Strand Theatre
Union Square and Middle Street,
Lewiston,
ME
04240
Union Square and Middle Street,
Lewiston,
ME
04240
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This opened as the Lewiston theatre on December 31st, 1914 and renamed Union Square on January 1st, 1916 and Strand on March 24th, 1917 and closed in 1962. Grand opening ad posted.
1951 photo added courtesy of TimePassagesNostalgia.com.
I’m not related to the author Joe Vogel as far as I know. It’s not an extremely common surname, but it’s not extremely rare either, so probably only a modest percentage of the Vogels in the United States would be my distant cousins. I grew up in Los Angeles, and back in the 1960s people I met who were in the movie industry sometimes asked if I was related to the Joe Vogel who was then the head of MGM, but I wasn’t.
Joe, are you related to the Joe Vogel that wrote “Man In The Music”?
There’s much information about the Priscilla (later Belview and then Parkview) on this web page from the Cinema Data Project. If someone wants to submit it to CT go ahead. I’m being run off my feet lately and won’t have the time.
OCRon mentions in his post of 5/22 the Priscilla Theatre. Recently I began looking through the MGM Theatre Report cards in the Theatre Historical Society archive. (cards for ME,NH, RI and VT). So far I have found only one which does not have a listing here in CT – the Priscilla in Lewiston-Auburn. There may be others, too. The report card says the Priscilla is on Pine St., but 116 Blake, around the corner, may have been the correct address. It was operating in 1941.
Lewiston passed through a time warp in 1961, briefly occupying the year 19611. The good news is that they didn’t bring any future human diseases back with them, but unfortunately they did bring the computer keyboard glitches which have since plagued the world.
19611?
An article in the February 4, 19611, issue of the Lewiston Evening Journal said that the Lewiston Theatre had opened on December 30, 1914.
The May 4, 1985, issue of the Lewiston Journal ran a vintage photo of the Lewiston Theatre which can be seen at Google News.
A brief item about the Union Square Theatre appeared in the September 23, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World:
The Theatre Historical Society archive has the MGM Theatre Report card for the Strand; it’s Card # 394. There is an exterior photo made May 1941. Address is Main St. Condition is Good. The theater was over 15 years old, and was showing MGM films. There were 1,203 orchestra seats and 682 balcony seats, total 1,885 seats, which is 1,000 less than what is listed above.
Wurlitzer installed their Opus 261 (1919) in the Strand. The organ survives and is being installed in a private residence in Maine
I compared that image above with google street view – found the building in the background with the large arches up top. That looks much better now after renovation but the Strand building is demolished probably long ago – the new building on the site has an early 1960s look to it.
From 1950 an image of the Strand Theater on Main Street in Lewiston.
AKA:
LEWISTON
UNION SQUARE.
This was the largest theater in the state?
January 1, 1915 Lewiston Theater?
1915 renamed Union Square?
1917 renamed Strand?
1920 taken over by Nathan H. Garden & William P. Gray?
1925 owned by Garden & Gray?
1930-1961 Maine & New Hampshire Theaters Co. of Boston?
1940 John Ford (Paramount)?
1961 Closed?
All this info should be verified.
Is the theater still standing? Could use an address, more info, photos or postcards.
The Strand in Lewiston is listed in the 1942-43 Motion Picture Almanac as being run by John Ford, a Paramount affiliate. At that time John Ford/Paramount operated 3 additional theaters in Lewiston: the Empire, the Music Hall, and the Priscilla Theatre. John Ford operated a number of theaters in Maine, plus a few in New Hampshire, Vermont and Mass. The John Ford theaters were not part of Mullin & Pinanski/Paramount at that time, but listed seperately.