The March 24, 1917 issue of The Moving Picture World had this item about plans for the extensive remodeling of the Bijou for Loew’s:
“To Remodel Bijou for Loew Chain.
“Birmingham, Ala.– — E. A. Schiller, of the Schiller amusement company, and Marcus Loew, of the Loew vaudeville circuit, will in the near future let contracts to remodel the Bijou theater, which will include the changing of the theater front, a new addition, remodeled lobby, additional fire escapes, rest rooms on each floor for ladies, lounging and reading rooms, etc. The house will be redecorated throughout, a new ventilating system and additional seats installed, and additional stage equipment provided, with a screen of modern design for moving pictures. ”
The book Reel Time: Movie Exhibitors and Movie Audiences in Prairie Canada, 1896 to 1986, by Robert Morris Seiler and Tamara Palmer Seiler says that the Empress Theatre was designed by architects Harry S. Burroughs and J. Bernard Richards. Other sources give the names as S. Harry Burroughs and John B. Richards. The partnership of Burroughs & Richards was only in operation from around 1909 to 1913.
The 425-seat auditorium was built at the back of an existing building, which was remodeled with an arched entrance through former retail space for the theater. Originally built for the Winnipeg-based Starland Theatre Company, by 1926 the Empress was listed in the FDY as a Famous Players house.
The Bhamwiki page for the Frolic Theatre says that in 1921 the theater was located at 312-314 18th Street North, but by the next year it was listed at 1720-1722 4th Avenue North. According to Bhamwiki’s Champion Theatre page, the Champion, which had been at 306 18th Street North, moved into the Frolic’s original location when the Frolic moved to 4th Avenue. The Champion later moved into a building at 1423 4th Avenue, across the street from the new Frolic.
Bhamwiki’s page for the Champion Theatre says that the house first opened in 1914 at 306 18th Street North, but in the early 1920s it moved to 312 18th Street North, which had earlier been the first location of the Frolic Theatre. The Frolic had moved around the corner onto 4th Avenue North. In later years, the wiki says, the Champion was listed at 1720 4th Avenue North, which was also the second Frolic’s address.
Bhamwiki’s Frolic Theatre page says that the address was shared as early as 1922, and that at that time both houses were under the same management. The Frolic’s address 1720 4th was probably used as the office for both houses, but it’s possible that the Champion was then still at 312 18th Street.
The year the Champion moved from 18th Street to 4th Avenue is uncertain, but the Birmingham Public Library has this photo dated 1939 showing the house in what must have been its final location. The building looks fairly old at that time and might have been an existing building into which the theater moved when it left 312 8th, but not so old that it couldn’t have been built as a theater sometime in the 1920s.
The 1948 FDY lists both the Champion and the Frolic among the five Birmingham theaters then being operated by the Jefferson Amusement Company (along with the Carver, the Famous, and the Eighth Avenue.)
A May 30, 1915 article in The Montgomery Advertiser said that the new Strand Theatre occupied a building formerly occupied by the Empress Theatre and a drug store. The two spaces had been thrown together to accommodate the larger theater. The Empress was one of ten Montgomery picture houses listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory, but the October 21, 1910 Advertiser had announced its grand opening, scheduled to take place that afternoon.
An article about the Regent appeared in The Moving Picture World of August 28, 1915. The target date for the opening of the house, then under construction, was September 15.
Although not listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory, the Grand Theatre was advertising in the Williamsport Sun-Gazette at least as early as November, 1914. The Grand is the subject of an item in the June 5, 1915 issue of Motography:
“J. G. Meyers, who has so successfully conducted the City theater at Williamsport, has taken over the Grand theater, just across the street from the City, having become general manager of the latter house, and will in the future direct both theaters. Many improvements are promised for the Grand under the new management. The latest approved and up-to-date electrical equipment will be installed in the operating room and elsewhere in the theater. This will include another new projecting machine, making two in service, and a screen that will be up to the standard maintained by the City theater.”
The Grand is also mentioned briefly in the August 21, 1915 issue of The Moving Picture World, which says “J. G. Meyer, manager of the Grand in Williamsport, Pa., has purchased a Minusa Gold Fibre screen from Ludwig Hommel & Company, Pittsburgh.”
An interesting item appears in the May 12, 1923 Moving Picture World:
“Keeney’s Grand Theatre, Williamsport, Pa., will be closed during the summer months for extensive alterations to include a thorough modernizing of structure and equipment, under the management of J. M. Delmar. Frank Keeney, after several unsuccessful attempts to promote theatres in Williamsport, has turned over all his ventures in the way of structure and business assets to Manager Delmar.”
Frank Keeney’s main theater in Williamsport, Keeney’s Theatre, was renamed the Keystone Theatre at some point in the 1920s, and both the Keystone and the Grand are mentioned in an item in the July 15, 1927 issue of The Film Daily under the headline “New Manager at Williamsport”, which says “Gregory W. Beck has been named manager of the Keystone and Grand.”
Here is an item from the April 12, 1919 issue of The Moving Picture World:
“Keeney’s 1,650-Seat House in Williamsport Now Open
“FRANK A. KEENEY’S new theatre in Williamport, Pa., opened Friday night, March 28, with a policy of high class photoplays. The house is on the site of the former Lycoming Opera House and is a handsome and imposing structure with a seating capacity of 1,650 and is absolutely modern. The facade is of ornamental cream terra-cotta brick. The interior is finished in the beautiful Adam period. The plans for this theatre were drawn up by William E. Lehman, of Newark, N. J., who laid out the plans for Keeney’s other houses in Newark, Brooklyn, and in Kingston.
“One of the features in the Keeney policy is a symphony orchestra, as well as an organist of repute, who operates a pipe organ said to cost $10,000. Herman Becker is the resident manager.”
This article from the Elmira Star Gazette says that the Mozart originally had 1,398 seats, “…eventually became the Strand….” and also says that “[t]he last big night was May 16, 1959, when every seat was filled for an Elmira Civic Chorus spring concert. The building was razed in 1967.” There was nothing about when the Strand had closed as a movie theater.
The article also says that the Mozart was on Market Street east of Baldwin, so it must have been between Baldwin and Lake. That means it was probably at the 313 E. Market address we have listed on the Strand page. It does seem likely that the Mozart became the Strand in 1923, with a remodeling by Leon Lempert Jr., at that time.
Actually the theater that opened in 1906 as the Mozart was renamed the Strand at some point, which we know as we have photos of the building displaying each name at different times, but there was also a Strand Theatre opened in 1915, when the Mozart was still in operation, and another Strand opened in 1923.
What we don’t know yet is when the Mozart was renamed the Strand, or whether the 1923 Strand was a remodel of the Mozart or of the 1915 Strand, or was another theater altogether. So far we have only one of the Strands listed at Cinema Treasures. The Mozart page obviously needs the aka Strand added, but somebody will have to research the history to determine when the name changed, how long it operated under that name, and what became of the 1915 Strand.
19 E. Carey Street is one of two buildings occupied by a shop called Plains Antiques and Home Furnishings. It has a nice streamline modern facade, though the current paint job, which is peeling badly, doesn’t do much to bring out the details (Google street view.)
The Hippodrome was mentioned in The New York Dramatic Mirror at least as early as the issue of August 14, 1909, which reported that the theater was “…doing well with moving pictures, playing to capacity houses daily.” An ebay seller had a postal cover of an advertisement mailed by the Hippodrome, postmarked February 28, 1910. The manager at that time was named W. E. Deacon, who was also mentioned in the May 21, 1910 issue of Dramatic Mirror as the manager of Zanesville’s Schultz Opera House. The July 15, 1910 issue ofThe Nickelodeon had this item:
“W. E. Deacon, of the Hippodrome, of Zanesville, has greatly added to the attractiveness of his already popular house by the installation of a mirror screen on which the pictures are thrown with a marvelous distinctness so that every movement and expression is clearly visible to the audience, and without any flickering so tiresome to the eyes.”
The December 13, 1913 issue of The Moving Picture World published a letter from the Hippodrome’s then-manager, Helen Morrison-Lewis, who said she had been running the house for a little less than two years. The Hippodrome was still advertising in Zanesville’s daily paper, The Times Recorder, in August, 1916, but I’ve found no later ads. By late 1917, the paper was running ads for Geist’s Shoe Store at 320 Main Street.
The hardtop that replaced the drive-in was also called the Hastings. The four buildings along Halstead Street adjacent to the drive-in were for light industrial use.
Judging from the vintage photos (the one on our photo page which shows the theater next to an alley and the one at the bottom of page 58 of this book,) the Saenger Theatre was on the south side of West Second Street, just past the middle of the second block west of Main Street. Google’s street view displays the address 237 W. 2nd St. at this location, though that probably wasn’t the theater’s actual address.
Page 94 of the book has photos of the Saenger both before and after the 194 fire and 1947 rebuild. The caption suggests that part of the Alice Theatre’s facade might have survived in the Saengers. The Alice was opened in early October, 1921, and was destroyed by a fire in April, 1922.
The April 1, 1921 issue of Building and Engineering Digest said that J. Barnett would remodel the Crystal Theatre at Albuquerque with a larger stage and more dressing rooms, to accommodate road shows. The plans were by E,Paso architects Trost & Trost.
It turns out that A. B. Scarborough was one of the promoters of the American Theatre, not the architect. The local architectural firm of Sparger & Peters (John C. Sparger and W. A. Peters) designed the building. This web page from the Fannin County Museum of History has an article about the theater from the Bonham Daily Favorite of April 2, 1995.
The May 15, 1921 issue of the Dallas-based trade journal Building and Engineering Digest said that Saenger Amusement Company’s new theater on DeSiard Street in Monroe had opened to the public on May 5.
The Dreamland Theatre was listed in the 1926 FDY. Files of the Leesville Daily Leader from November, 1929, include this item: “Southern Amusement Co. of Lake Charles has bought the Dreamland Theatre and will soon install a Vitaphone sound system, meaning talking movies will soon be coming to our town.”
The Howell Theatre was remodeled in 1934, as noted in this item from The Film Daily of August 13 that year:
“Palatka, Fla.— The Howell, an E. J. Sparks house, is being closed for six weeks to permit remodeling which includes the erection of a balcony.”
Palatka had a house called the New Howell Theatre listed in the 1909-1910 Cahn guide, but a 1909 city directory lists a Howell Theatre on First Street near Lemon. The same directory lists a movie house called the Wonderland Theatre at 109 Lemon Street. The 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory doesn’t list either of them, having only an Orpheum Theatre at 110-112 Lemon Street, and Kalbfield’s Grand Theatre, no address given.
A Howell Theatre is listed in FDYs with 500 seats through 1930, and from 1931 on with 631 seats. Perhaps the 500-seat Howell was the old house on First Street (though the Cahn Guide gave it a capacity of 800) and the 631-seat Howell was the one on Lemon Street? But then I wonder what became of the balcony added in 1934, which ought to have increased the capacity at least a bit. Odd.
The recent reopening of an earlier Lincoln Theatre, dating from the silent era, was mentioned in the July 17, 1934 issue of The Film Daily:
“Palatka, Fla. — The old Lincoln, colored house, has reopened after an expenditure of $3,500 for repairs and sound equipment.”
This first Lincoln Theatre, since demolished, must have been the house at 311 N. 11th Street that was later replaced by the 1950 quonset hut at 1302 Madison Street.
dallasmovietheaters: The FDY can be very confusing. I’m glad you’ve got access to the local newspaper to clear up the confusion. The Frog Capital of the World deserves an accurate history of its theaters.
The March 24, 1917 issue of The Moving Picture World had this item about plans for the extensive remodeling of the Bijou for Loew’s:
The book Reel Time: Movie Exhibitors and Movie Audiences in Prairie Canada, 1896 to 1986, by Robert Morris Seiler and Tamara Palmer Seiler says that the Empress Theatre was designed by architects Harry S. Burroughs and J. Bernard Richards. Other sources give the names as S. Harry Burroughs and John B. Richards. The partnership of Burroughs & Richards was only in operation from around 1909 to 1913.
The 425-seat auditorium was built at the back of an existing building, which was remodeled with an arched entrance through former retail space for the theater. Originally built for the Winnipeg-based Starland Theatre Company, by 1926 the Empress was listed in the FDY as a Famous Players house.
The Bhamwiki page for the Frolic Theatre says that in 1921 the theater was located at 312-314 18th Street North, but by the next year it was listed at 1720-1722 4th Avenue North. According to Bhamwiki’s Champion Theatre page, the Champion, which had been at 306 18th Street North, moved into the Frolic’s original location when the Frolic moved to 4th Avenue. The Champion later moved into a building at 1423 4th Avenue, across the street from the new Frolic.
Bhamwiki’s page for the Champion Theatre says that the house first opened in 1914 at 306 18th Street North, but in the early 1920s it moved to 312 18th Street North, which had earlier been the first location of the Frolic Theatre. The Frolic had moved around the corner onto 4th Avenue North. In later years, the wiki says, the Champion was listed at 1720 4th Avenue North, which was also the second Frolic’s address.
Bhamwiki’s Frolic Theatre page says that the address was shared as early as 1922, and that at that time both houses were under the same management. The Frolic’s address 1720 4th was probably used as the office for both houses, but it’s possible that the Champion was then still at 312 18th Street.
The year the Champion moved from 18th Street to 4th Avenue is uncertain, but the Birmingham Public Library has this photo dated 1939 showing the house in what must have been its final location. The building looks fairly old at that time and might have been an existing building into which the theater moved when it left 312 8th, but not so old that it couldn’t have been built as a theater sometime in the 1920s.
The 1948 FDY lists both the Champion and the Frolic among the five Birmingham theaters then being operated by the Jefferson Amusement Company (along with the Carver, the Famous, and the Eighth Avenue.)
This picture shows the Famous Theatre building, still standing, which was two doors down from the Champion, which has been demolished.
A May 30, 1915 article in The Montgomery Advertiser said that the new Strand Theatre occupied a building formerly occupied by the Empress Theatre and a drug store. The two spaces had been thrown together to accommodate the larger theater. The Empress was one of ten Montgomery picture houses listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory, but the October 21, 1910 Advertiser had announced its grand opening, scheduled to take place that afternoon.
An article about the Regent appeared in The Moving Picture World of August 28, 1915. The target date for the opening of the house, then under construction, was September 15.
The December 13, 1913 issue of The Moving Picture World had this item: “Bessemer, Ala.—J. A. Snider is having his Grand Theater remodeled.”
Although not listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory, the Grand Theatre was advertising in the Williamsport Sun-Gazette at least as early as November, 1914. The Grand is the subject of an item in the June 5, 1915 issue of Motography:
The Grand is also mentioned briefly in the August 21, 1915 issue of The Moving Picture World, which says “J. G. Meyer, manager of the Grand in Williamsport, Pa., has purchased a Minusa Gold Fibre screen from Ludwig Hommel & Company, Pittsburgh.”An interesting item appears in the May 12, 1923 Moving Picture World:
Frank Keeney’s main theater in Williamsport, Keeney’s Theatre, was renamed the Keystone Theatre at some point in the 1920s, and both the Keystone and the Grand are mentioned in an item in the July 15, 1927 issue of The Film Daily under the headline “New Manager at Williamsport”, which says “Gregory W. Beck has been named manager of the Keystone and Grand.”Here is an item from the April 12, 1919 issue of The Moving Picture World:
This article from the Elmira Star Gazette says that the Mozart originally had 1,398 seats, “…eventually became the Strand….” and also says that “[t]he last big night was May 16, 1959, when every seat was filled for an Elmira Civic Chorus spring concert. The building was razed in 1967.” There was nothing about when the Strand had closed as a movie theater.
The article also says that the Mozart was on Market Street east of Baldwin, so it must have been between Baldwin and Lake. That means it was probably at the 313 E. Market address we have listed on the Strand page. It does seem likely that the Mozart became the Strand in 1923, with a remodeling by Leon Lempert Jr., at that time.
Actually the theater that opened in 1906 as the Mozart was renamed the Strand at some point, which we know as we have photos of the building displaying each name at different times, but there was also a Strand Theatre opened in 1915, when the Mozart was still in operation, and another Strand opened in 1923.
What we don’t know yet is when the Mozart was renamed the Strand, or whether the 1923 Strand was a remodel of the Mozart or of the 1915 Strand, or was another theater altogether. So far we have only one of the Strands listed at Cinema Treasures. The Mozart page obviously needs the aka Strand added, but somebody will have to research the history to determine when the name changed, how long it operated under that name, and what became of the 1915 Strand.
That’s Hedley.
An advertisement for the Colonial Theatre in the 1903-1904 Cahn guide says that the house opened on October 1, 1901.
19 E. Carey Street is one of two buildings occupied by a shop called Plains Antiques and Home Furnishings. It has a nice streamline modern facade, though the current paint job, which is peeling badly, doesn’t do much to bring out the details (Google street view.)
The Hippodrome was mentioned in The New York Dramatic Mirror at least as early as the issue of August 14, 1909, which reported that the theater was “…doing well with moving pictures, playing to capacity houses daily.” An ebay seller had a postal cover of an advertisement mailed by the Hippodrome, postmarked February 28, 1910. The manager at that time was named W. E. Deacon, who was also mentioned in the May 21, 1910 issue of Dramatic Mirror as the manager of Zanesville’s Schultz Opera House. The July 15, 1910 issue ofThe Nickelodeon had this item:
The December 13, 1913 issue of The Moving Picture World published a letter from the Hippodrome’s then-manager, Helen Morrison-Lewis, who said she had been running the house for a little less than two years. The Hippodrome was still advertising in Zanesville’s daily paper, The Times Recorder, in August, 1916, but I’ve found no later ads. By late 1917, the paper was running ads for Geist’s Shoe Store at 320 Main Street.The hardtop that replaced the drive-in was also called the Hastings. The four buildings along Halstead Street adjacent to the drive-in were for light industrial use.
Judging from the vintage photos (the one on our photo page which shows the theater next to an alley and the one at the bottom of page 58 of this book,) the Saenger Theatre was on the south side of West Second Street, just past the middle of the second block west of Main Street. Google’s street view displays the address 237 W. 2nd St. at this location, though that probably wasn’t the theater’s actual address.
Page 94 of the book has photos of the Saenger both before and after the 194 fire and 1947 rebuild. The caption suggests that part of the Alice Theatre’s facade might have survived in the Saengers. The Alice was opened in early October, 1921, and was destroyed by a fire in April, 1922.
The April 1, 1921 issue of Building and Engineering Digest said that J. Barnett would remodel the Crystal Theatre at Albuquerque with a larger stage and more dressing rooms, to accommodate road shows. The plans were by E,Paso architects Trost & Trost.
It turns out that A. B. Scarborough was one of the promoters of the American Theatre, not the architect. The local architectural firm of Sparger & Peters (John C. Sparger and W. A. Peters) designed the building. This web page from the Fannin County Museum of History has an article about the theater from the Bonham Daily Favorite of April 2, 1995.
The May 15, 1921 issue of the Dallas-based trade journal Building and Engineering Digest said that Saenger Amusement Company’s new theater on DeSiard Street in Monroe had opened to the public on May 5.
The Dreamland Theatre was listed in the 1926 FDY. Files of the Leesville Daily Leader from November, 1929, include this item: “Southern Amusement Co. of Lake Charles has bought the Dreamland Theatre and will soon install a Vitaphone sound system, meaning talking movies will soon be coming to our town.”
The Howell Theatre was remodeled in 1934, as noted in this item from The Film Daily of August 13 that year:
Palatka had a house called the New Howell Theatre listed in the 1909-1910 Cahn guide, but a 1909 city directory lists a Howell Theatre on First Street near Lemon. The same directory lists a movie house called the Wonderland Theatre at 109 Lemon Street. The 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory doesn’t list either of them, having only an Orpheum Theatre at 110-112 Lemon Street, and Kalbfield’s Grand Theatre, no address given.A Howell Theatre is listed in FDYs with 500 seats through 1930, and from 1931 on with 631 seats. Perhaps the 500-seat Howell was the old house on First Street (though the Cahn Guide gave it a capacity of 800) and the 631-seat Howell was the one on Lemon Street? But then I wonder what became of the balcony added in 1934, which ought to have increased the capacity at least a bit. Odd.
The recent reopening of an earlier Lincoln Theatre, dating from the silent era, was mentioned in the July 17, 1934 issue of The Film Daily:
This first Lincoln Theatre, since demolished, must have been the house at 311 N. 11th Street that was later replaced by the 1950 quonset hut at 1302 Madison Street.dallasmovietheaters: The FDY can be very confusing. I’m glad you’ve got access to the local newspaper to clear up the confusion. The Frog Capital of the World deserves an accurate history of its theaters.