College Theatre
960 College Street,
Toronto,
ON
M6H
960 College Street,
Toronto,
ON
M6H
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April 1967 photo added courtesy of the Toronto Public Library.
Here is a peculiar item from the “Canadian Notes” column of the April 21, 1917 issue of The Moving Picture Weekly:
The May 4, 1918, issue of The Moving Picture World also mentions the Garrick in Toronto:The same journal mentions the Garrick again in its issue of June 8, 1918:I’ve found no later mentions of the Garrick, but the College Theatre is mentioned in this item from The Moving Picture World of September 6, 1919:Given the location of the Garrick and the College, and the fact that there seems to have been no overlap in their operation, the question that naturally arises is was the College a rebuild of the Garrick? While the interior of the College does look like something C. Howard Crane would have designed, the exterior bears a resemblance, and that only passing, only to his United Artists Theatre in Chicago. Perhaps he had to work with an existing building and lavished the Allens' limited money on the interior?I’ve been unable to find any construction journal items about either the Garrick or the College, so there is no clue to their comparative sizes, nor have I found any photos of the Garrick. Still, it’s an interesting possibility that they were the same house.
Mort Margolius was the Manager at this theatre during the war. During the war Queen Julianna of the Netherlands watched movies here. This theatre closed in the late 60’s. Closed circuit hockey broadcasts on a big screen EDIDOPHOR were tried out at this theatre!!
Kay Stokes first job when she moved to toronto was as organist here regretably we dont know the make of the organ probably a Warren/woodstock or a legge
Correct CW. By 1982 the College theatre at College & Dovercourt was long gone, replaced with stores and apartments above them. The second College photo is of one on College in the Chinatown area, near Spadina Ave.
The 1982 picture is most likely of different College Theater.
I remember during the 60s the College was one of several “neighbourhood” theatres that together showed double-bills of recent movies that had finished their runs downtown, or sometimes had them “direct from downtown” for films that had been big hits. Other theatres on the list included the Alhambra, Beach, Palace, Parkdale, Runnymede, Vaughan, St Clair.
Three pictures of the College theatre as it was in 1947:
Exterior:
http://ao.minisisinc.com/Webimages/I0012589.jpg
Auditorium:
http://ao.minisisinc.com/Webimages/I0012588.jpg
Lobby area/Concessions:
http://ao.minisisinc.com/Webimages/I0012587.jpg