Theatre on Wayne Street and the Star Theatre, no location given.
The original National Theatre appears to have closed in late 1950 or early 1951, and the name was moved to the former Palace Theatre, which had been remodeled. This was reported in the January 6, 1951 issue of Boxoffice. Maurice Easterling then owned both houses, as well as the Mexia Theatre, opened in late 1949.
A bit of name switching took place in Mexia in 1951. The January 6 issue of Boxoffice said that the former Palace Theatre had been remodeled and reopened as the National Theatre. Both houses had been owned by Maurice Easterling, who also owned the newer Mexia Theatre.
The Mexia Theatre was in the planning stage as early as 1947, with the plans being drawn by Dallas theater architect Raymond Smith, but construction was delayed by postwar materials shortages. Boxoffice of June 28, 1948, said that construction was slated to begin as soon as long-delayed structural steel became available. Apparently there was further delay, as the recent opening of the Mexia Theatre was noted in the November 19, 1949 issue of Boxoffice. The Mexia was built for Maurice Easterling, then owner of the National and Palace Theatres in Mexia. The house opened with 680 seats.
The Liberty Theatre was advertised in the May 19, 1939 issue of the local newspaper. It had still been advertised as the American Theatre at least as late as March 26, 1937.
The American Theatre at Mexia was mentioned in the June 10, 1922 issue of Moving Picture World, along with some good advice:
rdimucci: Yes, the Boulevard Theatre was the first home of the Inner City Cultural Center, from its founding in 1966 until 1972. The Center moved into the former Masonic Temple at 1308 S. New Hampshire Avenue in 1972 and acquired the Ivar Theatre in Hollywood in 1986.
The Coronet opened in late 1962. It was still under construction when Boxoffice of September 3 mentioned the project in an article about twin cinemas, several of which were slated to open or begin construction over the next several months. Rugoff’s Cinema I and II down the block from the Baronet had already opened on July 25.
This item from the March 1, 1924 issue of Moving Picture World has to be about this theater, though the hotel was downsized from five stories to three before it was built:
Also please note correct name, address and seating capacity provided in the previous comment by Comfortably Cool. Both the theater and the hotel have now been completely demolished, though the hotel still appears in the Google street view dated July, 2012.This item about the new Ritz Theatre in Blytheville is from the November 14, 1925 issue of Moving Picture World:
This web page (and the subsequent one) has a brief history and a few photos of the Romina Theatre. Some original decorative details remain in the building’s interior even now.
The same web site offers this page, with the text of an article from one local newspaper’s January 2, 1929 edition, the day before the house opened. It has a description of the theater and other details, including the name of the architect, R. E. Carpenter.
There is also this web page with the text of the article about the theater from the issue of The Forest City Courier published the day of the opening. It goes into more detail about the plans for the opening night program.
This web page is mostly about the Romina Theatre, but also says that the Griffin Theatre was opened in 1948 and operated until the summer of 1972. The theater was owned and operated by James W. Griffin Jr, whose parents owned the Romina Theatre and a smaller movie house across the street from it, the Grace Theatre.
The 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory lists no fewer than five theaters called the Lyric then operating in Philadelphia, including this one at 2nd and Morris Streets. The other four are not yet listed at Cinema Treasures (unless perhaps they are listed under later names and are missing the aka Lyric.)
The other Lyrics were at 2129 S. 6th Street; 728 Girard Avenue; 1710 Crosky Avenue; and 816 S. 10th Street.
The correct address is 104 E. Washington (I’m not sure where I got west in my earlier comment. I might have been drunk that night.) Also, the Star is not one of the two movie theater names listed at Rockingham in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory (Lyric and Wonderland) so the house was probably operated under one of those names then. A 1918 Sanborn map shows the building as “Electric Theatre”, but I don’t know if that was the operating name at that time or it was just being used by Sanborn as a generic term for a movie theater in that instance.
The link in my previous comment is broken, so I’ll try it again and delete if I can’t get it to work: Historical Society article.
The Rockingham Opera House opened in 1908. Items in Manufacturers Record from early that year and late 1907 say that the house was designed by Columbia, South Carolina architect Charles C. Wilson. The listing of the Opera House in the 1909 Cahn guide says it was a ground floor theater seating 550 with a stage 50x20 featuring a 24 foot wide proscenium. A 1918 Sanborn insurance map shows a long, narrow entrance hall leading to an almost square auditorium with a horseshoe balcony.
The Opera House was not listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory, unless it was using one of the two names that were listed, the Lyric Theatre or the Wonderland Theatre. The local historical society says that the Opera House was operating as a movie house under the name Garden Theatre in the early 1920s, and that in late 1929 it was renamed the Rockingham Theatre.
A major rebuilding was undertaken in 1935, giving the house a modernized auditorium with increased seating capacity, a wider entrance, and an Art Deco façade with a new marquee. Historic aerial photos show that the building was still standing in 1956, but had been demolished by 1983.
As of the evening of December 30, most of Louisville and all of the adjacent town of Superior are under evacuation orders due to a wildfire that has burned almost 600 buildings, including a large hotel, a Target store, and more than 500 houses. No word at this hour of whether or not the theater has suffered any damage.
Here is David Zornig’s link in clickable form. We have indeed been conflating two different theaters, and apparently we’re not the only ones. The University of North Carolina’s database of architects and builders says that the Rockingham Opera House “…is probably….” the current Richmond Community Theatre, but if the Richmond County Historical Society page David Zornig linked to is correct (and it probably is), it wasn’t.
The 1935 Film Daily Yearbook does list a 400-seat house called Joe’s Theatre for the first time. The 500-seat Richmond Theatre is still listed as well. The house is listed as Joe’s Theatre through 1938. I don’t have the 1939 FDY, but the 1940 edition lists the Strand instead of Joe’s. The 1940 edition also lists the Richmond, and the Little Theatre, no capacity given, and a house called the Hanna Picket, with 300 seats. Rockingham’s leading employer then was a textile company called Hannah Pickett Mills, and I suspect that the Hanna Picket Theatre was operated by that company for its employee
A plaque on the Richmond Community Theatre says that Herman and Claire Meiselman operated the Strand Theatre from 1939 until December 17, 1976, at which time their family donated the building to the city.
Nessa: Strand was an aka for the Geyer Performing Arts Center, which was originally the Geyer Opera House.
As late as July, 1941, the Movie Parade Theatre advertised its location as Gordon and Sunset. By September that year it was at 1737 N. Highland. The house was open prior to 1941, as Jimmie Fidler’s “In Hollywood” column from December 20, 1940, mentioned actor Wallace Beery taking his eight-year-old daughter to the Movie Parade Revival Theatre to see one of his early comedies.
The April 7, 1958 issue of Boxoffice said that 114 formerly closed theaters had been reopened nationwide since January 1. Listed among then was the Town & Country Theatre, formerly the Penn, at Conemaugh. The house had been reopened by Joe Averi, who was mentioned again in the June 15, 1959 issue of Boxoffice, which said that he had negotiated a lease on the long-dark Smith Theatre in Barnestown [sic: it was actually Barnesboro] and planned to reopen that house the next month. Averi was then also operating the Ideal Theatre in Johnstown. Averi was still operating all three houses when he was mentioned again in the August 29, 1960 issue of Boxoffice.
The Ideal was reopened in the late 1950s by Joe Averi, who adopted an art policy at the house in 1960, as noted in the August 29 issue of Boxoffice.
The January 9, 1936 issue of Film Daily mentions Needville and Mart Cole, though the theater name is different: