Coronet Theatre
1411 Harrison Street,
Davenport,
IA
52803
1411 Harrison Street,
Davenport,
IA
52803
No one has favorited this theater yet
Showing 6 comments
1945 image as Uptown Theatre added credit Retro Quad Cities via Facebook.
The grand opening of the Uptown Theatre on May 13, 1930 with “The Love Parade”.
Moline architect Tevis C. Freeman was the architect who helped the Coronet Theatre’s remodel under James Stopulous that occurred between the Beatles' “Help” in 1965 and the theater’s historic run of “Sound of Music.” The Quad Cities longest-running film was “Sound of Music” running 73 weeks from November 10, 1965 to April 11, 1967. When “Dr. Zhivago” replaced “Sound of Music,” it played 25 weeks.
The final day of operation for the Coronet was June 26, 1984 as the city began a crack down on porn. The final show was “Too Much Too Soon” with Nikki Noel appearing live on stage. The theatre was razed for a mini-mall that was never developed.
This opened as coronet on January 12th, 1951. Grand opening ad in photo section.
In Davenport City Directories of 1930 thru 1949 the theater at 1411-13 Harrison is listed as the Uptown. In directories of 1951 thru 1984 it is listed as the Coronet. Julius Geertz, the king of Davenport neighborhood theaters, owned the Uptown. In March of 1951 Mr. Geertz sold the Uptown to Ernie Pannos and his associates, chief of whom was Jim Stopulos. Mr Stopulos made this theater locally famous as a venue for foreign films, but he also screened Hollywood features and his big triumph was his 62-week run of The Sound of Music. When I was a boy I went to the Coronet to see films like the Brit comedy The Baby and the Battleship, the Disney nature documentary Jungle Cat, the Three Stooges compilation film Stop! Look! and Laugh! hosted by Paul Winchell, the Brit horror film Village of the Damned, and many more. Thank you, Jim!
From a 2009 QC Times Article: “After the war, (Jim) Stopulos sold life insurance briefly and then opened the Coronet Theater on Davenport’s Washington Street at the suggestion of his brother-in-law, who ran an art theater in Iowa City. Later, he moved the Coronet to what had been the Uptown in the Harrison Hilltop neighborhood.
During his 25 years in the theater business, he also owned the Sierra in Moline, the Spruce Hills Twin in Bettendorf, the Central in Geneseo and the Strand in East Moline. He remained in the theater business until 1976, a time when competition from big chains made it difficult for independent operators to survive.
I remember the Coronet Theater before it went to adult films. It happened to grab on to the “Sound of Music” after the first run and showed that film for almost an entire year along with a few other films.