The Capitol Theatre is still listed in the 1951 FDY, but does not appear in a 1954 Hammond area city directory. This house could have been another victim of the cost of converting theaters for wide-screen processes. Some elderly locals recall the Capitol being Whiting’s “cowboy” theater when they were young, according to this article about Whiting’s theaters from the Whiting-Robertsdale Historical Society.
The Ace theatre is one of seven movie houses, two of which are drive-ins, listed in the 1954 Hammond area City Directory. One of them, the Hoosier, is in Whiting. In the 1941 directory, the Ace is one of nine houses listed, all of which are indoor operations. Two, the Hoosier and the Capitol, are in Whiting.
After a bit of digging I’ve concluded that Boxoffice misspelled the surnames of two of the architects of the Cape Coral Cinema. Borelli should be changed to Borrelli, and Albasia should be changed to Albaisa. I’ve found no indication that Donald Bouterse’s name was misspelled, but Jaime Borrelli and Adolfo Albaisa stumped the editors of Boxoffice.
The closing of the Fortuna Theatre following the earthquake of December 20, 2023 was supposed to be temporary, but due to the fact that the house was performing poorly for some time before the earthquake, Cinema West has been reluctant to make the necessary costly repairs to get it reopened. In an article in Lost Coast Outpost last August, Cinema West’s owner David Corkill said that he would “entertain an offer” if someone wanted to buy the house, though it has not been placed on the market. I’ve found no more recent information indicating any plans by Cinema West to either sell or reopen the Fortuna.
Closed again, alas. The only “upcoming events” listed on the El Rey’s web site now (here) took place last April. The theater is being offered for sale. Its LoopNet listing gives the price as 1.95 million. It also gives the seating capacity as 750.
A biographical note in the finding aid for the Lenski family papers at Pittsburg State College has this information about the Cozy’s origin:
“Joe Lenski owned and operated the Cozy Theatre, Lenski’s Tire Company, the Green Lantern Inn, and Modern Electric Company. The Cozy Inn was originally a shooting gallery theater. In 1929, he had the original building demolished and built the Cozy Theater in a Spanish style with room for 860 people. The theater played movies, news reels, radio shows, dance recitals, and vaudevillian-style stage shows. The Heyburn Dane [Dance?] Academy, run by Virginia Heyburn, often had their shows in the Cozy Theater. Regina Lenski, Joe’s older sister, was one the instructors.”
The papers include some photos and other material pertaining to the Cozy, but they are not available online. They are in the Special Collections of the Leonard H. Axe Library, and the collection is open for access, the finding aid says, in case anyone visiting Pittsburg wants to check them out.
The Elk Grove Historical Society says the Boulevard Theatre opened on February 4, 1955. It was at the northeast corner of Elk Grove Boulevard (then called Main Street) and Williamson Drive, but the building was set back from both streets to provide a parking area. It operated as a movie theater until 1965, when the building was sold to the local congregation of the Assembly of God and was converted for use as their church. In 1977 the building suffered two fires, the second of which leveled the structure. The modern retail building that replaced it appears to be somewhat larger than the theater was, and has the address 8805 Elk Grove Blvd.
The Boulevard was actually the second movie theater operated in Elk Grove by the Amundsons. From 1949 to 1954 they ran a house called the Cow Palace Theatre, a 500-seat operation which was in a large, rather rustic structure that also served as a cattle auction house by day. It was said that the scent from stalls for cattle which occupied part of the building lent a unique air of authenticity to western movies.
The Film Board of Trade report in Film Daily of January 13, 1929 listed the Palace Theatre at Exira as a new house, but this was probably its reopening as a sound house under new owners, which probably took place in late 1928.
The Film Board of Trade report in Film Daily of January 13, 1929 listed the Roben Theatre at Ashton as a new house. It had probably opened in late 1928.
The Howell Theatre appears to have been operated under lease by the Schulte Theatre Circuit from the time of its opening, as the announcement of the recent opening of the house in Film Daily of January 5, 1929 noted “Schulte Amuse. Co.” as operators.
Vern Morgan was the manager of the Hudson Theatre, according to a brief article in Boxoffice on June 10, 1950. The house was owned by the William Schulte circuit of Detroit. The old Hudson Theatre had been listed as a Schulte house in the 1938 FDY.
I haven’t found a full timeline for the new Hudson Theatre, but an article in Boxoffice of June 10, 1950 said that the house had been destroyed by a fire on May 30. Manager Vern Morgan estimated the loss at about $150,000. He and his wife were forced to evacuate the apartment above the theater when they were awakened by smoke in the early morning hours. A dry cleaning establishment in the same building was also lost. The theater, owned by the William Schulte circuit of Detroit, had only been open for a bit over a year.
Water Winter Wonderland has this page which unfortunately conflates the old and new Hudson Theatres, and doesn’t have any information from after the 1950 fire, so I don’t know if the building was restored as a theater or perhaps rebuilt at that time as the bowling alley, or rebuilt for some other use.
According to the Lynchburg News and Advance of October 25, 1962, the proposed movie theater in the Pittman Plaza Shopping Center would be leased to the Stewart & Everett chain, and had been designed by the architectural firm of Charles H. Wheatley & Associates.
The March 16, 1970 issue of Boxoffice said that United Artists' Sherwood 1 and 2 project, then under construction, had been designed by Dallas architect William H. Hidell. Each of the true twin auditoriums would seat 350. The project occupied part of the site of the Jet Drive-In which had been destroyed by fire in 1968.
Boxoffice of March 16, 1970 said that the new cinema being built at Cape Coral had been designed by the Miami architectural firm of Bouterse, Borelli & Albasia.
The UA 4 was designed by Dallas architect William Henry Hidell, who also designed a UA multiplex at Hurst, Texas, and the Cinema Plaza at Del Rio, Texas, and probably some others, though I haven’t yet been able to track them down.
The March 16, 1970 issue of Boxoffice said that the Columbia Theatre, last of Evansville’s old neighborhood houses, had been bought by Theatre A Corp., and was being remodeled and would reopen near the end of March as the 650-seat Cinema West. Theatre A planned to follow a family-friendly policy at the house, offering children’s matinees and occasional live performances. Evansville’s penultimate neighborhood house, the Franklin Theatre, had recently been turned into an adult movie theater.
A March 16, 1970 Boxoffice article about the Parkway Theatre said that it would have 736 seats. They were of the rocking chair type, upholstered in deep blue with black accents.
The August 26, 1916 Moving Picture World mentions the Comus Theatre in Tupelo. The Comus was listed in the 1912-1913 Cahn guide with 900 seats plus 12 boxes. It was also listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. The July 6, 1922 issue of Manufacturers Record reported a $100,000 loss from a fire at the Comus Theatre, Tupelo. The house had been under lease to the Hatcher Amusement Company.
The Family Dollar is at 604 N. Main St., which is about 12 blocks north of the former theater’s location. Search Google Maps for 604 Main and it defaults to 604 N. If you search it for 604 S. it goes to an entirely different neighborhood. That must have been the source of the confusion.
I’ve been looking at the Google Street View of this building, and see behind it, and between its wings, an area now filled with large trees. On the Historic Aerials web site it is clear that there was once a building in that area, though the images are very blurry. But the remaining space that would have been available for a theater in the surviving part of the hotel building itself does not look large enough to have ever housed an 800-seat theater, so my suspicion is that the auditorium, or at least part of it, was in that space where the trees are now, and was demolished sometime between 1982 (the date of the last available aerial in which a building appears in that area) and 1994, though I’ve been unable to find confirmation of this surmise from any online source.
Since we don’t have a later map, I was thinking there could have been alterations to the building at some point after 1917. Partial reconstruction was not rare for successful early theaters.
The Grand Theatre is mentioned in the November 10, 1917 issue of The Moving Picture Weekly, and there is a family web site claiming that a Mr. William S. Gabel built the Grand in 1913, and it opened in 1914. The Gabel family owned the building until 1929, when it was sold to Dickinson Theatres. But if there are no other theaters in Beloit (aside from the Opera House, which we know to be older) on the 1917 Sanborn, this must be the Grand, however poor the sight lines must have been.
In November, 1941, Dream Theatre operator Morris V. Beisner had several capsule movie reviews published by Motion Picture Herald.
Film Daily’s issue of January 7, 1947 had this item: “Glasco, Kas.—A son named Robert Rex has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Morris V. Beisner. He is the operator of the Dream Theater here and the Delpheum in Delphus, Kas.”
The August 20, 1949 issue of Boxoffice noted the sale of the Dream Theatre at Glasco, Kansas to Ed McCellan by H. W. Baldwin.
The Capitol Theatre is still listed in the 1951 FDY, but does not appear in a 1954 Hammond area city directory. This house could have been another victim of the cost of converting theaters for wide-screen processes. Some elderly locals recall the Capitol being Whiting’s “cowboy” theater when they were young, according to this article about Whiting’s theaters from the Whiting-Robertsdale Historical Society.
The Ace theatre is one of seven movie houses, two of which are drive-ins, listed in the 1954 Hammond area City Directory. One of them, the Hoosier, is in Whiting. In the 1941 directory, the Ace is one of nine houses listed, all of which are indoor operations. Two, the Hoosier and the Capitol, are in Whiting.
After a bit of digging I’ve concluded that Boxoffice misspelled the surnames of two of the architects of the Cape Coral Cinema. Borelli should be changed to Borrelli, and Albasia should be changed to Albaisa. I’ve found no indication that Donald Bouterse’s name was misspelled, but Jaime Borrelli and Adolfo Albaisa stumped the editors of Boxoffice.
The closing of the Fortuna Theatre following the earthquake of December 20, 2023 was supposed to be temporary, but due to the fact that the house was performing poorly for some time before the earthquake, Cinema West has been reluctant to make the necessary costly repairs to get it reopened. In an article in Lost Coast Outpost last August, Cinema West’s owner David Corkill said that he would “entertain an offer” if someone wanted to buy the house, though it has not been placed on the market. I’ve found no more recent information indicating any plans by Cinema West to either sell or reopen the Fortuna.
Closed again, alas. The only “upcoming events” listed on the El Rey’s web site now (here) took place last April. The theater is being offered for sale. Its LoopNet listing gives the price as 1.95 million. It also gives the seating capacity as 750.
A biographical note in the finding aid for the Lenski family papers at Pittsburg State College has this information about the Cozy’s origin:
“Joe Lenski owned and operated the Cozy Theatre, Lenski’s Tire Company, the Green Lantern Inn, and Modern Electric Company. The Cozy Inn was originally a shooting gallery theater. In 1929, he had the original building demolished and built the Cozy Theater in a Spanish style with room for 860 people. The theater played movies, news reels, radio shows, dance recitals, and vaudevillian-style stage shows. The Heyburn Dane [Dance?] Academy, run by Virginia Heyburn, often had their shows in the Cozy Theater. Regina Lenski, Joe’s older sister, was one the instructors.”
The papers include some photos and other material pertaining to the Cozy, but they are not available online. They are in the Special Collections of the Leonard H. Axe Library, and the collection is open for access, the finding aid says, in case anyone visiting Pittsburg wants to check them out.
The Elk Grove Historical Society says the Boulevard Theatre opened on February 4, 1955. It was at the northeast corner of Elk Grove Boulevard (then called Main Street) and Williamson Drive, but the building was set back from both streets to provide a parking area. It operated as a movie theater until 1965, when the building was sold to the local congregation of the Assembly of God and was converted for use as their church. In 1977 the building suffered two fires, the second of which leveled the structure. The modern retail building that replaced it appears to be somewhat larger than the theater was, and has the address 8805 Elk Grove Blvd.
The Boulevard was actually the second movie theater operated in Elk Grove by the Amundsons. From 1949 to 1954 they ran a house called the Cow Palace Theatre, a 500-seat operation which was in a large, rather rustic structure that also served as a cattle auction house by day. It was said that the scent from stalls for cattle which occupied part of the building lent a unique air of authenticity to western movies.
The Cozy Theatre is first listed in the 1932 FDY, with 700 seats.
The Film Board of Trade report in Film Daily of January 13, 1929 listed the Palace Theatre at Exira as a new house, but this was probably its reopening as a sound house under new owners, which probably took place in late 1928.
The Film Board of Trade report in Film Daily of January 13, 1929 listed the Roben Theatre at Ashton as a new house. It had probably opened in late 1928.
The recent opening of the Palace Theatre at Rensselaer, Indiana, was briefly noted in the January 13, 1929 issue of Film Daily.
The Howell Theatre appears to have been operated under lease by the Schulte Theatre Circuit from the time of its opening, as the announcement of the recent opening of the house in Film Daily of January 5, 1929 noted “Schulte Amuse. Co.” as operators.
Vern Morgan was the manager of the Hudson Theatre, according to a brief article in Boxoffice on June 10, 1950. The house was owned by the William Schulte circuit of Detroit. The old Hudson Theatre had been listed as a Schulte house in the 1938 FDY.
I haven’t found a full timeline for the new Hudson Theatre, but an article in Boxoffice of June 10, 1950 said that the house had been destroyed by a fire on May 30. Manager Vern Morgan estimated the loss at about $150,000. He and his wife were forced to evacuate the apartment above the theater when they were awakened by smoke in the early morning hours. A dry cleaning establishment in the same building was also lost. The theater, owned by the William Schulte circuit of Detroit, had only been open for a bit over a year.
Water Winter Wonderland has this page which unfortunately conflates the old and new Hudson Theatres, and doesn’t have any information from after the 1950 fire, so I don’t know if the building was restored as a theater or perhaps rebuilt at that time as the bowling alley, or rebuilt for some other use.
There is a typo in the architect and firm fields. The name should be Charles H. Wheatley, not Charles R. Wheatley.
According to the Lynchburg News and Advance of October 25, 1962, the proposed movie theater in the Pittman Plaza Shopping Center would be leased to the Stewart & Everett chain, and had been designed by the architectural firm of Charles H. Wheatley & Associates.
The 764-seat single-screener opened in late 1963.
The March 16, 1970 issue of Boxoffice said that United Artists' Sherwood 1 and 2 project, then under construction, had been designed by Dallas architect William H. Hidell. Each of the true twin auditoriums would seat 350. The project occupied part of the site of the Jet Drive-In which had been destroyed by fire in 1968.
Boxoffice of March 16, 1970 said that the new cinema being built at Cape Coral had been designed by the Miami architectural firm of Bouterse, Borelli & Albasia.
The UA 4 was designed by Dallas architect William Henry Hidell, who also designed a UA multiplex at Hurst, Texas, and the Cinema Plaza at Del Rio, Texas, and probably some others, though I haven’t yet been able to track them down.
The March 16, 1970 issue of Boxoffice said that the Columbia Theatre, last of Evansville’s old neighborhood houses, had been bought by Theatre A Corp., and was being remodeled and would reopen near the end of March as the 650-seat Cinema West. Theatre A planned to follow a family-friendly policy at the house, offering children’s matinees and occasional live performances. Evansville’s penultimate neighborhood house, the Franklin Theatre, had recently been turned into an adult movie theater.
A March 16, 1970 Boxoffice article about the Parkway Theatre said that it would have 736 seats. They were of the rocking chair type, upholstered in deep blue with black accents.
The August 26, 1916 Moving Picture World mentions the Comus Theatre in Tupelo. The Comus was listed in the 1912-1913 Cahn guide with 900 seats plus 12 boxes. It was also listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. The July 6, 1922 issue of Manufacturers Record reported a $100,000 loss from a fire at the Comus Theatre, Tupelo. The house had been under lease to the Hatcher Amusement Company.
The Family Dollar is at 604 N. Main St., which is about 12 blocks north of the former theater’s location. Search Google Maps for 604 Main and it defaults to 604 N. If you search it for 604 S. it goes to an entirely different neighborhood. That must have been the source of the confusion.
I’ve been looking at the Google Street View of this building, and see behind it, and between its wings, an area now filled with large trees. On the Historic Aerials web site it is clear that there was once a building in that area, though the images are very blurry. But the remaining space that would have been available for a theater in the surviving part of the hotel building itself does not look large enough to have ever housed an 800-seat theater, so my suspicion is that the auditorium, or at least part of it, was in that space where the trees are now, and was demolished sometime between 1982 (the date of the last available aerial in which a building appears in that area) and 1994, though I’ve been unable to find confirmation of this surmise from any online source.
Since we don’t have a later map, I was thinking there could have been alterations to the building at some point after 1917. Partial reconstruction was not rare for successful early theaters.
The Grand Theatre is mentioned in the November 10, 1917 issue of The Moving Picture Weekly, and there is a family web site claiming that a Mr. William S. Gabel built the Grand in 1913, and it opened in 1914. The Gabel family owned the building until 1929, when it was sold to Dickinson Theatres. But if there are no other theaters in Beloit (aside from the Opera House, which we know to be older) on the 1917 Sanborn, this must be the Grand, however poor the sight lines must have been.
In November, 1941, Dream Theatre operator Morris V. Beisner had several capsule movie reviews published by Motion Picture Herald.
Film Daily’s issue of January 7, 1947 had this item: “Glasco, Kas.—A son named Robert Rex has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Morris V. Beisner. He is the operator of the Dream Theater here and the Delpheum in Delphus, Kas.”
The August 20, 1949 issue of Boxoffice noted the sale of the Dream Theatre at Glasco, Kansas to Ed McCellan by H. W. Baldwin.