The UA Cinema 4 closed here permanently with 4 “Cine Arte” titles in “Mrs. Brown,” “When the Cat’s Away,” “Ponette” and “Shall We Dance?” on October 7, 1997.
United Artists bolted from the Padre Staples Mall Movies 6 on July 30, 2000 - apparently without informing the mall management. UATC (United Artists Theatres Circuit) was deeply in debt at that point and shedding locations across the country. Just two months later, UATC filed for bankruptcy protection.
Movie One Theaters operated the Five Points Theater. Silver Cinemas took on the chain in December of 1996 and operated here both as a first-run and discount house. Silver Cinemas appears to have left the venue in 2003. It operated independently thereafter but advertisements ceased in 2007 - about the time when a high-profile incident took place at the cinema undoubtedly leading to negative publicity. The venue stayed in a frozen state vacant for more than ten years as a ghost cinema. But, finally, in 2020 the theater space was retrofitted becoming a gym / fitness center.
The Mann National Twin closed on May 7, 1987 with “Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol,” “My Demon Lover,” and “Campus Man.” Its neighbor - three blocks away - the Movies 1 & 2 would survive just seven months longer closing in January of 1988.
In 1972, Joseph Cooper Burks of American Automated Theatres Inc. (AATI) announced another one of the fledgling circuit’s locations as franchisee Cinemas Southwest Theaters (CSW) promised to open its twin in Corpus Christi in 1973. Like the Jerry Lewis Circuit and National General Circuit, AATI would show family films in theatres that were placed in strip shopping centers. The venue was built just three blocks away from National General’s Twin which had opened in 1970.
The delayed venue launched as The Movies! 1 & 2 (with an exclamation point) at 3518 S. Staples on February 2, 1974. CSW expanded into three other states before running into financial issues in 1977 with lawsuits claiming unpaid leases. Movie I Circuit of Dallas took on the venue with a new 10-year lease late in 1977 dropping the exclamation point.
The venue had runs of “Rocky Horror Picture Show” at midnight and also had a brief run with adult films that didn’t meet with public favor. Movie I repositioned the venue as a sub-run one dollar discount house to success. However, it dropped the venue at the end of its lease on January 3, 1988 with “Flowers in the Attic” and “Less Than Zero.” The opening of Cinemark’s seven-screen discount house at Sunrise Mall was the reason that Movie I stated it would not pursue any extension. It had, however, outlasted the National Twin which had gone out of business seven months prior.
The former Movies! venue was retrofitted for other retail purposes becoming a stationery store followed by a long-running pawn shop.
The Hollywood was built by dentist Percy Myer Kliman who moved his family from Eastdale where they ran the Melva Theatre to Mattydale. The new-build Hollywood Theatre on Bremerton Road just north of Syracuse launched on February 14, 1939 with Robert Preston in “Illegal Traffic,” and Sidney Toler in “The Mysterious Rider” supported by George Campo in “ Murder with Reservations.” Kliman would die shortly thereafter and the family ran the film in its formative years.
The Strand building lasted 105 years in downtown Rochester. It opened as St. Paul’s Episcopal Church at 62-70 St. Paul Street in 1848. When St. Paul’s moved to new digs in 1896, the venue became home to Colonial Hall on a ten-year leasing agreement from 1896 to 1906. It hosted wrestling events and was a place to skate.
Famous Rochester movie pioneer George D. Curtis bought the venue creating the early movie theater, the Happy Hour in 1907 joining the Bijou Dream Theater as the city’s only full-time nickelodeon movie theaters. The building received a refresh and new operators in 1913 as the Strand Theatre operating on a new, 20-year lease. The Strand converted to sound in 1929 to remain viable.
In 1933, the Strand got one more 20-year leasing deal. It struggled after the War with neighborhood theaters, drive-ins and television draining coins from aging downtown theaters. James J. Hayes, Albert M. Zack and Vincent P. Faga took the operation on in its final years closing up on March 24, 1953 at the end of lease. It was razed not long after the completion of the RKO Temple Theatre and concurrently with the Empire Theatre in May of 1953.
The 104-year tradition has ended. The Pioneer Theatre in Manteo last showed a film on November 16, 2022 with “Wakanda Forever.” A temporary closure occurred for a projector issue. But on December 13, 2022, the management decided to make the closure permanent ending the Pioneer’s run - one of the nation’s longest running movie theaters.
The Crescent Theatre grand opening ad from December 20, 1909 is in photos. The theatre was closed permanently without converting to sound on June 3, 1929 and converted for other purposes. However, the theater had a high profile, “grand closing” event the previous night on June 2, 1929.
The Melvin Block building at 2809-2819 James Street was home to the Melva Theatre. The 500-seat theater was a suburban house located originally in Eastwood, considered a village East of Syracuse . Built by Eastwood dentist Percy Myer Kliman, the theater was named for Kliman’s grandchild, Melva. Kliman’s daughters, Freda and Alice, would accompany the silent films on the Melva’s piano. The neighboring Bluebird would serve as the theater’s de facto concession stand. The Melva launched December 25, 1921 with “The Sheik” supported by a Harold Lloyd comedy short and a Pathé newsreel.
In 1926, the City of Syracuse annexed Eastwood making the theater part of Syracuse. The Kliman family would leave the Melva for the new-build Hollywood Theatre on Bremerton Road in the suburb of Mattydal just north of Syracuse. Arlington Amusement acquired the Melva in 1932 installing a new sound system in order to compete with the Schine Palace Theatre five blocks away. That failed in 1933 for the Arlington folks.
The theater was re-lit one last time on November 9, 1936 and renamed as the James Theater with Clark Gable in “San Francisco.” The James closed at the end of lease October 27, 1940 with a double-feature of “Half a Sinner” and “Riders of the Pasco Basin.” It was purchased by Schine Circuit which took it on to rid the neighborhood of competition for its Palace. The space was converted to a funeral home.
Not sure what evidence there is supporting RKO acquiring the post-theatrical venue in 1950 and then re-equipping it for operation as a movie house in the 1950s; but as unlikely as that appears, anything’s possible. However, the building has long since been demolished.
Anthony Langan built Langan’s Theatre operating until his death in 1923. It was continued in his name until June 2, 1929 and may have closed as a silent movie house without converting to sound. Final show advertised that day were Louise Brooks in “Beggers of Life.” The building was converted to an auto garage which was torn down in the 1980s.
The Magnolia Theatre closed on March 16, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Landmark decided not to reopen the venue. Violet Crown Circuit of Austin adopted the Magnolia with renovation plans and a targeted Spring 2022 reopening date that occurred on December 9, 2022 as the Violet Crown Cinema |. Dallas. The head of Violet Crown also was a founder of Magnolia Pictures.
Kerasotes Theatres launched the Village Mall Cinema in 1976. In May of 2010, AMC Theatres Circuit bought the Kerasotes chain. It first became the AMC Village Mall 6. AMC bought the Carmike chain in 2016 and regrouped the majority of inherited locations under the banner of AMC Classic theaters in 2017, including the Danville location. Renamed as the AMC Classic Village Mall 6, it was closed for the COVID-19 pandemic on March 16, 2020 along with all of the other AMC locations. AMC then reopened it on Thursday, September 3, 2020. AMC permanently closed the location following showtimes of December 11, 2022.
The Acme Amusement Company built the Acme Theater in 1913 launching in 1914. The theatre installed sound to remain viable. The final showings at the theatre were Gary Cooper in “Return to Paradise” and Edward G. Robinson in “Big Leaguer” on November 29, 1953. Fire just an hour after the final showtime consumed the building whose remains were demolished not long after.
The Novelty Theatre in Syracuse was opened on February 21, 1907 with Al Collins directed “Ups and Downs of Murphy” and Romeo Bosetti in “The Drunken Mattress.” The theater joined its neighbor - the Burns Hotel (1880-1907) and later renamed the St. Cloud Hotel (January 17, 1908-August 1953). The movie venue was named after its owner and was referred to as Morgan’s Novelty Theater seating 600 with a change of show daily. A success, the Novelty was open from 2p-11p daily with illustrated songs and motion pictures.
In 1915, the Novelty was taken over by David Schine of Schine Theatres and then by George E. Smith in 1918 simply as the Novelty Theatre. The Novelty was wired for sound to remain viable. The theater lost its place in the local movie clock generally indicating - though perhaps not in this case - a transition to a theater catering to African American audiences. The next door Novelty Candy Store served as a de facto concession stand.
The Novelty appears to have ceased operations following a major fire in the neighboring St. Cloud Hotel in September of 1953. The building housing the candy store and the theater was definitely torn down along with the St. Cloud Hotel beginning in October of 1953 (somebody was arrested pillaging an item from the closed theater) and continuing into 1954. The neighboring building on Clinton Street was also bulldozed and blacktopped leaving an open air parking lot for Murbro Parking that still exists in the 2020s.
The Regent Theatre launched September 12, 1914 with Estelle Mardo as “The Littlest Rebel.” The theatre was wired for sound to remain viable. Kallet Circuit took on the venue operating apparently until December 28, 1957 with “No Time to Be Young” and “The Young Don’t Cry.” The venue was gifted to Syracuse University where, in its post-commercial theatrical years, it was renamed as the University Regent Theatre with live plays and repertory film. Syracuse replaced the venue in 1980 with a contemporary building.
In the period from 1917 to 1918, this was home to the Palace Hall located here at 572 South Salina Street in Syracuse. The venue had a 60-year operational lifecycle but had at least ten names as the Palace Hall moved elsewhere in town and the Palace Roller Rink took over from 1918 into 1919. The Top Theatre moved into this venue next with movies and some live entertainment.
A new operator renamed it as the System Theatre with all seats eleven cents beginning May 8, 1921 with in Sessue Hayakawa in “Li Ting Lang.” That was said to be the start of a major national System theatre circuit that fizzled. The theater’s final silent-era name was the more benign Syracuse Theater in 1928. The venue didn’t make the immediate transition to sound and purportedly had a brief run as the Syracuse University Theater staging live plays. In the sound era, the venue was wired and became the Ritz Theatre launching on October 1, 1932. The Civic Repertory Theater / Civic Theater moved into the former Ritz Theater in 1933. The Civic Rep would find a new home and the Civic Theater had a long run as a movie house into the early 1960s.
In 1961, the venue was renamed as the Civic Follies Theatre. It called itself, “Syracuse’s Most Unusual Theater,” playing adult films along with some live burlesque. That started a 15-year tradition of raids and constant court battles for the Civic Follies' management during the prono chic era of adult movie exhibition. In 1981, the venue tried one more time as the Adam & Eve Adult Theatre. It appears to have been bought out as the home video industry was gaining traction in 1986 . The former Palace Hall turned Palace Roller Rink turned Top Theatre turned System Theater turned Syracuse Theater turned Syracuse University Theater turned Ritz Theater Civic Repertory Theater turned Civic Theater turned Civic Follies Theater turned Adam & Eve Adult Theatre was torn down in 1987. (The local report of the demolition also cited one more operational name as the Syracuse Civic Theater.)
From 1936 to 1943, the venue was listed as the RKO Schine Strand Theatre. From 1943 to 1959, the venue was listed as the Loew’s Strand Theatre. The Loew’s Strand closed permanently following Frank Sinatra in MGM’s “Hole in the Head” supported by an MGM “Tom & Jerry” cartoon and a Loew’s News of the Day newsreel on August 16, 1959. The next Strand ad was less than a week later - the salvage sale of the building as it was demolished for a municipal parking garage.
After 40 years of diverse live programming and sporadic film offerings, the Syracuse Turn-Verein Hall / Turn Hall was transformed into a full-time movie theater in 1911 and had an amazing run to October 20, 1952 with a double feature of “Walk East on Beacon!” and “Montana Territory.” On October 21, 1952, it was all over with a fire that completely destroyed the venue.
James Kernan opened his Kernan Theatre in the summer of 1912. New operators took it over on Thanksgiving Day 1934. Advertisements and announcements ceased in 1936.
The Temple Theatre launched on August 10, 1914 with a vaudeville-centric policy which also inserted films. The architects of the original were Merrick & Randall who created a Louis Seize styled venue. The 1,800 seat venue had 1,000 of its seats on the main floor with the remainder in the balcony and boxes.
Publix took on the theater at the expiry of its initial 15-year lease and reimagined it with talking pictures added to the programming policy. It relaunched December 10, 1929 as the Paramount Theatre with Eddie Cantor in “Glorifying the American Girl. The theater technically passed through Warner Bros. to RKO during its initial five years of operation.
At the conclusion of its five-year lease in 1934/5, Schine got involved with the venue and it became the RKO Schine Paramount in the Fall of 1935 - a mouthful. Schine would eventually have to divest itself of the Eckel for antitrust reasons. RKO dropped off of the operational ledger and Schine’s Paramount closed temporarily to install a Magic Mirror widescreen in 1953 to present CinemaScope titles beginning with “The Robe.” The Paramount appears to have closed April 15, 1967. It was bulldozed in August through October of 1967.
And contrary to the entry above which claims “there is little information on this theater,” there appears to be abundant information including every show ever booked at the Temple and the Paramount, every updating of the theater, each architect associated with the creation or updating of the venue, and even the contractors who installed the HVAC system.
January 26, 1920 opening ad at for B.F. Keith’s new Syracuse theater posted in photos with the theatre devoted to vaudeville. The theater would transition to films. It closed as the RKO Keith’s Theatre on January 5, 1967 with “Any Wednesday” with “I Deal in Danger.” The final act was an auction of the theater’s contents shortly thereafter and then a demolition project in 1967 that also took the Paramount Theatre. The Keith bit back as the demolition was botched after a wall collapsed startling and injuring passersby.
The Harvard Theatre launched April 11, 1926 with 1,000 seats and an architecture described as Spanish Renaissance playing Colleen Moore’s “Irene.“ Getting a major refresh and new operators in 1944, the venue became the Civic University Theatre (formerly the Harvard). In the Fall of 1948, it became the Wescot (just one T in the entirety of its naming) Theatre.
The Wescot closed at the end of its 20-year leasing agreement in 1968 but got a new operator and look. On October 16, 1968, its shocking transformation by architect Alan Kosoff was complete and the Wescot became the Studio Theatre reopening as an art house with “Bell de Jour.” It transformed to a discount run theatre on November 26, 1980 called the Westcott Cinema. The venue would go back to art film though closing October 18, 2007. In 2008, it lost its plaster front from the 1968 makeover and became the live performance space, the Westcott Theatre.
The UA Cinema 4 closed here permanently with 4 “Cine Arte” titles in “Mrs. Brown,” “When the Cat’s Away,” “Ponette” and “Shall We Dance?” on October 7, 1997.
United Artists bolted from the Padre Staples Mall Movies 6 on July 30, 2000 - apparently without informing the mall management. UATC (United Artists Theatres Circuit) was deeply in debt at that point and shedding locations across the country. Just two months later, UATC filed for bankruptcy protection.
Movie One Theaters operated the Five Points Theater. Silver Cinemas took on the chain in December of 1996 and operated here both as a first-run and discount house. Silver Cinemas appears to have left the venue in 2003. It operated independently thereafter but advertisements ceased in 2007 - about the time when a high-profile incident took place at the cinema undoubtedly leading to negative publicity. The venue stayed in a frozen state vacant for more than ten years as a ghost cinema. But, finally, in 2020 the theater space was retrofitted becoming a gym / fitness center.
The Mann National Twin closed on May 7, 1987 with “Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol,” “My Demon Lover,” and “Campus Man.” Its neighbor - three blocks away - the Movies 1 & 2 would survive just seven months longer closing in January of 1988.
In 1972, Joseph Cooper Burks of American Automated Theatres Inc. (AATI) announced another one of the fledgling circuit’s locations as franchisee Cinemas Southwest Theaters (CSW) promised to open its twin in Corpus Christi in 1973. Like the Jerry Lewis Circuit and National General Circuit, AATI would show family films in theatres that were placed in strip shopping centers. The venue was built just three blocks away from National General’s Twin which had opened in 1970.
The delayed venue launched as The Movies! 1 & 2 (with an exclamation point) at 3518 S. Staples on February 2, 1974. CSW expanded into three other states before running into financial issues in 1977 with lawsuits claiming unpaid leases. Movie I Circuit of Dallas took on the venue with a new 10-year lease late in 1977 dropping the exclamation point.
The venue had runs of “Rocky Horror Picture Show” at midnight and also had a brief run with adult films that didn’t meet with public favor. Movie I repositioned the venue as a sub-run one dollar discount house to success. However, it dropped the venue at the end of its lease on January 3, 1988 with “Flowers in the Attic” and “Less Than Zero.” The opening of Cinemark’s seven-screen discount house at Sunrise Mall was the reason that Movie I stated it would not pursue any extension. It had, however, outlasted the National Twin which had gone out of business seven months prior.
The former Movies! venue was retrofitted for other retail purposes becoming a stationery store followed by a long-running pawn shop.
Closed December 29, 2022
The Hollywood was built by dentist Percy Myer Kliman who moved his family from Eastdale where they ran the Melva Theatre to Mattydale. The new-build Hollywood Theatre on Bremerton Road just north of Syracuse launched on February 14, 1939 with Robert Preston in “Illegal Traffic,” and Sidney Toler in “The Mysterious Rider” supported by George Campo in “ Murder with Reservations.” Kliman would die shortly thereafter and the family ran the film in its formative years.
Expected to close January 26, 2023 and will be replaced by a new location for the Golf Dome, a year-round driving and putting center .
The Strand building lasted 105 years in downtown Rochester. It opened as St. Paul’s Episcopal Church at 62-70 St. Paul Street in 1848. When St. Paul’s moved to new digs in 1896, the venue became home to Colonial Hall on a ten-year leasing agreement from 1896 to 1906. It hosted wrestling events and was a place to skate.
Famous Rochester movie pioneer George D. Curtis bought the venue creating the early movie theater, the Happy Hour in 1907 joining the Bijou Dream Theater as the city’s only full-time nickelodeon movie theaters. The building received a refresh and new operators in 1913 as the Strand Theatre operating on a new, 20-year lease. The Strand converted to sound in 1929 to remain viable.
In 1933, the Strand got one more 20-year leasing deal. It struggled after the War with neighborhood theaters, drive-ins and television draining coins from aging downtown theaters. James J. Hayes, Albert M. Zack and Vincent P. Faga took the operation on in its final years closing up on March 24, 1953 at the end of lease. It was razed not long after the completion of the RKO Temple Theatre and concurrently with the Empire Theatre in May of 1953.
The 104-year tradition has ended. The Pioneer Theatre in Manteo last showed a film on November 16, 2022 with “Wakanda Forever.” A temporary closure occurred for a projector issue. But on December 13, 2022, the management decided to make the closure permanent ending the Pioneer’s run - one of the nation’s longest running movie theaters.
The Crescent Theatre grand opening ad from December 20, 1909 is in photos. The theatre was closed permanently without converting to sound on June 3, 1929 and converted for other purposes. However, the theater had a high profile, “grand closing” event the previous night on June 2, 1929.
The Melvin Block building at 2809-2819 James Street was home to the Melva Theatre. The 500-seat theater was a suburban house located originally in Eastwood, considered a village East of Syracuse . Built by Eastwood dentist Percy Myer Kliman, the theater was named for Kliman’s grandchild, Melva. Kliman’s daughters, Freda and Alice, would accompany the silent films on the Melva’s piano. The neighboring Bluebird would serve as the theater’s de facto concession stand. The Melva launched December 25, 1921 with “The Sheik” supported by a Harold Lloyd comedy short and a Pathé newsreel.
In 1926, the City of Syracuse annexed Eastwood making the theater part of Syracuse. The Kliman family would leave the Melva for the new-build Hollywood Theatre on Bremerton Road in the suburb of Mattydal just north of Syracuse. Arlington Amusement acquired the Melva in 1932 installing a new sound system in order to compete with the Schine Palace Theatre five blocks away. That failed in 1933 for the Arlington folks.
The theater was re-lit one last time on November 9, 1936 and renamed as the James Theater with Clark Gable in “San Francisco.” The James closed at the end of lease October 27, 1940 with a double-feature of “Half a Sinner” and “Riders of the Pasco Basin.” It was purchased by Schine Circuit which took it on to rid the neighborhood of competition for its Palace. The space was converted to a funeral home.
Not sure what evidence there is supporting RKO acquiring the post-theatrical venue in 1950 and then re-equipping it for operation as a movie house in the 1950s; but as unlikely as that appears, anything’s possible. However, the building has long since been demolished.
Anthony Langan built Langan’s Theatre operating until his death in 1923. It was continued in his name until June 2, 1929 and may have closed as a silent movie house without converting to sound. Final show advertised that day were Louise Brooks in “Beggers of Life.” The building was converted to an auto garage which was torn down in the 1980s.
The Magnolia Theatre closed on March 16, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Landmark decided not to reopen the venue. Violet Crown Circuit of Austin adopted the Magnolia with renovation plans and a targeted Spring 2022 reopening date that occurred on December 9, 2022 as the Violet Crown Cinema |. Dallas. The head of Violet Crown also was a founder of Magnolia Pictures.
Kerasotes Theatres launched the Village Mall Cinema in 1976. In May of 2010, AMC Theatres Circuit bought the Kerasotes chain. It first became the AMC Village Mall 6. AMC bought the Carmike chain in 2016 and regrouped the majority of inherited locations under the banner of AMC Classic theaters in 2017, including the Danville location. Renamed as the AMC Classic Village Mall 6, it was closed for the COVID-19 pandemic on March 16, 2020 along with all of the other AMC locations. AMC then reopened it on Thursday, September 3, 2020. AMC permanently closed the location following showtimes of December 11, 2022.
The Acme Amusement Company built the Acme Theater in 1913 launching in 1914. The theatre installed sound to remain viable. The final showings at the theatre were Gary Cooper in “Return to Paradise” and Edward G. Robinson in “Big Leaguer” on November 29, 1953. Fire just an hour after the final showtime consumed the building whose remains were demolished not long after.
The Novelty Theatre in Syracuse was opened on February 21, 1907 with Al Collins directed “Ups and Downs of Murphy” and Romeo Bosetti in “The Drunken Mattress.” The theater joined its neighbor - the Burns Hotel (1880-1907) and later renamed the St. Cloud Hotel (January 17, 1908-August 1953). The movie venue was named after its owner and was referred to as Morgan’s Novelty Theater seating 600 with a change of show daily. A success, the Novelty was open from 2p-11p daily with illustrated songs and motion pictures.
In 1915, the Novelty was taken over by David Schine of Schine Theatres and then by George E. Smith in 1918 simply as the Novelty Theatre. The Novelty was wired for sound to remain viable. The theater lost its place in the local movie clock generally indicating - though perhaps not in this case - a transition to a theater catering to African American audiences. The next door Novelty Candy Store served as a de facto concession stand.
The Novelty appears to have ceased operations following a major fire in the neighboring St. Cloud Hotel in September of 1953. The building housing the candy store and the theater was definitely torn down along with the St. Cloud Hotel beginning in October of 1953 (somebody was arrested pillaging an item from the closed theater) and continuing into 1954. The neighboring building on Clinton Street was also bulldozed and blacktopped leaving an open air parking lot for Murbro Parking that still exists in the 2020s.
The Regent Theatre launched September 12, 1914 with Estelle Mardo as “The Littlest Rebel.” The theatre was wired for sound to remain viable. Kallet Circuit took on the venue operating apparently until December 28, 1957 with “No Time to Be Young” and “The Young Don’t Cry.” The venue was gifted to Syracuse University where, in its post-commercial theatrical years, it was renamed as the University Regent Theatre with live plays and repertory film. Syracuse replaced the venue in 1980 with a contemporary building.
In the period from 1917 to 1918, this was home to the Palace Hall located here at 572 South Salina Street in Syracuse. The venue had a 60-year operational lifecycle but had at least ten names as the Palace Hall moved elsewhere in town and the Palace Roller Rink took over from 1918 into 1919. The Top Theatre moved into this venue next with movies and some live entertainment.
A new operator renamed it as the System Theatre with all seats eleven cents beginning May 8, 1921 with in Sessue Hayakawa in “Li Ting Lang.” That was said to be the start of a major national System theatre circuit that fizzled. The theater’s final silent-era name was the more benign Syracuse Theater in 1928. The venue didn’t make the immediate transition to sound and purportedly had a brief run as the Syracuse University Theater staging live plays. In the sound era, the venue was wired and became the Ritz Theatre launching on October 1, 1932. The Civic Repertory Theater / Civic Theater moved into the former Ritz Theater in 1933. The Civic Rep would find a new home and the Civic Theater had a long run as a movie house into the early 1960s.
In 1961, the venue was renamed as the Civic Follies Theatre. It called itself, “Syracuse’s Most Unusual Theater,” playing adult films along with some live burlesque. That started a 15-year tradition of raids and constant court battles for the Civic Follies' management during the prono chic era of adult movie exhibition. In 1981, the venue tried one more time as the Adam & Eve Adult Theatre. It appears to have been bought out as the home video industry was gaining traction in 1986 . The former Palace Hall turned Palace Roller Rink turned Top Theatre turned System Theater turned Syracuse Theater turned Syracuse University Theater turned Ritz Theater Civic Repertory Theater turned Civic Theater turned Civic Follies Theater turned Adam & Eve Adult Theatre was torn down in 1987. (The local report of the demolition also cited one more operational name as the Syracuse Civic Theater.)
From 1936 to 1943, the venue was listed as the RKO Schine Strand Theatre. From 1943 to 1959, the venue was listed as the Loew’s Strand Theatre. The Loew’s Strand closed permanently following Frank Sinatra in MGM’s “Hole in the Head” supported by an MGM “Tom & Jerry” cartoon and a Loew’s News of the Day newsreel on August 16, 1959. The next Strand ad was less than a week later - the salvage sale of the building as it was demolished for a municipal parking garage.
After 40 years of diverse live programming and sporadic film offerings, the Syracuse Turn-Verein Hall / Turn Hall was transformed into a full-time movie theater in 1911 and had an amazing run to October 20, 1952 with a double feature of “Walk East on Beacon!” and “Montana Territory.” On October 21, 1952, it was all over with a fire that completely destroyed the venue.
James Kernan opened his Kernan Theatre in the summer of 1912. New operators took it over on Thanksgiving Day 1934. Advertisements and announcements ceased in 1936.
The Temple Theatre launched on August 10, 1914 with a vaudeville-centric policy which also inserted films. The architects of the original were Merrick & Randall who created a Louis Seize styled venue. The 1,800 seat venue had 1,000 of its seats on the main floor with the remainder in the balcony and boxes.
Publix took on the theater at the expiry of its initial 15-year lease and reimagined it with talking pictures added to the programming policy. It relaunched December 10, 1929 as the Paramount Theatre with Eddie Cantor in “Glorifying the American Girl. The theater technically passed through Warner Bros. to RKO during its initial five years of operation.
At the conclusion of its five-year lease in 1934/5, Schine got involved with the venue and it became the RKO Schine Paramount in the Fall of 1935 - a mouthful. Schine would eventually have to divest itself of the Eckel for antitrust reasons. RKO dropped off of the operational ledger and Schine’s Paramount closed temporarily to install a Magic Mirror widescreen in 1953 to present CinemaScope titles beginning with “The Robe.” The Paramount appears to have closed April 15, 1967. It was bulldozed in August through October of 1967.
And contrary to the entry above which claims “there is little information on this theater,” there appears to be abundant information including every show ever booked at the Temple and the Paramount, every updating of the theater, each architect associated with the creation or updating of the venue, and even the contractors who installed the HVAC system.
January 26, 1920 opening ad at for B.F. Keith’s new Syracuse theater posted in photos with the theatre devoted to vaudeville. The theater would transition to films. It closed as the RKO Keith’s Theatre on January 5, 1967 with “Any Wednesday” with “I Deal in Danger.” The final act was an auction of the theater’s contents shortly thereafter and then a demolition project in 1967 that also took the Paramount Theatre. The Keith bit back as the demolition was botched after a wall collapsed startling and injuring passersby.
The Harvard Theatre launched April 11, 1926 with 1,000 seats and an architecture described as Spanish Renaissance playing Colleen Moore’s “Irene.“ Getting a major refresh and new operators in 1944, the venue became the Civic University Theatre (formerly the Harvard). In the Fall of 1948, it became the Wescot (just one T in the entirety of its naming) Theatre.
The Wescot closed at the end of its 20-year leasing agreement in 1968 but got a new operator and look. On October 16, 1968, its shocking transformation by architect Alan Kosoff was complete and the Wescot became the Studio Theatre reopening as an art house with “Bell de Jour.” It transformed to a discount run theatre on November 26, 1980 called the Westcott Cinema. The venue would go back to art film though closing October 18, 2007. In 2008, it lost its plaster front from the 1968 makeover and became the live performance space, the Westcott Theatre.