Relevant news from the April 4, 1947 issue of Film Daily:
“Rebuild Texas Stand
“Texarkana, Tex. — C. C. Bounds and his son Leo, partners with Joy Houck in the operation of the Princess here, have announced plans for the complete re-building of the house. The theater was totally destroyed about a month ago by fire which also resulted in the death of one patron.”
The “Theater Changes” section of the January 15, 1938 issue of Film Daily listed the Ritz at El Dorado as a new theater. Possibly opened in late 1937, given the trade journals' tendency to be late in their reporting.
303 W. Broad Street is in Texarkana, Texas, not Arkansas. The “Theater Changes” column of Film Daily for October 4, 1937, listed the Palace, Texarkana, Texas, as a new theater.
Internet says that the Capri Theatre was at 818 East Street, Texarkana, Arkansas, 91854. This location is in a strip mall a mile or so south of downtown. The building has been remodeled, but I’m pretty sure it’s the same one seen in Don Lewis’s photo. I can’t tell from the Google street view what’s in there now, but it might be either retail or offices.
Given it’s location in a fairly modern building, it’s possible that the Capri was never anything but one of those “adult” cinemas that cropped up in storefronts around the country in the late 1960s and early 1970s. I also suspect that the seating capacity of 1,122 seats we give is quite exaggerated. In the satellite view the building just isn’t that big.
This house has been extensively researched by Bill Counter and has this page at his web site. Under the name Little Theatre it was used as a movie house in the summer of 1914, and perhaps for a short time thereafter, but for the remainder of its history it was a legitimate house.
The Little Theatre opened on January 26, 1913, and the building, which included studio spaces as well as the theater, was designed by Morgan, Walls & Morgan. From 1923, the house was listed as the Egan Theatre, or sometimes Egan Little Theatre. It became the Musart Theatre in 1933, and was one of the venues for the depression era WPA’s Federal Theatre Project. In 1950 it was briefly known as the Teatro Fine Arts, presenting stage productions in Spanish. That appears to have been its last use as a theater, though in the 1970s it was in use as a rehearsal hall for the original Los Angeles Ballet Company, which existed from 1974 to 1985.
The building might still have been standing in the early 1980s, and it’s possible that I was once in it, though I’m not positive. I visited an art gallery on an upper floor of a building in this block while on a downtown gallery tour in 1984. It was an interesting old building, and I planned to go back and take a closer look at it sometime but never got around to it before I left Los Angeles. I wish now that I’d paid closer attention to it when I was there. The entire block has since been demolished.
217 Pine Street is the address of the Leo Theatre, which opened in 1948 to replace a theater that burned down in early 1947. That burned theater must have been the Princess.
Incidentally, the address 217 Pine Street is on the Texas side of the Texas-Arkansas state line, which bisects downtown Texarkana.
A brief article about the opening of the Leo Theatre appeared in the February 21, 1948 issue of Boxoffice it said that the new, 540-seat house was a replacement for a theater that had burned a year previously. The Leo was a partnership of Joy Houck and local exhibitors C. C. and Leo Bounds, L. O. Powers, and Frank G. Mullin. The Leo Theatre was dismantled around 1961 and the building converted for use as part of an adjacent bank.
Incidentally, the Texas-Arkansas state line runs right through the middle of downtown Texarkana, at an angle that doesn’t align with the street grid, so some buildings are partly in both states. However, the Google map shows that 217 Pine Street is entirely in the state of Texas, not Arkansas, which may be why Apple is not fetching a map for this page.
Boxoffice of February 21, 1948 noted the opening of the Melody Theatre at Inkster by brothers Leonard and Bernard Brooks. The November 27 issue of the same journal noted that the Melody, which had opened on January 1, marked the establishment of the Affiliated Theatres circuit, which took over operation of four other Michigan houses the same day. Owners Leonard and Bernard Brooks and their nephew Arnold Brooks London had owned the Admiral and President theaters in Detroit for some time.
The January 3, 1948 issue of Boxoffice said that “Robert C. Wilson opened the new Rowelsburg, Rowelsburg W. Va.”
Boxoffie of November 9, 1957 said “Bill Zinn closed the Rowlesburg Theatre, Rowlesburg, when flu spread through that area.”
The February 4, 1963 issue of Boxofficepublished a list of theaters that had recently undergone renovations, and the nine listed for West Virginia included the Rowlesburg, Rowlesburg, then operated by Ralph Stewart.
So far I’ve been unable to find any mentions in the trade journals of either a Wilson Theatre or a Rex Theatre at Rowlesburg. An Amusu Theatre is listed at Rowlesburg in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory, and a house called the American Theatre is mentioned in trade journals from 1920 to 1929. An Alpine Theatre is listed at Rowlesburg in the 1940 FDY.
Can anyone shed any light on this item from Boxoffice of February 10, 1940? “Aberdeen — Earl Elkin opened a new 750-seater. It is called the Elkin Junior.”
Another likely rebuild. Boxoffice of February 10, 1940 had this item: “Madelia — The new Madelia has been opened by Bernard L. Larkin.” FDY’s from 1931 and 1932 list no theaters at Madelia, but the 1929 edition lists the Star Theatre with 275 seats.
Boxoffice of February 10, 1940 said: “New Orleans — Jaydell Theatres has opened its new Circle, costing $125,000.” Looks like their announcement was over four months late.
If this interesting web page is correct (I believe it is), they also misspelled Jadel. Jacques Dicharry’s Jadel Theatres also operated the Carver Theatre and the Lincoln Theatre.
According to Boxoffice of February 10, 1940, “Leo Ciacio opened his new 600-seater called the Downs” at Louisville, Kentucky. This was likely a rebuilding, as the “Theater Changes” column of Film Daily for July 20, 1931 said: “Louisville — Down’s, [sic] sold to Leo Ciacio by C. C. Neiman.” The Downs is not listed in the 1931 FDY, but appears in the 1932 edition with 300 seats and the location Taylor Blvd.
Originally a four-screen annex to the Eastland Twin, this house was opened in late 1985 by Rory Dunkel, who operated the two properties as the Eastland Cinemas, with the original twin’s screens numbered 1 and 2 and the quad’s screens numbered as 3, 4, 5, and 6. The original seating capacity of the quad was 1,224, and the architect was Louis Wiltse.
In 1989, Dunkel sold the quad to Goodrich Quality Theatres, but closed the twins. Goodrich originally announced that an additional four screens would be added to the quad, but apparently decided on the lesser expansion to six screens. The house was renamed the Hampton 6 at that time. The expansion and later alterations to the house for Goodrich were designed by the Grand Rapids firm Paradigm Design.
Goodrich closed the operation on January 14, 2009, citing a persistent, long-term decline in ticket sales. The company offered to donate the building to any charity organization that might have a use for it. If there were any takers, they didn’t stick around. As of June, 2021, the building stood vacant with a “For Sale” sign in the window, and on August 31 it was reportedly sold, for $92,000.
The Eastland Twin Cinemas, also known as the Eastland Cinemas 1 and 2, were opened in June, 1971 by Art Narlock, owner of the adjacent bowling alley. Each of the two auditoriums seated 550. In 1974, Narlock lost control of the businesses in a bankruptcy and the theaters came under the control of Rory Dunkel. In 1985, Dunkel built the Eastland Quad at 888 N. Pine Road, and for a few years the two properties were operated as the Eastland Cinemas, with the quad screens numbered as 3,4,5, and 6. When Dunkel sold the quad to Goodrich Quality Theatres in 1989, the original twins were not included in the deal and were closed.
Remodeling of this multiplex following its acquisition by Goodrich Quality Theatres was handled by the Grand Rapids architectural firm Paradigm Design.
The web site of architects Paradigm Design features this web page with a description and a dozen photos of Sperry’s Moviehouse Holland (be patient– the thumbnails, and the photos themselves, can take quite a while to load.)
The renovation of the Wealthy Theatre was designed by Paradigm Design, a Grand Rapids architectural firm. Quinn Evans Architects of Ann Arbor served as preservation consultant and oversaw the restoration of the period features of the building.
BIG Cinema, Golf Glen IL, is listed among the company’s projects on the web site of architectural firm Paradigm Design. As it is listed under that name, I suspect it was only a remodeling job done when the operation was taken over by Phoenix AdLabs.
MSC77: Goodrich Savoy 10 held its formal grand opening on December 19 and 20, 1990. Four more screens were added in 1993, and two more opened in February, 1998. A major renovation began in 2012, with one existing auditorium converted for use as additional restrooms and a party room, plus the addition of a new IMAX auditorium that was opened on May 3, 2013.
The Ezella Theatre was listed in the 1911 Cleveland City Directory. The Cleveland Landmarks Commission confirms Matzinger & Grosel as the architects of the extensive rebuilding of the Ezella done in 1941-42.
Relevant news from the April 4, 1947 issue of Film Daily:
The “Theater Changes” section of the January 15, 1938 issue of Film Daily listed the Ritz at El Dorado as a new theater. Possibly opened in late 1937, given the trade journals' tendency to be late in their reporting.
303 W. Broad Street is in Texarkana, Texas, not Arkansas. The “Theater Changes” column of Film Daily for October 4, 1937, listed the Palace, Texarkana, Texas, as a new theater.
Internet says that the Capri Theatre was at 818 East Street, Texarkana, Arkansas, 91854. This location is in a strip mall a mile or so south of downtown. The building has been remodeled, but I’m pretty sure it’s the same one seen in Don Lewis’s photo. I can’t tell from the Google street view what’s in there now, but it might be either retail or offices.
Given it’s location in a fairly modern building, it’s possible that the Capri was never anything but one of those “adult” cinemas that cropped up in storefronts around the country in the late 1960s and early 1970s. I also suspect that the seating capacity of 1,122 seats we give is quite exaggerated. In the satellite view the building just isn’t that big.
This house has been extensively researched by Bill Counter and has this page at his web site. Under the name Little Theatre it was used as a movie house in the summer of 1914, and perhaps for a short time thereafter, but for the remainder of its history it was a legitimate house.
The Little Theatre opened on January 26, 1913, and the building, which included studio spaces as well as the theater, was designed by Morgan, Walls & Morgan. From 1923, the house was listed as the Egan Theatre, or sometimes Egan Little Theatre. It became the Musart Theatre in 1933, and was one of the venues for the depression era WPA’s Federal Theatre Project. In 1950 it was briefly known as the Teatro Fine Arts, presenting stage productions in Spanish. That appears to have been its last use as a theater, though in the 1970s it was in use as a rehearsal hall for the original Los Angeles Ballet Company, which existed from 1974 to 1985.
The building might still have been standing in the early 1980s, and it’s possible that I was once in it, though I’m not positive. I visited an art gallery on an upper floor of a building in this block while on a downtown gallery tour in 1984. It was an interesting old building, and I planned to go back and take a closer look at it sometime but never got around to it before I left Los Angeles. I wish now that I’d paid closer attention to it when I was there. The entire block has since been demolished.
217 Pine Street is the address of the Leo Theatre, which opened in 1948 to replace a theater that burned down in early 1947. That burned theater must have been the Princess.
Incidentally, the address 217 Pine Street is on the Texas side of the Texas-Arkansas state line, which bisects downtown Texarkana.
A brief article about the opening of the Leo Theatre appeared in the February 21, 1948 issue of Boxoffice it said that the new, 540-seat house was a replacement for a theater that had burned a year previously. The Leo was a partnership of Joy Houck and local exhibitors C. C. and Leo Bounds, L. O. Powers, and Frank G. Mullin. The Leo Theatre was dismantled around 1961 and the building converted for use as part of an adjacent bank.
Incidentally, the Texas-Arkansas state line runs right through the middle of downtown Texarkana, at an angle that doesn’t align with the street grid, so some buildings are partly in both states. However, the Google map shows that 217 Pine Street is entirely in the state of Texas, not Arkansas, which may be why Apple is not fetching a map for this page.
Boxoffice of February 21, 1948 noted the opening of the Melody Theatre at Inkster by brothers Leonard and Bernard Brooks. The November 27 issue of the same journal noted that the Melody, which had opened on January 1, marked the establishment of the Affiliated Theatres circuit, which took over operation of four other Michigan houses the same day. Owners Leonard and Bernard Brooks and their nephew Arnold Brooks London had owned the Admiral and President theaters in Detroit for some time.
The January 3, 1948 issue of Boxoffice said that “Robert C. Wilson opened the new Rowelsburg, Rowelsburg W. Va.”
Boxoffie of November 9, 1957 said “Bill Zinn closed the Rowlesburg Theatre, Rowlesburg, when flu spread through that area.”
The February 4, 1963 issue of Boxofficepublished a list of theaters that had recently undergone renovations, and the nine listed for West Virginia included the Rowlesburg, Rowlesburg, then operated by Ralph Stewart.
So far I’ve been unable to find any mentions in the trade journals of either a Wilson Theatre or a Rex Theatre at Rowlesburg. An Amusu Theatre is listed at Rowlesburg in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory, and a house called the American Theatre is mentioned in trade journals from 1920 to 1929. An Alpine Theatre is listed at Rowlesburg in the 1940 FDY.
Can anyone shed any light on this item from Boxoffice of February 10, 1940? “Aberdeen — Earl Elkin opened a new 750-seater. It is called the Elkin Junior.”
Another likely rebuild. Boxoffice of February 10, 1940 had this item: “Madelia — The new Madelia has been opened by Bernard L. Larkin.” FDY’s from 1931 and 1932 list no theaters at Madelia, but the 1929 edition lists the Star Theatre with 275 seats.
Boxoffice of February 10, 1940 said: “New Orleans — Jaydell Theatres has opened its new Circle, costing $125,000.” Looks like their announcement was over four months late.
If this interesting web page is correct (I believe it is), they also misspelled Jadel. Jacques Dicharry’s Jadel Theatres also operated the Carver Theatre and the Lincoln Theatre.
According to Boxoffice of February 10, 1940, “Leo Ciacio opened his new 600-seater called the Downs” at Louisville, Kentucky. This was likely a rebuilding, as the “Theater Changes” column of Film Daily for July 20, 1931 said: “Louisville — Down’s, [sic] sold to Leo Ciacio by C. C. Neiman.” The Downs is not listed in the 1931 FDY, but appears in the 1932 edition with 300 seats and the location Taylor Blvd.
The February 10, 1940 issue of Boxoffice noted that the new Mimosa Theatre at Morganton, North Carolina, had recently opened.
Originally a four-screen annex to the Eastland Twin, this house was opened in late 1985 by Rory Dunkel, who operated the two properties as the Eastland Cinemas, with the original twin’s screens numbered 1 and 2 and the quad’s screens numbered as 3, 4, 5, and 6. The original seating capacity of the quad was 1,224, and the architect was Louis Wiltse.
In 1989, Dunkel sold the quad to Goodrich Quality Theatres, but closed the twins. Goodrich originally announced that an additional four screens would be added to the quad, but apparently decided on the lesser expansion to six screens. The house was renamed the Hampton 6 at that time. The expansion and later alterations to the house for Goodrich were designed by the Grand Rapids firm Paradigm Design.
Goodrich closed the operation on January 14, 2009, citing a persistent, long-term decline in ticket sales. The company offered to donate the building to any charity organization that might have a use for it. If there were any takers, they didn’t stick around. As of June, 2021, the building stood vacant with a “For Sale” sign in the window, and on August 31 it was reportedly sold, for $92,000.
The Eastland Twin Cinemas, also known as the Eastland Cinemas 1 and 2, were opened in June, 1971 by Art Narlock, owner of the adjacent bowling alley. Each of the two auditoriums seated 550. In 1974, Narlock lost control of the businesses in a bankruptcy and the theaters came under the control of Rory Dunkel. In 1985, Dunkel built the Eastland Quad at 888 N. Pine Road, and for a few years the two properties were operated as the Eastland Cinemas, with the quad screens numbered as 3,4,5, and 6. When Dunkel sold the quad to Goodrich Quality Theatres in 1989, the original twins were not included in the deal and were closed.
Plans for the remodeling of this multiplex following its acquisition by Goodrich Quality Theatres were done by Grand Rapids firm Paradigm Design.
Remodeling of this multiplex following its acquisition by Goodrich Quality Theatres was handled by the Grand Rapids architectural firm Paradigm Design.
Like other Goodrich multiplexes, this house was designed by Grand Rapids-based firm Paradigm Design.
The Randall 10 originally opened in 1994. The architects were Paradigm Design, based, like Goodrich Theatres, in Grand Rapids.
The web site of architects Paradigm Design features this web page with a description and a dozen photos of Sperry’s Moviehouse Holland (be patient– the thumbnails, and the photos themselves, can take quite a while to load.)
The renovation of the Wealthy Theatre was designed by Paradigm Design, a Grand Rapids architectural firm. Quinn Evans Architects of Ann Arbor served as preservation consultant and oversaw the restoration of the period features of the building.
BIG Cinema, Golf Glen IL, is listed among the company’s projects on the web site of architectural firm Paradigm Design. As it is listed under that name, I suspect it was only a remodeling job done when the operation was taken over by Phoenix AdLabs.
MSC77: Goodrich Savoy 10 held its formal grand opening on December 19 and 20, 1990. Four more screens were added in 1993, and two more opened in February, 1998. A major renovation began in 2012, with one existing auditorium converted for use as additional restrooms and a party room, plus the addition of a new IMAX auditorium that was opened on May 3, 2013.
A more detailed history is found on this web page.
The Ezella Theatre was listed in the 1911 Cleveland City Directory. The Cleveland Landmarks Commission confirms Matzinger & Grosel as the architects of the extensive rebuilding of the Ezella done in 1941-42.