The November 19, 1938 issue of Boxoffice had news about the remodeling project at the Stratford Theatre: “Detroit— The Stratford Theatre here will complete an extensive remodeling program in about ten days. Wright & Rogvoy, Detroit, are the architects.”
According to this item from Boxoffice of November 12, 1938, a Toronto house called the Liberty Theatre was then being remodeled to be reopened as the La Salle Theatre:
“Toronto — Under the direction of Kaplan and Sprachman, Toronto architects, the Liberty Theatre, which is being renamed the La Salle, is being remodeled. It will seat 700 persons.
“The reconstruction work, costing $30,000, includes in addition to general modernizing, new seats, indirect Neon lighting, a new air-conditioning system, and new Mirrophonic sound and projection equipment being installed by Dominion Sound Equipments, Ltd.”
This web page confirms the 1938 remodeling and renaming, but says that the architect for the project was Harry Dobson. It also notes that the Liberty Theatre opened in 1928, and the house last operated as the Pagoda Theatre in the late 1960s or early 1970s.
The Parkway Theatre underwent another remodeling in 1938, as noted in the November 12 issue of Boxoffice:
“McKees Rocks, Pa. — Parkway Theatre is undergoing extensive remodeling and will be closed until Christmas, Al Glazer, proprietor, stated this week. A glass front and a new marquee are being installed. The auditorium also is being decorated. Sam Barbalat is the architect on the remodeling.”
The October 29, 1938 Boxoffice article about the opening of the new Dickinson Theatre at Mission, Kansas on October 20 listed among the attendees at the event the theater’s architect, Louis Siebers. Siebers also designed Dickinson’s Carlton Theatre at Manhattan, Kansas the same year.
When announced in Boxoffice of October 15, 1938, this house was to have been called the Park Theatre:
“Stamford, Conn. — F. E. Weiss of the Stamford Theatre has awarded the contract for a new theatre. The new house will be known as the Park and will be built on a site on Bedford St. opposite Forest St. Plans by Architect Hosenhauser [sic] of New York City call for a building of colonial design with stadium effect and will have a seating capacity of 750.”
This October 8, 1939 Boxoffice item suggests rather extensive alterations (early October to late December) for the Daw Theatre:
“Work has started on the new theatre in Tappahannock to be operated by the Daw Corp. Edward F. Sinnott of Richmond is architect. The 550-seat house, expected to be ready for Christmas week, will be managed by R. B. Wallace.”
Here is an item from Boxoffice of October 1, 1938: “Bennett and Straight, theatrical architects of Dearborn, Mich., are taking bids for the remodeling of the Strand Theatre for William A. Cassidy circuit at Alma, Mich. New marquee, front, and lobby, as well as other alterations, are planned.”
The July 18, 1953 issue of Motion Picture Herald had this item in the “Des Moines” column: “Julius Wareburg has closed his Irwin theatre at Irwin ‘because of lack of patronage.’… The same reason was given by Mr. and Mrs. A. J. Neumayer who are closing the Breda at Breda.”
Film Daily of March 27, 1936 said that the Warfield Theatre in Detroit was being razed, and that owner Moe Teitel planned to built a new theater of 1,500 seats, to open about August 1. I don’t know if the rebuilding resulted in a theater as large as planned, but the vintage photo on this page at Water Winter Wonderland shows the entrance with four sets of double doors, which would be overkill for a house with only 376 seats, so the rebuilt theater must have been quite a bit larger, even if FDY never changed the capacity in its listing.
The Film Daily item also noted that by the time the Warfield was rebuilt it served an African American audience. One commenter at WWW says that she saw William Castle’s 1959 movie “The Tingler” at the Warfield, double billed with ‘The Mummy", released the same year. A nephew of Morris Teitel also left a comment, saying that the house was demolished to make way for Interstate 75. Construction on that highway within Detroit began in 1959, and was completed in December, 1960, so the horror double bill was probably one of the last shows at the Warfield. Judging from the maps, its entire neighborhood was wiped out for the interchange with the Edsel Ford Freeway.
Last known as the Elkins Theatre, and in operation at least as late as 1967, the Hippodrome was located a few doors north of the Manos Theatre. The site is now under the footprint of the modern Davis Trust Company Building, and its address was probably somewhere between 211 and 221 Davis. The Hippodrome opened in 1916, and was renamed Elkins Theatre about 1957, when it was operated by the Monessen Entertainment Company.
The Seneca Theatre was still in operation at least as late as 1961. A recap of events in the Pittsburgh area that year in Boxoffice of January 8, 1962 noted the sale of the Seneca at Belington to George Everitt by former owner Dan C. Hayman.
The obituary of a Lawrence R. Fleming, published in the November 1, 1932 issue of Variety includes the lines “[f]ormerly was manager of the Dixie theatre, film house, in Fairmont, and Blue Ridge theatre, vaudeville house there. Both theatres have been made into warehouses.”
It’s increasingly likely that the Aztec was the house that opened in 1930 as the Grande Theatre. Film Daily of June 2 noted the recent opening of the house by Mrs. Velma Montague. This web page reveals that it was the Valley Theatre that became the Juarez, probably in 1939 or 1940.
I still haven’t tracked down the Alameda and Roxy theaters, which were operated by Mike Benitez in the 1950s. These might have been aka’s for the Aztec and Juarez, though the names Aztec and Juarez were in use in 1966, when trade journals reported that the Aztec had just been renamed the Century, so it’s quite uncertain. There also appears to have been a different Juarez Theatre opened in 1939, before its owner took over the Valley Theatre and moved the name Juarez there. It’s possible that the first Juarez became the Roxy or the Alameda.
This article says that the Citrus Theatre opened on January 17, 1941, and closed in 1993.
This web page about Spanish language movie houses in Edinburg notes that the Valley Theatre was at 222 Harriman Street (now University Drive), so the Citrus was not built on its site after all.
This web page about Spanish language movie theaters in Edinburg clears up some of the history of this theater. It was open by 1930 as the Valley Theatre, and became the Juarez Theatre in 1939 or 1940. The Juarez was still in operation at least as late as 1966, when it was mentioned in the August 8 issue of Boxoffice as being under the management of Jim Longoria, who also operated the Citrus Theatre and had just renamed his former Aztec Theatre to the Century Theatre.
The March 23, 1907 issue of The Moving Picture World had this news about the Criterion Theatre in Bridgeton:
“Here’s another: The success of the moving-picture entertainments in Bridgeton, N. J., have been remarkable, and Manager Moore of the Criterion has determined to make such entertainments a feature of the house. He has purchased a new Powers machine, which is one of the best made, and will have it installed in the theater permanently. He has arranged to secure feature films for all occasions when he presents entertainments and will have many delightful programmes before the season is over. Harry Cowan, the stage manager, is a most successful operator, having had charge of the pictures at the Park last season. He will have the operation of Mr. Moore’s machine.”
The Savoy Theatre was mentioned in a promotional ad for the vaudeville singing duo the Brunswig Bros., in the August 31, 1912 issue of Moving Picture World. It was also mentioned in the September 3, 1922 issue of the same journal, so it had a run of at least ten years.
The Empress was mentioned in the January 8, 1916 issue of Moving Picture World. Owners B.C. and Ralph T. Morgan had just bought the Lyric Theatre and planned on running both houses, with the Lyric open nightly and the Empress operating on Fridays and Saturdays.
The November 19, 1938 issue of Boxoffice had news about the remodeling project at the Stratford Theatre: “Detroit— The Stratford Theatre here will complete an extensive remodeling program in about ten days. Wright & Rogvoy, Detroit, are the architects.”
According to this item from Boxoffice of November 12, 1938, a Toronto house called the Liberty Theatre was then being remodeled to be reopened as the La Salle Theatre:
This web page confirms the 1938 remodeling and renaming, but says that the architect for the project was Harry Dobson. It also notes that the Liberty Theatre opened in 1928, and the house last operated as the Pagoda Theatre in the late 1960s or early 1970s.The Parkway Theatre underwent another remodeling in 1938, as noted in the November 12 issue of Boxoffice:
The October 29, 1938 Boxoffice article about the opening of the new Dickinson Theatre at Mission, Kansas on October 20 listed among the attendees at the event the theater’s architect, Louis Siebers. Siebers also designed Dickinson’s Carlton Theatre at Manhattan, Kansas the same year.
When announced in Boxoffice of October 15, 1938, this house was to have been called the Park Theatre:
The Avalon Theatre was at the southwest corner of Main Street and Locust Street, on the south side of the town square. Sadly, it has been demolished.
The October 15, 1938 issue of Boxoffice features a two page article about the new Avalon Theatre in Clarksville.
This October 8, 1939 Boxoffice item suggests rather extensive alterations (early October to late December) for the Daw Theatre:
Here is an item from Boxoffice of October 1, 1938: “Bennett and Straight, theatrical architects of Dearborn, Mich., are taking bids for the remodeling of the Strand Theatre for William A. Cassidy circuit at Alma, Mich. New marquee, front, and lobby, as well as other alterations, are planned.”
The July 18, 1953 issue of Motion Picture Herald had this item in the “Des Moines” column: “Julius Wareburg has closed his Irwin theatre at Irwin ‘because of lack of patronage.’… The same reason was given by Mr. and Mrs. A. J. Neumayer who are closing the Breda at Breda.”
The October 8, 1938 issue of Boxoffice said that the Markesan Theatre had opened on October 1st.
Film Daily of March 27, 1936 said that the Warfield Theatre in Detroit was being razed, and that owner Moe Teitel planned to built a new theater of 1,500 seats, to open about August 1. I don’t know if the rebuilding resulted in a theater as large as planned, but the vintage photo on this page at Water Winter Wonderland shows the entrance with four sets of double doors, which would be overkill for a house with only 376 seats, so the rebuilt theater must have been quite a bit larger, even if FDY never changed the capacity in its listing.
The Film Daily item also noted that by the time the Warfield was rebuilt it served an African American audience. One commenter at WWW says that she saw William Castle’s 1959 movie “The Tingler” at the Warfield, double billed with ‘The Mummy", released the same year. A nephew of Morris Teitel also left a comment, saying that the house was demolished to make way for Interstate 75. Construction on that highway within Detroit began in 1959, and was completed in December, 1960, so the horror double bill was probably one of the last shows at the Warfield. Judging from the maps, its entire neighborhood was wiped out for the interchange with the Edsel Ford Freeway.
Last known as the Elkins Theatre, and in operation at least as late as 1967, the Hippodrome was located a few doors north of the Manos Theatre. The site is now under the footprint of the modern Davis Trust Company Building, and its address was probably somewhere between 211 and 221 Davis. The Hippodrome opened in 1916, and was renamed Elkins Theatre about 1957, when it was operated by the Monessen Entertainment Company.
The Princess Theatre was the only house listed at Boomer in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory.
The Seneca Theatre was still in operation at least as late as 1961. A recap of events in the Pittsburgh area that year in Boxoffice of January 8, 1962 noted the sale of the Seneca at Belington to George Everitt by former owner Dan C. Hayman.
A May 22, 1922 Newspaper page about the proposed Fairmont Theatre can be seen on this web page.
The obituary of a Lawrence R. Fleming, published in the November 1, 1932 issue of Variety includes the lines “[f]ormerly was manager of the Dixie theatre, film house, in Fairmont, and Blue Ridge theatre, vaudeville house there. Both theatres have been made into warehouses.”
It’s increasingly likely that the Aztec was the house that opened in 1930 as the Grande Theatre. Film Daily of June 2 noted the recent opening of the house by Mrs. Velma Montague. This web page reveals that it was the Valley Theatre that became the Juarez, probably in 1939 or 1940.
I still haven’t tracked down the Alameda and Roxy theaters, which were operated by Mike Benitez in the 1950s. These might have been aka’s for the Aztec and Juarez, though the names Aztec and Juarez were in use in 1966, when trade journals reported that the Aztec had just been renamed the Century, so it’s quite uncertain. There also appears to have been a different Juarez Theatre opened in 1939, before its owner took over the Valley Theatre and moved the name Juarez there. It’s possible that the first Juarez became the Roxy or the Alameda.
This article says that the Citrus Theatre opened on January 17, 1941, and closed in 1993.
This web page about Spanish language movie houses in Edinburg notes that the Valley Theatre was at 222 Harriman Street (now University Drive), so the Citrus was not built on its site after all.
This web page about Spanish language movie theaters in Edinburg clears up some of the history of this theater. It was open by 1930 as the Valley Theatre, and became the Juarez Theatre in 1939 or 1940. The Juarez was still in operation at least as late as 1966, when it was mentioned in the August 8 issue of Boxoffice as being under the management of Jim Longoria, who also operated the Citrus Theatre and had just renamed his former Aztec Theatre to the Century Theatre.
The April, 1911 issue of Motography noted that the Majestic Theatre had opened recently at Bridgeton, New Jersey.
The March 23, 1907 issue of The Moving Picture World had this news about the Criterion Theatre in Bridgeton:
The Savoy Theatre was mentioned in a promotional ad for the vaudeville singing duo the Brunswig Bros., in the August 31, 1912 issue of Moving Picture World. It was also mentioned in the September 3, 1922 issue of the same journal, so it had a run of at least ten years.
The Empress was mentioned in the January 8, 1916 issue of Moving Picture World. Owners B.C. and Ralph T. Morgan had just bought the Lyric Theatre and planned on running both houses, with the Lyric open nightly and the Empress operating on Fridays and Saturdays.
Theatres listed at Grafton in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory were the Strand and the Dixie.