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.
A business license was issued for the Lyric in June 1975, perhaps to the last owners of the business, according to the Yuma Daily Sun:
There were seven business licenses issued by the city of
Yuma during the period of June 10 through 17. They were (excerpting):
Lyric Theater, Western Theaters of California, 211 Main St.
Also Plaza Theaters, 1560 4th Ave., Great Western Theaters
Inc. and James Jannapolous, owner Steven Lane, president;
Also known as Fox Liberty (?) per this 1931 newspaper article:
POPULAR PRICES AT
LIBERTY THEATRE
The re-opening of the Liberty theatre here Friday evening opens a
new era in entertainment for Centralia. The management of the
Twin City Theatres, of which the Liberty is a part, are opening the
Liberty to give Lewis county theatre patrons a family theatre with
real popular low price of twenty five cents. It is also the aim of the Liberty to play up-to-date first run pictures of high class. The Liberty will have three changes of program a week.
“Fifty Fathoms Deep”, a thrilling action picture with Jack Holl will be the opening attraction and will run Friday and Saturday.
Sept. 11 and 12, with a special matinee Saturday afternoon. “Fifty
Fathoms Deep” is a Northwest premiere showing at the Liberty
Theatre.
“Fifty Million Frenchmen” is the comedy attraction Sunday
and Monday. That inimitable team of clowns, Olsen and Johnson, are
the bright spots of “Fifty Million Frenchmen” and it has a world
wide reputation as being 1931’s greatest laugh picture.
Here is an excerpt from the Fresno Bee re the grand opening:
The Tower Theater, newest local amusement enterprise and
Fresno’s first large neighborhood motion picture house, will be
formally opened to the public at 1:30 o'clock tomorrow afternoon
at Olive and Wishon Avenues.
Construction work on the building, which also embraces
eight retail store premises in addition to the theater proper, has
Ijeen underway since Spring when long term leasing arrangements,
representing an eventual rental outlay of more than $200,000, were negotiated by the Fox West Coast Theaters, Inc.
Entire Block Included
The property includes the entire block bounded by Olive, Wishon,
•Linden and Fern Avenues, and includes a large, newly paved parking
lot adjoining the building which was erected at a cost approximating
$80,000, exclusive of the large amount of fixtures, equipment and
decorating.
Formerly the site of the Wishon Playground, the land and new
building are owned by A. Emory Wishon, formerly associated with
his father, the late A. G. Wishon, in the management of the San Joaquin,now a division of the Pacific Gas & Electric Company, of which Wishon was a vice president.
Many Notables Present
In Fresno for the opening of the theater are a number of figures
widely known in the Pacific Coast and the national amusement field,
among them Charles Skouras, presidentof the Fox West Coast concern;
Charles Buckley, vice president and general counsel; A. M
Bowles, Northern California division manager, and Nick O. Turner,
district manager.
The opening bill, with the performance starting at 2 P. M tomorrow,
will feature two pictures, Dancing Coed, in which Artie
Shaw, Lana Turner and Ann Rutherford are starred; and Henry Goes to
Arizona, with Virginia Weidler and Frank Morgan in the lead roles.
Rare woods from the tropics, gold beaten to the thinness of a hair,
and silver flattened to paper thickness went into making the intenor
of the Tower Theater one of the most beautiful on the West Coast.
Tiger wood, cut to a veneer and mounted on canvas, is used to decorate the lobby columns and to set off the walls which are paneled in a special variety of birch. Tropical woods go toward making up the lobby decorations. But it is in the theater decorations
itself that the work of the gold and silver beaters is apparent.
Several thousand square feet of ceiling and wall space is covered
with silver foil, and the interior columns, decorations on the
doors and rails and other fixtures are covered with gold leaf.
The gold and silver used in the decorations are estimated to have
cost several thousands of dollars.
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.
A business license was issued for the Lyric in June 1975, perhaps to the last owners of the business, according to the Yuma Daily Sun:
There were seven business licenses issued by the city of
Yuma during the period of June 10 through 17. They were (excerpting):
Lyric Theater, Western Theaters of California, 211 Main St.
Also Plaza Theaters, 1560 4th Ave., Great Western Theaters
Inc. and James Jannapolous, owner Steven Lane, president;
Also known as Fox Liberty (?) per this 1931 newspaper article:
POPULAR PRICES AT
LIBERTY THEATRE
The re-opening of the Liberty theatre here Friday evening opens a
new era in entertainment for Centralia. The management of the
Twin City Theatres, of which the Liberty is a part, are opening the
Liberty to give Lewis county theatre patrons a family theatre with
real popular low price of twenty five cents. It is also the aim of the Liberty to play up-to-date first run pictures of high class. The Liberty will have three changes of program a week.
“Fifty Fathoms Deep”, a thrilling action picture with Jack Holl will be the opening attraction and will run Friday and Saturday.
Sept. 11 and 12, with a special matinee Saturday afternoon. “Fifty
Fathoms Deep” is a Northwest premiere showing at the Liberty
Theatre.
“Fifty Million Frenchmen” is the comedy attraction Sunday
and Monday. That inimitable team of clowns, Olsen and Johnson, are
the bright spots of “Fifty Million Frenchmen” and it has a world
wide reputation as being 1931’s greatest laugh picture.
Here is an excerpt from the Fresno Bee re the grand opening:
The Tower Theater, newest local amusement enterprise and
Fresno’s first large neighborhood motion picture house, will be
formally opened to the public at 1:30 o'clock tomorrow afternoon
at Olive and Wishon Avenues.
Construction work on the building, which also embraces
eight retail store premises in addition to the theater proper, has
Ijeen underway since Spring when long term leasing arrangements,
representing an eventual rental outlay of more than $200,000, were negotiated by the Fox West Coast Theaters, Inc.
Entire Block Included
The property includes the entire block bounded by Olive, Wishon,
•Linden and Fern Avenues, and includes a large, newly paved parking
lot adjoining the building which was erected at a cost approximating
$80,000, exclusive of the large amount of fixtures, equipment and
decorating.
Formerly the site of the Wishon Playground, the land and new
building are owned by A. Emory Wishon, formerly associated with
his father, the late A. G. Wishon, in the management of the San Joaquin,now a division of the Pacific Gas & Electric Company, of which Wishon was a vice president.
Many Notables Present
In Fresno for the opening of the theater are a number of figures
widely known in the Pacific Coast and the national amusement field,
among them Charles Skouras, presidentof the Fox West Coast concern;
Charles Buckley, vice president and general counsel; A. M
Bowles, Northern California division manager, and Nick O. Turner,
district manager.
The opening bill, with the performance starting at 2 P. M tomorrow,
will feature two pictures, Dancing Coed, in which Artie
Shaw, Lana Turner and Ann Rutherford are starred; and Henry Goes to
Arizona, with Virginia Weidler and Frank Morgan in the lead roles.
Rare woods from the tropics, gold beaten to the thinness of a hair,
and silver flattened to paper thickness went into making the intenor
of the Tower Theater one of the most beautiful on the West Coast.
Tiger wood, cut to a veneer and mounted on canvas, is used to decorate the lobby columns and to set off the walls which are paneled in a special variety of birch. Tropical woods go toward making up the lobby decorations. But it is in the theater decorations
itself that the work of the gold and silver beaters is apparent.
Several thousand square feet of ceiling and wall space is covered
with silver foil, and the interior columns, decorations on the
doors and rails and other fixtures are covered with gold leaf.
The gold and silver used in the decorations are estimated to have
cost several thousands of dollars.
Here is a 1964 newspaper ad:
http://tinyurl.com/yzq6pk
Here is a 1935 newspaper ad:
http://tinyurl.com/yngtfc
“Ben Hur” was playing in April 1970. Admission was 50 cents:
http://tinyurl.com/yb5a7u
Here is a newspaper ad from 1950:
http://tinyurl.com/ya7lfa
There is a 1950 ad for the Victory at the bottom of the page:
http://tinyurl.com/yz9tof