This item from the July 8, 1927 issue of Motion Picture Newsmight be about the Mission Theatre:
“G. C. Fasken, owner and manager of the Royal Theatre at Cashmere, Washington, last week announced that he plans to erect a 500-seat house in Wenatchee, where he will show second run attractions for 10 and 15 cents. This will be Wenatchee’s first house to be operated on a second run policy.”
An inventory of downtown Wenatchee’s historic buildings says that the building at 17 S. Mission Street was built in 1921 and originally housed a grocery store. It was converted into a theater in 1928. The Mission is known to have been on of the several movie houses in the region operated by the firm of Grieme and Fasken.
“Seattle — Ted Wilson has opened his new house in Cashmere with Ben Shearer doing the entire equipment job. Wilson, who operates a theatre in Leavenworth, had many exhibitors and exchange managers for the opening of the new spot and all agreed it is one of the finest theatres of its type on the coast. Ben Shearer company made sure that everything was comfortable for the patrons. New chairs, newest in drapes, the best in projection and every other modern feature were much in evidence. The house, the Vale Theatre, seats 550.”
The May 9, 1908 issue of Moving Picture World printed a letter from Mr. H. Chancellor of Arcanum, Ohio, renewing his subscription to the magazine. Given the standard one year term of magazine subscriptions, Mr. Chancellor must have been one of MPW’s earliest subscribers, as it was first published in March, 1907. The 1913-1914 Cahn Guide and 1914-1915 edition of the Gus Hill National Theatrical Directory both list H. Chancellor as the manager of the Arcanum Opera House.
Harry Chancellor and his brother William, a professional photographer, were partners in the Dreamland Theatre, which they opened in 1907 according to the article on this web page, which includes an early photo of the house. After a brief closure for remodeling, the house operated as the Ritz Theatre from May, 1927 though July, 1953, when it closed. William Chancellor had died in March, 1953, but Harry remained the theater’s manager until its closing. He died in 1965.
The aka Memorial Hall should be added to this page. E.S. French did operate the house as a movie theater, and provided a recommendation of the movie Black Beauty in the November 12, 1921 issue of Moving Picture World. Attendance, French said, was 420 in the town of 442. “Extra good, should please any kind of audience….” he wrote.
An article about the retirement of long-time theater operator R.C. “Cece” Steele in Boxoffice of March 2, 1970, says that he opened the Nechako Theatre with partner Harry Howard. The article doesn’t give the date, but a finding aid to resources in the Kitimat Museum and Archives lists a photo of construction underway on the house, dated October 26, 1955. Unfortunately, none of the 19 photos of the theater in the archives are available online.
Kitimat is a planned community developed by ALCAN (Aluminum Company of Canada) beginning in 1953. It is home to a major aluminum smelting plant, a major hydroelectric project, and a port handling liquified natural gas, among other, smaller industrial facilities. The town reached a peak population of over 11,000 in the 1990s, but has since declined to less than 9,000.
With a master plan by the noted American urban planner Clarence Stein, Kitimat features a main commercial center, but for some reason the theater ended up being built in Nechako Centre, a small shopping plaza about a mile away. While many of the commercial and public buildings in Kitimat were designed by the Vancouver modernist firm Semmens & Simpson, I haven’t been able to confirm that the Nechako Theatre was one of them.
According to this web page, this Roi Theatre was a 1960 rebuild of an old house which had operated as the Capitol Theatre from 1933 to 1941 and the Reo Theatre from 1941 to 1951, when a new owner renamed it the Roi Theatre. The page also notes that the house had been mistakenly listed in the Film Daily Yearbook as the Rex from 1935 to 1940 and then as the Capitol until 1945. Prior to the 1960 rebuild, the Capitol/Reo/Roi had only 200 seats.
A March 2, 1970 Boxoffice article about the retirement of long-time theater operator R.C. “Cece” Steele said that he had moved to Smithers in 1928 and had bought the then-closed Capitol Theatre in 1933. Two other houses in Steel’s small Reo circuit are also still in operation, one as the Grand Reo Theatre, in Vanderhoof, and the other as the Beacon Theatre, in Burns Lake.
An article in the Burns Lake Lakes District News dated March 4, 2020 said that the Beacon Theatre was celebrating its 70th birthday. An original opening year of 1950 means that the Beacon is most likely the house opened that year as the Reo Theatre by R.C. “Cece” Steele, who also had houses called the Reo Theatre in Vanderhoof and Smithers, BC.
This web page at the Northword Magazine web site is headed with a photo of the Reo Theatre (no Grande in the name then) which appears to date from some time in the 1940s. The Chamber of Commerce web site must be wrong about the building still having its original façade from 90 years ago, as the style is clearly Streamline Modern, which wasn’t around in the 1920s. The paragraph about Vanderhoof on the Northwords page (which is dated June 01, 2012) says that the building was “… built more than 90 years ago and originally operated as the Reo….” suggesting that the theater actually opened no later than 1921.
A March 2, 1970 Boxoffice article about the retirement of the Reo’s long-time owner, R. C. “Cece” Steele, says that “[i]n 1945, Cece and his son Doug remodeled the old Reo Theatre in Vanderhoof, putting in a sloping floor and theater seats….” Steele also operated houses called the Reo in Smithers, where he reopened the Capitol Theatre in 1933, renaming it the Reo in 1940, and at Burns Lake, where he opened a new-build Reo Theatre in November, 1950.
The September 19, 1962 issue of Motion Picture Exhibitor said that the conversion of the old Telepix Theatre into the Park Square Cinema for Joseph Levine and partners was well underway in Boston, with the opening expected soon. The Telepix had closed in April. Plans for the project were by theater architect William Reisman.
The October 17, 1914 issue of Real Estate Record and Builder’s Guide had a notice announcing the contracts for an expansion and remodeling project for a theater and office building for James H. Rowe at Ossining. Plans were by local architects Applebree & Gowan. As near as I can figure, the theater was added to the existing office building at this time. The project was budgeted at $35,000.
The August 15, 1962 issue of Motion Picture Exhibitor noted that the Victoria Theatre in Ossining had just been remodeled for the Skouras company. The $100,000 project had been designed by architect H. Tenebaum of New York City. The remodeled house seated 724.
An extensive remodeling of the Fabian Theatre took place in 1962, featured in a two-page article in the August 15 issue of Motion Picture Exhibitor. A reseating reduced the capacity of the house by about 600, ornate decoration was removed or covered, the house was recarpeted and repainted, a new marquee was installed, and the restrooms and lounges updated. The original auditorium chandelier was removed. A new screen 52x26 feet was installed, along with new projectors and a modern sound system. In a nod to the old days, the Wurlitzer Hope-Jones organ was refurbished and was featured at the reopening of the house. Plans for the project were by Paterson architect Sidney Schenker.
An item about this theater appeared in the August 8, 1962 issue of Motion Picture Exhibitor:
“The Balmoral, a new movie house, is being built on the north side of Chicago. It may not be completed until early next year. The theatre will seat 500 persons. The architect is Jerome Soltan.”
Construction must have gone a bit faster than expected. As Broan noted in an earlier comment, the Balmoral opened on December 28, 1962.
The Balmoral’s architect, Jerome Soltan, is now remembered primarily as the inventor of the residential style known in the Chicago area as a four-plus-one, consisting of four levels of apartments over a ground floor parking garage– essentially a taller version of the Los Angeles apartment style known there as the dingbat, which also flourished during the post-WWII era. It’s quite possible that the four-plus-one that replaced the theater (noted in davidplomin’s comment) was also designed by Soltan.
This item is from the July 21, 1945 issue of Showmen’s Trade Review:
“Veith Gives Town First Theatre
“F. W. Veith of Laingsburg, Mich., has just announced plans to convert a building in which local merchants have sponsored free movies for a number of years into a more up-to-the-minute motion picture theatre for the regular showing of current product. Simplex projectors and complete booth equipment have been purchased and the construction of a modern, fire-proof booth will be started shortly. The theatre, known as the Elite, will now become the community’s first home of 35-mm. movies and Mr. Veith is confident of local public support for the project.”
The July 18, 1941 issue of Film Daily had this item about the Brockway Theatre:
“Brockway House Open Tomorrow
“Brockway, Pa. — The new 605-seat Brockway Theater, constructed by J. B. and C. B. Kosco, will have its formal opening tomorrow. Attending will be many members of the trade from both the exhibition and distribution fields. The old Brockway Theater, owned and operated by the Kosco brothers for many years, will be closed.”
A brief notice in Boxoffice of May 3, 1952 said “Lou Mitchell is planning to close the Drayton Theatre at Drayton Plains and convert it to commercial use.” Ads placed in the same issue by Mitchell offered the theater’s equipment for sale “at once.” The conversion to commercial use apparently didn’t take place, though as Motion Picture Herald of October 11 that year said:
“Louis Mitchell of Kilbride Theaters has sold the Drayton theater in suburban Drayton Plains to a religious organization for use as a church. The theatre had been the only one in the town of Drayton Plains.”
The August 19, 1941 issue of Film Daily reported on a clearance lawsuit filed by Drayton Theatre owner Bud Harris, and it said that he had opened the house “six weeks ago.” The July 18 issue of the same journal had reported that the decoration of the house had been done by T. Jagmin, Inc, of Detroit.
The February 28, 1948 issue of Boxoffice said that the new Town Theatre in Chesaning was slated to open on March 3. The house was to be booked by Ashmun Bros. of Caro, Michigan, for the owner, Vera Graham. The 45x117 foot cinder block building with white porcelain front had cost $75,000 to build and equip, according to Boxoffice.
Mrs. Graham and her late husband Fred had earlier operated another theater in Chesaning, which was probably the one call called the Crystal, which had gone into operation by 1918. Their sons Bill and Don Graham later took over the Town, and when the movie business ceased to be viable converted the building into a bowling alley.
The earliest mention I’ve found of a movie theater in Chesaning was a house called the Vaudette, which was listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory.
According to this page at DocSouth, Lumina began showing movies in July, 1905, and appears to have ceased its movie operation in 1930. The entire venue was designed by local architect Henry E. Bonitz.
The only theaters listed at Urbana in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory were the Clifford, on North Main Street, the Lyric, at 110 S. Main Street, and the Wonderland, no address given.
A number of references to the Ric Theatre appear in trade journals, mostly Boxoffice, in the early 1950s. The house was owned by Jack Howard, and managed by his father, Charles Howard.
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.
This item from the July 8, 1927 issue of Motion Picture News might be about the Mission Theatre:
An inventory of downtown Wenatchee’s historic buildings says that the building at 17 S. Mission Street was built in 1921 and originally housed a grocery store. It was converted into a theater in 1928. The Mission is known to have been on of the several movie houses in the region operated by the firm of Grieme and Fasken.Here is a notice from Boxoffice of July 2, 1938:
The May 9, 1908 issue of Moving Picture World printed a letter from Mr. H. Chancellor of Arcanum, Ohio, renewing his subscription to the magazine. Given the standard one year term of magazine subscriptions, Mr. Chancellor must have been one of MPW’s earliest subscribers, as it was first published in March, 1907. The 1913-1914 Cahn Guide and 1914-1915 edition of the Gus Hill National Theatrical Directory both list H. Chancellor as the manager of the Arcanum Opera House.
Harry Chancellor and his brother William, a professional photographer, were partners in the Dreamland Theatre, which they opened in 1907 according to the article on this web page, which includes an early photo of the house. After a brief closure for remodeling, the house operated as the Ritz Theatre from May, 1927 though July, 1953, when it closed. William Chancellor had died in March, 1953, but Harry remained the theater’s manager until its closing. He died in 1965.
The aka Memorial Hall should be added to this page. E.S. French did operate the house as a movie theater, and provided a recommendation of the movie Black Beauty in the November 12, 1921 issue of Moving Picture World. Attendance, French said, was 420 in the town of 442. “Extra good, should please any kind of audience….” he wrote.
An article about the retirement of long-time theater operator R.C. “Cece” Steele in Boxoffice of March 2, 1970, says that he opened the Nechako Theatre with partner Harry Howard. The article doesn’t give the date, but a finding aid to resources in the Kitimat Museum and Archives lists a photo of construction underway on the house, dated October 26, 1955. Unfortunately, none of the 19 photos of the theater in the archives are available online.
Kitimat is a planned community developed by ALCAN (Aluminum Company of Canada) beginning in 1953. It is home to a major aluminum smelting plant, a major hydroelectric project, and a port handling liquified natural gas, among other, smaller industrial facilities. The town reached a peak population of over 11,000 in the 1990s, but has since declined to less than 9,000.
With a master plan by the noted American urban planner Clarence Stein, Kitimat features a main commercial center, but for some reason the theater ended up being built in Nechako Centre, a small shopping plaza about a mile away. While many of the commercial and public buildings in Kitimat were designed by the Vancouver modernist firm Semmens & Simpson, I haven’t been able to confirm that the Nechako Theatre was one of them.
According to this web page, this Roi Theatre was a 1960 rebuild of an old house which had operated as the Capitol Theatre from 1933 to 1941 and the Reo Theatre from 1941 to 1951, when a new owner renamed it the Roi Theatre. The page also notes that the house had been mistakenly listed in the Film Daily Yearbook as the Rex from 1935 to 1940 and then as the Capitol until 1945. Prior to the 1960 rebuild, the Capitol/Reo/Roi had only 200 seats.
A March 2, 1970 Boxoffice article about the retirement of long-time theater operator R.C. “Cece” Steele said that he had moved to Smithers in 1928 and had bought the then-closed Capitol Theatre in 1933. Two other houses in Steel’s small Reo circuit are also still in operation, one as the Grand Reo Theatre, in Vanderhoof, and the other as the Beacon Theatre, in Burns Lake.
An article in the Burns Lake Lakes District News dated March 4, 2020 said that the Beacon Theatre was celebrating its 70th birthday. An original opening year of 1950 means that the Beacon is most likely the house opened that year as the Reo Theatre by R.C. “Cece” Steele, who also had houses called the Reo Theatre in Vanderhoof and Smithers, BC.
This web page at the Northword Magazine web site is headed with a photo of the Reo Theatre (no Grande in the name then) which appears to date from some time in the 1940s. The Chamber of Commerce web site must be wrong about the building still having its original façade from 90 years ago, as the style is clearly Streamline Modern, which wasn’t around in the 1920s. The paragraph about Vanderhoof on the Northwords page (which is dated June 01, 2012) says that the building was “… built more than 90 years ago and originally operated as the Reo….” suggesting that the theater actually opened no later than 1921.
A March 2, 1970 Boxoffice article about the retirement of the Reo’s long-time owner, R. C. “Cece” Steele, says that “[i]n 1945, Cece and his son Doug remodeled the old Reo Theatre in Vanderhoof, putting in a sloping floor and theater seats….” Steele also operated houses called the Reo in Smithers, where he reopened the Capitol Theatre in 1933, renaming it the Reo in 1940, and at Burns Lake, where he opened a new-build Reo Theatre in November, 1950.
The September 19, 1962 issue of Motion Picture Exhibitor said that the conversion of the old Telepix Theatre into the Park Square Cinema for Joseph Levine and partners was well underway in Boston, with the opening expected soon. The Telepix had closed in April. Plans for the project were by theater architect William Reisman.
The October 17, 1914 issue of Real Estate Record and Builder’s Guide had a notice announcing the contracts for an expansion and remodeling project for a theater and office building for James H. Rowe at Ossining. Plans were by local architects Applebree & Gowan. As near as I can figure, the theater was added to the existing office building at this time. The project was budgeted at $35,000.
The August 15, 1962 issue of Motion Picture Exhibitor noted that the Victoria Theatre in Ossining had just been remodeled for the Skouras company. The $100,000 project had been designed by architect H. Tenebaum of New York City. The remodeled house seated 724.
An extensive remodeling of the Fabian Theatre took place in 1962, featured in a two-page article in the August 15 issue of Motion Picture Exhibitor. A reseating reduced the capacity of the house by about 600, ornate decoration was removed or covered, the house was recarpeted and repainted, a new marquee was installed, and the restrooms and lounges updated. The original auditorium chandelier was removed. A new screen 52x26 feet was installed, along with new projectors and a modern sound system. In a nod to the old days, the Wurlitzer Hope-Jones organ was refurbished and was featured at the reopening of the house. Plans for the project were by Paterson architect Sidney Schenker.
An item about this theater appeared in the August 8, 1962 issue of Motion Picture Exhibitor:
Construction must have gone a bit faster than expected. As Broan noted in an earlier comment, the Balmoral opened on December 28, 1962.The Balmoral’s architect, Jerome Soltan, is now remembered primarily as the inventor of the residential style known in the Chicago area as a four-plus-one, consisting of four levels of apartments over a ground floor parking garage– essentially a taller version of the Los Angeles apartment style known there as the dingbat, which also flourished during the post-WWII era. It’s quite possible that the four-plus-one that replaced the theater (noted in davidplomin’s comment) was also designed by Soltan.
This item is from the July 21, 1945 issue of Showmen’s Trade Review:
The July 18, 1941 issue of Film Daily had this item about the Brockway Theatre:
A brief notice in Boxoffice of May 3, 1952 said “Lou Mitchell is planning to close the Drayton Theatre at Drayton Plains and convert it to commercial use.” Ads placed in the same issue by Mitchell offered the theater’s equipment for sale “at once.” The conversion to commercial use apparently didn’t take place, though as Motion Picture Herald of October 11 that year said:
The August 19, 1941 issue of Film Daily reported on a clearance lawsuit filed by Drayton Theatre owner Bud Harris, and it said that he had opened the house “six weeks ago.” The July 18 issue of the same journal had reported that the decoration of the house had been done by T. Jagmin, Inc, of Detroit.The February 28, 1948 issue of Boxoffice said that the new Town Theatre in Chesaning was slated to open on March 3. The house was to be booked by Ashmun Bros. of Caro, Michigan, for the owner, Vera Graham. The 45x117 foot cinder block building with white porcelain front had cost $75,000 to build and equip, according to Boxoffice.
Mrs. Graham and her late husband Fred had earlier operated another theater in Chesaning, which was probably the one call called the Crystal, which had gone into operation by 1918. Their sons Bill and Don Graham later took over the Town, and when the movie business ceased to be viable converted the building into a bowling alley.
The earliest mention I’ve found of a movie theater in Chesaning was a house called the Vaudette, which was listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory.
According to this page at DocSouth, Lumina began showing movies in July, 1905, and appears to have ceased its movie operation in 1930. The entire venue was designed by local architect Henry E. Bonitz.
The fire was on August 11, 1951. Another photo here.
Listings probably ended in 1951 due to the fire depicted on this web page.
Th Metropolitan Theatre was listed at 106 W. Main Street in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory.
The only theaters listed at Urbana in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory were the Clifford, on North Main Street, the Lyric, at 110 S. Main Street, and the Wonderland, no address given.
The Lyric Theatre is listed at this address in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory.
A number of references to the Ric Theatre appear in trade journals, mostly Boxoffice, in the early 1950s. The house was owned by Jack Howard, and managed by his father, Charles Howard.
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.