I’m sure that this item from the July 3, 1935 issue of Film Daily is about the Roxy Theatre:
“Seattle — Le Vance Weskil, operator of the Rose Theater, Colfax, is to build a new 400-seat $35,000 house there. Bjarne H. Moe of Seattle is architect.”
The Roxy and Rose are both listed in the 1936 Film Daily Yearbook, so the Roxy was probably open by the beginning of that year. The building is very much in the style of Moe’s theater projects from the mid-1930s.
The Curran Opera House was listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. The August 29 issue of moving Picture World that year ran this item: “Thursdays will be Mary Pickford days at the Curran theater in Boulder, Colo.”
This house apparently opened as the New Empire Theatre, as that was how it was still styled in an item in the August 29, 1914 issue of Moving Picture World. At that time the house was showing feature films on Fridays and Mondays and four reels of movies from the General Film Company the rest of the week, with daily changes of program. The New Empire maintained a six-piece orchestra as well as a pipe organ.
The Rosebud Theatre opened on August 8, 1914, according to this item in the August 29 issue of Moving Picture World:“The Rosebud on Gratiot avenue, near Brush street, opened its doors as a picture house on August 8. It is under the same management as the Woodward Theater.”
The Empress Theatre was mentioned in the August 29, 1914 issue of Moving Picture World:
“The only five cent moving pictures in the downtown district of Detroit are the Bijou, Park, Garland, Casino, Princess and Monroe. None of them show features. The Empress on Woodward avenue, which up until recently was a five cent house, is now proving very successful with features, most of which are shown after being exhibited for a week at the Liberty”
The August 29, 1914 issue of Moving Picture World had this item about the opening of the Medbury Theatre: “The New Medbury Theater on Hastings street, near Medbury Theater [sic], was completed earlier than expected and was formally opened July 27. T. Gardner is manager. The theater seats 400.” Note: If there was an earlier Medbury Theatre, it was not listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory, but I think it’s more likely that the MPW item simply contained a mistake, and it was meant to read “…near Medbury Avenue.”
News from Billings in the The August 29, 1914 issue of Moving Picture World:
“Woods & Snidow have sold the Broadway theater at Billings, Mont., to E. C. O'Keefe, manager of the Luna theater in Billings, and V. D. Caldwell of the American Bank and Trust Company of that city. Formal opening under the new management was fixed for the last of August, many changes to be made in the house in the interval. After the reopening the theater will be known as the Regent and the policy will be the ultra-features at prices slightly higher than the average admission in Billings has been. O'Keefe will continue to manage the Luna.”
A history of Stanislaus County published in 1921 has two sections with information about the Modesto Theatre. The first is on the history of Modesto (Google Books scan) and the second is embedded in the biographical sketch of the theater’s builder, W. R. Mensinger (scroll down to the last paragraph on page 550.)
Both sections say that at the time Mr. Mansinger conceived building the theater, the location where it was built had been vacant, so the claim made by modern local sources such as this web page that the Modesto’s location had been the location of the original Star Theatre must be wrong. The 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory lists both the Modesto and the original Star, and they could hardly have occupied the same lot.
However, the Directory lists the Modesto at 917 10th Street, rather than 927, and the Star is listed without an address. As the Modesto was rebuilt on the same lot as the burned theater, either the town has shifted its lot numbers or the Directory made a mistake. I’ve wondered if maybe the Directory gave the address of the Star as the address of the Modesto? As the local sources say that the New Star at 928 10th was across the street from the original Star, it does seem plausible that the original Star was just down the block from the Modesto, and the local memory of the exact location has been lost over the years. But in any case, it’s clear that the Star and the Modesto could not have been on the same lot.
An article about the Star Theatre appears in the September 11, 1915 issue of Moving Picture World. The owner, W. B. Martin, had been an exhibitor since 1906, and had been in Modesto for about three years. He had been manager of the Modesto Theatre at the time it was destroyed by fire in December, 1913, and then leased another theater in Modesto for a year and a half before opening the New Star.
The house he leased must have been the original Star, but it could not have been across the street from the New Star, as that was the location of the Modesto Theatre. Both houses were listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. Another period source indicates that the location of the Modesto was vacant land before that theater was built in 1913, so modern local sources saying that that was where the earlier Star was must be mistaken.
Is the rink on the 1910 map? If so, Baxter’s project must have fallen through, or his theater had a very short life and the building then went back to housing a roller rink.
The Crystal was apparently not the first movie theater to occupy these premises. The May, 1909 issue of The Nickelodeon ran this item: “Davenport, Iowa. — A new moving picture theater has been opened at 328 Harrison street.”
This item is from the May, 1909 issue of The Nickelodeon: “Bloomington, Ill. — The Colonial, a handsome new motion picture
theater, has been opened at 426 North Main street.”
I came across an item in The Nickelodeon of May, 1909, saying “Paul Baxter, of Morrison, has secured a lease on the Rollaway and will open a first-class moving picture show.” A bit more searching led to a book called History of Whiteside County, Ilinois which was published in 1908, which says that The Rollaway was a roller skating rink opened early that year and located on First Avenue. The rink itself was 46 feet wide and 95 feet deep, so could have accommodated a good-sized theater such as the Vaudette. It’s conceivable that Mr. Baxter’s plans had not yet come to fruition in November, 1910, and that the Vaudette was indeed located in the former Rollaway rink.
elmorovivo is correct about the Lyric Theatre, later the Esquire, being the 1922 house at 719 10th Street. It opened on June 27 that year in a building that had been converted from a garage. The Isis was a different house, opened as the Liberty Theatre sometime before 1912, at which time it was renamed the Isis. The name change was noted in the June 7, 1912 issue of The Modesto Bee.
That said, it’s possible that the Isis moved to a different location in 1914. The October 3, 1914 issue of Moving Picture World said “Dick Wilbur has opened the Isis theater, Modesto, Cal., the house being under the management of W. B. Harrison.” That’s the only mention of the Isis I’ve found in the trade journals, and I’ve not found the Liberty mentioned at all. As the item has minimal information, I don’t know if it was the old Liberty/Isis being reopened or a new Isis at a different location.
An article in the Detroit Free Press of October 11, 1865, while the Croswell Opera House was under construction, said that the new house had been designed by Syracuse, New York architect Horatio Nelson White. Among White’s innovations at the Croswell, he employed a system of trusses, braces and iron ties to support the horseshoe-shaped gallery, eliminating the need for columns or heavy brackets on the main floor. This was of course lost when the auditorium was gutted for the 1921 reconstruction to the plans of John C. Brompton.
A history of the Croswell Opera House says that the Maple City Theatre was one of three small movie houses opened in Adrian in late 1907. The other two were called the Crescent and the Queen. Of these three, the Maple City is the only one listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory.
The book The A to Z of American Theater: Modernism, by James Fisher and Felicia Hardison Londré, has a brief biographical sketch of Edward Douglas Stair, who built the Stair Auditorium (Google Books preview.) The 1921 Polk gazetteer of Michigan lists it merely as “Auditorium, The.” The 1914-1915 Gus Hill directory listed Stair Auditorium with a seating capacity of 818. A note says “Plays RVP” meaning Road Shows, Vaudeville, and Moving Pictures.
“[i]n January 1908 the Stair Auditorium was opened with a stage play called The Fatal Flower. This building served for many years as the center of all entertainment. Until the new high school was built, all graduation exercises, school plays and other school events were held there. In the early 1960s it was not being used and was in a state of disrepair. The city was no longer able to keep up the building, and like many other beautiful old structures it was torn down to make way for progress.”
Two items about the Temple Theatre appear in the November 3, 1917 issue of Moving Picture World, with one inconsistency. One says “Temple theater has been reopened by Charles Auble” and a slightly longer one says “[t]he new Temple theater in the Odd Fellows' building has been opened by Charles Auble. It will be operated with five and ten cent admission.”
I’ve been unable to discover when the IOOF temple was built, but the style looks post-1900, so it could have been a fairly new building when the theater opened. It still has the IOOF insignia on the façade, though it does not appear to be a lodge hall anymore. It is not listed on the NRHP, nor is it listed as a Michigan State Historic Sight.
The Gem was wired with a Western Electric sound system in late 1930, as noted in the January 4, 1931 issue of Film Daily:
“Michigan’s Second Smallest Wired
“Morenci, Mich.— Western Electric sound equipment has been installed in the Gem here owned by E. Furman. This town is the second smallest in the state reported to be using Western Electric equipment, Saugautuct taking first honors in this respect. Saugautuct has a population of 526.”
This item is from the September 5, 1925 issue of Motion Picture News:
“The Grove Theatre at Pacific Grove, a new 1,000 seat house, opened August 15th, under the management of A. Keller, who has capably handled the Monterey Theatre Company’s houses. Seating throughout was handled by the C. F. Weber Co., stage equipment by the Western Scenic Studios of Oakland, a growing and enterprising concern whose work is creating considerable comment; booth equipment by Tex Coombs; a Wurlitzer organ, while the interior decorating, Spanish in design, was handled by the Paggioni Studios.”
The theater business in Sterling must have been tough in the early days. If the 1910 map shows no theaters other than the Vaudette, the two that opened in 1909 must have gone under by the time the map was made. Three items datelined Sterling appeared in Moving Picture World from March to June that year. The March 6 issue said “Adolph Loux will open a new moving picture theater on West Third Street.” The June 5 issue said “Clifford Van De Mark has purchased from Loux Brothers the Gem Theater and has taken possession.”
Meanwhile, the May 5 issue noted that “Paul V. Baxter has opened a new vaudeville and moving picture theater.” I’ve not been able to track down either a name of a location for Mr. Baxter’s theater.
The earliest mention of the Sterling Theatre I’ve found in the trade journals is this item from the September 1, 1923 issue of Moving Picture World:
“STERLING, ILL—Sterling Theatre Corporation, care Grand Theatre, contemplates erecting brick moving picture theatre, 100 by 135 feet, at Fourth and Locust streets.”
Another notice appears in the October 20 issue of the same publication:
“George Greenough, owner of the Grand Theatre at Sterling, Ill., plans to build a new house in that city to play both pictures and legitimate shows. It is expected that the house and furnishings will cost at least $200,000 and seat almost a thousand people.”
The November 3 issue of Motion Picture News also noted the project:
“A new picture theatre, to represent an investment of nearly $200,000, will be erected at Sterling, Ill., this winter, by G. Geenough [sic]. The policy will be pictures and the theatre will be strictly modern in every respect. Work will be started at an early date.”
I’m sure that this item from the July 3, 1935 issue of Film Daily is about the Roxy Theatre:
The Roxy and Rose are both listed in the 1936 Film Daily Yearbook, so the Roxy was probably open by the beginning of that year. The building is very much in the style of Moe’s theater projects from the mid-1930s.The Curran Opera House was listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. The August 29 issue of moving Picture World that year ran this item: “Thursdays will be Mary Pickford days at the Curran theater in Boulder, Colo.”
This house apparently opened as the New Empire Theatre, as that was how it was still styled in an item in the August 29, 1914 issue of Moving Picture World. At that time the house was showing feature films on Fridays and Mondays and four reels of movies from the General Film Company the rest of the week, with daily changes of program. The New Empire maintained a six-piece orchestra as well as a pipe organ.
The Rosebud Theatre opened on August 8, 1914, according to this item in the August 29 issue of Moving Picture World:“The Rosebud on Gratiot avenue, near Brush street, opened its doors as a picture house on August 8. It is under the same management as the Woodward Theater.”
The Empress Theatre was mentioned in the August 29, 1914 issue of Moving Picture World:
The August 29, 1914 issue of Moving Picture World had this item about the opening of the Medbury Theatre: “The New Medbury Theater on Hastings street, near Medbury Theater [sic], was completed earlier than expected and was formally opened July 27. T. Gardner is manager. The theater seats 400.” Note: If there was an earlier Medbury Theatre, it was not listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory, but I think it’s more likely that the MPW item simply contained a mistake, and it was meant to read “…near Medbury Avenue.”
News from Billings in the The August 29, 1914 issue of Moving Picture World:
A history of Stanislaus County published in 1921 has two sections with information about the Modesto Theatre. The first is on the history of Modesto (Google Books scan) and the second is embedded in the biographical sketch of the theater’s builder, W. R. Mensinger (scroll down to the last paragraph on page 550.)
Both sections say that at the time Mr. Mansinger conceived building the theater, the location where it was built had been vacant, so the claim made by modern local sources such as this web page that the Modesto’s location had been the location of the original Star Theatre must be wrong. The 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory lists both the Modesto and the original Star, and they could hardly have occupied the same lot.
However, the Directory lists the Modesto at 917 10th Street, rather than 927, and the Star is listed without an address. As the Modesto was rebuilt on the same lot as the burned theater, either the town has shifted its lot numbers or the Directory made a mistake. I’ve wondered if maybe the Directory gave the address of the Star as the address of the Modesto? As the local sources say that the New Star at 928 10th was across the street from the original Star, it does seem plausible that the original Star was just down the block from the Modesto, and the local memory of the exact location has been lost over the years. But in any case, it’s clear that the Star and the Modesto could not have been on the same lot.
An article about the Star Theatre appears in the September 11, 1915 issue of Moving Picture World. The owner, W. B. Martin, had been an exhibitor since 1906, and had been in Modesto for about three years. He had been manager of the Modesto Theatre at the time it was destroyed by fire in December, 1913, and then leased another theater in Modesto for a year and a half before opening the New Star.
The house he leased must have been the original Star, but it could not have been across the street from the New Star, as that was the location of the Modesto Theatre. Both houses were listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. Another period source indicates that the location of the Modesto was vacant land before that theater was built in 1913, so modern local sources saying that that was where the earlier Star was must be mistaken.
Is the rink on the 1910 map? If so, Baxter’s project must have fallen through, or his theater had a very short life and the building then went back to housing a roller rink.
The Crystal was apparently not the first movie theater to occupy these premises. The May, 1909 issue of The Nickelodeon ran this item: “Davenport, Iowa. — A new moving picture theater has been opened at 328 Harrison street.”
This item is from the May, 1909 issue of The Nickelodeon: “Bloomington, Ill. — The Colonial, a handsome new motion picture theater, has been opened at 426 North Main street.”
The recent opening of the first Bijou Theatre at Monmouth was noted in the May, 1909 issue of The Nickelodeon.
I came across an item in The Nickelodeon of May, 1909, saying “Paul Baxter, of Morrison, has secured a lease on the Rollaway and will open a first-class moving picture show.” A bit more searching led to a book called History of Whiteside County, Ilinois which was published in 1908, which says that The Rollaway was a roller skating rink opened early that year and located on First Avenue. The rink itself was 46 feet wide and 95 feet deep, so could have accommodated a good-sized theater such as the Vaudette. It’s conceivable that Mr. Baxter’s plans had not yet come to fruition in November, 1910, and that the Vaudette was indeed located in the former Rollaway rink.
elmorovivo is correct about the Lyric Theatre, later the Esquire, being the 1922 house at 719 10th Street. It opened on June 27 that year in a building that had been converted from a garage. The Isis was a different house, opened as the Liberty Theatre sometime before 1912, at which time it was renamed the Isis. The name change was noted in the June 7, 1912 issue of The Modesto Bee.
That said, it’s possible that the Isis moved to a different location in 1914. The October 3, 1914 issue of Moving Picture World said “Dick Wilbur has opened the Isis theater, Modesto, Cal., the house being under the management of W. B. Harrison.” That’s the only mention of the Isis I’ve found in the trade journals, and I’ve not found the Liberty mentioned at all. As the item has minimal information, I don’t know if it was the old Liberty/Isis being reopened or a new Isis at a different location.
An article in the Detroit Free Press of October 11, 1865, while the Croswell Opera House was under construction, said that the new house had been designed by Syracuse, New York architect Horatio Nelson White. Among White’s innovations at the Croswell, he employed a system of trusses, braces and iron ties to support the horseshoe-shaped gallery, eliminating the need for columns or heavy brackets on the main floor. This was of course lost when the auditorium was gutted for the 1921 reconstruction to the plans of John C. Brompton.
A history of the Croswell Opera House says that the Maple City Theatre was one of three small movie houses opened in Adrian in late 1907. The other two were called the Crescent and the Queen. Of these three, the Maple City is the only one listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory.
The management of the New Family Theatre advertised in the “Help Wanted” section of Moving Picture World of July 26, 1913, seeking a piano player.
The book The A to Z of American Theater: Modernism, by James Fisher and Felicia Hardison Londré, has a brief biographical sketch of Edward Douglas Stair, who built the Stair Auditorium (Google Books preview.) The 1921 Polk gazetteer of Michigan lists it merely as “Auditorium, The.” The 1914-1915 Gus Hill directory listed Stair Auditorium with a seating capacity of 818. A note says “Plays RVP” meaning Road Shows, Vaudeville, and Moving Pictures.
A history page about Morenci says of the theater
Two items about the Temple Theatre appear in the November 3, 1917 issue of Moving Picture World, with one inconsistency. One says “Temple theater has been reopened by Charles Auble” and a slightly longer one says “[t]he new Temple theater in the Odd Fellows' building has been opened by Charles Auble. It will be operated with five and ten cent admission.”
I’ve been unable to discover when the IOOF temple was built, but the style looks post-1900, so it could have been a fairly new building when the theater opened. It still has the IOOF insignia on the façade, though it does not appear to be a lodge hall anymore. It is not listed on the NRHP, nor is it listed as a Michigan State Historic Sight.
The Gem was wired with a Western Electric sound system in late 1930, as noted in the January 4, 1931 issue of Film Daily:
This item is from the September 5, 1925 issue of Motion Picture News:
The theater business in Sterling must have been tough in the early days. If the 1910 map shows no theaters other than the Vaudette, the two that opened in 1909 must have gone under by the time the map was made. Three items datelined Sterling appeared in Moving Picture World from March to June that year. The March 6 issue said “Adolph Loux will open a new moving picture theater on West Third Street.” The June 5 issue said “Clifford Van De Mark has purchased from Loux Brothers the Gem Theater and has taken possession.”
Meanwhile, the May 5 issue noted that “Paul V. Baxter has opened a new vaudeville and moving picture theater.” I’ve not been able to track down either a name of a location for Mr. Baxter’s theater.
The earliest mention of the Sterling Theatre I’ve found in the trade journals is this item from the September 1, 1923 issue of Moving Picture World:
Another notice appears in the October 20 issue of the same publication:The November 3 issue of Motion Picture News also noted the project:Photo from the August 28, 1915 issue of Moving Picture World uploaded.