The Star Theatre was listed at 221 E. Douglas in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. The August 12 issue of The Western Contractor that same year said that a contract had been let for tile work in the Star Theatre building in Wichita, but it didn’t say if the building itself was new or if the theater was just getting an improvement. Either way, the place was definitely in operation by late 1914.
The February 4, 1915 opening of the Colonial must have been only the opening under the management of Fox’s “Box Office Attraction Company.” The Colonial was advertised in the Wichita Beacon of October 3, 1910, boasting of “…five big pictures, four of them comedies.” This ad was cited in Gerald R. Butters' book Banned in Kansas: Motion Picture Censorship, 1915-1966.
The corner building in the photo currently displayed is not the one that housed the Royal Theatre. 103 Main Street is around the corner to the right, and is currently occupied by a pet grooming salon called Pamper Cottage. We can partly see the upper floors of the theater building to the left of the corner building in the photo. CinemaTour has three photos of the Royal building’s exterior, from Matt Lutthens.
Laurel had a house called the Odeon Theatre in operation by 1914, and one called the Casino Theatre in operation by 1917. It’s possible that either of those names was an aka for the Royal, and perhaps both of them were. The building is certainly old enough, and I’ve been unable to find addresses for either of the earlier houses.
I’ve found the Strand mentioned twice in theater industry trade journals in 1922. The house changed hands that year, passing from C. L. Harvey to the partnership of Krone and MacArdle.
The tall building in the background of the photo of the Strand once housed the Royal Theatre. As the back of it looks like a stage house, I think it might have housed a theater earlier than the Royal, which supposedly opened in the early 1930s. The building might have been the Odeon, which was in operation by 1914, or the Casino, which was in operation by 1917, and those two might have been sequential names of the same house.
To add a bit more confusion, the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory lists a house in Pawtucket called the Scenic Theatre at 127 Mathewson Street. Also, a movie and vaudeville theater called the Scenic Temple opened in the Brownell Building in Pawtucket, noted in the April, 1911 issue of Motography. I’ve been unable to pin down the location of the Brownell Building. A different Brownell Building in Providence hogs all the search results.
The only movie house listed at Skiatook in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory was called the Lyric. The Palace was mentioned in the July 3, 1920 issue of Moving Picture World, along with a house called the Electric Theatre.
At least two sources (Film Daily of March 28, 1923 and Gary D. Rhodes' book The Perils of Moviegoing in America: 1896-1950) mention a theater fire at Skiatook in 1923 in which the projectionist was killed. Rhodes gives the cost of damages as $125,000. Three months later, the June 16 issue of Exhibitors Trade Review ran a brief item saying “[t]he New Palace Theatre, Skiatook, Okla., will be ready for opening shortly.” The name New Palace leads me to me suspect that it was the Palace that burned and had to be rebuilt.
The “Oklahoma City” column of Boxoffice for June 22, 1959 mentions the Palace. A new owner of the building planned to remodel it for another use, an the item mentions that the Palace was last operated by Bill Stricker and Bill Jones, operators of the Ritz. The closing date is not given, but the wording suggests that the house had been dark for quite some time.
Here’s evidence that the Elm once had a rival theater, noted in the February 25, 1928 issue of Movie Age: “Karl Green has opened a new theatre at Elm Creek, Nebr., and christened it the Oak.” I wonder if a third house would have been called the Ash?
A few photos of the Brokaw Theatre are found in the last part of this article about historic theater renovations in Indiana, posted at input Fort Wayne in 2018.
Oops, forgot the other thing I was going to link to. This article posted by input Fort Wayne in 2018 starts with the Clyde Theatre in Wabash, but then continues with the Eagles Theatre. There are several photos showing the renovations underway in both the theater and other parts of the building.
The Eagles Theatre is now operated under the auspices of the Honeywell Foundation, and has a new web site here.
Needless to say the July, 2020 target for reopening was missed. The earliest live performance currently scheduled for the Eagles Theatre is February 25, 2021, but personally I wouldn’t bet on it. No movies are currently scheduled, but management is hopeful that they will return this year.
This article from 2018 features four photos of the renovations then being carried out at the Clyde Theatre, followed by photos of several other Indiana theater renovations.
The Lyric Theatre at Lexington, Virginia, is listed in the 1913-1914 Cahn guide as a ground floor house with 578 seats. It must have been exclusively a live theater at that time, as it is not one of the two movie houses listed for Lexington in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory (Star Theatre and Savoy Theatre.)
An essay about movie theaters in the Shenandoah Valley by historian Douglas Gomery says that the 600-seat Home Theatre in Strasburg was opened by the Dalke chain in 1949, as a replacement for their 260-seat Strand Theatre, which they had opened in 1921.
This item from the June 16, 1921 issue of Manufacturers Record must be about the Strand, though it gives a much larger seating capacity which, I suppose, could simply have been a typo:
“Va. Strasburg– Dalke & Linn will erect theater; 60x125 ft.; 2 stories; fireproof; steel ceiling; seating capacity 750.
The Rives Theatre was destroyed by a fire on September 8, 2019. I’ve found conflicting opening dates for the house. Some sources say it was built in 1928, and others says it opened in 1932. To my eye, this photo of the Rives on the theater’s Facebook page looks more like 1932, but I can’t rule out 1928.
The October 14, 1927 issue of Motion Picture News said that the plans for the new theater to be built at Chestertown by L. Bates Russell were being drawn by Baltimore architect A. Lowther Forrest. The history of the Prince Theatre on the web site of the operators, the Garfield Center for the Arts, says that L. Bates Russell opened the house as the New Lyceum Theatre on October 25, 1928.
Russell and his sons operated the house until 1946, when it was leased to new operators (this is most likely when it was renamed Chester Theatre.) The house was bought by C. E. Prince in 1957. He operated the theater until his death in 1988, and his wife continued until 1991. In 1991, the theatre was remodeled by new owner Joyce Huber, who reopened it on March 15 that year, and the Prince Theatre closed as a movie house on August 26, 1993.
The October 14, 1927 issue of Motion Picture News said that the Mar-Var [sic] Theatre in Pocomoke City had opened on Monday, October 3. The original owner was named Fred Bartlett.
An essay about theaters in the Shenandoah Valley by historian Douglas Gomery says that the Hiway Theatre was opened by William Dalke Sr. in 1926 as the New Theatre. At 200 seats, New Market’s New was the smallest house in the Dalke chain.
This 2017 article from the Greeley Tribune says that the Sterling Theatre was closed in May, 1959 and was razed in January, 1969. The article also notes that the earlier Greeley Opera House, located on 8th Avenue at 8th Street, had closed in 1908.
I wonder if the Grover Theatre is the same building that was once the Grover Opera House? It was an upstairs theater originally built as a lodge hall for the Odd Fellows, but was used off and on for various entertainments as well as many other functions. The closest thing to a complete history of it I’ve found is on this Facebook page from the Pawnee Historical Society, which says that it was a movie house three times over the course of its history.
Warren Mall was opened in 1979 and the theater probably dates from the same year. It closed in 1999, probably at the end of a 20 year lease, but was later reopened by Dipson Theatres. The mall itself has been largely demolished, but the cinemas are in a freestanding building which was outside the main mall structure.
This web page about architect George V. Bedell says that the Dream Theatre was in operation at least through 1956. It doesn’t mention the name Nagel’s Grand Theatre, but there is a scan of a 1916 directory page listing a Nagel’s Dream Theatre at 2335 Station Street. I found Nagel’s Dream in the Indianapolis Star’s movie listings as late as 1940. I’ve also found a few references to Harry Nagel as owner of the Dream Theatre from the late 1910s through the 1930s. Nagel’s Grand was likely just a temporary name change, if not a complete phantom.
The Shapiro Theatre was badly damaged by a fire in March, 1957. Boxoffice of August 31 reported that the house had recently reopened after a $25,000 rebuilding project that had taken five months to complete. A page about the Mount Union Historic District says that the Shapiro Theatre closed in 1970.
The August 19, 1914 issue of The American Contractor ran a notice saying that Joseph Shapiro planned to erect a three story building, 43x160, to house a theater, store, and apartments, on Shirley Street in Mount Union. The project was being designed by Huntingdon architect J. Herbert Hall.
The Silverman Brothers retired in 1957 and the Blair Theatre was taken over by Altoona exhibitor Saul Perilman, according to an item in Boxoffice of August 31 that year.
The August 31, 1957 issue of Boxoffice said that the Pershing Theatre, formerly the Harris, had recently opened in DuBois under the management of Tony Calose. The house had been modernized and redecorated, with new seats, drapes, and carpeting, as well as new screen, sound, and projection equipment. Exterior lighting had also been upgraded.
The Blair must have been on the site a block away, as the Grand was still standing in 1957, when the October 26 issue of Boxoffice reported that Steve Chingos, owner of the house, which had been leased out for twenty years, had modernized and renovated the theater and reopened it under his own management. Chingos also operated a confectionery called the Sugar Bowl next door to the Grand.
The August 31 Boxoffice had revealed that the Grand had been called the Manos Theatre for some time, but had been dark for several years. It appears that Manos had pulled out of Hollidaysburg, as the item also noted that the Blair Theatre had recently been transferred to Altoona exhibitor Saul Perilman.
The Star Theatre was listed at 221 E. Douglas in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. The August 12 issue of The Western Contractor that same year said that a contract had been let for tile work in the Star Theatre building in Wichita, but it didn’t say if the building itself was new or if the theater was just getting an improvement. Either way, the place was definitely in operation by late 1914.
The February 4, 1915 opening of the Colonial must have been only the opening under the management of Fox’s “Box Office Attraction Company.” The Colonial was advertised in the Wichita Beacon of October 3, 1910, boasting of “…five big pictures, four of them comedies.” This ad was cited in Gerald R. Butters' book Banned in Kansas: Motion Picture Censorship, 1915-1966.
The corner building in the photo currently displayed is not the one that housed the Royal Theatre. 103 Main Street is around the corner to the right, and is currently occupied by a pet grooming salon called Pamper Cottage. We can partly see the upper floors of the theater building to the left of the corner building in the photo. CinemaTour has three photos of the Royal building’s exterior, from Matt Lutthens.
Laurel had a house called the Odeon Theatre in operation by 1914, and one called the Casino Theatre in operation by 1917. It’s possible that either of those names was an aka for the Royal, and perhaps both of them were. The building is certainly old enough, and I’ve been unable to find addresses for either of the earlier houses.
I’ve found the Strand mentioned twice in theater industry trade journals in 1922. The house changed hands that year, passing from C. L. Harvey to the partnership of Krone and MacArdle.
The tall building in the background of the photo of the Strand once housed the Royal Theatre. As the back of it looks like a stage house, I think it might have housed a theater earlier than the Royal, which supposedly opened in the early 1930s. The building might have been the Odeon, which was in operation by 1914, or the Casino, which was in operation by 1917, and those two might have been sequential names of the same house.
To add a bit more confusion, the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory lists a house in Pawtucket called the Scenic Theatre at 127 Mathewson Street. Also, a movie and vaudeville theater called the Scenic Temple opened in the Brownell Building in Pawtucket, noted in the April, 1911 issue of Motography. I’ve been unable to pin down the location of the Brownell Building. A different Brownell Building in Providence hogs all the search results.
The only movie house listed at Skiatook in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory was called the Lyric. The Palace was mentioned in the July 3, 1920 issue of Moving Picture World, along with a house called the Electric Theatre.
At least two sources (Film Daily of March 28, 1923 and Gary D. Rhodes' book The Perils of Moviegoing in America: 1896-1950) mention a theater fire at Skiatook in 1923 in which the projectionist was killed. Rhodes gives the cost of damages as $125,000. Three months later, the June 16 issue of Exhibitors Trade Review ran a brief item saying “[t]he New Palace Theatre, Skiatook, Okla., will be ready for opening shortly.” The name New Palace leads me to me suspect that it was the Palace that burned and had to be rebuilt.
The “Oklahoma City” column of Boxoffice for June 22, 1959 mentions the Palace. A new owner of the building planned to remodel it for another use, an the item mentions that the Palace was last operated by Bill Stricker and Bill Jones, operators of the Ritz. The closing date is not given, but the wording suggests that the house had been dark for quite some time.
Here’s evidence that the Elm once had a rival theater, noted in the February 25, 1928 issue of Movie Age: “Karl Green has opened a new theatre at Elm Creek, Nebr., and christened it the Oak.” I wonder if a third house would have been called the Ash?
A few photos of the Brokaw Theatre are found in the last part of this article about historic theater renovations in Indiana, posted at input Fort Wayne in 2018.
Oops, forgot the other thing I was going to link to. This article posted by input Fort Wayne in 2018 starts with the Clyde Theatre in Wabash, but then continues with the Eagles Theatre. There are several photos showing the renovations underway in both the theater and other parts of the building.
The Eagles Theatre is now operated under the auspices of the Honeywell Foundation, and has a new web site here.
Needless to say the July, 2020 target for reopening was missed. The earliest live performance currently scheduled for the Eagles Theatre is February 25, 2021, but personally I wouldn’t bet on it. No movies are currently scheduled, but management is hopeful that they will return this year.
This article from 2018 features four photos of the renovations then being carried out at the Clyde Theatre, followed by photos of several other Indiana theater renovations.
The Lyric Theatre at Lexington, Virginia, is listed in the 1913-1914 Cahn guide as a ground floor house with 578 seats. It must have been exclusively a live theater at that time, as it is not one of the two movie houses listed for Lexington in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory (Star Theatre and Savoy Theatre.)
An essay about movie theaters in the Shenandoah Valley by historian Douglas Gomery says that the 600-seat Home Theatre in Strasburg was opened by the Dalke chain in 1949, as a replacement for their 260-seat Strand Theatre, which they had opened in 1921.
This item from the June 16, 1921 issue of Manufacturers Record must be about the Strand, though it gives a much larger seating capacity which, I suppose, could simply have been a typo:
The Rives Theatre was destroyed by a fire on September 8, 2019. I’ve found conflicting opening dates for the house. Some sources say it was built in 1928, and others says it opened in 1932. To my eye, this photo of the Rives on the theater’s Facebook page looks more like 1932, but I can’t rule out 1928.
The October 14, 1927 issue of Motion Picture News said that the plans for the new theater to be built at Chestertown by L. Bates Russell were being drawn by Baltimore architect A. Lowther Forrest. The history of the Prince Theatre on the web site of the operators, the Garfield Center for the Arts, says that L. Bates Russell opened the house as the New Lyceum Theatre on October 25, 1928.
Russell and his sons operated the house until 1946, when it was leased to new operators (this is most likely when it was renamed Chester Theatre.) The house was bought by C. E. Prince in 1957. He operated the theater until his death in 1988, and his wife continued until 1991. In 1991, the theatre was remodeled by new owner Joyce Huber, who reopened it on March 15 that year, and the Prince Theatre closed as a movie house on August 26, 1993.
The October 14, 1927 issue of Motion Picture News said that the Mar-Var [sic] Theatre in Pocomoke City had opened on Monday, October 3. The original owner was named Fred Bartlett.
An essay about theaters in the Shenandoah Valley by historian Douglas Gomery says that the Hiway Theatre was opened by William Dalke Sr. in 1926 as the New Theatre. At 200 seats, New Market’s New was the smallest house in the Dalke chain.
This 2017 article from the Greeley Tribune says that the Sterling Theatre was closed in May, 1959 and was razed in January, 1969. The article also notes that the earlier Greeley Opera House, located on 8th Avenue at 8th Street, had closed in 1908.
I wonder if the Grover Theatre is the same building that was once the Grover Opera House? It was an upstairs theater originally built as a lodge hall for the Odd Fellows, but was used off and on for various entertainments as well as many other functions. The closest thing to a complete history of it I’ve found is on this Facebook page from the Pawnee Historical Society, which says that it was a movie house three times over the course of its history.
Warren Mall was opened in 1979 and the theater probably dates from the same year. It closed in 1999, probably at the end of a 20 year lease, but was later reopened by Dipson Theatres. The mall itself has been largely demolished, but the cinemas are in a freestanding building which was outside the main mall structure.
This web page about architect George V. Bedell says that the Dream Theatre was in operation at least through 1956. It doesn’t mention the name Nagel’s Grand Theatre, but there is a scan of a 1916 directory page listing a Nagel’s Dream Theatre at 2335 Station Street. I found Nagel’s Dream in the Indianapolis Star’s movie listings as late as 1940. I’ve also found a few references to Harry Nagel as owner of the Dream Theatre from the late 1910s through the 1930s. Nagel’s Grand was likely just a temporary name change, if not a complete phantom.
The Shapiro Theatre was badly damaged by a fire in March, 1957. Boxoffice of August 31 reported that the house had recently reopened after a $25,000 rebuilding project that had taken five months to complete. A page about the Mount Union Historic District says that the Shapiro Theatre closed in 1970.
The August 19, 1914 issue of The American Contractor ran a notice saying that Joseph Shapiro planned to erect a three story building, 43x160, to house a theater, store, and apartments, on Shirley Street in Mount Union. The project was being designed by Huntingdon architect J. Herbert Hall.
The Silverman Brothers retired in 1957 and the Blair Theatre was taken over by Altoona exhibitor Saul Perilman, according to an item in Boxoffice of August 31 that year.
The August 31, 1957 issue of Boxoffice said that the Pershing Theatre, formerly the Harris, had recently opened in DuBois under the management of Tony Calose. The house had been modernized and redecorated, with new seats, drapes, and carpeting, as well as new screen, sound, and projection equipment. Exterior lighting had also been upgraded.
The Blair must have been on the site a block away, as the Grand was still standing in 1957, when the October 26 issue of Boxoffice reported that Steve Chingos, owner of the house, which had been leased out for twenty years, had modernized and renovated the theater and reopened it under his own management. Chingos also operated a confectionery called the Sugar Bowl next door to the Grand.
The August 31 Boxoffice had revealed that the Grand had been called the Manos Theatre for some time, but had been dark for several years. It appears that Manos had pulled out of Hollidaysburg, as the item also noted that the Blair Theatre had recently been transferred to Altoona exhibitor Saul Perilman.