Gem Theatre

Joe Vogel on October 7, 2023 at 12:08 am

The Gem was still in operation as late as 1925, when it was mentioned in the April 11 issue of Moving Picture World. The original Gem opened some years prior to March 7, 1908, the date on which the MPW reported that its owners were planning to move their theater to a new and larger location:

“NEW THEATER FOR LITTLE FALLS, N. Y.

“Messrs. John E. Reardon and Casper Shults, proprietors of the Gem Theater, have concluded negotiations with R. D. Fuller for the erection of a new theater for them on Main street. Architect Carl Haug is now at work on drawing plans for a model up-to-date playhouse. It will be on the ground floor and will have an attractive city entrance with doors on each side. The inside of the theater will be 25 by 90, and every seat will be elevated. There will be a balcony and gallery and the seating capacity will be about 500. The ceiling will be of iron and the entire structure will be absolutely fireproof. Work will be commenced on the building soon and it is expected that the theater will be ready for occupancy about May 1. Messrs. Reardon and Shults will present vaudeville entertainment in connection with their moving pictures and illustrated songs. They are popular, progressive amusement providers, and their many friends will congratulate them on- this evidence of their prosperity.”

According to this web page from the Little Falls Historical Society, which has an extensive history of the town’s theaters, the Gem Theatre of 1908 was located at 519 E. Main Street, and occupied a building that was half new construction and half a renovated older building. Reardon and Shults eventually took control of other Little Falls movie houses, and in 1920 they sold the Gem to a Mr. and Mrs. McGraw. Following Mr. McGraw’s death in 1925, Mrs. McGraw sold the house to the Schine brothers, who also acquired three other theaters in Little Falls. It does not appear that the Schines ever actually operated the Gem, though, concentrating their efforts primarily on the newer and larger Gateway Theatre, which they renamed the Rialto.

The Historical Society page also notes that Reardon and Shults opened the original Gem at 44 W. Main Street in 1905.

The 1908 Gem’s architect, Carl Haug, was noted in the region, and a few years after the Gem was built founded a firm with two of his sons, one of whom predeceased him.

All the historic buildings on the odd-numbered side of this block of Main Street have been demolished. A very bland, modern bank building occupies the site of the Gem.