Wealthy Theatre

dallasmovietheaters on October 1, 2024 at 9:27 am

The Wealthy Vaudette opened in the 1911 in the Giles Block building on Wealthy Street. According to the real estate listing, it was built for the purpose of being a theater. It had its own soda fountain serving as its concession stand putting it above the average theater in selling snacks to moviegoers. By 1912, it was called the Pastime Vaudette under new operators and it would shift to the Pastime Theater closing in early 1916 likely at the opt out point five years into its lease. The theater’s contents and soda fountain were sold off as it transitioned to an aviation factory.

As only $300 was spent in the transition from theatrical to aviation work, the pictures of the aviation company sort of look like a theater space. The Michigan Aircraft Company’s assembly location in 1917 was under the eye of designers Anthony Stadleman and Bert Kenyon. The concept of the flying boat was perfect with the local boat industry but Allan Lockhead had a similar Model F-1 Boat being produced in California. Lockhead’s Loughead Aircraft Manufacturing Company recruited Stadleman west-ward and the factory closed.

Its place was taken by a new Overland Automobile dealership in 1918 that appears also to have done virtually nothing to the interior of the former theater. This is germane as when the auto dealer closes, Oscar E. Varneau and wife Lillian - daughter of Joseph H. Poisson - reconvert the theater space to motion pictures. Verneau and Poission ran the Poisson Theatre (later Leonard Theater) and the Royal Theatre.

The Wealthy Street Theatre opened under that name on March 20, 1920 with Dorothy Phillips in “Paid in Advance.” Along the way, “Street” was dropped and it became the Wealthy Theater. The Varneau family steered the theater to the end of its 20-year lease. In 1931, he signed a new 20-year leasing agreement. He did the second leasing term well by closing the theater for.its true transition to sound reopening with a new Spanish patio style and all new sound system It reopened on February 7, 1931 with Charles Farrell in “The Princess and the Plumber.”

While the description above correctly mentions the 1934 renovation as its new look, the 1931 Spanish patio refresh by the Varneaus is pretty much what you see in the 2020’s Wealthy Theater. However, the theater did got a moderne marquis in 1934 and a new sound system again in 1936. In 1937, the B & J ( Butterfield and Johnson and then Butterfield Theatres) Circuit took on the venue. The Company had also taken on Varneau’s Royal Theater as well as the Our Theater and the Eastown.

B&J Theaters closed at the end of its third 20-year lease on June 6, 1971 with “Waterloo.” Wealthy Theater Co. took on the venue reopening on December 23, 1971 with Dustin Hoffman in “Straw Dogs.” The audiences were indifferent to the venue as it closed in 1973. Saved from demolition, the venue was back and operational as of the 2020s.

Joe Vogel on December 28, 2014 at 6:22 pm

This web page has brief biography of architect Pierre Lindhout (the correct spelling.) It says that here were once eleven theaters of Lindhout’s design in Grand Rapids, but claims that the Wealthy is the “…sole surviving example of this work.” However, I found the still-standing Stocking Avenue Theatre attributed to Lindhout in the September 4, 1915, issue of The Moving Picture World, so they must mean that the Wealthy is the only theater of Lindhout’s design that is still in operation.

TLSLOEWS on July 10, 2010 at 4:55 am

Thanks Joe.

jadema on August 31, 2005 at 6:54 am

The Wealthy Theatre is now owned and operated by the Grand Rapids Community Media Center and hosts independent films, concerts, theatre, and community events. Look up showtimes or request a reservation at wealthytheatre.org.