A January 26, 1946 item in The Billboard said that Howard Paul, operator of the Romeo Theatre at Romeo, Michigan, had sold his movie house to William Schulte, owner of the rival Juliet Theatre. Schulte had opened the Juliet “a few seasons back,” and the two houses had operated in competition for several years.
The early 1940 opening for the Patricia Annex is very interesting. Jimmy Edwards always claimed that his Alhambra & Annex Theatre in Alhambra, California was the first twin cinema in the United States, but I don’t think his Annex opened until later in 1940. It looks like the Patricia might have beaten Edwards to the punch, though neither of them would have actually been the first twin cinema in the U.S., as at least a few twin storefront nickelodeons had operated in the early 20th century, and the Duplex Theatre in Detroit opened as a new-build twin in 1915.
Six screens with a total of only 240 seats? That’s 40 seats per screen. Can that be? Well, this web page has a photo of one of the auditoriums, and it does indeed have only 40 seats. There are also photos of lounge areas, and they look like they seat way more people than that auditorium does. Is this place a movie theater, or is it a big cocktail lounge with a few little screening rooms attached?
The Murray Theatre at Lawton, Oklahoma, was mentioned in the August 17, 1918 issue of The Moving Picture World. The house must have been in operation for several years by then, as the chapter “The Devil Worshipers” of the serial Exploits of Elaine, in the ad for the Murray on our photo page, was released on December 28, 1914.
The January 6, 1923 issue of Motion Picture News mentions a house in Lawton called the Met Theatre. As the Palace was originally called the Metropolitan, I suspect that Met was a foreshortened name adopted by the house at some point. It was still called the Metropolitan in 1918, when it was mentioned in the September 7 Moving Picture World.
I’m sure that “Davenew” Street in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory was a typo, and the Yale Theatre was on SW D Avenue. At 414, it would have been adjacent to, or on at least part of the site of, the later and larger Lawton Theatre at 418 SW D Avenue.
A house in Jasper called the Nickelodeon, operated by Sprauer and Schneider, was mentioned in the October 3, 1908 issue of The Moving Picture World.
A Jasper movie house called the Star Theatre is mentioned in trade journals in 1918, 1921, 1923, and 1924. The last mention was an ad offering various items of theater equipment (including 200 seats) for sale, appearing in the October 4, 1924 issue of Exhibitors Herald. It’s likely that the opening of the Tivoli Theatre the previous August doomed the Star. It’s also possible that Star was a new name for the Nicklo, but so far I’ve found nothing to confirm that surmise.
The newspaper page posted by rivest266 shows a courtesy ad placed by the theater’s architects, Steffens & Steffens. The Cleveland firm was established by brothers George H. and John F. Steffens in 1912 and dissolved in 1923.
The October 15, 1921 issue of Moving Picture World said that the Warner Theatre in Niles was a new house built on the site of the Niles Opera House, which had burned the previous year. This web page from the Niles Historical Society says only that the top floor of the Opera House was removed following the fire, but photos of the Opera House and the Warner Theatre show that the Warner’s façade was quite different, with a different pattern of fenestration. The reconstruction must have been quite extensive.
One source notes that the Niles Sparkle Market occupies the site of the McKinley Theatre. The market is much larger than the theater was, though, so other buildings must have also been demolished. The market is at 140 N. Main Street, so until we find a more exact source, that’s probably as close as we’ll get to having the theater’s actual address.
The McKinley Theatre is mentioned in the January 10, 1925 issue of Moving Picture World, which said that “Charlie Hines has purchased the McKinley Theatre, Niles, Ohio, from C. Gable….”
Boxofficeof April 12, 1965 said that the house had closed with a standing-room-only performance and would soon be demolished to make way for a supermarket, but it did not give the date of the event. This was probably a live music performance, as the October 7, 1957 issue of Motion Picture Daily said that the house had been leased from the Robins Amusement Company by Cleveland impresario J. Stutz, who planned to present what the Daily called “hillbilly shows.” It appears that the McKinley spent the last several years of its existence as a country music venue.
The Gem might have moved more than once before settling in to the 1920 building. In the days of benches and folding chairs on flat floors a theater business could probably be moved in an afternoon. There is another problem with the Gem, though, as it is not one of the two theaters listed at Huntingburg in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory (they were the Empire on 4th Street and the Princess, no address given. The only theater listed for Jasper was called the Nickelo, located on the square.)
The June 14, 1924 issue of Moving Picture World said that the Bob White Theatre, which had then been open for about six months, had been designed by Portland architect Lee Thomas. While the article does not mention Albert Mercier, he and Thomas were partners at this time, and collaborated on several other theater projects.
I’ve come across a reference to another remodeling job at the Strand Theatre, this from the March 24, 1924 issue of Moving Picture World:
“Plans are being prepared by Architect Mark T. Jorgensen of San Francisco for extensive remodeling work in the Strand Theatre, Berkeley, Cal., owned and operated by the Beach-Krahn Amusement Co.”
We don’t have a page for the Gem Theatre at Jasper, Indiana. I suspect that there wasn’t one, and dallasmovietheaters just mentioned the wrong town. I’ve found a reference to a Christian Winkenhofer being the operator of the Gem in Huntingburg, and the Gem in Huntingburg is the only theater of that name I’ve found mentioned in the archives of the Jasper Herald, which otherwise mentions only the Tivoli, the Astra, and earlier a house called the Star Theatre, operating in the 1910s.
However, the Huntingburg Independent does mention the Gem Theatre in its issue of July 29, 1916, so dallasmovietheaters' opening year of 1913 could be correct. As the building at 414 E. Fourth Street was built in 1920 (confirmed by the NRHP registration form for the Huntingburg Commercial Historic District) it must be that the original Gem was either rebuilt, or moved to new quarters at this location.
This web page has information about a movie theater which appears to have been the only one in Madison. It was at 120 E. Washington Street, and opened in 1921 as the Strand Theatre. In 1923 it was renamed the Genesta Theatre, in 1925 it became the Madison Square Theatre, and in 1931 the Madison Theatre. In 1976 the building was converted into offices for an insurance agent.
There are three photos of the building, two from 1949 and one from ca. 1970. Sometime after 1949, and probably not long after, a wedge marquee and a vertical sign were added to the building. The later photo is not very clear, and it’s not possible to tell if the theater is open at that time or not, but it does look like there might be a movie poster on display. Around 1950 the trade journals mentioned a proposal for a new theater in Madison, but I haven’t found evidence that it was actually built. I suspect that the project proved too costly for a town of 2,500, and the old theater was renovated instead.
The Crown Theatre was one of two houses listed at Amesbury in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. The other was the Town Hall, located on Friend Street.
This web pagehas a history of theaters in North Adams, including some information about the Richmond and a nice cross-sectional drawing. I’ve found the house mentioned as the New Richmond Theatre a early as 1900, and in its early years it was a vaudeville and stage theater, sometimes presenting tryouts of plays destined for New York City.
The Richmond began showing movies in 1909, according to an item in the August 1, 1910 issue of The Nickelodeon, which noted that its operator had taken a five year leas on the house. However, it must have reverted to live performances by 1914, as it was not among the three movie houses listed in North Adams in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory.
It did return to being a movie house later, though, and in the early 1930s was being operated under a lease by E. M. Loew chain. The imminent loss of the lease led Loew to build the Mohawk Theatre in 1937. The Richmond was thereafter operated by Western Massachusetts Theatres until closing in the mid-1940s, after which it was remodeled to serve as a lodge hall for the Fraternal Order of Eagles. Like the nearby Empire/Paramount Theatre, it was demolished in the 1970s as part of a municipal redevelopment scheme.
The Empire was one of three theaters listed at North Adams in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. The other two were called the Bijou and the Wilson.
This web page has a history of the theaters in North Adams, and says that the Empire Theatre as rebuilt following the fire of 1912 incorporated three walls that survived from the original Empire that had opened in 1902. It also says that the Paramount, like the nearby Richmond Theatre, was demolished in the 1970s for the city’s redevelopment project.
Also lost was a ghost house that would have been called the Capitol Theatre had it ever opened. It was built in the 1920s by the Sullivan brothers, who then controlled all the theaters in North Adams, and it was used as the headquarters for their real estate business. It had been designed for quick outfitting as a theater in case any rival theater company attempted to build a new house in their territory. By the time the E. M. Loew’s chain announced plans for the Mohawk Theatre in 1937, the Sullivans had retired from the theater business, and the threat to open the Capitol was never carried out by Western Massachusetts Theatres, which had taken over the Sullivan properties.
This weblog post by David Blakeslee says that the Roxy opened on May 16, 1935. B. F. Shearer Co. of Seattle operated the house from its opening at least into the mid-1950s.
Boxoffice of December 17, 1973 said that the 516-seat addition to ABC’s Phipps Plaza Theatre, slated to open December 26, had been designed by the Columbus, Georgia firm Brookbank, Murphy & Shields.
A January 26, 1946 item in The Billboard said that Howard Paul, operator of the Romeo Theatre at Romeo, Michigan, had sold his movie house to William Schulte, owner of the rival Juliet Theatre. Schulte had opened the Juliet “a few seasons back,” and the two houses had operated in competition for several years.
The early 1940 opening for the Patricia Annex is very interesting. Jimmy Edwards always claimed that his Alhambra & Annex Theatre in Alhambra, California was the first twin cinema in the United States, but I don’t think his Annex opened until later in 1940. It looks like the Patricia might have beaten Edwards to the punch, though neither of them would have actually been the first twin cinema in the U.S., as at least a few twin storefront nickelodeons had operated in the early 20th century, and the Duplex Theatre in Detroit opened as a new-build twin in 1915.
Six screens with a total of only 240 seats? That’s 40 seats per screen. Can that be? Well, this web page has a photo of one of the auditoriums, and it does indeed have only 40 seats. There are also photos of lounge areas, and they look like they seat way more people than that auditorium does. Is this place a movie theater, or is it a big cocktail lounge with a few little screening rooms attached?
The Temple Theatre in Lawton is mentioned in the May 25, 1918 issue of Motography.
The Murray Theatre at Lawton, Oklahoma, was mentioned in the August 17, 1918 issue of The Moving Picture World. The house must have been in operation for several years by then, as the chapter “The Devil Worshipers” of the serial Exploits of Elaine, in the ad for the Murray on our photo page, was released on December 28, 1914.
The January 6, 1923 issue of Motion Picture News mentions a house in Lawton called the Met Theatre. As the Palace was originally called the Metropolitan, I suspect that Met was a foreshortened name adopted by the house at some point. It was still called the Metropolitan in 1918, when it was mentioned in the September 7 Moving Picture World.
I’m sure that “Davenew” Street in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory was a typo, and the Yale Theatre was on SW D Avenue. At 414, it would have been adjacent to, or on at least part of the site of, the later and larger Lawton Theatre at 418 SW D Avenue.
A house in Jasper called the Nickelodeon, operated by Sprauer and Schneider, was mentioned in the October 3, 1908 issue of The Moving Picture World.
A Jasper movie house called the Star Theatre is mentioned in trade journals in 1918, 1921, 1923, and 1924. The last mention was an ad offering various items of theater equipment (including 200 seats) for sale, appearing in the October 4, 1924 issue of Exhibitors Herald. It’s likely that the opening of the Tivoli Theatre the previous August doomed the Star. It’s also possible that Star was a new name for the Nicklo, but so far I’ve found nothing to confirm that surmise.
The newspaper page posted by rivest266 shows a courtesy ad placed by the theater’s architects, Steffens & Steffens. The Cleveland firm was established by brothers George H. and John F. Steffens in 1912 and dissolved in 1923.
The October 15, 1921 issue of Moving Picture World said that the Warner Theatre in Niles was a new house built on the site of the Niles Opera House, which had burned the previous year. This web page from the Niles Historical Society says only that the top floor of the Opera House was removed following the fire, but photos of the Opera House and the Warner Theatre show that the Warner’s façade was quite different, with a different pattern of fenestration. The reconstruction must have been quite extensive.
One source notes that the Niles Sparkle Market occupies the site of the McKinley Theatre. The market is much larger than the theater was, though, so other buildings must have also been demolished. The market is at 140 N. Main Street, so until we find a more exact source, that’s probably as close as we’ll get to having the theater’s actual address.
The McKinley Theatre is mentioned in the January 10, 1925 issue of Moving Picture World, which said that “Charlie Hines has purchased the McKinley Theatre, Niles, Ohio, from C. Gable….”
Boxofficeof April 12, 1965 said that the house had closed with a standing-room-only performance and would soon be demolished to make way for a supermarket, but it did not give the date of the event. This was probably a live music performance, as the October 7, 1957 issue of Motion Picture Daily said that the house had been leased from the Robins Amusement Company by Cleveland impresario J. Stutz, who planned to present what the Daily called “hillbilly shows.” It appears that the McKinley spent the last several years of its existence as a country music venue.
The Lamb Theatre was at 7 E. Front Street. This Google street view shows the building as it is today.
The Gem might have moved more than once before settling in to the 1920 building. In the days of benches and folding chairs on flat floors a theater business could probably be moved in an afternoon. There is another problem with the Gem, though, as it is not one of the two theaters listed at Huntingburg in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory (they were the Empire on 4th Street and the Princess, no address given. The only theater listed for Jasper was called the Nickelo, located on the square.)
The June 14, 1924 issue of Moving Picture World said that the Bob White Theatre, which had then been open for about six months, had been designed by Portland architect Lee Thomas. While the article does not mention Albert Mercier, he and Thomas were partners at this time, and collaborated on several other theater projects.
I’ve come across a reference to another remodeling job at the Strand Theatre, this from the March 24, 1924 issue of Moving Picture World:
We don’t have a page for the Gem Theatre at Jasper, Indiana. I suspect that there wasn’t one, and dallasmovietheaters just mentioned the wrong town. I’ve found a reference to a Christian Winkenhofer being the operator of the Gem in Huntingburg, and the Gem in Huntingburg is the only theater of that name I’ve found mentioned in the archives of the Jasper Herald, which otherwise mentions only the Tivoli, the Astra, and earlier a house called the Star Theatre, operating in the 1910s.
However, the Huntingburg Independent does mention the Gem Theatre in its issue of July 29, 1916, so dallasmovietheaters' opening year of 1913 could be correct. As the building at 414 E. Fourth Street was built in 1920 (confirmed by the NRHP registration form for the Huntingburg Commercial Historic District) it must be that the original Gem was either rebuilt, or moved to new quarters at this location.
This web page has information about a movie theater which appears to have been the only one in Madison. It was at 120 E. Washington Street, and opened in 1921 as the Strand Theatre. In 1923 it was renamed the Genesta Theatre, in 1925 it became the Madison Square Theatre, and in 1931 the Madison Theatre. In 1976 the building was converted into offices for an insurance agent.
There are three photos of the building, two from 1949 and one from ca. 1970. Sometime after 1949, and probably not long after, a wedge marquee and a vertical sign were added to the building. The later photo is not very clear, and it’s not possible to tell if the theater is open at that time or not, but it does look like there might be a movie poster on display. Around 1950 the trade journals mentioned a proposal for a new theater in Madison, but I haven’t found evidence that it was actually built. I suspect that the project proved too costly for a town of 2,500, and the old theater was renovated instead.
Repaired link here. (Sorry for the delay. For some reason I’m not getting email notifications of new comments anymore.)
The Crown Theatre was one of two houses listed at Amesbury in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. The other was the Town Hall, located on Friend Street.
This web pagehas a history of theaters in North Adams, including some information about the Richmond and a nice cross-sectional drawing. I’ve found the house mentioned as the New Richmond Theatre a early as 1900, and in its early years it was a vaudeville and stage theater, sometimes presenting tryouts of plays destined for New York City.
The Richmond began showing movies in 1909, according to an item in the August 1, 1910 issue of The Nickelodeon, which noted that its operator had taken a five year leas on the house. However, it must have reverted to live performances by 1914, as it was not among the three movie houses listed in North Adams in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory.
It did return to being a movie house later, though, and in the early 1930s was being operated under a lease by E. M. Loew chain. The imminent loss of the lease led Loew to build the Mohawk Theatre in 1937. The Richmond was thereafter operated by Western Massachusetts Theatres until closing in the mid-1940s, after which it was remodeled to serve as a lodge hall for the Fraternal Order of Eagles. Like the nearby Empire/Paramount Theatre, it was demolished in the 1970s as part of a municipal redevelopment scheme.
The Empire was one of three theaters listed at North Adams in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. The other two were called the Bijou and the Wilson.
This web page has a history of the theaters in North Adams, and says that the Empire Theatre as rebuilt following the fire of 1912 incorporated three walls that survived from the original Empire that had opened in 1902. It also says that the Paramount, like the nearby Richmond Theatre, was demolished in the 1970s for the city’s redevelopment project.
Also lost was a ghost house that would have been called the Capitol Theatre had it ever opened. It was built in the 1920s by the Sullivan brothers, who then controlled all the theaters in North Adams, and it was used as the headquarters for their real estate business. It had been designed for quick outfitting as a theater in case any rival theater company attempted to build a new house in their territory. By the time the E. M. Loew’s chain announced plans for the Mohawk Theatre in 1937, the Sullivans had retired from the theater business, and the threat to open the Capitol was never carried out by Western Massachusetts Theatres, which had taken over the Sullivan properties.
This weblog post by David Blakeslee says that the Roxy opened on May 16, 1935. B. F. Shearer Co. of Seattle operated the house from its opening at least into the mid-1950s.
Boxoffice of December 17, 1973 said that the 516-seat addition to ABC’s Phipps Plaza Theatre, slated to open December 26, had been designed by the Columbus, Georgia firm Brookbank, Murphy & Shields.
I forgot to put a citation in my previous comment. The information is from the June, 1976 issue of The Virginia Record Magazine.