Walter Reade Theatres will open the 800-car Atlantic Drive-In Friday June 16 at Pleasantville, N.J. It will be the second drive-in opened by the circuit this year. An 850-car drive-in was opened April 21 at Eatontown, N.J. The Atlantic is the sixth drive-in on the Walter Reade circuit. It is located eight miles from Atlantic City and is the first to be built in the area. A play area has been constructed on the grounds. Jack Hamilton will be manager.
William Goldman, Philadelphia circuit operator, will take over three Warner Theatre houses in settlement of his antitrust litigation against Warner Brothers and other major distributors. The theatres are the Strand, Pottstown and the Strand and State, Hanover, Pa. The agreement to settle out of court was reached in March and since that time attorneys have been working on details of the settlement.
There are newspaper ads from 1913 that state the Mecca is at Noble Street and Massachusetts Avenue. If you look at the map, those streets are miles apart with no intersection. Seeing as this is almost a hundred years ago, though, there may have been a name change for one of the streets, or something similar to that.
INDIANAPOLIS-Sam Perk has resigned from Ger-Bar Equipment Co. to enter the exhibition field with Oscar Apert. They purchased the Mecca Theatre, on North Noble Street, taking over June 1.
Max Torodor broke ground last week for his 1,000-seat Panorama Theatre in Van Nuys. Ceremonies, led by Andy Devine, featured sinking a “time capsule” containing current southland and Hollywood mementos.
Sherrill Corwin and Lester Blumberg took over active operations of the Plaza and Cal Theaters in Hawthorne, having acquired controlling interest in the two houses from E.S. “Ned” Calvi.
Here is part of an article from the Monessen Valley Independent in June 1984:
During a public hearing last night, Heritage Hills Tabernacle ran into some snags in its plans to convert the former Manos Theater into a church and school. Heritage Hills is requesting a conditional use of the theater as a place to house its Mon Valley congregation and to establish a school of Christian education. The Pittsburgh-based church organization purchased the theater owned by Manos Enterprises of Greensburg this spring. The theater had not been in use for almost two years.
Heritage Hills was instructed by city officials to petition for a hearing before the six-member Planning Commission because the church planned to change the use of the building and because it had been vacant for well over one year. The hearing last night was to “gather information” about the group’s plans for the building, its property and storeroom, chairman George Konstantinides said.
Victory Theater, the Valley’s newest drive-in motion picture house, formally opened Wednesday night after Mayor Fletcher Bowron officiated at ribbon-cutting rites, which featured such radio and screen luminaries as Andy Devine, Joan Leslie, Doris Day, Alan Young, Beryl Davis, Peter Potter and Ken Miles. Located on Victory Blvd, just west of Coldwater Canyon Ave., the lavish 12-acre automobile-hosting theater introduced an alert array of employees prepared to take care of every customer need, from car repairing to baby bottle warming. Also housing a snack bar and 400 seats, the Victory featured a preview of “My Dream Is Yours” with Jack Carson and Doris Day as its opening billing.
Head of the new enterprise is William Oldknow, 24, whose grandfather erected the third film theater in the nation. Oldknow recently wed Constantina Skouras, niece of Dimitrio Skouras, head of Fox West Coast Theaters.
Here is a May 1939 ad from the LA Times:
http://tinyurl.com/lpvvfq
Here is another 1939 ad:
http://tinyurl.com/l2f7dr
Here is a June 1938 ad from the LA Times:
http://tinyurl.com/ly5r7o
Here is a July 4, 1918 ad from the LA Times:
http://tinyurl.com/lqrtrj
Here is a 1942 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/m4vzph
This is from Boxoffice in June 1950:
Walter Reade Theatres will open the 800-car Atlantic Drive-In Friday June 16 at Pleasantville, N.J. It will be the second drive-in opened by the circuit this year. An 850-car drive-in was opened April 21 at Eatontown, N.J. The Atlantic is the sixth drive-in on the Walter Reade circuit. It is located eight miles from Atlantic City and is the first to be built in the area. A play area has been constructed on the grounds. Jack Hamilton will be manager.
This was in Boxoffice, June 1950:
Dock Edge has closed his Pike Theatre in Claymont, Del. because of loss of business resulting from reconstruction of Route 13.
This was in Boxoffice in June 1950:
William Goldman, Philadelphia circuit operator, will take over three Warner Theatre houses in settlement of his antitrust litigation against Warner Brothers and other major distributors. The theatres are the Strand, Pottstown and the Strand and State, Hanover, Pa. The agreement to settle out of court was reached in March and since that time attorneys have been working on details of the settlement.
Congratulations, Howard.
I was trying to locate the intersection of Noble and Massachusetts, per the ad, but they don’t cross anywhere that I saw.
There are newspaper ads from 1913 that state the Mecca is at Noble Street and Massachusetts Avenue. If you look at the map, those streets are miles apart with no intersection. Seeing as this is almost a hundred years ago, though, there may have been a name change for one of the streets, or something similar to that.
This is from Boxoffice in June 1949:
INDIANAPOLIS-Sam Perk has resigned from Ger-Bar Equipment Co. to enter the exhibition field with Oscar Apert. They purchased the Mecca Theatre, on North Noble Street, taking over June 1.
This was in Boxoffice in June 1949:
Max Torodor broke ground last week for his 1,000-seat Panorama Theatre in Van Nuys. Ceremonies, led by Andy Devine, featured sinking a “time capsule” containing current southland and Hollywood mementos.
Correction, the item was dated June 1949, not 1948.
This is from Boxoffice magazine in June 1948:
Sherrill Corwin and Lester Blumberg took over active operations of the Plaza and Cal Theaters in Hawthorne, having acquired controlling interest in the two houses from E.S. “Ned” Calvi.
It works for me. Here is the PB link:
http://tinyurl.com/m8v3ab
Here is another photo of the Rialto:
http://tinyurl.com/lqny3b
Here is part of an article from the Monessen Valley Independent in June 1984:
During a public hearing last night, Heritage Hills Tabernacle ran into some snags in its plans to convert the former Manos Theater into a church and school. Heritage Hills is requesting a conditional use of the theater as a place to house its Mon Valley congregation and to establish a school of Christian education. The Pittsburgh-based church organization purchased the theater owned by Manos Enterprises of Greensburg this spring. The theater had not been in use for almost two years.
Heritage Hills was instructed by city officials to petition for a hearing before the six-member Planning Commission because the church planned to change the use of the building and because it had been vacant for well over one year. The hearing last night was to “gather information” about the group’s plans for the building, its property and storeroom, chairman George Konstantinides said.
Well, they were far away from the wives. What do you expect?
From the Army’s Weekly Yank, dated 11/5/43:
The Victory theater in Bayonne, N.J. is cutting out films and going on a two-a-day vaudeville basis.
This is from the Van Nuys News on May 30, 1949:
Victory Theater, the Valley’s newest drive-in motion picture house, formally opened Wednesday night after Mayor Fletcher Bowron officiated at ribbon-cutting rites, which featured such radio and screen luminaries as Andy Devine, Joan Leslie, Doris Day, Alan Young, Beryl Davis, Peter Potter and Ken Miles. Located on Victory Blvd, just west of Coldwater Canyon Ave., the lavish 12-acre automobile-hosting theater introduced an alert array of employees prepared to take care of every customer need, from car repairing to baby bottle warming. Also housing a snack bar and 400 seats, the Victory featured a preview of “My Dream Is Yours” with Jack Carson and Doris Day as its opening billing.
Head of the new enterprise is William Oldknow, 24, whose grandfather erected the third film theater in the nation. Oldknow recently wed Constantina Skouras, niece of Dimitrio Skouras, head of Fox West Coast Theaters.
Those links aren’t working for me.
Thanks. Looks like it’s called Esman’s now. The marquee is still there.
This maps out if you change Rogers to Rodgers.
I remember the newspaper article putting it in Cramerton. Perhaps the city boundaries have changed over the years.