Here is an article from the 4/4/51 edition of the Long Beach Press Telegram:
Circle Drive-in Opens Tonight
HAILED as the most modern of its type in the nation, the new Circle Drive-In theater will be opened to the public tonight. The theater, located on 15 acres at Pacific Coast Hwy. at the Traffic Circle, will hold a benefit premiere tonight and those who saw a test last night were strong in praise for the huge screen and near-perfect sound offered. Two good films, “Stage to Tucson” and “Raton Pass”
plus news and comics, are offered on the opening bill.
Tonight’s opening culminates more than a year of planning and work. Owned and operated by Eagle Theaters Corp., headed by Thornton Howell, with his brother, James Howell, as secretary-treasurer, the Circle Drive-in is the fourth such theater opened by them. The Long Beach theater imbodies not only all of the main points of their other driveins but many new features. Barnie Warrick, manager, says
the new theater has the largest screen of any in the country. The
picture itself will be 70 feet by 46 feet.
The projector is the latest in equipment from RCA. Each aisle is equipped with ramp lights and each speaker post has a pilot light. In addition the posts are covered with luminous paint. There is parking-viewing space for 1000 motor cars. The snack bar has 85 feet of counter space and is designed for speed in serving. There are two
16-foot windows from the snack bar overlooking the screen and the interior is wired for sound so that visitors in there will not
miss any of the film. It is planned to install playground equipment of all kinds shortly for the entertainment of tots either before or during the shows. The show will start each evening at dusk and the gates will be opened an hour before. Music will be provided on the speakers until the picture starts. Pets are welcomed but must be kept in the cars.
Warren, I would be curious to know if you are scanning these ads to get them onto photobucket. I have access to a newspaper archive website, but the pages are only in pdf format, which means I can’t upload them onto photobucket. I tried posting the pages directly on CT, but the links fail after an hour or so.
Not so mysterious, I don’t think. The Los Angeles is the Lyceum, which is listed on CT. I imagine the Empress would also be an aka for the Los Angeles/Orpheum/Lyceum.
On September 20, 1920, the Isis was showing “Food for Scandal” with Wanda Hawley and Harrison Ford (that’s what it says). Wanda received top billing, of course, which most likely left Harrison pretty ticked.
That link is long gone. The theaters in Fort Wayne on 11/5/22 were the Lyric, Jefferson, Orpheum, Strand, Palace, Hippodrome, Creighton, Transfer and Grand.
An MGM film called “The Unfinished Dance” with Danny Thomas and Margaret O'Brien was playing at the Barnum on 11/16/47. Other theaters advertised that day were the Colonial, Rivoli, Black Rock, West End, Brooklawn, Stratford, Bostwick, Community, Lyric and E.M. Loew’s Milford Open-Air Drive In.
Here are excerpts from a 1962 article in the Pasadena Independent which discusses early theaters in Los Angeles:
So, without overture, let’s raise the curtain on a period around 1912. The Mason Opera House, Broadway near First, was a favorite for road shows and notable stars. Flashing back to before the turn of the century in Los Angeles, the former Child’s Opera House, Main near First, was housing Orpheum vaudeville. Later known as The Grand, “The Campus” had its long run there. For several seasons Ferris Harlman’s musical comedy company had its home at The Grand. Other Main Street attractions were Lewis Stone at the Belasco and the great productions at the Burbank.
Burlesque wasn’t a bad word in those days and a favored theater was The Olympic, across from the Burbank near 6th Street, where Blossom
Seeley and Frances White gained stardom. Jules Mendel (Pickle Heinz) was top comedian, supported by his wife, Rose. Decorative Vera Hansdale took the spotlight.
Switching to Spring Street, the Orpheum had moved to the Los Angeles Theater near 2nd. Perhaps you read recently that L.E. Behymer staged the opera, “La Boheme,” there just 65 years ago. In this Orpheum
Leo Carrillo got his start as a story teller. Another theater further
south then took the name Los Angeles Theater and presented Kolb and Dill in “Pigs is Pigs.” Later Sullivan and Considine turned the house to 10, 20 and 30 cent vaudeville, changed the name to Empress, and finally sold out to Marcus Loew.
Now, to Broadway where, in 1911 the third Orpheum opened near 6th. The last and finest Orpheum opened about 1925, near 9th, but was shortlived for major vaudeville’s day ended in less than four years.
Here is an article from the Fort Wayne Sentinel dated 12/31/03. Apparently the Garrick patrons were unaware of the terrible fire engulfing the nearby Iriquois, which took 600 lives:
HOW PANIC WAS AVERTED IN GARRICK THEATER
Chicago, Dec. 31-One of the largest audiences ever seen in the Garrick Theater, which is on the same street as the Iroquois, less than one block distant, sat in complete ignorance of the awful tragedy which was being enacted, 200 feet from where they sat.
When the fire engines commenced to patter past the Garrick, Manager
Schubert became fearful lest the impression that his theater was on fire should spread in the audience. When the intermission between acts came he ordered the doors closed and refused to allow any one to pass in or out, as he was determined that no knowledge of the fire should reach the audience.
Wilton Lackaye, the star of the play now being presented at the Garrick, stepped before the curtain and entertained the audience for over five minutes with a witty speech, which kept his hearers in continual laughter. The orchestra contributed its part toward diverting the audience and the curtain rose for the next act without anybody other than the theater employes knowing that hundreds of lives were being sacrificed almost next door to the Garrick.
When the people filed out of the Garrick they were greeted at the door by men and women, who anxiously scanned the faces to see if any of their friends were among them. They looked for members of their families and acquaintanceswho had gone down town simply to attend a matinee, without stating to what theater they had intended to go. There were many scenes of joyful recognition and astonished members of the Garrick audience were hugged and kissed in frantic delight by their relatives who up to that time had believed it possible that they were a ghastly pile of dead lying within the doors of the Iriquois Theater.
On 7/24/49, the Davenport Democrat-Leader advertised Clark Gable and Alexis Smith at the Capitol in MGM’s “Any Number Can Play”, plus a cartoon and late news. “The Stratton Story” with Jimmy Stewart would start a few days later. Other theaters in Davenport at that time were the State, Esquire, Garden, Uptown, Bel-Air, RKO Orpheum and Sunset.
LM’s link states that the Rococo/Stuart was built in 1929. That makes sense, as an October 1929 ad in the Lincoln Daily News has ads for the Lyric, Sun, Colonial, Rialto, Liberty and Orpheum.
This is excerpted from a 9/15/07 article in the Oakland Tribune. This is clearly a different building, and may not have shown films at all:
The big new temple of vaudeville on Twelfth street, the new Orpheum Theater of Oakland, which for a year has been in the hands of the architects and contractors, today was turned over to the force
of interior decorators employed by the Orpheum Circuit Company to embellish and make beautiful throughout the magnificent house which is to be devoted, hereafter, to the staging of vaudeville shows in Oakland.
Here is an article about the closing of the drive-in, dated ¾/69:
Twin Drive-In Theaters Up For Industrial Review
Hayward lost its only drive-in theater last year to the bulldozers of Bay Area Rapid Transit, but it’s about to recoup its loss two-fold and gain something of a cinematic first in the bargain, a spokesman for East Bay Theaters, Inc. said yesterday.
Plans for a twin-drive-in theater complex accommodating 1,257 cars on a 17-acre flatlands site south of Industrial Parkway West are in the hands of city zoning officials. Hayward Industrial Commissioners are scheduled to review them tomorrow at 8 p.m. at city hall.
Arnold C. Childhouse, who said he represents both East Bay Theaters, Inc. and United Artists Theaters, Inc., which prepared the plans, said construction of the twin 74 by 116-foot screens and a connecting
concession – cafeteria building could start in April if city review
and approval procedures run smoothly.
The site for the project is on the south edge of the city’s industrial belt, in an open, vacant area just north of the Alameda
County flood control channel which separates Hayward and Union City.
East Bay Theaters owns the site, plus about 15 acres which separates it from Hesperian Boulevard, which will give access to the theaters.
Not quite a year ago, Hayward’s lone drive-in, the Hayward Motor Movies at the southwest corner of Mission Boulevard and Tennyson Road, closed its gates for the last time. Owned by United Artists
Theaters, it was one of the first drive-in theaters opened in the
bay area and had occupied its 13-acre site for about 20 years. It was demolished last spring to make way for the South Hayward BART Station.
The gentrification of Main Street has taken over a good section of Main between 4th and 5th, but the blocks going south are still somewhat disreputable. I’m not advocating wholesale relocation of the disadvantaged, but on the other hand I don’t see the gentrification stopping anytime soon. Both sides will learn to co-exist, I imagine.
Downtown, do you know of any plans to show films at the Regent, or solely live performances?
I am partial to 70s movies, having grown up in that era. Hold the jokes, please. I was looking at an ad from the Bucks County Courier Times dated 2/19/78. You tell me if anyone has a better choice of films nowadays:
Eric Feasterville and Eric Twin Lawrenceville: “Close Encounters”
Pennsbury Theater (Morrisville): “Taxi Driver”
Lincoln (Roosevelt Blvd at City Line): “Black Sunday”, “Looking for Mr. Goodbar” and “Marathon Man”
Eric Playhouse (Princeton) and Eric Fairless Hills: “High Anxiety”
Eric Garden (Princeton) and Eric Twin Penn Jersey: “Coma”
Budco Prince (Trenton): “Julia” with Vanessa Redgrave
Eric Twin Independence Mall (Trenton): “Saturday Night Fever”
Newtown: “Smoky and the Bandit” (OK, not a classic, but a good redneck film)
Premiere Twin (Neshaminy Mall): “Goodbye Girl” and “Harold Robbins' The Betsy”, with Lawrence Olivier (a great “bad” film).
This 7/4/67 article from the Syracuse Post-Standard mentions the Riviera:
TREND SHOWS INCREASE IN MOVIE HOUSE CONSTRUCTION
New “hardtop” motion picture theaters are rising even quicker than old ones are being torn down â€" but most of them are in the suburbs.
However, the trend will be reversed when the Kallets build the first Twin Theaters downtown opening in 1968, across from the War Memorial.
A third downtown theater is expected to be built by Slotnick Enterprises Inc. in the 400 block of S. Salina Street, as part of the Downtown One Urban Renewal Project.
The new Westhill Theater, at Velasko Road and Onondaga Street, will open in August as a third new suburban theater built by Slotnick Enterprises, Inc. This will have about 900 seats. In the 1965-66 season, the Slotnicks opened two theaters â€" Cinema North and Cinema
East. Last December, the Slotnicks acquired the Riviera Cinema, the art theater on S. Salina Street.
With the completion of the new Westhill Cinema, they will have “hardtop” theaters in all four sections of the city, in addition to the three drive-ins they operate â€" DeWitt, Lakeshore and North Drive-Ins.
The first new theater before that was the Kallet Shoppingtown Theater, which opened in 1957. The theater was especially built for the Todd-AO process and became the premiere showcase for long-run,
“hard-ticket” productions. This showcase, with its unusual multi-colored velvet curtain, was the first new theater since Loew’s State was built at the end of the twenties. This was another “first” for
Kallet Theaters. They had built the first drive-in â€" the Kallet Drive-In â€" which made way for Camillus Plaza.
Shoppingtown Theater had the longest run of any motion picture â€" 18 months for “The Sound of Music,” since unequalled. It has also played
“Around the World in 80 Days,” “Ben-Hur,” “South Pacific,” “The Bible” and “Cleopatra” and is showing “The Sand Pebbles”. Manager Sam Mitchell already has plans to bring back the granddaddy of long runs, “Gone With the Wind,” in Todd-AO process, wide-screen and stereophonic sound. The Kallets also operate the Genesee Theater on the West Side, where “Doctor Zhivago” played 36 weeks. “Thoroughly
Modern Millie” will open soon.
The new Twin Theaters are planned for art films, road shows and regular films and will be two separate theaters built side by side with a mutual lobby. These “theaters of the future” are planned to have many innovations. The two remaining theaters downtown are the elaborate Loew’s theater â€" largest of all with its 2,896 seats â€" and
the Eckel, a former Schine theater and home of Cinerama.
The score of major theaters is currently two downtown, five suburban; another suburban opening this summer; and three downtown theaters to open in the next year or two. The neighborhood theaters
of Syracuse now number fourâ€" The Wescot, the Franklin, the Hollywood and the Palace. Even these have gone first-run occasionally. The Palace in Eastwood, in a neighborhood downtown section, has since the closing of the Paramount and RKO Keith’s theaters been obtaining
first-run films.
The Wescot, in the University section, has also booked first-run art and foreign films, striking a bonanza with “A Man and a Woman” which is in its 40th week.
Here is an ad from the Syracuse Herald Journal dated 7/10/50:
DEWITT DRIVE-IN THEATER
OPENS NIGHTLY 7:30 P.M.
Children under 12 in cars admitted FREE
Only a ten-minute drive from Salina Street.
Located on one of Syracuse’s main traffic arteries, on Erie Boulevard East, between Thompson Road and DeWitt,
Largest drive-in theater in upstate New York with a 950-car capacity.
Latest RCA in-the-car sound equipment.
Largest screen tower in the East, measuring 80 ½ feet in height. Assures perfect visibility of the screen from anywhere on the theater grounds.
Completely equipped nursery room for the convenience of parents.
Modern and roomy refreshment service conveniently located.
Spacious rest rooms.
Rain or shine the show goes on. Living room comforts in a country atmosphere here in Syracuse.
Last Time Tonight
THE BIG HANGOVER" Van Johnson, Elizabeth Taylor
Here is an article from the 4/4/51 edition of the Long Beach Press Telegram:
Circle Drive-in Opens Tonight
HAILED as the most modern of its type in the nation, the new Circle Drive-In theater will be opened to the public tonight. The theater, located on 15 acres at Pacific Coast Hwy. at the Traffic Circle, will hold a benefit premiere tonight and those who saw a test last night were strong in praise for the huge screen and near-perfect sound offered. Two good films, “Stage to Tucson” and “Raton Pass”
plus news and comics, are offered on the opening bill.
Tonight’s opening culminates more than a year of planning and work. Owned and operated by Eagle Theaters Corp., headed by Thornton Howell, with his brother, James Howell, as secretary-treasurer, the Circle Drive-in is the fourth such theater opened by them. The Long Beach theater imbodies not only all of the main points of their other driveins but many new features. Barnie Warrick, manager, says
the new theater has the largest screen of any in the country. The
picture itself will be 70 feet by 46 feet.
The projector is the latest in equipment from RCA. Each aisle is equipped with ramp lights and each speaker post has a pilot light. In addition the posts are covered with luminous paint. There is parking-viewing space for 1000 motor cars. The snack bar has 85 feet of counter space and is designed for speed in serving. There are two
16-foot windows from the snack bar overlooking the screen and the interior is wired for sound so that visitors in there will not
miss any of the film. It is planned to install playground equipment of all kinds shortly for the entertainment of tots either before or during the shows. The show will start each evening at dusk and the gates will be opened an hour before. Music will be provided on the speakers until the picture starts. Pets are welcomed but must be kept in the cars.
I thought the “Big Texan” steakhouse was great! Highly recommended.
It looks better with the sign and without all the trees.
Warren, I would be curious to know if you are scanning these ads to get them onto photobucket. I have access to a newspaper archive website, but the pages are only in pdf format, which means I can’t upload them onto photobucket. I tried posting the pages directly on CT, but the links fail after an hour or so.
Not so mysterious, I don’t think. The Los Angeles is the Lyceum, which is listed on CT. I imagine the Empress would also be an aka for the Los Angeles/Orpheum/Lyceum.
The IMDB says that Wanda Hawley later became a call girl in San Francisco. Sic transit gloria mundi.
On September 20, 1920, the Isis was showing “Food for Scandal” with Wanda Hawley and Harrison Ford (that’s what it says). Wanda received top billing, of course, which most likely left Harrison pretty ticked.
Here is the lineup on 9/20/20:
MAJESTIC
Matinee Daily, 2:30
Vaudeville Night 8:15
A Tuneful Girly Farce
“A Brazilian Heiress"
With Frankie Kelly and Nine Others
LARRY COMER in Song and Jest
MAY and HILL Clever Couple
DANCING KENNEDYS Original Creation
EXTRA! EXTRA! FIRST MOVING PICTURES
Wall Street Blown Up!
That link is long gone. The theaters in Fort Wayne on 11/5/22 were the Lyric, Jefferson, Orpheum, Strand, Palace, Hippodrome, Creighton, Transfer and Grand.
An MGM film called “The Unfinished Dance” with Danny Thomas and Margaret O'Brien was playing at the Barnum on 11/16/47. Other theaters advertised that day were the Colonial, Rivoli, Black Rock, West End, Brooklawn, Stratford, Bostwick, Community, Lyric and E.M. Loew’s Milford Open-Air Drive In.
Here are excerpts from a 1962 article in the Pasadena Independent which discusses early theaters in Los Angeles:
So, without overture, let’s raise the curtain on a period around 1912. The Mason Opera House, Broadway near First, was a favorite for road shows and notable stars. Flashing back to before the turn of the century in Los Angeles, the former Child’s Opera House, Main near First, was housing Orpheum vaudeville. Later known as The Grand, “The Campus” had its long run there. For several seasons Ferris Harlman’s musical comedy company had its home at The Grand. Other Main Street attractions were Lewis Stone at the Belasco and the great productions at the Burbank.
Burlesque wasn’t a bad word in those days and a favored theater was The Olympic, across from the Burbank near 6th Street, where Blossom
Seeley and Frances White gained stardom. Jules Mendel (Pickle Heinz) was top comedian, supported by his wife, Rose. Decorative Vera Hansdale took the spotlight.
Switching to Spring Street, the Orpheum had moved to the Los Angeles Theater near 2nd. Perhaps you read recently that L.E. Behymer staged the opera, “La Boheme,” there just 65 years ago. In this Orpheum
Leo Carrillo got his start as a story teller. Another theater further
south then took the name Los Angeles Theater and presented Kolb and Dill in “Pigs is Pigs.” Later Sullivan and Considine turned the house to 10, 20 and 30 cent vaudeville, changed the name to Empress, and finally sold out to Marcus Loew.
Now, to Broadway where, in 1911 the third Orpheum opened near 6th. The last and finest Orpheum opened about 1925, near 9th, but was shortlived for major vaudeville’s day ended in less than four years.
Here is an article from the Fort Wayne Sentinel dated 12/31/03. Apparently the Garrick patrons were unaware of the terrible fire engulfing the nearby Iriquois, which took 600 lives:
HOW PANIC WAS AVERTED IN GARRICK THEATER
Chicago, Dec. 31-One of the largest audiences ever seen in the Garrick Theater, which is on the same street as the Iroquois, less than one block distant, sat in complete ignorance of the awful tragedy which was being enacted, 200 feet from where they sat.
When the fire engines commenced to patter past the Garrick, Manager
Schubert became fearful lest the impression that his theater was on fire should spread in the audience. When the intermission between acts came he ordered the doors closed and refused to allow any one to pass in or out, as he was determined that no knowledge of the fire should reach the audience.
Wilton Lackaye, the star of the play now being presented at the Garrick, stepped before the curtain and entertained the audience for over five minutes with a witty speech, which kept his hearers in continual laughter. The orchestra contributed its part toward diverting the audience and the curtain rose for the next act without anybody other than the theater employes knowing that hundreds of lives were being sacrificed almost next door to the Garrick.
When the people filed out of the Garrick they were greeted at the door by men and women, who anxiously scanned the faces to see if any of their friends were among them. They looked for members of their families and acquaintanceswho had gone down town simply to attend a matinee, without stating to what theater they had intended to go. There were many scenes of joyful recognition and astonished members of the Garrick audience were hugged and kissed in frantic delight by their relatives who up to that time had believed it possible that they were a ghastly pile of dead lying within the doors of the Iriquois Theater.
On 7/24/49, the Davenport Democrat-Leader advertised Clark Gable and Alexis Smith at the Capitol in MGM’s “Any Number Can Play”, plus a cartoon and late news. “The Stratton Story” with Jimmy Stewart would start a few days later. Other theaters in Davenport at that time were the State, Esquire, Garden, Uptown, Bel-Air, RKO Orpheum and Sunset.
Date that newspaper ad 1924, not 1929. It’s getting late.
LM’s link states that the Rococo/Stuart was built in 1929. That makes sense, as an October 1929 ad in the Lincoln Daily News has ads for the Lyric, Sun, Colonial, Rialto, Liberty and Orpheum.
This is excerpted from a 9/15/07 article in the Oakland Tribune. This is clearly a different building, and may not have shown films at all:
The big new temple of vaudeville on Twelfth street, the new Orpheum Theater of Oakland, which for a year has been in the hands of the architects and contractors, today was turned over to the force
of interior decorators employed by the Orpheum Circuit Company to embellish and make beautiful throughout the magnificent house which is to be devoted, hereafter, to the staging of vaudeville shows in Oakland.
Thanks for the info.
Here is an article about the closing of the drive-in, dated ¾/69:
Twin Drive-In Theaters Up For Industrial Review
Hayward lost its only drive-in theater last year to the bulldozers of Bay Area Rapid Transit, but it’s about to recoup its loss two-fold and gain something of a cinematic first in the bargain, a spokesman for East Bay Theaters, Inc. said yesterday.
Plans for a twin-drive-in theater complex accommodating 1,257 cars on a 17-acre flatlands site south of Industrial Parkway West are in the hands of city zoning officials. Hayward Industrial Commissioners are scheduled to review them tomorrow at 8 p.m. at city hall.
Arnold C. Childhouse, who said he represents both East Bay Theaters, Inc. and United Artists Theaters, Inc., which prepared the plans, said construction of the twin 74 by 116-foot screens and a connecting
concession – cafeteria building could start in April if city review
and approval procedures run smoothly.
The site for the project is on the south edge of the city’s industrial belt, in an open, vacant area just north of the Alameda
County flood control channel which separates Hayward and Union City.
East Bay Theaters owns the site, plus about 15 acres which separates it from Hesperian Boulevard, which will give access to the theaters.
Not quite a year ago, Hayward’s lone drive-in, the Hayward Motor Movies at the southwest corner of Mission Boulevard and Tennyson Road, closed its gates for the last time. Owned by United Artists
Theaters, it was one of the first drive-in theaters opened in the
bay area and had occupied its 13-acre site for about 20 years. It was demolished last spring to make way for the South Hayward BART Station.
The gentrification of Main Street has taken over a good section of Main between 4th and 5th, but the blocks going south are still somewhat disreputable. I’m not advocating wholesale relocation of the disadvantaged, but on the other hand I don’t see the gentrification stopping anytime soon. Both sides will learn to co-exist, I imagine.
Downtown, do you know of any plans to show films at the Regent, or solely live performances?
I am partial to 70s movies, having grown up in that era. Hold the jokes, please. I was looking at an ad from the Bucks County Courier Times dated 2/19/78. You tell me if anyone has a better choice of films nowadays:
Eric Feasterville and Eric Twin Lawrenceville: “Close Encounters”
Pennsbury Theater (Morrisville): “Taxi Driver”
Lincoln (Roosevelt Blvd at City Line): “Black Sunday”, “Looking for Mr. Goodbar” and “Marathon Man”
Eric Playhouse (Princeton) and Eric Fairless Hills: “High Anxiety”
Eric Garden (Princeton) and Eric Twin Penn Jersey: “Coma”
Budco Prince (Trenton): “Julia” with Vanessa Redgrave
Eric Twin Independence Mall (Trenton): “Saturday Night Fever”
Newtown: “Smoky and the Bandit” (OK, not a classic, but a good redneck film)
Premiere Twin (Neshaminy Mall): “Goodbye Girl” and “Harold Robbins' The Betsy”, with Lawrence Olivier (a great “bad” film).
This 7/4/67 article from the Syracuse Post-Standard mentions the Riviera:
TREND SHOWS INCREASE IN MOVIE HOUSE CONSTRUCTION
New “hardtop” motion picture theaters are rising even quicker than old ones are being torn down â€" but most of them are in the suburbs.
However, the trend will be reversed when the Kallets build the first Twin Theaters downtown opening in 1968, across from the War Memorial.
A third downtown theater is expected to be built by Slotnick Enterprises Inc. in the 400 block of S. Salina Street, as part of the Downtown One Urban Renewal Project.
The new Westhill Theater, at Velasko Road and Onondaga Street, will open in August as a third new suburban theater built by Slotnick Enterprises, Inc. This will have about 900 seats. In the 1965-66 season, the Slotnicks opened two theaters â€" Cinema North and Cinema
East. Last December, the Slotnicks acquired the Riviera Cinema, the art theater on S. Salina Street.
With the completion of the new Westhill Cinema, they will have “hardtop” theaters in all four sections of the city, in addition to the three drive-ins they operate â€" DeWitt, Lakeshore and North Drive-Ins.
The first new theater before that was the Kallet Shoppingtown Theater, which opened in 1957. The theater was especially built for the Todd-AO process and became the premiere showcase for long-run,
“hard-ticket” productions. This showcase, with its unusual multi-colored velvet curtain, was the first new theater since Loew’s State was built at the end of the twenties. This was another “first” for
Kallet Theaters. They had built the first drive-in â€" the Kallet Drive-In â€" which made way for Camillus Plaza.
Shoppingtown Theater had the longest run of any motion picture â€" 18 months for “The Sound of Music,” since unequalled. It has also played
“Around the World in 80 Days,” “Ben-Hur,” “South Pacific,” “The Bible” and “Cleopatra” and is showing “The Sand Pebbles”. Manager Sam Mitchell already has plans to bring back the granddaddy of long runs, “Gone With the Wind,” in Todd-AO process, wide-screen and stereophonic sound. The Kallets also operate the Genesee Theater on the West Side, where “Doctor Zhivago” played 36 weeks. “Thoroughly
Modern Millie” will open soon.
The new Twin Theaters are planned for art films, road shows and regular films and will be two separate theaters built side by side with a mutual lobby. These “theaters of the future” are planned to have many innovations. The two remaining theaters downtown are the elaborate Loew’s theater â€" largest of all with its 2,896 seats â€" and
the Eckel, a former Schine theater and home of Cinerama.
The score of major theaters is currently two downtown, five suburban; another suburban opening this summer; and three downtown theaters to open in the next year or two. The neighborhood theaters
of Syracuse now number fourâ€" The Wescot, the Franklin, the Hollywood and the Palace. Even these have gone first-run occasionally. The Palace in Eastwood, in a neighborhood downtown section, has since the closing of the Paramount and RKO Keith’s theaters been obtaining
first-run films.
The Wescot, in the University section, has also booked first-run art and foreign films, striking a bonanza with “A Man and a Woman” which is in its 40th week.
Here is an ad from the Syracuse Herald Journal dated 7/10/50:
DEWITT DRIVE-IN THEATER
OPENS NIGHTLY 7:30 P.M.
Children under 12 in cars admitted FREE
Only a ten-minute drive from Salina Street.
Located on one of Syracuse’s main traffic arteries, on Erie Boulevard East, between Thompson Road and DeWitt,
Largest drive-in theater in upstate New York with a 950-car capacity.
Latest RCA in-the-car sound equipment.
Largest screen tower in the East, measuring 80 ½ feet in height. Assures perfect visibility of the screen from anywhere on the theater grounds.
Completely equipped nursery room for the convenience of parents.
Modern and roomy refreshment service conveniently located.
Spacious rest rooms.
Rain or shine the show goes on. Living room comforts in a country atmosphere here in Syracuse.
Last Time Tonight
THE BIG HANGOVER" Van Johnson, Elizabeth Taylor
“THE OUTRIDERS” Joel McCrea, Arlene Dahl
Tomorrow Through Thursday: “THE RED SHOES”
It’s an interesting video, but I couldn’t enlarge it. Is there a trick to that?
Here is a 2006 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/yguv2o
Here is an article about financial aspects of the theater business:
http://tinyurl.com/yjw7wd