A notice about an 1,800-seat theater planned for Poughkeepsie by G. Cohen of the Best Theater appeared in the July 5, 1913 issue of The American Contractor. An August 9, 1913 article in Exhibitors' Times said that George Cohen’s Best Theater was located on the second and third floors of a building erected in 1872, so the project in Contractor was apparently being planned as a replacement for that aged house. So far I’ve been unable to discover how soon after this Mr. Cohen was able to finish his project. The Best Theater is listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory, but without an address.
This rather puzzling post at Facebook has some history of the Strand Theatre in it. As near as I can glean from the confusing text, the Strand was built in 1921, and might, or might not, have been called the State Theatre originally. In 1949 it was taken over by Paramount and was remodeled and renamed the Colonial Theatre. Another renovation took place in 1968, after which it might, or might not, have been renamed the State Theatre. The building was demolished in 1971 to make way for one of the highways which eviscerated Poughkeepsie and sent it into unremitting decline.
The article features a gallery of 20+ photos but most do not depict the Strand/Colonial. It says that the house changed hands and was opened and closed multiple times over its history. It’s clear that State Theatre was an aka at some point, but whether at the beginning or the end of its history, or both, is ambiguous. What is certain is that at the beginning of 1949 it was operating as the Strand, (and apparently had been, perhaps off and on, since at least 1927, since we have that grand opening ad from that year in our photo section) and at the end of 1949 it was operating as the Colonial.
This theater’s web site says that it was built in 1917. The fact that St. Cloud is not represented by any theater in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory tends to support the claim. In the photo section we have some vintage photos which, judging from clothing and cars, look like they could be from the late 1910s or very early 1920s, with original captions saying they depict the Conn Theatre. That must have been the opening name of the house. Other sources indicate that the Conn Building also housed Conn’s Department Store. The building might have been erected for the department store and the theater added on one side of it a year or two later. At some point the former department store space was converted to accommodate a larger theater auditorium.
It’s difficult to do Internet research on this theater, as almost all results of searches on St. Cloud are about St. Cloud, Minnesota, and so far every result from theater trade journals from searches for Conn have turned out to be only the old abbreviation for Connecticut.
The Princess actually opened in late 1916, not 1917. According to the December 30, 1916 issue of Moving Picture World, “[t]he new Princess Theater has been opened under the management of S. E. Wilhoit.”
This web page about Cape Girardeau’s movie theaters says that A. H. Haas built the Orpheum in 1917. Here is a relevant item from Moving Picture World of December 30, 1916:
“CAPE GIRARDEAU. MO.— A. H. Haas has plans by W. E. Farlow, H. H. building, for a one-story moving picture theater 45 by 112 feet, to cost 118,000.”
The Orpheum, the first house in Cape Girardeau to be wired for sound, was taken over by Fox in 1929, closed in February, 1954 and converted for retail use the following month. The building was demolished in 1993.
A house called the Majestic Theatre was listed at 320 S. Broadway in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. There was also an Arcadia Theatre listed at 21 N. Howard Street. A somewhat confusing item appears in the “Picture Theaters Projected” column of Moving Picture World of December 30, 1916:
“BALTIMORE, MD. Blanke & Zink, 648 Equitable building, are preparing plans for remodeling the Arcadia on North avenue for a moving picture theater, to be known as Majestic Motion Picture Parlor. The improvements will cost approximately $85,000.”
The only theater on North Avenue I can find in the Directory is the Aurora, at 7 E. North. It’s possible that MPW just got the sequence of this theater’s names reversed, and got the wrong street, but I’m having a hard time reconciling that $85,000 price tag with this 250-seat house. Perhaps the plans were for an expansion that just never got done.
In any case, as 320 S. Broadway was still listed as the Majestic in 1914, maybe Anderson’s Picture Parlor was a temporary name change. Or the Directory might simply have been behind the times.
I fear that this comment is rather disappointingly useless, but I’ll post it anyway. I just spent half a hour on it.
The “Picture Theaters Projected” column in the December 30, 1916 issue of Moving Picture World had this item which must have been about the Strand: “HAYS, KAN. — Milliard Kirkman has plans by C. A. Smith, Salina, Kan., for a one-story moving picture theater, 50 by 80 feet.”
The November 6, 1920 issue of Moving Picture World had this item about John Bauman’s new theater then nearing completion in Niles:
“A new theatre is being erected in Niles, Mich., by John Bauman. It will seat over 1,000, and be ready for opening about Dec. 1st. John Bingemer, formerly with Balaban & Katz in Chicago, will be the house manager, and he is planning to present pictures very elaborately.
The April 2, 1921 issue of the same journal had an item about the sale of the new house:
"Buy Niles Theatre
“Angell & Codd, operating theatres in Niles, Adrian, Owosso and Buchanan, have purchased the $150,000 New Riviera Theatre in Niles, Mich., which means that they will close up their small Strand Theatre in Niles, opening it only on special occasions. They also plan to erect a new theatre in South Bend, Ind., during the coming year.
The Varsity Theatre opened in 1947, according to a 1999 document prepared by historic preservation consultant Michelle L. Dennis. The document has no other information about the house.
By mid-1957, items in The Eugene Guard are noting events other then movies at the Varsity. In 1958 it was the home of a theater group called the Willamalane Players. In 1956 the Players were still using the Springfield Memorial Building. It’s probably safe to assume that the Varsity closed as a movie theater no later than early 1957. Given the timing, the cost of equipping theaters for CinemaScope could have been a factor.
Sandersville had two theaters open in 1948, and one of them was likely the Arcade, though the names are not given in this item from Motion Picture Herald of November 6 that year:
“Hal Macon, owner of the two theatres in Sandersville, has announced the opening of his new drive-in there for November 15.”
The Arcade was still in operation in 1962, when manager B. L. Brown had three capsule movie reviews published in the “Exhibitor Has His Say” column of Boxoffice for January 15.
This web page has six photos of the outside of the Arcade building after the demolition of the front section, and says that it was operating as a theater into the 1970s. The fake mansard on the front which can still be seen in the June, 2014 Google street view is characteristic of the 1970s and 1980s, so was probably added when the Arcade was converted to other uses, but the glass brick around the entrance was pure 1930s, or maybe early 1940s. That’s probably the period when it opened, unless it was converted from some other original use later.
The auditorium building looks like it might have been added behind an even older commercial building at some point, and could originally have housed something else, like a skating rink, a dance hall, or a bowling alley, any of which would have been likely to use glass blocks as a feature in the 1930s. The external projection booth, which could have been added later, also suggests that something of that sort might have happened.
The NRHP registration form for the Sandersville Commercial and Industrial Historic District says that the new Pastime Theatre opened at this location in 1938. It replaced the smaller Pastime that had operated on Malone Street since 1911.
The NRHP registration form for the Sandersville
Commercial and Industrial Historic District confirms that 116 Malone Street was the location of the original Pastime Theatre, opened in February, 1911. It moved to the Harris Street location in 1938.
I wonder if this house could have been Sandersville’s first Pastime Theatre? It was listed, without an address, in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory, and no other theaters were listed in the town.
This web page has a brief history of the Playhouse, and notes that for about four months in 1898-1899 it was also known as the Casino Theatre, then reverted to the name Savoy. The Savoy originally opened in the converted church on February 17, 1896, and the building was demolished in September, 1933, after having served as a warehouse and garage for a department store for 14 years.
A 1904 directory puts the Casto Theatre at 14 Rock Street. By 1905 the Casto was part of a small vaudeville circuit, controlled by Al Haynes, that included another Casto Theatre in Lowell, houses called the Savoy in Fall River and Lowell, and the Colonial Theatre in Lawrence. In 1906, the Casto Theatre Company lost control of the Fall River Casto, but continued to call itself the Casto Theatre Company, so it’s possible that the Fall River theater itself was renamed by the new owners, but I’ve been unable to confirm this.
I’ve been unable to find any references to the Fall River Casto after 1906. It isn’t listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory, which has no theater listed at the address 14 Rock Street. The only theater listed on Rock Street was the Premier, with no number given. Our page for the Premier lists it at 20 Rock Street. Given how close 14 and 20 are, I suppose it’s possible that a bit of number shifting took place, and the Premier actually was the Casto with a new name. If that’s the case, though, the news has not reached any Internet page that I’ve been able to find.
A history of Fall River’s fires says that the Premier Theatre was a two-story wood framed building at the corner of Rock and Granite Street, and was destroyed in the great fire of 1928, along with everything else on its block, so whether the Casto was the same theater as the Premier or not, assuming it was still standing before the fire, it surely didn’t survive it.
Trade journals in 1949 and 1950 make a number of references to the manager of the Home Theatre, a Mr. Sid Landers. Mr. Landers had an earlier connection to the theater business in Zephyrhills. Here is an item from the September 18, 1948 issue of Boxoffice:
“Zephyrhills, Fla., Zephyr Will Be Reopened Soon
“ZEPHYRHILLS, FLA.— Sid Landers has returned to Zephyrhills and will reopen the Zephyr Theatre, which he operated for four years, from 1940 to 1944, when he left to go into business in St. Petersburg. He plans to operate on a nightly schedule.”
The November 8, 1948 issue of Boxoffice said that The new, 500-seat Krusen Theatre in Zephyrhills was almost complete, and was waiting only on the arrival of some equipment to be opened. As Sid Landers became manager of the new house, opened as the Home Theatre, I suppose we can presume that the Zephyr was closed at that time. I’ve been unable to discover anything else about the Zephyr Theatre. The only other mention of a movie theater in Zephyrhills that I’ve found is from 1912, when a two story building, 25x50 feet, being put up at the corner of 8th Street and 6th Avenue was to have a Masonic Lodge upstairs and a movie theater downstairs.
The Roxy changed hands multiple times in the early 1950s. Boxofficeof July 14, 1951 said that Roxart Theatres of Tampa had bought the house from Florida Coast Theatres. Then the May 7, 1952 issue of The Exhibitor reported that local developer W. R. Parsley had bought the Roxy from Roxart. The April 26 1952 issue of Tampa Bay Times said that Parsley had leased the Roxy to Claughton Theatres.
The July 14, 1951 issue of Boxoffice reported that Video Independent Theatres had acquired full ownership of the Kihekah Theatre in Pawhuska, having purchased the half interest still held by Fred Pickrel, who had held an interest in the house since 1927. Video had acquired a half interest from Pickrel’s partner in 1950. Video Independent was still operating the Kihekah in 1963, when it was mentioned in the November 25 issue of Boxoffice.
Live performances were being presented at the Kihekah Theatre even before its name reverted to Constantine. A performance of the play “The Crucible” was mounted there in 1976, according to the June 27 issue of the Oklahoma City Daily Oklahoman.
I don’t know if it was in the same building or not, but there was a Ramona Theatre in Kermmling in 1938, when the July 2 issue of Film Daily said that Ramona was the new name of the former Victory Theatre.
A notice about an 1,800-seat theater planned for Poughkeepsie by G. Cohen of the Best Theater appeared in the July 5, 1913 issue of The American Contractor. An August 9, 1913 article in Exhibitors' Times said that George Cohen’s Best Theater was located on the second and third floors of a building erected in 1872, so the project in Contractor was apparently being planned as a replacement for that aged house. So far I’ve been unable to discover how soon after this Mr. Cohen was able to finish his project. The Best Theater is listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory, but without an address.
This rather puzzling post at Facebook has some history of the Strand Theatre in it. As near as I can glean from the confusing text, the Strand was built in 1921, and might, or might not, have been called the State Theatre originally. In 1949 it was taken over by Paramount and was remodeled and renamed the Colonial Theatre. Another renovation took place in 1968, after which it might, or might not, have been renamed the State Theatre. The building was demolished in 1971 to make way for one of the highways which eviscerated Poughkeepsie and sent it into unremitting decline.
The article features a gallery of 20+ photos but most do not depict the Strand/Colonial. It says that the house changed hands and was opened and closed multiple times over its history. It’s clear that State Theatre was an aka at some point, but whether at the beginning or the end of its history, or both, is ambiguous. What is certain is that at the beginning of 1949 it was operating as the Strand, (and apparently had been, perhaps off and on, since at least 1927, since we have that grand opening ad from that year in our photo section) and at the end of 1949 it was operating as the Colonial.
This theater’s web site says that it was built in 1917. The fact that St. Cloud is not represented by any theater in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory tends to support the claim. In the photo section we have some vintage photos which, judging from clothing and cars, look like they could be from the late 1910s or very early 1920s, with original captions saying they depict the Conn Theatre. That must have been the opening name of the house. Other sources indicate that the Conn Building also housed Conn’s Department Store. The building might have been erected for the department store and the theater added on one side of it a year or two later. At some point the former department store space was converted to accommodate a larger theater auditorium.
It’s difficult to do Internet research on this theater, as almost all results of searches on St. Cloud are about St. Cloud, Minnesota, and so far every result from theater trade journals from searches for Conn have turned out to be only the old abbreviation for Connecticut.
The Princess actually opened in late 1916, not 1917. According to the December 30, 1916 issue of Moving Picture World, “[t]he new Princess Theater has been opened under the management of S. E. Wilhoit.”
This web page about Cape Girardeau’s movie theaters says that A. H. Haas built the Orpheum in 1917. Here is a relevant item from Moving Picture World of December 30, 1916:
The Orpheum, the first house in Cape Girardeau to be wired for sound, was taken over by Fox in 1929, closed in February, 1954 and converted for retail use the following month. The building was demolished in 1993.A house called the Majestic Theatre was listed at 320 S. Broadway in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. There was also an Arcadia Theatre listed at 21 N. Howard Street. A somewhat confusing item appears in the “Picture Theaters Projected” column of Moving Picture World of December 30, 1916:
The only theater on North Avenue I can find in the Directory is the Aurora, at 7 E. North. It’s possible that MPW just got the sequence of this theater’s names reversed, and got the wrong street, but I’m having a hard time reconciling that $85,000 price tag with this 250-seat house. Perhaps the plans were for an expansion that just never got done.In any case, as 320 S. Broadway was still listed as the Majestic in 1914, maybe Anderson’s Picture Parlor was a temporary name change. Or the Directory might simply have been behind the times.
I fear that this comment is rather disappointingly useless, but I’ll post it anyway. I just spent half a hour on it.
The “Picture Theaters Projected” column in the December 30, 1916 issue of Moving Picture World had this item which must have been about the Strand: “HAYS, KAN. — Milliard Kirkman has plans by C. A. Smith, Salina, Kan., for a one-story moving picture theater, 50 by 80 feet.”
This house was still listed as the Theatorium in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory.
The November 6, 1920 issue of Moving Picture World had this item about John Bauman’s new theater then nearing completion in Niles:
The April 2, 1921 issue of the same journal had an item about the sale of the new house:The 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory lists two theaters at St. Paul: The Opera House and the Dreamland Theatre.
The Varsity Theatre opened in 1947, according to a 1999 document prepared by historic preservation consultant Michelle L. Dennis. The document has no other information about the house.
By mid-1957, items in The Eugene Guard are noting events other then movies at the Varsity. In 1958 it was the home of a theater group called the Willamalane Players. In 1956 the Players were still using the Springfield Memorial Building. It’s probably safe to assume that the Varsity closed as a movie theater no later than early 1957. Given the timing, the cost of equipping theaters for CinemaScope could have been a factor.
Sandersville had two theaters open in 1948, and one of them was likely the Arcade, though the names are not given in this item from Motion Picture Herald of November 6 that year:
The Arcade was still in operation in 1962, when manager B. L. Brown had three capsule movie reviews published in the “Exhibitor Has His Say” column of Boxoffice for January 15.This web page has six photos of the outside of the Arcade building after the demolition of the front section, and says that it was operating as a theater into the 1970s. The fake mansard on the front which can still be seen in the June, 2014 Google street view is characteristic of the 1970s and 1980s, so was probably added when the Arcade was converted to other uses, but the glass brick around the entrance was pure 1930s, or maybe early 1940s. That’s probably the period when it opened, unless it was converted from some other original use later.
The auditorium building looks like it might have been added behind an even older commercial building at some point, and could originally have housed something else, like a skating rink, a dance hall, or a bowling alley, any of which would have been likely to use glass blocks as a feature in the 1930s. The external projection booth, which could have been added later, also suggests that something of that sort might have happened.
The NRHP registration form for the Sandersville Commercial and Industrial Historic District says that the new Pastime Theatre opened at this location in 1938. It replaced the smaller Pastime that had operated on Malone Street since 1911.
The NRHP registration form for the Sandersville Commercial and Industrial Historic District confirms that 116 Malone Street was the location of the original Pastime Theatre, opened in February, 1911. It moved to the Harris Street location in 1938.
I wonder if this house could have been Sandersville’s first Pastime Theatre? It was listed, without an address, in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory, and no other theaters were listed in the town.
An earlier Pastime Theatre at Sandersville was listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory, unfortunately with no address given.
This web page has a brief history of the Playhouse, and notes that for about four months in 1898-1899 it was also known as the Casino Theatre, then reverted to the name Savoy. The Savoy originally opened in the converted church on February 17, 1896, and the building was demolished in September, 1933, after having served as a warehouse and garage for a department store for 14 years.
A 1904 directory puts the Casto Theatre at 14 Rock Street. By 1905 the Casto was part of a small vaudeville circuit, controlled by Al Haynes, that included another Casto Theatre in Lowell, houses called the Savoy in Fall River and Lowell, and the Colonial Theatre in Lawrence. In 1906, the Casto Theatre Company lost control of the Fall River Casto, but continued to call itself the Casto Theatre Company, so it’s possible that the Fall River theater itself was renamed by the new owners, but I’ve been unable to confirm this.
I’ve been unable to find any references to the Fall River Casto after 1906. It isn’t listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory, which has no theater listed at the address 14 Rock Street. The only theater listed on Rock Street was the Premier, with no number given. Our page for the Premier lists it at 20 Rock Street. Given how close 14 and 20 are, I suppose it’s possible that a bit of number shifting took place, and the Premier actually was the Casto with a new name. If that’s the case, though, the news has not reached any Internet page that I’ve been able to find.
A history of Fall River’s fires says that the Premier Theatre was a two-story wood framed building at the corner of Rock and Granite Street, and was destroyed in the great fire of 1928, along with everything else on its block, so whether the Casto was the same theater as the Premier or not, assuming it was still standing before the fire, it surely didn’t survive it.
Trade journals in 1949 and 1950 make a number of references to the manager of the Home Theatre, a Mr. Sid Landers. Mr. Landers had an earlier connection to the theater business in Zephyrhills. Here is an item from the September 18, 1948 issue of Boxoffice:
The November 8, 1948 issue of Boxoffice said that The new, 500-seat Krusen Theatre in Zephyrhills was almost complete, and was waiting only on the arrival of some equipment to be opened. As Sid Landers became manager of the new house, opened as the Home Theatre, I suppose we can presume that the Zephyr was closed at that time. I’ve been unable to discover anything else about the Zephyr Theatre. The only other mention of a movie theater in Zephyrhills that I’ve found is from 1912, when a two story building, 25x50 feet, being put up at the corner of 8th Street and 6th Avenue was to have a Masonic Lodge upstairs and a movie theater downstairs.The Roxy changed hands multiple times in the early 1950s. Boxofficeof July 14, 1951 said that Roxart Theatres of Tampa had bought the house from Florida Coast Theatres. Then the May 7, 1952 issue of The Exhibitor reported that local developer W. R. Parsley had bought the Roxy from Roxart. The April 26 1952 issue of Tampa Bay Times said that Parsley had leased the Roxy to Claughton Theatres.
The July 14, 1951 issue of Boxoffice reported that Video Independent Theatres had acquired full ownership of the Kihekah Theatre in Pawhuska, having purchased the half interest still held by Fred Pickrel, who had held an interest in the house since 1927. Video had acquired a half interest from Pickrel’s partner in 1950. Video Independent was still operating the Kihekah in 1963, when it was mentioned in the November 25 issue of Boxoffice.
Live performances were being presented at the Kihekah Theatre even before its name reverted to Constantine. A performance of the play “The Crucible” was mounted there in 1976, according to the June 27 issue of the Oklahoma City Daily Oklahoman.
I don’t know if it was in the same building or not, but there was a Ramona Theatre in Kermmling in 1938, when the July 2 issue of Film Daily said that Ramona was the new name of the former Victory Theatre.
The Film Daily of July 2, 1938 said that the Rio Theatre in Mount Harris, Colorado was now called the Liberty Theatre.
The Film Daily of July 2, 1938 said that the Walden Theatre in Walden, Colorado, had been renamed the Star Theatre.
The July 2, 1938 issue of Film Daily said that the Crystal Theatre at Carrizozo had been renamed the Lyric.