A September 19, 2009 comment by kencmcintyre on the Carroll Theatre page quotes a March, 1973 article from the local newspaper that includes the line “[t]he first film house was the Bijou, opened in 1910 and located in the building now housing the G-Store on North Main Street.”
The G-store, whatever it was, appears to no longer exist, and I’ve been unable to find its then-address, but as the 523 N. Main house appears on the 1909 Sanborn there’s a good chance it was the town’s first, and the 1973 article just got the opening year wrong. By 1915 it was apparently no longer called the Bijou, as the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory lists only three houses at Carroll: the Carroll Opera House, on 5th Street, the Gem Theatre, and the Star Theater, on Main Street.
Oddly, there is no listing of the Royal, which a comment on our State Theatre page says had opened by 1913. Be that as it may, both the Royal and the Star are mentioned in issues of Moving Picture World in February and March, 1916, so they were not the same house. I’ve found no mentions of the Gem other than the AMPD, so by process of elimination it seems most likely that the house at 523 N. Main opened as the Bijou in 1909 and later became the Star.
Not only is the address wrong, but this theater was not a twin. Carroll’s urban renewal project was already under way when Fridley bought this single-screener in 1970, and Fridley would not have wasted money twinning a theater they knew they would have to replace in a few years.
Here is a photo at Flickr. A comment by a local says the building was built as “…a German opera house….” on the site of the current post office and later moved to this lot, after which a new façade was built for it. It looks plastered to me, but I suppose it could be painted metal. The building is now shared by the Masonic lodge and a martial arts studio.
An item in the May 31, 1913 issue of The Billboard says that “W. A. Coates & Son, Whiting, Iowa, will open a moving picture theater In Everham Block, Glenwood, Iowa.” I haven’t been able to track down an Everham Block in Glenwood, so I don’t know if it could be this theater or not. What is certain is that the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory lists two theaters at Glenwood: the Motiograph Theatre and the Glenwood Opera House. The latter must be a missing aka for the Rex, and the former could be the Coates’s house.
But there is an ad from the Mills County Tribune of October 28, 1915 promoting a special feature at the Rex Theatre in Glenwood, and sporting a line at the bottom reading “Regular program at the Scenic…..5c and 10c.”
The 1905 Polk guide to Iowa lists the Glenwood Opera House, and the theater is still listed that way in the 1914-1915 Gus Hill Guide, but it is listed as the Rex Theatre in the Cahn Guide at least as early as the 1912-1913 edition.
I’ve re-read the NRHP registration form for the IOOF Opera House/Onawa Theater, and it mentions a connection with the Majestic in October, 1912. The two houses were coordinating their schedules so people could attend both of them. The form’s first mention of the Royal is in the period from 1907-1909. It notes that Onawa’s first regular movie house, the Scenic, opened on Iowa Avenue in late 1907, and the Royal opened later.
The Royal is mentioned again in 1917, when by August, it was under the same management as the Opera house. As there is no evidence that the Royal and Majestic operated at the same time, it’s possible that they were the same theater under different names, though so far there’s no evidence of that either. But if there is only one movie theater on the 1913 Sanborn, that could be a hint that the Royal and Majestic were the same house.
An issue of Moving Picture World from between March and April, 1926 (I can’t be more specific right now because Internet Archive has been unavailable for much of the last couple of weeks, so all I’ve seen is a snippet from Google search results) has this line: “…Whiting, Opera House (250 seats), Whiting, Iowa, PARISIAN NIGHTS.” I suspect this line is from a capsule review of the 1925 Boris Karloff movie of that name.
The only theater listed at Whiting in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory is a house called the Cube Theatre, which I’ve been unable to find mentioned anywhere else on the Internet. No details are given for it.
124 East Broadway is given as the address of a house called the Majestic Theatre, listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. It was the only theater listed at Denison.
In 1884, eight years before designing the Carson Block with its upper floor Ingomar Theatre, architects Samuel and Joseph Cather Newsom designed Eureka’s most iconic building, the ornate and towering Carson mansion, for the same client. Since 1950, the mansion has been the home of the Ingomar Club, a private men’s club named for the theater which, in turn, was named for William Carson’s favorite play, “Ingomar, the Barbarian.”
The 1952 version of the Golden Bough Playhouse was designed by local architect James B. Pruitt. Since being taken over by the Pacific Repertory Theatre group in 1994, the building has undergone two major periods of renovations, from 2008-2011 and from 2021-2024, which have significantly altered the original configuration of the house.
The March 30, 1925 issue of the Bristol, Tennessee Evening Herald Courier had an article about the opening of the Cameo Theatre which attributed the design of the house to the noted Richmond, Virginia theater architect Claude K. Howell. After several major remodeling projects over the decades it’s unlikely that any of Mr. Howell’s original details remain.
A page about Claude K. Howell at the Architects of Richmond web site attributes the design of the Lyric to him. The Keith circuit was sufficiently pleased with his work to hire him to design additional theaters for them throughout the south.
The October 10, 1926 issue of The Dixie Manufacturer featured a photo of the Ritz. The house had been designed by Atlanta Architect C. K. Howell. Prior to opening an office in Atlanta, Claude Howell had practiced in Richmond, Virginia for more than a decade, designing at least four theaters in that city.
Bhamwiki’s Frolic Theatre page says the the house had operated in the 1910s as the Dixie Theatre. The Dixie was not listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory, so it most likely opened in the latter half of the decade. A contract between the African-American production company Norman Studios and the New Dixie Theatre in Bessemer for films to be run in September, 1920 does exist. A contract between the same studio and the Frolic Theatre dated 1923 also exists. The NRHP registration form for the Downtown Bessemer Historic District says the building was razed in 1959.
Bhamwiki says that the Grand Theatre closed after 1957, and features a photo with the 1956 release “Lust for Life” on the marquee. For some reason the Grand was not listed in the 1954 Bessemer telephone directory, though its smaller sister theater down the street, the State, was.
The NRHP registration form for the Downtown Bessemer Historic District says that the State Theatre closed in 1960 and the building was completely remodeled for a chain jewelry store in 1964. It also mistakenly says that the building housed “…the Grand (later the State) Theatre for many years….” The building down the block that actually housed the Grand is long gone.
Both the Grand and the State were in operation in 1945 when their operating company, Bessemer Theatres Inc., filed a lawsuit against the city over its license fees for the theaters. The Alabama Supreme Court’s final decision, handed down in 1955, favored the city.
The Rialto listed in FDY’s in the 1940s and 1950s is either a mistake or was at a different location. This photo of the Cameo looks to have been taken around 1940 (judging from the cars, as the titles on the Cameo marquee aren’t clear enough for my eyes) and the Woolworth store had already taken over the space formerly occupied by the Rialto and its neighbor to the south. A page from the Anniston Photo Archives says that the Woolworth store moved to this location ca.1939, so the Rialto had to have been gone by then.
Two theaters are conflated on this page. The confusion arises from an address shift. Current 1026 Noble, the Cameo’s building, is one door north of the earlier 1026 Noble, where the Theatorium/Theato/Rialto was located. The modern address of the Theato would be 1024 Noble. The Cameo was apparently a new house opened in former retail space in 1939 and had no akas.
A photo of the Theato can be seen on this Facebook page from the Anniston Photo Archives. The original name was Theatorium, which is how it was listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. It had been renamed Theato by March, 1919. The text on the photo page says the Theato closed in the early 1930s and reopened as the Rialto in 1933 (a comment by 50sSNIPES on our Anniston Roxy page says the Rialto opened on Christmas Day, 1933.) I don’t have access to FDYs at the moment, but I believe that the Rialto had closed by the time the Cameo was opened next door in 1939.
The headline of a brief item datelined Franklin, Ohio in the May 18, 1970 issue of Boxoffice reads “Police Raid Franklin Cinema.” The story says that the 18 year old manager (unnamed) of the house had been arrested for being in possession of an obscene movie. About 55 people had been in the theater at the time of the arrest, watching the 1969 Great Empire Films release “The Calico Queen” (aka The Hanging of Jake Ellis.“) Hint: the movie was not about a feline mother.
The cinema had recently been remodeled by a new owner, Pete Gall, who, true to his surname, told Boxoffice the house would be reopened the next weekend. I have not discovered how long the citizens of Franklin and vicinity were treated to such titillating fare, but hey, it was the seventies, so maybe quite a while.
A photo of the Strand has surfaced, and it was showing the 1916 film “The Crisis.” In the 1930s, the building was remodeled for use as a retail store by the S. S. Kresge Company, predecessor of Kmart stores. It was likely that this conversion is what saved the building from the wrecking ball during the period when most of downtown Steubenville’s theaters were being demolished. Kresge’s store is long gone now, but the building is still standing, occupied by a second-hand appliance shop. The correct address is 438 Market Street.
A September 19, 2009 comment by kencmcintyre on the Carroll Theatre page quotes a March, 1973 article from the local newspaper that includes the line “[t]he first film house was the Bijou, opened in 1910 and located in the building now housing the G-Store on North Main Street.”
The G-store, whatever it was, appears to no longer exist, and I’ve been unable to find its then-address, but as the 523 N. Main house appears on the 1909 Sanborn there’s a good chance it was the town’s first, and the 1973 article just got the opening year wrong. By 1915 it was apparently no longer called the Bijou, as the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory lists only three houses at Carroll: the Carroll Opera House, on 5th Street, the Gem Theatre, and the Star Theater, on Main Street.
Oddly, there is no listing of the Royal, which a comment on our State Theatre page says had opened by 1913. Be that as it may, both the Royal and the Star are mentioned in issues of Moving Picture World in February and March, 1916, so they were not the same house. I’ve found no mentions of the Gem other than the AMPD, so by process of elimination it seems most likely that the house at 523 N. Main opened as the Bijou in 1909 and later became the Star.
Not only is the address wrong, but this theater was not a twin. Carroll’s urban renewal project was already under way when Fridley bought this single-screener in 1970, and Fridley would not have wasted money twinning a theater they knew they would have to replace in a few years.
Here is a photo at Flickr. A comment by a local says the building was built as “…a German opera house….” on the site of the current post office and later moved to this lot, after which a new façade was built for it. It looks plastered to me, but I suppose it could be painted metal. The building is now shared by the Masonic lodge and a martial arts studio.
An item in the May 31, 1913 issue of The Billboard says that “W. A. Coates & Son, Whiting, Iowa, will open a moving picture theater In Everham Block, Glenwood, Iowa.” I haven’t been able to track down an Everham Block in Glenwood, so I don’t know if it could be this theater or not. What is certain is that the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory lists two theaters at Glenwood: the Motiograph Theatre and the Glenwood Opera House. The latter must be a missing aka for the Rex, and the former could be the Coates’s house.
But there is an ad from the Mills County Tribune of October 28, 1915 promoting a special feature at the Rex Theatre in Glenwood, and sporting a line at the bottom reading “Regular program at the Scenic…..5c and 10c.”
The 1905 Polk guide to Iowa lists the Glenwood Opera House, and the theater is still listed that way in the 1914-1915 Gus Hill Guide, but it is listed as the Rex Theatre in the Cahn Guide at least as early as the 1912-1913 edition.
I’ve re-read the NRHP registration form for the IOOF Opera House/Onawa Theater, and it mentions a connection with the Majestic in October, 1912. The two houses were coordinating their schedules so people could attend both of them. The form’s first mention of the Royal is in the period from 1907-1909. It notes that Onawa’s first regular movie house, the Scenic, opened on Iowa Avenue in late 1907, and the Royal opened later.
The Royal is mentioned again in 1917, when by August, it was under the same management as the Opera house. As there is no evidence that the Royal and Majestic operated at the same time, it’s possible that they were the same theater under different names, though so far there’s no evidence of that either. But if there is only one movie theater on the 1913 Sanborn, that could be a hint that the Royal and Majestic were the same house.
An issue of Moving Picture World from between March and April, 1926 (I can’t be more specific right now because Internet Archive has been unavailable for much of the last couple of weeks, so all I’ve seen is a snippet from Google search results) has this line: “…Whiting, Opera House (250 seats), Whiting, Iowa, PARISIAN NIGHTS.” I suspect this line is from a capsule review of the 1925 Boris Karloff movie of that name.
The only theater listed at Whiting in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory is a house called the Cube Theatre, which I’ve been unable to find mentioned anywhere else on the Internet. No details are given for it.
The Majestic, on Iowa Avenue, was the only theater listed at Onawa in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory.
124 East Broadway is given as the address of a house called the Majestic Theatre, listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. It was the only theater listed at Denison.
In 1884, eight years before designing the Carson Block with its upper floor Ingomar Theatre, architects Samuel and Joseph Cather Newsom designed Eureka’s most iconic building, the ornate and towering Carson mansion, for the same client. Since 1950, the mansion has been the home of the Ingomar Club, a private men’s club named for the theater which, in turn, was named for William Carson’s favorite play, “Ingomar, the Barbarian.”
The 1952 version of the Golden Bough Playhouse was designed by local architect James B. Pruitt. Since being taken over by the Pacific Repertory Theatre group in 1994, the building has undergone two major periods of renovations, from 2008-2011 and from 2021-2024, which have significantly altered the original configuration of the house.
The current occupant of the Rialto’s space at 1024 Noble Street and the adjacent storefront at 1022 is a restaurant called Classic On Noble.
The March 30, 1925 issue of the Bristol, Tennessee Evening Herald Courier had an article about the opening of the Cameo Theatre which attributed the design of the house to the noted Richmond, Virginia theater architect Claude K. Howell. After several major remodeling projects over the decades it’s unlikely that any of Mr. Howell’s original details remain.
A page about Claude K. Howell at the Architects of Richmond web site attributes the design of the Lyric to him. The Keith circuit was sufficiently pleased with his work to hire him to design additional theaters for them throughout the south.
The October 10, 1926 issue of The Dixie Manufacturer featured a photo of the Ritz. The house had been designed by Atlanta Architect C. K. Howell. Prior to opening an office in Atlanta, Claude Howell had practiced in Richmond, Virginia for more than a decade, designing at least four theaters in that city.
Bhamwiki’s Frolic Theatre page says the the house had operated in the 1910s as the Dixie Theatre. The Dixie was not listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory, so it most likely opened in the latter half of the decade. A contract between the African-American production company Norman Studios and the New Dixie Theatre in Bessemer for films to be run in September, 1920 does exist. A contract between the same studio and the Frolic Theatre dated 1923 also exists. The NRHP registration form for the Downtown Bessemer Historic District says the building was razed in 1959.
Bhamwiki says that the Grand Theatre closed after 1957, and features a photo with the 1956 release “Lust for Life” on the marquee. For some reason the Grand was not listed in the 1954 Bessemer telephone directory, though its smaller sister theater down the street, the State, was.
The NRHP registration form for the Downtown Bessemer Historic District says that the State Theatre closed in 1960 and the building was completely remodeled for a chain jewelry store in 1964. It also mistakenly says that the building housed “…the Grand (later the State) Theatre for many years….” The building down the block that actually housed the Grand is long gone.
Both the Grand and the State were in operation in 1945 when their operating company, Bessemer Theatres Inc., filed a lawsuit against the city over its license fees for the theaters. The Alabama Supreme Court’s final decision, handed down in 1955, favored the city.
The Lincoln Theatre, now undergoing restoration, has this official web site.
The Rialto listed in FDY’s in the 1940s and 1950s is either a mistake or was at a different location. This photo of the Cameo looks to have been taken around 1940 (judging from the cars, as the titles on the Cameo marquee aren’t clear enough for my eyes) and the Woolworth store had already taken over the space formerly occupied by the Rialto and its neighbor to the south. A page from the Anniston Photo Archives says that the Woolworth store moved to this location ca.1939, so the Rialto had to have been gone by then.
Two theaters are conflated on this page. The confusion arises from an address shift. Current 1026 Noble, the Cameo’s building, is one door north of the earlier 1026 Noble, where the Theatorium/Theato/Rialto was located. The modern address of the Theato would be 1024 Noble. The Cameo was apparently a new house opened in former retail space in 1939 and had no akas.
A photo of the Theato can be seen on this Facebook page from the Anniston Photo Archives. The original name was Theatorium, which is how it was listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. It had been renamed Theato by March, 1919. The text on the photo page says the Theato closed in the early 1930s and reopened as the Rialto in 1933 (a comment by 50sSNIPES on our Anniston Roxy page says the Rialto opened on Christmas Day, 1933.) I don’t have access to FDYs at the moment, but I believe that the Rialto had closed by the time the Cameo was opened next door in 1939.
When Cinecom opened the Mounds Cinema in 1970, it was Anderson’s first indoor house outside the downtown area.
The headline of a brief item datelined Franklin, Ohio in the May 18, 1970 issue of Boxoffice reads “Police Raid Franklin Cinema.” The story says that the 18 year old manager (unnamed) of the house had been arrested for being in possession of an obscene movie. About 55 people had been in the theater at the time of the arrest, watching the 1969 Great Empire Films release “The Calico Queen” (aka The Hanging of Jake Ellis.“) Hint: the movie was not about a feline mother.
The cinema had recently been remodeled by a new owner, Pete Gall, who, true to his surname, told Boxoffice the house would be reopened the next weekend. I have not discovered how long the citizens of Franklin and vicinity were treated to such titillating fare, but hey, it was the seventies, so maybe quite a while.
This house may be the same one that was listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory as the Bijou Dream Theatre, on West State Street.
The Gem was one of three theaters listed at Fremont in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory.
A photo of the Strand has surfaced, and it was showing the 1916 film “The Crisis.” In the 1930s, the building was remodeled for use as a retail store by the S. S. Kresge Company, predecessor of Kmart stores. It was likely that this conversion is what saved the building from the wrecking ball during the period when most of downtown Steubenville’s theaters were being demolished. Kresge’s store is long gone now, but the building is still standing, occupied by a second-hand appliance shop. The correct address is 438 Market Street.