Here is an article dated 9/20/53 from the Big Spring Daily Herald:
ATHENS, Tex., Sept. 19-A theater filled with a Saturday afternoon crowd of children caught fire today and burned to the ground after all the youngsters had fled to safety. Six of the children were hurt, mostly in the tramping toward rear and front exits. One boy broke his leg jumping from the balcony. Sheriff Jess Sweeten said fire broke out in the 900-seat Dixie Theater about 2:30 p.m. The brick one-story structure was quickly evacuated.
Frantic parents clamoring at the entrance in fear their children had not escaped interfered with the work of local firemen, who had the help of fire departments from Malakoff, Canton and Tyler. Flames flared 75 feet high at the height of the fire and threatened adjacent buildings on the east side of the square, including the Palace Drug, Penney Dry Goods and Perkins Bros. Dry Goods stores. The adjacent structures were wet down while firemen sought to extinguish the theater blaze.
At about 6 p.m. the fire burned itself out, having almost completely leveled the theater. The sheriff said, “We almost had a riot in front of the theater with those parents screaming and hollering. It was a powerful lot of excitement.” The fact some of the children fled through a rear exit apparently gave rise to some parents' fear their children still were inside the blazing theater. The sheriff said none of the six children was critically hurt.
Here is part of an article from the Victoria Advocate dated 9/20/75:
The colorful 35-year history of El Rancho Theater came to a blazing end Friday morning two days after bringing to its giant screen the story of mobster Al Capone, “the man who made the Twenties roar.“ Water-soaked reels of the movie, billed as the true story of Capone, were sadly placed on the sidewalk across the street from the theater Friday afternoon as fire investigators sifted through the rubble attempting to find the cause of the fire.
At the same time, J. C. Long of Bay City, owner of the theater, estimated the loss of the building, which was completely gutted by the blaze, at “half a million dollars.” Another official of the widespread Long Theaters chain, Harry Worth, also of Bay City, said equipment and the 1,100 seats in the theater alone were valued al $150,000. Long arrived Friday afternoon to inspect the ruins with Worth and Hayden Curliss, manager of the theater for 12 years, and an employee of the Long chain since 1928. Long made no immediate decision as what he will do with the building.
Tomasita, downtown Victoria’s favorite cat, is alive and well although the place she liked best was destroyed by fire Friday morning. She appeared somewhat bewildered Friday, heading toward the old bandstand in DeLeon Plaza to escape the attention of the crowd that gathered to watch firemen battle the blaze.
Here is an article dated 5/21/48 from the Amarillo Daily News:
Monte Hale, the western movie star, will make a personal appearance both this afternoon and tonight on the stage of the Liberty Theater in Shamrock. The western singing star will appear at the Shamrock theater in connection with the showing of his latest picture, “Under Colorado Skies.”
Siebert Worley, Liberty Theater manager, said he is planning a big program with Monte, his picture and another feature “Arkansas Judge” with the Weaver Boys and Elviry of National Barn Dance fame. After the show tonight, Monte is scheduled to be in Dumas for the final day of the Dumas Dogie Days. He will appear at the Evelyn Theater in Dumas, besides taking part in the parade.
A three-alarm fire roared through the Rio Theater here in pre-dawn hours Thursday, completely gutting the 900-seat movie house and causing damage estimated from $75,000 to as high as $200,000. Two firemen were taken to Medical Center Hospital suffering from exposure, but were released shortly afterward and sent home.
The fire apparently broke out about 1 a.m., firemen said. Firemen fought the roaring blaze until about 4:30 a.m. Cause of the fire was not immediately determined. Several firemen miraculously escaped injury in a backdraft explosion which blew out the southwest upper wall. Falling timbers twice almost trapped firemen in the roaring inferno.
A passing cab driver, unidentified, reported the blaze at 1:25 a.m. After seeing the blaze, then confined within the building, he radioed his dispatcher, who alerted firemen. Firemen quickly pulled two additional alarms, the second coming at 1:30 and the third at 1:35 a.m.
The fire completely gutted the building leaving only the brick walls and a small portion of the roof remaining. Streams of water poured onto the fire quickly turned into icicles and sheets of ice in the 14-degree weather.
Wallace Scott, a co-owner of the Rio and the adjoining Scott Theater, which was damaged slightly by smoke, estimated damage “at about $125,000 to the equipment and the building.†Plans for remodeling the Rio were announced immediately after the fire on Thursday.
The Oakland City Council last night refused to issue a business license to a downtown theater which specializes in “adult” films. Backing up its staff, the council declined to give a license to Pussycat Theaters Inc. to operate the Art Cinema Theatre at 1118 Broadway. City Hearing Officer George Dini said the denial was based on seven arrests in the theater of men charged with lewd conduct in the theater while watching films. He also claimed the theater had a “buzzer” system warning employees when police officers arrived to check the audience.
An attorney for the firm, which operates 14 such movie nooses in the west, said the council’s action violated the First Amendment. Its owner, Vince Miranda, said he will appeal the council action. He also told the council that he was a native Californian and religious. Mayor John H. Reading asked Miranda, “You don’t hold any Scout merit badges, do you?” Miranda did not reply.
The Cumberland MD Evening Times had the same story but also included a quote from Marty:
Wiseman quoted the former grid great, now a salesman for a wholesale drug company, “Why don’t you guys give me a break? I’m a married man with three kids. I haven’t done anything like this since I was a kid. I don’t know why I grabbed hold of you tonight. I’m Marty Brill, the famous football player.”
Here is a May 1972 item from the San Antonio Express:
Santikos Theaters Inc. has acquired the former Cinematex Theater in Colonies North and will reopen it Thursday under the new name of Colonies North Theater. The new addition to the theater chain will show first-run and top-quality movies, said Ken Higgins, one of the executives of Santikos.
The theater will open with Walt Disney’s “Pinocchio” and “The Barefoot Executive.” Following that double bill the theater will show “Hans Christian Anderson” beginning June 16, followed by “The Garden of Fitzi Continis,” which won an Oscar this year for the best foreign film.
John Crawford, former assistant manager of Santikos' San Pedro Outdoor Theater, will be the manager of the new 500-seat theater. Other theaters in the Santikos chain are Century South, Olmes, and the San Pedro, Fredericksburg Road, Trail and Town-Twin outdoor theaters.
Here is part of a June 1989 article from the Illinois Daily Herald:
GIBSON CITY, Ill. – With the reopening of a local drive-in theater, “a dinosaur is coining back,” and people once again will be able to enjoy summer evenings and movies simultaneously, says operator Michael Harroun. “There’s been a whole decade of people who haven’t seen them,” said the 33-year-old Onarga resident, who is re-opening the Harvest Moon Drive-In this month with state-of-the art equipment. Harroun and his next-door neighbor, 34-year-old John Talbert, are leasing and remodeling the Harvest Moon on Illinois Route 47 near this east-central Illinois community of 3,500.
Harroun and Talbert think the movie-going public isn’t ready to give up on the drive-in. “I honestly believe these things go in cycles,” said Harroun. “We’ve missed a whole generation. There’s a whole generation that should be able to enjoy a drive-in.” They plan to start showing movies under the stars on June 16, charging $2 a person. The theater will be open Friday through Monday nights through October.
The Harvest Moon Drive-In was closed in 1977 by owner Clifford Orr, who said he quit the business for health reasons. It reopened for a few years in the early 1980s under a lease. It is in relatively good shape, according to Harroun, because it was rebuilt after the screen and concession stand were destroyed by a tornado in 1965.
Harroun and his brother, Patrick, own and operate the Onarga Mode theater, which they opened in 1984, and the Watseka Bon Aire, which opened in 1987. Both are indoor theaters. Harroun and Talbert believe people will travel up to 30 minutes from as far away as Champaign-Urbana and Bloomington-Normal â€" two towns without drive-in movies.
Here is part of a September 1989 article from the Illinois Daily Herald:
Jeffrey Kohlberg is a drive-in movie nut. He began working at his father’s drive-in when he was eight years old â€" painting, cutting grass, working the concession stands, picking up golf balls at the driving range that was part of the old 53 Drive-In in Palatine. His dad, Stanford Kohlberg, at one time operated 50 theaters. Today, Kohlberg, 42, is back in the drive-in business after being out of it since 1987, when a Palatine drive-in .that he and his sister, Jarrol Cataldo, rented from their dad, was sold. The two own 53 Drive-In Management Inc., in Lincolnshire, which has operated the Des Plaines Theatre since 1985 and which this year took over operation of the Cascade Drive-In in West Chicago.
“The finest drive-in in the U.S.,” Kohlberg calls it, speaking admiringly of how well maintained it was by its previous operator. While it was built in the 1950s, it looks new, he said. “That place is like it’s been in a time capsule all these years,” he said.The previous owner, Spiro Charuhas, sold the drive-in to an investment group when he decided to retire, and Kohlberg was able to lease the theater until some other plan comes along for the land.
This is a March 1950 story in the Dixon Evening Telegraph:
Los Angeles, March 15â€"(AP)â€"Marty Brill, 44, Notre Dame football star of 20 years ago and former Loyola at Los Angeles coach, was charged today with misdemeanor, vagrancy and lewd conduct in a theatre. Officer A. G. Wiseman of the police vice squad accused Brill, married and the father of three children, of making an improper advance. Brill told a reporter he had several drinks and vaguely recalled being jostled by someone in the theater. He is at liberty on $500 bail, pending a court appearance later today. A complaint was issued by the city attorney’s office on the basis of Wiseman’s statement.. The latter and two other vice squad officers, H. E. Dorrall and G. H Yorham, made the arrest at the Art Theater on South Main street.
Here is an article dated 9/20/53 from the Big Spring Daily Herald:
ATHENS, Tex., Sept. 19-A theater filled with a Saturday afternoon crowd of children caught fire today and burned to the ground after all the youngsters had fled to safety. Six of the children were hurt, mostly in the tramping toward rear and front exits. One boy broke his leg jumping from the balcony. Sheriff Jess Sweeten said fire broke out in the 900-seat Dixie Theater about 2:30 p.m. The brick one-story structure was quickly evacuated.
Frantic parents clamoring at the entrance in fear their children had not escaped interfered with the work of local firemen, who had the help of fire departments from Malakoff, Canton and Tyler. Flames flared 75 feet high at the height of the fire and threatened adjacent buildings on the east side of the square, including the Palace Drug, Penney Dry Goods and Perkins Bros. Dry Goods stores. The adjacent structures were wet down while firemen sought to extinguish the theater blaze.
At about 6 p.m. the fire burned itself out, having almost completely leveled the theater. The sheriff said, “We almost had a riot in front of the theater with those parents screaming and hollering. It was a powerful lot of excitement.” The fact some of the children fled through a rear exit apparently gave rise to some parents' fear their children still were inside the blazing theater. The sheriff said none of the six children was critically hurt.
Here is part of an article from the Victoria Advocate dated 9/20/75:
The colorful 35-year history of El Rancho Theater came to a blazing end Friday morning two days after bringing to its giant screen the story of mobster Al Capone, “the man who made the Twenties roar.“ Water-soaked reels of the movie, billed as the true story of Capone, were sadly placed on the sidewalk across the street from the theater Friday afternoon as fire investigators sifted through the rubble attempting to find the cause of the fire.
At the same time, J. C. Long of Bay City, owner of the theater, estimated the loss of the building, which was completely gutted by the blaze, at “half a million dollars.” Another official of the widespread Long Theaters chain, Harry Worth, also of Bay City, said equipment and the 1,100 seats in the theater alone were valued al $150,000. Long arrived Friday afternoon to inspect the ruins with Worth and Hayden Curliss, manager of the theater for 12 years, and an employee of the Long chain since 1928. Long made no immediate decision as what he will do with the building.
Tomasita, downtown Victoria’s favorite cat, is alive and well although the place she liked best was destroyed by fire Friday morning. She appeared somewhat bewildered Friday, heading toward the old bandstand in DeLeon Plaza to escape the attention of the crowd that gathered to watch firemen battle the blaze.
Here is an article dated 5/21/48 from the Amarillo Daily News:
Monte Hale, the western movie star, will make a personal appearance both this afternoon and tonight on the stage of the Liberty Theater in Shamrock. The western singing star will appear at the Shamrock theater in connection with the showing of his latest picture, “Under Colorado Skies.”
Siebert Worley, Liberty Theater manager, said he is planning a big program with Monte, his picture and another feature “Arkansas Judge” with the Weaver Boys and Elviry of National Barn Dance fame. After the show tonight, Monte is scheduled to be in Dumas for the final day of the Dumas Dogie Days. He will appear at the Evelyn Theater in Dumas, besides taking part in the parade.
Here is a recent article about the sale of the Starlite and Fox 5 theaters:
http://tinyurl.com/bx4h2x
Here is a recent story from the Indianapolis Star:
http://tinyurl.com/ctk6p6
If you enter www.alamotheatre.org you get this site http://www.oldfilm.org/ which as karan pointed out in 2006 owns the theater.
Is the address 85 Main or 379 Main? The theater website says 85. Additionally, the Bittersweet Gift Shop seen in the 6/4/08 photo is at 81 Main.
The theater recently received a $32,500 grant:
http://tinyurl.com/ar925d
Renovation is discussed in this 2/11/09 article:
http://tinyurl.com/arsejx
This story was posted by the Charleston Gazette:
http://tinyurl.com/cjp2au
A story about the hotel published yesterday in the Daily Telegraph included this 1953 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/cmqc7j
There is a view of the Onarga on this site:
http://tinyurl.com/c4jxt2
I hit the preview button about six or seven times to fix the typos, but I missed that one.
This is from the Odessa American on 1/17/57:
A three-alarm fire roared through the Rio Theater here in pre-dawn hours Thursday, completely gutting the 900-seat movie house and causing damage estimated from $75,000 to as high as $200,000. Two firemen were taken to Medical Center Hospital suffering from exposure, but were released shortly afterward and sent home.
The fire apparently broke out about 1 a.m., firemen said. Firemen fought the roaring blaze until about 4:30 a.m. Cause of the fire was not immediately determined. Several firemen miraculously escaped injury in a backdraft explosion which blew out the southwest upper wall. Falling timbers twice almost trapped firemen in the roaring inferno.
A passing cab driver, unidentified, reported the blaze at 1:25 a.m. After seeing the blaze, then confined within the building, he radioed his dispatcher, who alerted firemen. Firemen quickly pulled two additional alarms, the second coming at 1:30 and the third at 1:35 a.m.
The fire completely gutted the building leaving only the brick walls and a small portion of the roof remaining. Streams of water poured onto the fire quickly turned into icicles and sheets of ice in the 14-degree weather.
Wallace Scott, a co-owner of the Rio and the adjoining Scott Theater, which was damaged slightly by smoke, estimated damage “at about $125,000 to the equipment and the building.†Plans for remodeling the Rio were announced immediately after the fire on Thursday.
Sorry, that should be movie houses, not nooses. I missed that one.
Here is a May 1970 item from the Oakland Tribune:
The Oakland City Council last night refused to issue a business license to a downtown theater which specializes in “adult” films. Backing up its staff, the council declined to give a license to Pussycat Theaters Inc. to operate the Art Cinema Theatre at 1118 Broadway. City Hearing Officer George Dini said the denial was based on seven arrests in the theater of men charged with lewd conduct in the theater while watching films. He also claimed the theater had a “buzzer” system warning employees when police officers arrived to check the audience.
An attorney for the firm, which operates 14 such movie nooses in the west, said the council’s action violated the First Amendment. Its owner, Vince Miranda, said he will appeal the council action. He also told the council that he was a native Californian and religious. Mayor John H. Reading asked Miranda, “You don’t hold any Scout merit badges, do you?” Miranda did not reply.
The Cumberland MD Evening Times had the same story but also included a quote from Marty:
Wiseman quoted the former grid great, now a salesman for a wholesale drug company, “Why don’t you guys give me a break? I’m a married man with three kids. I haven’t done anything like this since I was a kid. I don’t know why I grabbed hold of you tonight. I’m Marty Brill, the famous football player.”
Here is a May 1972 item from the San Antonio Express:
Santikos Theaters Inc. has acquired the former Cinematex Theater in Colonies North and will reopen it Thursday under the new name of Colonies North Theater. The new addition to the theater chain will show first-run and top-quality movies, said Ken Higgins, one of the executives of Santikos.
The theater will open with Walt Disney’s “Pinocchio” and “The Barefoot Executive.” Following that double bill the theater will show “Hans Christian Anderson” beginning June 16, followed by “The Garden of Fitzi Continis,” which won an Oscar this year for the best foreign film.
John Crawford, former assistant manager of Santikos' San Pedro Outdoor Theater, will be the manager of the new 500-seat theater. Other theaters in the Santikos chain are Century South, Olmes, and the San Pedro, Fredericksburg Road, Trail and Town-Twin outdoor theaters.
I guess he had a wide stance.
Here is the theater’s website:
http://www.onargatheater.com/
Here is part of a June 1989 article from the Illinois Daily Herald:
GIBSON CITY, Ill. – With the reopening of a local drive-in theater, “a dinosaur is coining back,” and people once again will be able to enjoy summer evenings and movies simultaneously, says operator Michael Harroun. “There’s been a whole decade of people who haven’t seen them,” said the 33-year-old Onarga resident, who is re-opening the Harvest Moon Drive-In this month with state-of-the art equipment. Harroun and his next-door neighbor, 34-year-old John Talbert, are leasing and remodeling the Harvest Moon on Illinois Route 47 near this east-central Illinois community of 3,500.
Harroun and Talbert think the movie-going public isn’t ready to give up on the drive-in. “I honestly believe these things go in cycles,” said Harroun. “We’ve missed a whole generation. There’s a whole generation that should be able to enjoy a drive-in.” They plan to start showing movies under the stars on June 16, charging $2 a person. The theater will be open Friday through Monday nights through October.
The Harvest Moon Drive-In was closed in 1977 by owner Clifford Orr, who said he quit the business for health reasons. It reopened for a few years in the early 1980s under a lease. It is in relatively good shape, according to Harroun, because it was rebuilt after the screen and concession stand were destroyed by a tornado in 1965.
Harroun and his brother, Patrick, own and operate the Onarga Mode theater, which they opened in 1984, and the Watseka Bon Aire, which opened in 1987. Both are indoor theaters. Harroun and Talbert believe people will travel up to 30 minutes from as far away as Champaign-Urbana and Bloomington-Normal â€" two towns without drive-in movies.
Here is part of a September 1989 article from the Illinois Daily Herald:
Jeffrey Kohlberg is a drive-in movie nut. He began working at his father’s drive-in when he was eight years old â€" painting, cutting grass, working the concession stands, picking up golf balls at the driving range that was part of the old 53 Drive-In in Palatine. His dad, Stanford Kohlberg, at one time operated 50 theaters. Today, Kohlberg, 42, is back in the drive-in business after being out of it since 1987, when a Palatine drive-in .that he and his sister, Jarrol Cataldo, rented from their dad, was sold. The two own 53 Drive-In Management Inc., in Lincolnshire, which has operated the Des Plaines Theatre since 1985 and which this year took over operation of the Cascade Drive-In in West Chicago.
“The finest drive-in in the U.S.,” Kohlberg calls it, speaking admiringly of how well maintained it was by its previous operator. While it was built in the 1950s, it looks new, he said. “That place is like it’s been in a time capsule all these years,” he said.The previous owner, Spiro Charuhas, sold the drive-in to an investment group when he decided to retire, and Kohlberg was able to lease the theater until some other plan comes along for the land.
This is a March 1950 story in the Dixon Evening Telegraph:
Los Angeles, March 15â€"(AP)â€"Marty Brill, 44, Notre Dame football star of 20 years ago and former Loyola at Los Angeles coach, was charged today with misdemeanor, vagrancy and lewd conduct in a theatre. Officer A. G. Wiseman of the police vice squad accused Brill, married and the father of three children, of making an improper advance. Brill told a reporter he had several drinks and vaguely recalled being jostled by someone in the theater. He is at liberty on $500 bail, pending a court appearance later today. A complaint was issued by the city attorney’s office on the basis of Wiseman’s statement.. The latter and two other vice squad officers, H. E. Dorrall and G. H Yorham, made the arrest at the Art Theater on South Main street.
There are some before and after photos on this site:
http://tinyurl.com/cmbzcn
It’s 85 degrees today-ready to move here? Nice photos.