Carlos Theatre

Better quality grand opening ads posted.

I just stumbled onto this thread about the San Carlos Theater! I’m wondering if the “Woman Manager” referenced by ajtarantex was working there in the 1960’s? I was hired by a “Woman Assistant Manager” in 1962/3. The General Manager at that time was Arthur Kloth. He went on to manage the Oakland Fox Theater. Additional Trivia: Arthur Kloth was the inventor of the Popcorn Scoop as reported in Popular Science Monthly, January 1950.

Jan 11, 1941 grand opening ad in photo section.

By the way Mitch….. Your mom was working at the FOX in Burlingame when she took a maternity leave….for guess who!!???

This was a nice theatre I grew up at this theater My Mom was the first Woman manager for NGC theatres and this was the 2nd theatre, She Managed First she was at the FOX in redwood city then she took over the Carlos from there she went to The FOX Stanford, then Mann Closed all the Fox Theaters on the Peninsula. I loved the Carlos it was a very busy theater when it was booked. I remember we played WILLARD to packed houses daily. then Eureka Federal Savings bought the property and tore the teater down and built the entire corner downtown with office buildings and the bank and a penthouse living space.

In the 60’s, I don’t think there was any Bay Area theatre that did'nt have the same thing going on EVERY FRIDAY AND SATURDAY NIGHT.

Kiddie Matinees you mention was a standard at ALL Bay Area Fox Theatres. Some Fox houses ran those “strip ticket” shows even in the winter, but only on Saturday mornings before regular matinee shows.

Better yet, do you remember when Broadway Markets sponsered Kiddie Shows, when they gave the tickets away for free???

This is a 1946 photo from a new collection of Life magazine images on Google:
http://tinyurl.com/5vf33z

More from the UCLA collection:

http://sclee.library.ucla.edu/001/21/i0012106.jpg

http://sclee.library.ucla.edu/001/21/i0012101.jpg

From the UCLA Collection:

http://sclee.library.ucla.edu/001/21/i0012103.jpg

http://sclee.library.ucla.edu/001/21/i0012105.jpg

http://sclee.library.ucla.edu/001/21/i0012102.jpg

This theatre is one of some 200 that could be described as “Skouras-ized For Showmanship” which is the title of the ANNUAL of 1987 of the Theatre Historical Soc. of America. In the late 1930s through the 1950s, there occurred on the west coast of the United States a phenomenon known as the ‘Skouras style’ in recognition of the oversight of the Skouras brothers in their management of several cinema chains. They employed a designer by the name of Carl G. Moeller to render their cinemas/theatres in a new style best described as ‘Art Moderne meets Streamlined.’ The then new availability of aluminum sheeting at low cost was the principal material difference to this style allowing for sweeping, 3-dimensional shapes of scrolls to adorn walls and facades in an expression that would have been much more expensive and not at all the same in plaster. With the use of hand tinted and etched aluminum forms, the designers could make ornaments in mass production that allowed much greater economies of scale. The ANNUAL also show in its 44 pages how some 20 theatres were good examples of this combining of aluminum forms with sweeping draperies heavily hung with large tassels, and with box offices and facades richly treated with neon within the aluminum forms. Few of these examples survive today, but it was a glorious era while it lasted, and this collection of crisp b/w photos is a fitting epitaph by the late Preston Kaufmann.
PHOTOS AVAILABLE:
To obtain any available Back Issue of either “Marquee” or of its ANNUALS, simply go to the web site of the THEATRE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA at:
www.HistoricTheatres.org
and notice on their first page the link “PUBLICATIONS: Back Issues List” and click on that and you will be taken to their listing where they also give ordering details. The “Marquee” magazine is 8-1/2x11 inches tall (‘portrait’) format, and the ANNUALS are also soft cover in the same size, but in the long (‘landscape’) format, and are anywhere from 26 to 44 pages. Should they indicate that a publication is Out Of Print, then it may still be possible to view it via Inter-Library Loan where you go to the librarian at any public or school library and ask them to locate which library has the item by using the Union List of Serials, and your library can then ask the other library to lend it to them for you to read or photocopy. [Photocopies of most THSA publications are available from University Microforms International (UMI), but their prices are exorbitant.]

Note: Most any photo in any of their publications may be had in large size by purchase; see their ARCHIVE link. You should realize that there was no color still photography in the 1920s, so few theatres were seen in color at that time except by means of hand tinted renderings or post cards, thus all the antique photos from the Society will be in black and white, but it is quite possible that the Society has later color images available; it is best to inquire of them.

Should you not be able to contact them via their web site, you may also contact their Executive Director via E-mail at:
Or you may reach them via phone or snail mail at:
Theatre Historical Soc. of America
152 N. York, 2nd Floor York Theatre Bldg.
Elmhurst, ILL. 60126-2806 (they are about 15 miles west of Chicago)

Phone: 630-782-1800 or via FAX at: 630-782-1802 (Monday through Friday, 9AM—4PM, CT)

The Carlos Theatre was located at 1224 San Carlos Ave..