STRAND: Paul Muni and Miriam Hopkins In “The Woman I Love."
with Louis Hayward. (Opens today, ends Monday).
PEOPLES: "Big House for Girls” with Maureen O'Sullivan, Betty
Compton and Montague Love. (Ends Monday).
TEXAN: Bing Crosby, Bob Burns and Martha Raye In “Waikiki
Wedding” (Opens today, ends Monday).
PEARCE: “Poor Little Rich Girl,” with Shirley Temple and Alice
Faye. (Opens today, ends Monday).
MAJESTIC: “Two Against the World” and “The Unknown Ranger."
(Opens today, ends Monday).
BEAUMONT – A $6.5 million antitrust suit was filed in federal court
Friday charging that a New Orleans man and his employers have prevented competition among movie theaters in Port Arthur and stymied development of a shopping center by Hayes Inc. of Port
Arthur. Named as defendants in the suit were T G. Solomon of New Orleans. Gulf States Theatres Inc.. Gulf States Theatres of Texas and Piqua Industries, Inc.
Lloyd L Hayes, Hayes Inc, Park Plaza Twin Theatres Inc. and Mid-County Enterprises Inc. are the plaintiffs.
Hayes and Hayes Inc are saying they suffered over 5 million in damages as a result of Solomon’s “maneuvering”, while Park Plaza claims it lost over $500,000 in revenues from what they call his “anticompetitive and unfair tactics ”.
Mid-County Enterprises say the defendants overt threats prevented
them from building a planned drive-in theater and lost them over $1 million. They are asking the court restrain defendants from further alleged violations of anti-trust laws and for recovery of damages in triplicate.
Also during this same period of time, the suit says that Hayes contacted investors with the idea of building a drive-in
theater on the northwest side of Port Arthur. Mid County Enterprises Inc. was organized June 19, 1972 and they leased a tract of and along U.S. Hwy 69 planning to build a drive-in theater there.
But this plan was halted, they say, when Solomon told them if they build the drive-in, he would retaliate by building one directly across the road from them. Since defendants already owned the
Don Drive-In, and the newly-formed corporation would not have been able to undergo a sustained period of loss, the drive-in idea was aborted, the complaint states.
On 1/18/43, “Rise and Shine” with Jack Oakie and Linda Darnell was playing at the LaRoy. The other theaters in the Portsmouth area at the time were the Eastland, Westland, Strand, Lyric, Warner’s Columbia, Garden and Stanley.
Old Esquire Theater Razed; Drive-In Will Occupy Site
One of Oakland’s historic landmarks, known since 1939 as the
Esquire Theater and since early motion picture days as the American Theater was being razed today. Joseph Blumenfeld, president
of Blumenfeld Theaters, Inc., said the theater at Seventeenth Street
and San Pablo Avenue which was closed more than a year ago is being torn down to make way for construction of a $200,000 drive-in restaurant and cocktail lounge.
The new structure, Blumenfeld said, will include a restaurant
and drive-in area on the ground floor with a cocktail lounge and snack bar on the second floor. he said it will be leased to the operator of a Berkeley drive-in.
Earlier this year, a permit was granted for weekly “name-band"
dances in the building. However, after a storm of protests which
reached the City Council, James McCoy, a San Francisco dance
hall operator, withdrew his application for the permit.
The theater site was occupied in early days by Bice’s Academy,
an early day dance hall. It was also headquarters for the Reliance
Athletic Club and for a time of Acme Athletic Club.
The theater, after being known for many years as the American,
was renamed the Esquire in 1939. It was damaged by a fire the following year.
Here is an August 29, 1940 article describing the re-opening:
ESQUIRE THEATER OPENS TOMORROW
Film Stars To Attend Fete Here
Searchlights will sweep the sky in Oakland tomorrow night, just as
they will in London, Berlin and other great cities in Europe â€" but
the reason fnr the illumination will be quite different. Instead of ferreting out enemy members the searchlights will be merely functioning as signposts to the new Esquire Theater, which is throwing open its doors at 17th and San Pablo to greet the season with a page of American history called “When the Daltons Rode.”
It was just a year ago today that the Esquire, remodeled from
the old American, celebrated its rebirth as a Warner product theater
ndcr the joint management of Joseph Blumenfeld and Clarence Laws.
Since then Europe has been tossed into a war and the Esquire has had a disastrous fire.
The Esquire is part of the chain of Blumenfeld theaters which include
in the Eastbay the Roxie and Franklin in Oakland, and the Berkeley
and Oaks in Berkeley. Opening night festivities will be under direction of Laws who is general manager for the Oakland group. The pictures for the future will be drawn from the budgets of Warners, Columbia, Universal and United Artists.
So much for that link. Here is the text of a 1925 ad for some films that were playing at the Peoples. I’ll bet you didn’t know that there was another Harrison Ford in the twenties:
Peoples, Cameo and Liberty Theaters Announce Wealth of
Entertainment for Movie Fans
Not in recent months have Port Arthur movie theaters gathered together such an offering of pictures that are calculated to stretch the imagination of movie fans and stir the emotions of romance, pathos and mystery as those to be shown during the coming week.
“The Lost World” a picturization of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s novel
of prehistoric monsters and modern lovers, is to be shown at the Peoples theatre next Sunday.
Sunday through Wednesdayâ€"-Corinne Griffith in “The Marriage Whirl"
with Kenneth Harlan and Harrison Ford; also Pathe comedy, "Hard
Boiled” and Newsreel.
Thursday through Saturdayâ€"“The Trouble With Wives” with Florence
Vidor, Tom Moore, Esther Ralston and Ford Sterling: also
Pathe comedy. “Royal Four Flusher.” and Newsreel.
Next Sundayâ€"“The Lost World,” Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “ stupendous
story with Bessie Love. Lewis Stone, Wallace Beery and Lloyd Hughes.
Here is a 1968 newspaper article from better times:
After an extremely successful summer Interstate Theaters in
Galveston, The State and The Broadway, are planning bigger
and better fall and winter seasons.
Both the State Theater downtown and the Broadway Theater, 5121 Broadway, offer top entertainment. John Browning, Interstate manager in Galveston has announced that in the planning of bringing excellent motion pictures to Galveston, several films have already been booked and can be expected on the local screens soon.
Both the State and Broadway are healthfully air conditioned
and modern snack bars in both theaters are for your added
pleasure. So now is the time to save and take advantage of Interstate’s money saving offer on books and discount cards.
Here is a list of drive-ins in this area in April 1978:
ANDALUSIA DRIVE IN (Andalusia) â€" “Tne Pack” “Rattlers” “Mansion of the Doomed"
BUCKS COUNTY DRIVE IN (Route 611 North
Of Willow Grove) — “The Pack” “Rattlers” “Mansion Of The Doomed"
LINCOLN DRIVE IN (U.S. Route 1 at Phila.
City Line) — “Melting Man” “Journey Beyond” “Raw Meat"
MORRISVILLE DRIVE-IN (Morrisville) â€"
"Annie Hall” “Love And Death” “Monty Python And The Holy Grail"
ROOSEVELT DRIVE IN (Fairless Hills) —“The Pack” “Rattlers”
“Meat Cleaver Massacre"
U.S. No. 1 NORTH DRIVE-IN (Fairless Hills)— “Melting Man” “Journey To The Beyond”
The Avalon Theater, built in 1921, is currently undergoing a face lift to convert it into a state of the art performing
arts center. The renovated theater will be equipped with high technology sound and lighting equipment and a curtain
svstem on the stage to permit multiple backdrops for drama and musical productions. The cultural and artistic programs will serve the Mid Shore community.
The theater is located in the heart of the historic district on the corner of Harrison and Dover Streets opposite the Tidewater Inn.
The theater building, originally called the New Theater, was built during the hevday of the silent movies and the vaudeville era, and was considered spectacular. The theater was adorned with leaded glass doors at every entrance, an 18-ft ceiling dome with 148 lights, an electric pneumatic organ, an electric piano player, and a private telephone system.
The tin ceiling acoustical dome still remains today and is being restored by J. Gibbons Inc. of Baltimore. The pipe organ has a new home at the Richardson Park Methodist Church in Wilmington, Delaware following a brief stay in Trinity Methodist Church and the St Mark's
Church in Easton. The leaded glass doors are still being used and are in their original condition.
On the second floor of the theater building there was a balcony, and a ballroom. Ceciles Restaurant, a privately owned enterprise, now occupies the ballroom space and has been designed following the grandeur of the 1920s ballroom.
The mam balcony of the original theater remains the same as the 1920s and the lower level of the main balcony will be restored to the original 4 boxes, each containing at least 10 seats. An orchestra
pit has been constructed immediately in front of the stage to ommodate musical accompaniment of live performances.
The basement of the Avalon Theater building originally consisted of a kitchen, with a dumb waiter to the upper ballroom, and a billiard parlor. The basement today looks quite different. It has been converted into a rehearsal room, dressing rooms, managers office
and storage space for the performing arts center. The old scales and candy machines from the Avalon Theater during the 1930s are on display and functioning in the lobby area of the basement.
Here is an article from the Arcadia Tribune in March 1932:
Attraction at Local Theater
Many Fine Pictures Are Billed
for the Playhouse During Coming Week
Those who enjoy talkies have many treats before them this week
and next at the Arcadia theater, for Miss Janet Malbon and the
Tindle brothers, managers of the local playhouse, promise an excellent bill for each evening of the week.
Edward G. Robinson in “The Hatchet Man” is one of the features
for this evening and tomorrow night. Loretta Young, Dudley Digges and Tully Marshall are also in the cast. Critics who have
seen the film state it is one of the best things seen for a long time, as it is an actual portrayal of life in Chinatown, San Francisco. Fox Movietone News will contribute to the general enjoyment, as will a Charlie Chase comedy.
Future bookings into the Arcadia Theater include the following:
“Passionate Plumber,” with Buster Keaton; “Madelon Claudet,"
with Helen Hayes; "Fireman Save My Child,” with Joe E. Brown;
“Emma,” with Marie Dressier;“Beau Hunks,” with Laurel and
Hardy; “Prestige,” with Ann Harding; “The Champ,” with Wallace
Berry and Jackie Cooper.
I reposted on the correct page. The links from the old newspapers are great but they fail within a day, which I learned after posting a dozen of them. It’s too bad as the old theater ads are interesting.
Here is an ad from a 1922 Ohio newspaper which mentions the Criterion. Hopefully the scenes of love between the boy and mom were not too graphic:
Direct from its sensational run at the famous Criterion Theater, Times Square, New York, comes the picture beautiful, the picture extraordinary, the picture you’ll never forget-“WHERE IS MY WANDER- ING BOY TONIGHT”-the picture that tells in graphic scenes of a mother’s love for her boy and a boy’s love for his mother. The picture packed with thrills, adventure, romance, tenderest sentiment. The picture of Main Street and Broadway, of soda fountains and swell cabarets, of dance halls and a little church of a mother and her wayward boy, of a country lass and a chorus girl – the picture of smiles, tears, pathos, laughter.
The Picture that packed the famous CRITERION THEATRE, Times Square, N.Y. to capacity for two solid weeks at its world premiere
Here is an ad from a 1922 Ohio newspaper which mentions the Criterion. Hopefully the scenes of love between the boy and mom were not too graphic:
Direct from its sensational run at the famous Criterion Theater, Times Square, New York, comes the picture beautiful, the picture extraordinary, the picture you’ll never forget-“WHERE IS MY WANDER- ING BOY TONIGHT”-the picture that tells in graphic scenes of a mother’s love for her boy and a boy’s love for his mother. The picture packed with thrills, adventure, romance, tenderest sentiment. The picture of Main Street and Broadway, of soda fountains and swell cabarets, of dance halls and a little church of a mother and her wayward boy, of a country lass and a chorus girl – the picture of smiles, tears, pathos, laughter.
The Picture that packed the famous CRITERION THEATRE, Times Square, N.Y. to capacity for two solid weeks at its world premiere
“Royal Wedding” with Fred Astaire was playing at the Glen in September 1951:
GLEN THEATER
Talented young Jane Powell follows through after her stellar
hit with Fred Astaire in “Royal Wedding” with a brilliant per-
formance in “Rich, Young and Pretty” playing at the Glen theater.
The scintillating cast includes such screen luminaries as Danielle
Darrieux, Wendell Corey, singer Vic Damone and Una Merkel.
The other Joplin theaters at the time were the Fox, Orpheum, Paramount, Tri-State Drive-In, Electric, Civic, Larsen, Rex,
66 Drive-In and Edgewood Drive-In.
There was an interesting photo in the LA Times today, from the LAFD historical society. The photo was dated 1913 and showed the Optic as a small one story building. Presumably that preceded the larger building that we see in the photos above. The smaller building was clearly labeled “Optic Theater”.
Here is an article from the Reno Gazette in August 1954:
MOVIE STARS HAIL RENO’S NEW THEATER
CONGRATULATORY MESSAGES FROM FILMDOM’S ELITE ARE
RECEIVED BY LOCAL MANAGER
Stars of the motion picture world have been sending congratulatory telegrams to the managers of the T & D Junior Enterprises in Reno.
Upon hearing that the Granada theater would open on Wednesday
at 7:30 o'clock, many of the top stars, all of them well known to
Reno theater goers sent their bestwishes for the success of the west’s most modern show place.
Although not in the picture, Bing Crosby, a Nevada resident, very
well known in Reno where he is a frequent visitor said:
“Congratulations” on the grand opening of the Granada theater
and to all patrons who will enjoy this excellent new showplace.
It is another first for Nevada."
James Stewart, who stars in “Rear Window,” and who, a few
short years ago was parading down the street on which the Granada
theater stands with Mrs. Stewart, waving gayly to the people who
soon would be honoring him with the “Silver Spurs” award for his
“She Wore a Yellow Ribbon,” wired Homer Le Ballister, Granada
theater manager as follows:
“Just heard the great news that you are opening the fine Granada theater. Naturally I am honored that "Rear Window” will be the first picture to play there. All my best to everyone in Reno. That is one city I will never forget, and always love."
POLICY OF NEW THEATER IS SET
Popular prices will prevail at the new Granada theater, it was
announced. Despite the fact that all of the modern devices are to
be found in Reno’s new show house which will open its doors at
7:30 Wednesday evening, the popular prices that were in vogue
when the old Granada was serving the people of the community will
prevail. Ken Workman, district manager, and Homer Le Ballister,
resident manager, stated this morning that the Granada would
be a first run theater, showing only the top films obtainable. It
is not expected that any picture will run at the Granada “for more
than one week. If the demand is so great that the picture cannot
satisfy the Reno audiences in a week at the Granada it will be
moved to another T & D theater. Thus, it is believed, that only
the finest productions will be shown in Reno’s newest playhouse.
Equipped as it is to show every type of picture, the Granada can
afford to be very choosy in selecting the films to be shown.
Here is another 1966 article on the renovation from the Austin Minnesota Daily Herald:
Vaudeville Is Forever Dead
but the Palace Is Alive Again
NEW YORK â€"The old girl has had a fresh makeup job, and she looks lovely. Her age shows, but with the elegant manner of someone wearing
her years with dignity and grace. She sparkles, she’s wearing
bright red with cream accessories and crystals, and she’s getting ready to play hostess again in a manner which recalls
her years as Broadway’s dowager queen.
She’s the Palace Theater, that mecca of entertainment, that
vaudeville shrine where most of the greats have played (Al Jolson,
George M. Cohan and Sir Harry Lauder however, are among those who never played the Palace). The Palace is the place where, in every movie ever made about early vaudevillians, one would say to the
other, “One day we’ll see our name in lights at the Palace."
The line was always accompanied by a sweeping left to right
gesture of the right arm.
THE NAME IN lights at the Palace now is Gwen Verdon’s, and it’s appropriate that the talented redhead, the delight of critics
and the public, should reopen the house Saturday night
in the new musical “Sweet Charity.” There are still a few finishing
touches to be added to the Palace, but sitting on the plush
red seats, watching a large crew working on the newly enlarged
stage, there were moments when you felt you were watching a
piece of modern choreography.
RALPH ALSWANG, a noted Broadway designer, is in charge of the restoration. It was he who, knocking down plaster walls decorated
in a style he calls “early Ruby Keeler,” discovered much of the original Palace behind the additions. “It is not an exact restoration,” he said, “But we have taken the best of the Palace,
we have avoided the extravagant use of marble which would make
it look like Grand Central Station, and we have made a bouquet to the past”.
THE PALACE OPENED March 24, 1913, and for about the first three months of its existence, it was a box office flop. Then “the divine” Sarah Bernhardt played an engagement there in a series of one-act plays (she was paid in gold before each performance), and the theater
was on its way. An attempt was made several years ago to revive live performances at the Palace. Judy Garland and Harry Belafonte were among those having successful engagements. But the theater reverted to grinding out movies. The last film to play there was Joseph Levine’s “Harlow,” leading a cynic to suggest that in addition to remodeling, it was also necessary to fumigate.
THE THEATER was purchased last August by the Nederlander
Theatrical Corp. owners of successful, elegant houses in
Chicago and Detroit. James Nederlander, a son of the head of the corporation, says the restoration of the Palace cost around
a half-million dollars. “We had to enlarge the orchestra pit from the 15 men used for vaudeville to the 32 needed
for musical theater. We tore out dressing rooms on the side of
the stage to give us more room. We had to rip out all the plumbing.
And we had to install a different system of counterweights
to handle the scenery. After all, in vaudeville they only used
flats. This is the kind of job that pyramids. We knock out one
set of pipes, only to discover they lead to another, and so on.”
THERE’S ONE MAN working at the theater who has vivid memories of the Palace as it was. He is Tom Murray, nicknamed “Mr. Broadway,” the
stage doorman. He played the Palace as a character singer in 1914 and 1917. For the past dozen years, Murray, in his 70s, has been working as the stage doorman at the Helen Hayes Theater, and now
he is returning home. “It’s lovely to be back,” he said.
This ad was in the Long Beach Independent in April 1954. Not a bad deal:
$350 Down
NON-VET
New 2-bdrm. expandable stucco home. Open beam or plastered
ceiling. Tile kit. & bath. Attach. garage, sewers, paved streets. $69.50/mo. From $8250 and up.
Move in Today
Open for inspection at Menlo St. & Ocean (228th St.) bet.
Vermont & Figueroa, just north of the Harbor Drive-In Theater.
Roland H. Snow, Rltr.
State 5-6988 DI 3-0325
Here is an article from the Racine Journal News in August 1914:
3,600 SEE GREAT PLAY
AT THE REX THEATRE
Rex Theater Crowded Afternoon and
Evening to See Trey O' Hearts
How they did pack in the Rex Theater all day yesterday and last evening to see “The Trey O' Hearts”. This popular photo-drama had its
second installment yesterday, and the number of admissions ran 3600. This attendance was certainly gratifying to Tom Norman, manager, as he is confident the people of Racine would appreciate the production in moving pictures of Louis Joseph Vance’s great story.
All afternoon the women and children kept coming, and it seemed as
it all roads led to the Rex theater. In the evening the same scenes were repeated. The “Trey O' Hearts” has certainly made a big hit and the same large houses can be expected every Tuesday.
The “Million Dollar Mystery” made and is making a big hit, but
the crowd yesterday even surpassed that production’s biggest day.
I wasn’t sure. They called it the Fox Liberty, but of course Fox could have had multiple theaters in the city. The Fox is the only Centralia theater listed on CT at present. Thanks for the info.
This was the lineup in May 1937:
AT THE THEATERS
STRAND: Paul Muni and Miriam Hopkins In “The Woman I Love."
with Louis Hayward. (Opens today, ends Monday).
PEOPLES: "Big House for Girls” with Maureen O'Sullivan, Betty
Compton and Montague Love. (Ends Monday).
TEXAN: Bing Crosby, Bob Burns and Martha Raye In “Waikiki
Wedding” (Opens today, ends Monday).
PEARCE: “Poor Little Rich Girl,” with Shirley Temple and Alice
Faye. (Opens today, ends Monday).
MAJESTIC: “Two Against the World” and “The Unknown Ranger."
(Opens today, ends Monday).
Litigation was afoot in August 1975:
Hayes Inc. Files Anti-Trust Suit
BEAUMONT – A $6.5 million antitrust suit was filed in federal court
Friday charging that a New Orleans man and his employers have prevented competition among movie theaters in Port Arthur and stymied development of a shopping center by Hayes Inc. of Port
Arthur. Named as defendants in the suit were T G. Solomon of New Orleans. Gulf States Theatres Inc.. Gulf States Theatres of Texas and Piqua Industries, Inc.
Lloyd L Hayes, Hayes Inc, Park Plaza Twin Theatres Inc. and Mid-County Enterprises Inc. are the plaintiffs.
Hayes and Hayes Inc are saying they suffered over 5 million in damages as a result of Solomon’s “maneuvering”, while Park Plaza claims it lost over $500,000 in revenues from what they call his “anticompetitive and unfair tactics ”.
Mid-County Enterprises say the defendants overt threats prevented
them from building a planned drive-in theater and lost them over $1 million. They are asking the court restrain defendants from further alleged violations of anti-trust laws and for recovery of damages in triplicate.
Also during this same period of time, the suit says that Hayes contacted investors with the idea of building a drive-in
theater on the northwest side of Port Arthur. Mid County Enterprises Inc. was organized June 19, 1972 and they leased a tract of and along U.S. Hwy 69 planning to build a drive-in theater there.
But this plan was halted, they say, when Solomon told them if they build the drive-in, he would retaliate by building one directly across the road from them. Since defendants already owned the
Don Drive-In, and the newly-formed corporation would not have been able to undergo a sustained period of loss, the drive-in idea was aborted, the complaint states.
On 1/18/43, “Rise and Shine” with Jack Oakie and Linda Darnell was playing at the LaRoy. The other theaters in the Portsmouth area at the time were the Eastland, Westland, Strand, Lyric, Warner’s Columbia, Garden and Stanley.
Sic transit gloria mundi:
Oakland Tribune 11/13/53
Old Esquire Theater Razed; Drive-In Will Occupy Site
One of Oakland’s historic landmarks, known since 1939 as the
Esquire Theater and since early motion picture days as the American Theater was being razed today. Joseph Blumenfeld, president
of Blumenfeld Theaters, Inc., said the theater at Seventeenth Street
and San Pablo Avenue which was closed more than a year ago is being torn down to make way for construction of a $200,000 drive-in restaurant and cocktail lounge.
The new structure, Blumenfeld said, will include a restaurant
and drive-in area on the ground floor with a cocktail lounge and snack bar on the second floor. he said it will be leased to the operator of a Berkeley drive-in.
Earlier this year, a permit was granted for weekly “name-band"
dances in the building. However, after a storm of protests which
reached the City Council, James McCoy, a San Francisco dance
hall operator, withdrew his application for the permit.
The theater site was occupied in early days by Bice’s Academy,
an early day dance hall. It was also headquarters for the Reliance
Athletic Club and for a time of Acme Athletic Club.
The theater, after being known for many years as the American,
was renamed the Esquire in 1939. It was damaged by a fire the following year.
Here is an August 29, 1940 article describing the re-opening:
ESQUIRE THEATER OPENS TOMORROW
Film Stars To Attend Fete Here
Searchlights will sweep the sky in Oakland tomorrow night, just as
they will in London, Berlin and other great cities in Europe â€" but
the reason fnr the illumination will be quite different. Instead of ferreting out enemy members the searchlights will be merely functioning as signposts to the new Esquire Theater, which is throwing open its doors at 17th and San Pablo to greet the season with a page of American history called “When the Daltons Rode.”
It was just a year ago today that the Esquire, remodeled from
the old American, celebrated its rebirth as a Warner product theater
ndcr the joint management of Joseph Blumenfeld and Clarence Laws.
Since then Europe has been tossed into a war and the Esquire has had a disastrous fire.
The Esquire is part of the chain of Blumenfeld theaters which include
in the Eastbay the Roxie and Franklin in Oakland, and the Berkeley
and Oaks in Berkeley. Opening night festivities will be under direction of Laws who is general manager for the Oakland group. The pictures for the future will be drawn from the budgets of Warners, Columbia, Universal and United Artists.
So much for that link. Here is the text of a 1925 ad for some films that were playing at the Peoples. I’ll bet you didn’t know that there was another Harrison Ford in the twenties:
Peoples, Cameo and Liberty Theaters Announce Wealth of
Entertainment for Movie Fans
Not in recent months have Port Arthur movie theaters gathered together such an offering of pictures that are calculated to stretch the imagination of movie fans and stir the emotions of romance, pathos and mystery as those to be shown during the coming week.
“The Lost World” a picturization of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s novel
of prehistoric monsters and modern lovers, is to be shown at the Peoples theatre next Sunday.
Sunday through Wednesdayâ€"-Corinne Griffith in “The Marriage Whirl"
with Kenneth Harlan and Harrison Ford; also Pathe comedy, "Hard
Boiled” and Newsreel.
Thursday through Saturdayâ€"“The Trouble With Wives” with Florence
Vidor, Tom Moore, Esther Ralston and Ford Sterling: also
Pathe comedy. “Royal Four Flusher.” and Newsreel.
Next Sundayâ€"“The Lost World,” Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “ stupendous
story with Bessie Love. Lewis Stone, Wallace Beery and Lloyd Hughes.
Here is a 1968 newspaper article from better times:
After an extremely successful summer Interstate Theaters in
Galveston, The State and The Broadway, are planning bigger
and better fall and winter seasons.
Both the State Theater downtown and the Broadway Theater, 5121 Broadway, offer top entertainment. John Browning, Interstate manager in Galveston has announced that in the planning of bringing excellent motion pictures to Galveston, several films have already been booked and can be expected on the local screens soon.
Both the State and Broadway are healthfully air conditioned
and modern snack bars in both theaters are for your added
pleasure. So now is the time to save and take advantage of Interstate’s money saving offer on books and discount cards.
Here is a list of drive-ins in this area in April 1978:
ANDALUSIA DRIVE IN (Andalusia) â€" “Tne Pack” “Rattlers” “Mansion of the Doomed"
BUCKS COUNTY DRIVE IN (Route 611 North
Of Willow Grove) — “The Pack” “Rattlers” “Mansion Of The Doomed"
LINCOLN DRIVE IN (U.S. Route 1 at Phila.
City Line) — “Melting Man” “Journey Beyond” “Raw Meat"
MORRISVILLE DRIVE-IN (Morrisville) â€"
"Annie Hall” “Love And Death” “Monty Python And The Holy Grail"
ROOSEVELT DRIVE IN (Fairless Hills) —“The Pack” “Rattlers”
“Meat Cleaver Massacre"
U.S. No. 1 NORTH DRIVE-IN (Fairless Hills)— “Melting Man” “Journey To The Beyond”
Here is a 1989 article about the renovation:
The Avalon Theater, built in 1921, is currently undergoing a face lift to convert it into a state of the art performing
arts center. The renovated theater will be equipped with high technology sound and lighting equipment and a curtain
svstem on the stage to permit multiple backdrops for drama and musical productions. The cultural and artistic programs will serve the Mid Shore community.
The theater is located in the heart of the historic district on the corner of Harrison and Dover Streets opposite the Tidewater Inn.
The theater building, originally called the New Theater, was built during the hevday of the silent movies and the vaudeville era, and was considered spectacular. The theater was adorned with leaded glass doors at every entrance, an 18-ft ceiling dome with 148 lights, an electric pneumatic organ, an electric piano player, and a private telephone system.
The tin ceiling acoustical dome still remains today and is being restored by J. Gibbons Inc. of Baltimore. The pipe organ has a new home at the Richardson Park Methodist Church in Wilmington, Delaware following a brief stay in Trinity Methodist Church and the St Mark's
Church in Easton. The leaded glass doors are still being used and are in their original condition.
On the second floor of the theater building there was a balcony, and a ballroom. Ceciles Restaurant, a privately owned enterprise, now occupies the ballroom space and has been designed following the grandeur of the 1920s ballroom.
The mam balcony of the original theater remains the same as the 1920s and the lower level of the main balcony will be restored to the original 4 boxes, each containing at least 10 seats. An orchestra
pit has been constructed immediately in front of the stage to ommodate musical accompaniment of live performances.
The basement of the Avalon Theater building originally consisted of a kitchen, with a dumb waiter to the upper ballroom, and a billiard parlor. The basement today looks quite different. It has been converted into a rehearsal room, dressing rooms, managers office
and storage space for the performing arts center. The old scales and candy machines from the Avalon Theater during the 1930s are on display and functioning in the lobby area of the basement.
One of the photos you posted on 10/13 is the one that was in the LA Times today.
You’re right, after looking at the 1975 photo.
Here is an article from the Arcadia Tribune in March 1932:
Attraction at Local Theater
Many Fine Pictures Are Billed
for the Playhouse During Coming Week
Those who enjoy talkies have many treats before them this week
and next at the Arcadia theater, for Miss Janet Malbon and the
Tindle brothers, managers of the local playhouse, promise an excellent bill for each evening of the week.
Edward G. Robinson in “The Hatchet Man” is one of the features
for this evening and tomorrow night. Loretta Young, Dudley Digges and Tully Marshall are also in the cast. Critics who have
seen the film state it is one of the best things seen for a long time, as it is an actual portrayal of life in Chinatown, San Francisco. Fox Movietone News will contribute to the general enjoyment, as will a Charlie Chase comedy.
Future bookings into the Arcadia Theater include the following:
“Passionate Plumber,” with Buster Keaton; “Madelon Claudet,"
with Helen Hayes; "Fireman Save My Child,” with Joe E. Brown;
“Emma,” with Marie Dressier;“Beau Hunks,” with Laurel and
Hardy; “Prestige,” with Ann Harding; “The Champ,” with Wallace
Berry and Jackie Cooper.
I reposted on the correct page. The links from the old newspapers are great but they fail within a day, which I learned after posting a dozen of them. It’s too bad as the old theater ads are interesting.
Here is an ad from a 1922 Ohio newspaper which mentions the Criterion. Hopefully the scenes of love between the boy and mom were not too graphic:
Direct from its sensational run at the famous Criterion Theater, Times Square, New York, comes the picture beautiful, the picture extraordinary, the picture you’ll never forget-“WHERE IS MY WANDER- ING BOY TONIGHT”-the picture that tells in graphic scenes of a mother’s love for her boy and a boy’s love for his mother. The picture packed with thrills, adventure, romance, tenderest sentiment. The picture of Main Street and Broadway, of soda fountains and swell cabarets, of dance halls and a little church of a mother and her wayward boy, of a country lass and a chorus girl – the picture of smiles, tears, pathos, laughter.
The Picture that packed the famous CRITERION THEATRE, Times Square, N.Y. to capacity for two solid weeks at its world premiere
Here is an ad from a 1922 Ohio newspaper which mentions the Criterion. Hopefully the scenes of love between the boy and mom were not too graphic:
Direct from its sensational run at the famous Criterion Theater, Times Square, New York, comes the picture beautiful, the picture extraordinary, the picture you’ll never forget-“WHERE IS MY WANDER- ING BOY TONIGHT”-the picture that tells in graphic scenes of a mother’s love for her boy and a boy’s love for his mother. The picture packed with thrills, adventure, romance, tenderest sentiment. The picture of Main Street and Broadway, of soda fountains and swell cabarets, of dance halls and a little church of a mother and her wayward boy, of a country lass and a chorus girl – the picture of smiles, tears, pathos, laughter.
The Picture that packed the famous CRITERION THEATRE, Times Square, N.Y. to capacity for two solid weeks at its world premiere
“Royal Wedding” with Fred Astaire was playing at the Glen in September 1951:
GLEN THEATER
Talented young Jane Powell follows through after her stellar
hit with Fred Astaire in “Royal Wedding” with a brilliant per-
formance in “Rich, Young and Pretty” playing at the Glen theater.
The scintillating cast includes such screen luminaries as Danielle
Darrieux, Wendell Corey, singer Vic Damone and Una Merkel.
The other Joplin theaters at the time were the Fox, Orpheum, Paramount, Tri-State Drive-In, Electric, Civic, Larsen, Rex,
66 Drive-In and Edgewood Drive-In.
There is some construction or renovation going on at present.
I drove by the theater yesterday. It’s still being used as a sound studio.
I didn’t know that was part of the theater. I’ve walked by that building enough times.
There was an interesting photo in the LA Times today, from the LAFD historical society. The photo was dated 1913 and showed the Optic as a small one story building. Presumably that preceded the larger building that we see in the photos above. The smaller building was clearly labeled “Optic Theater”.
Here is an article from the Reno Gazette in August 1954:
MOVIE STARS HAIL RENO’S NEW THEATER
CONGRATULATORY MESSAGES FROM FILMDOM’S ELITE ARE
RECEIVED BY LOCAL MANAGER
Stars of the motion picture world have been sending congratulatory telegrams to the managers of the T & D Junior Enterprises in Reno.
Upon hearing that the Granada theater would open on Wednesday
at 7:30 o'clock, many of the top stars, all of them well known to
Reno theater goers sent their bestwishes for the success of the west’s most modern show place.
Although not in the picture, Bing Crosby, a Nevada resident, very
well known in Reno where he is a frequent visitor said:
“Congratulations” on the grand opening of the Granada theater
and to all patrons who will enjoy this excellent new showplace.
It is another first for Nevada."
James Stewart, who stars in “Rear Window,” and who, a few
short years ago was parading down the street on which the Granada
theater stands with Mrs. Stewart, waving gayly to the people who
soon would be honoring him with the “Silver Spurs” award for his
“She Wore a Yellow Ribbon,” wired Homer Le Ballister, Granada
theater manager as follows:
“Just heard the great news that you are opening the fine Granada theater. Naturally I am honored that "Rear Window” will be the first picture to play there. All my best to everyone in Reno. That is one city I will never forget, and always love."
POLICY OF NEW THEATER IS SET
Popular prices will prevail at the new Granada theater, it was
announced. Despite the fact that all of the modern devices are to
be found in Reno’s new show house which will open its doors at
7:30 Wednesday evening, the popular prices that were in vogue
when the old Granada was serving the people of the community will
prevail. Ken Workman, district manager, and Homer Le Ballister,
resident manager, stated this morning that the Granada would
be a first run theater, showing only the top films obtainable. It
is not expected that any picture will run at the Granada “for more
than one week. If the demand is so great that the picture cannot
satisfy the Reno audiences in a week at the Granada it will be
moved to another T & D theater. Thus, it is believed, that only
the finest productions will be shown in Reno’s newest playhouse.
Equipped as it is to show every type of picture, the Granada can
afford to be very choosy in selecting the films to be shown.
Here is another 1966 article on the renovation from the Austin Minnesota Daily Herald:
Vaudeville Is Forever Dead
but the Palace Is Alive Again
NEW YORK â€"The old girl has had a fresh makeup job, and she looks lovely. Her age shows, but with the elegant manner of someone wearing
her years with dignity and grace. She sparkles, she’s wearing
bright red with cream accessories and crystals, and she’s getting ready to play hostess again in a manner which recalls
her years as Broadway’s dowager queen.
She’s the Palace Theater, that mecca of entertainment, that
vaudeville shrine where most of the greats have played (Al Jolson,
George M. Cohan and Sir Harry Lauder however, are among those who never played the Palace). The Palace is the place where, in every movie ever made about early vaudevillians, one would say to the
other, “One day we’ll see our name in lights at the Palace."
The line was always accompanied by a sweeping left to right
gesture of the right arm.
THE NAME IN lights at the Palace now is Gwen Verdon’s, and it’s appropriate that the talented redhead, the delight of critics
and the public, should reopen the house Saturday night
in the new musical “Sweet Charity.” There are still a few finishing
touches to be added to the Palace, but sitting on the plush
red seats, watching a large crew working on the newly enlarged
stage, there were moments when you felt you were watching a
piece of modern choreography.
RALPH ALSWANG, a noted Broadway designer, is in charge of the restoration. It was he who, knocking down plaster walls decorated
in a style he calls “early Ruby Keeler,” discovered much of the original Palace behind the additions. “It is not an exact restoration,” he said, “But we have taken the best of the Palace,
we have avoided the extravagant use of marble which would make
it look like Grand Central Station, and we have made a bouquet to the past”.
THE PALACE OPENED March 24, 1913, and for about the first three months of its existence, it was a box office flop. Then “the divine” Sarah Bernhardt played an engagement there in a series of one-act plays (she was paid in gold before each performance), and the theater
was on its way. An attempt was made several years ago to revive live performances at the Palace. Judy Garland and Harry Belafonte were among those having successful engagements. But the theater reverted to grinding out movies. The last film to play there was Joseph Levine’s “Harlow,” leading a cynic to suggest that in addition to remodeling, it was also necessary to fumigate.
THE THEATER was purchased last August by the Nederlander
Theatrical Corp. owners of successful, elegant houses in
Chicago and Detroit. James Nederlander, a son of the head of the corporation, says the restoration of the Palace cost around
a half-million dollars. “We had to enlarge the orchestra pit from the 15 men used for vaudeville to the 32 needed
for musical theater. We tore out dressing rooms on the side of
the stage to give us more room. We had to rip out all the plumbing.
And we had to install a different system of counterweights
to handle the scenery. After all, in vaudeville they only used
flats. This is the kind of job that pyramids. We knock out one
set of pipes, only to discover they lead to another, and so on.”
THERE’S ONE MAN working at the theater who has vivid memories of the Palace as it was. He is Tom Murray, nicknamed “Mr. Broadway,” the
stage doorman. He played the Palace as a character singer in 1914 and 1917. For the past dozen years, Murray, in his 70s, has been working as the stage doorman at the Helen Hayes Theater, and now
he is returning home. “It’s lovely to be back,” he said.
This ad was in the Long Beach Independent in April 1954. Not a bad deal:
$350 Down
NON-VET
New 2-bdrm. expandable stucco home. Open beam or plastered
ceiling. Tile kit. & bath. Attach. garage, sewers, paved streets. $69.50/mo. From $8250 and up.
Move in Today
Open for inspection at Menlo St. & Ocean (228th St.) bet.
Vermont & Figueroa, just north of the Harbor Drive-In Theater.
Roland H. Snow, Rltr.
State 5-6988 DI 3-0325
Here is an article from the Racine Journal News in August 1914:
3,600 SEE GREAT PLAY
AT THE REX THEATRE
Rex Theater Crowded Afternoon and
Evening to See Trey O' Hearts
How they did pack in the Rex Theater all day yesterday and last evening to see “The Trey O' Hearts”. This popular photo-drama had its
second installment yesterday, and the number of admissions ran 3600. This attendance was certainly gratifying to Tom Norman, manager, as he is confident the people of Racine would appreciate the production in moving pictures of Louis Joseph Vance’s great story.
All afternoon the women and children kept coming, and it seemed as
it all roads led to the Rex theater. In the evening the same scenes were repeated. The “Trey O' Hearts” has certainly made a big hit and the same large houses can be expected every Tuesday.
The “Million Dollar Mystery” made and is making a big hit, but
the crowd yesterday even surpassed that production’s biggest day.
I wasn’t sure. They called it the Fox Liberty, but of course Fox could have had multiple theaters in the city. The Fox is the only Centralia theater listed on CT at present. Thanks for the info.