The Empire was one of two Storm Lake theaters mentioned in the September 8, 1917 issue of Motography. The item about the Empire says “J. M. Russell has announced that he will at once commence work on the enlargement of the Empire Theater at Storm Lake and make of it a modern opera house.” This was probably a response to the destruction by fire of the Storm Lake Opera House in 1916.
The Empire is listed in FDYs from 1930, 1934, 1936 and 1939. I haven’t checked other editions from the 1930s, but I suspect it was open through most of the decade. The October 7, 1938 Film Daily had this item about the closing: “IOWA. Storm Lake — Empire (9-27-38), Owner: George R. Norman; Moving to new theater.” The new theater was the Vista. The absence of the Vista from the 1939 FDY and the continued listing of the Empire was probably just sloppy editing.
I haven’t found the exact reopening date of the house as the Lake, but The January 6, 1940 issue of Boxoffice had an item datelined Storm Lake that said “Frank Schoonover is managing the new Lake, opened recently.” The June 21, 1952 Boxoffice noted the recent closing of the Lake Theatre after some forty years, giving a brief history with its previous names World and Empire. The owners of the building had decided not to renew the Pioneer Theatre Corporation’s lease, which had expired on June 1, and converted the building for retail use by the Earl May seed store.
The 1912-1913 Cahn-Leighton guide lists the Storm Lake Opera House with 601 seats. The 1914 Gus Hill Directory is a bit more generous, giving it 700 seats. The American Motion Picture Directory skipped Storm Lake altogether, likely just an oversight, as other sources indicate three theaters in town by February, 1914: the World, the Princess, and the Palace.
The obituary of long-time Tracy Theatre operator Mike Tracy in the January 15, 1962 Boxoffice said that “[p]rior to owning the theatre Tracy and W. S. Skiff Presented stage shows at the old Storm Lake Opera House.”
The Westfield Republican of May 2, 1912, mentions the Main Street Theatre, and the context makes clear that the house had been in operation for at least several weeks.
This is an item from the November 25, 1916 issue of Moving Picture World: “WESTFIELD, N. Y.-C. J. Carlson has plans by Freeburg Fidler [but see note below], Chadakoin building, Jamestown, N. Y., for a two-story theater and store building, 60 by 136 feet, to cost $35,000.” According to this web page, that project turned out to be the first Grand Theatre, which opened in 1917.
The catastrophic 1941 fire was not the first to visit the Grand. The building was gutted by a fire on November 3, 1923, and the house was not reopened until September, 1924. That was when it became the New Grand Theatre.
NOTE: Architect Freeburg, whose first name was either George or Raymond, of Freeburg & Fidler, died suddenly in late 1916, and it appears that the successor firm of Phillips, Fidler & Beck designed the Grand. I had a source for this some time ago but have lost track of it.
Some information about Freeburg & Fidler can be found in my comment on our page for the Mozart Theatre in Jamestown, New York, which they designed.
Okay, this web page has a map showing the locations of Jacksonville’s historic theaters, and the Savoy was a the southwest corner of Forsyth and Main while the Prince was at the northwest corner and became the Rialto. That un-explains why the Savoy was not listed in the AMPD in 1914.
The Savoy was one of several Jacksonville houses mentioned in an article in the May 27, 1911 issue of The New York Clipper. Of the Savoy the article says it “…is of simply beautiful design, and is one of the sights of the city.” The 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory does not list the Savoy, but there is a Prince Theatre located at Forsyth and Main. I wonder if that could have been an aka? The Prince was open prior to March 1, 1913, as it was mentioned in that date’s issue of Moving Picture World.
The Capitol is first listed in the FDY in 1929, which suggests an opening in 1928. The 1927 edition has a listing for a 600-seat “Theater planned by Sparks” which might have been the Capitol. The two early photos we have both show 1927 releases advertised, “The Magic Garden” and “Yankee Clipper.”
Another item about the 1911 Imperial has surfaced, this one in the May 27 issue of The New York Clipper. It says that the 800-seat house opened on May 20, and was located on Forsyth Street just off of Main. That very well might have been the later Imperial, with a different front, which the item describes as having an entrance like “…a monster sea shell… brilliantly illuminated with several hundred electric lights.” It sounds like a rather typical triumphal arch entrance of the early 1910s, which would have been looking very old-fashioned even before the end of the decade, triggering a remodeling in a more sedate style.
We know the 1911 Imperial couldn’t have been any of the other theaters on Forsyth just off Main (Grand, which already existed, Palace, which wasn’t built yet, or Empress, which was too small) so it must have been the origin of the later Imperial.
Are we certain of the aka Pastime for this house? I found a reference to a Pastime Theatre at Jacksonville in the October 15, 1910 issue of The Nickelodeon, and a house of that name is listed at 215 W. Bay Street in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. As the opening name of this 1918 house at 212 W. Bay was New Casino, I suspect we have conflated its history with that of an earlier Casino across the street, which was previously the Pastime, and may have been demolished to make way for the Florida Motor Lines bus terminal.
The October 15, 1910 issue of The Nickelodeon said that “[t]he Grand is a new picture house at Main and Forsyth streets, Jacksonville. It is operated by H. B. Montgomery.” An article in The New York Clipper of May 27, 1911, mentions several Jacksonville movie houses and says “[t]he Grand, operated by the Montgomery Amusement Co., is the most popular one of them all, and is crowded nightly.”
The Orpheum at Jacksonville is mentioned in Variety at least as early as the issue of June 6, 1908. It is mentioned frequently in show business journals Variety, The Billboard and The New York Clipper through the 1910s. An item in The Billboard of August 31, 1918 mentions the Orpheum as having been part of the Southern Circuit of burlesque theaters in the early 1910s.
Nevertheless, the Orpheum must have been operating as a movie house at least part of that period, as it is one of seven movie theaters listed at Jacksonville in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. The earliest (and so far only) mention of it I’ve found in a regular movie theater trade journal is in the August 12, 1916 issue of Moving Picture World. The Orpheum’s time as a movie house was clearly limited, though, as it is never listed in the FDYs from the 1920s that are available online.
It is most likely that this is the Scenic Theatre, an apparently false history of which appears on the current State Theatre’s official web site. The Scenic was around long before 1927, and was apparently not an aka for the State. The Scenic was listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory, and was mentioned in the August 24, 1912 Moving Picture World, which said that C. L. Voelkers had sold his interest in the Scenic Theatre at Holstein to Conrad Claussen.
118 E. 2nd may not have been the theater’s original location, though, as a December 13, 1913 MPW item said that William Werner had recently purchased Clausen’s interest in the Scenic and planned to erect anew building for the house. However, I have not found any follow-up items indicating that Mr. Werner carried out his plans, so it might not have happened.
In any case, the Scenic was still in operation when the State opened in late 1927, and continued to be listed in the FDY through 1930, along with the State. If, as I suspect, the Scenic was the house at 118 E. 2nd Street, it’s presence on the 1933 Sanborn map could be evidence that it was still in existence at least that late, even though the State was the only house the FDY listed in the town that year, and with the notation that even it was closed. It might be that the Scenic was opened for part of the year in 1933, after the FDY went to press, and thus appeared on the Sanborn map as a theater. If so, it didn’t survive long. The 1934 FDY does not list the Scenic, but does list the State as open again.
Whoever wrote the history on the current State Theatre’s official web site got a lot of it wrong. I think I’ve pieced together an accurate early history from FDYs and trade journals though. This house never operated as the Scenic Theatre, which was a different house which was listed in the 1914-1915 American motion Picture Directory and mentioned in trade journals even earlier.
The October 29, 1927 issue of The Billboard listed the State in its “Theater Openings” column, though mistakenly gave the name as Seff Theatre. Building owner C. F. Paulson leased the new house to the Seff brothers. A brief article about Cecil R. Seff in the January 28, 1928 issue of Exhibitors Herald and Moving Picture World also notes the opening of the house, but correctly calls it the State. The State name does not appear in the FDY until 1929, the 1928 edition listing only the Scenic and the generic name Movie. The State and the Scenic are both listed in the 1929 and 1930 FDYs. I haven’t checked later editions to see how long the two theaters remained competitors.
Incidentally, the 1930 FDY’s listing of a house called the Moon Theatre at Holstein, Iowa, is apparently a mistake. Other sources indicate that the Moon was at Holstein, Nebraska.
Two theater names associated with Correctionville were the Scenic and the Radio, or New Radio. Both appear in the FDY in 1926 and 1927, while the 1928 edition lists only the Ritz Theatre. It’s possible that the Ritz was one or the other of those houses, renamed, and if so then this theater at 325 Fifth must have been the other.
One other Correctionville theater name is revealed in the 1996 obituary of Doris L. Grawburg Beers, which says that during the silent movie era she played the piano at the New Radio Theatre and, before that, at a house called the Luna Theatre. It says her piano playing career lasted six years, and as the Radio apparently closed or was renamed in 1927, she might have begun playing as early as 1922, when she was thirteen years old.
One other bit of information probably useful is that a Scenic Theatre was listed at Correctionville in Polk’s 1914 Iowa Gazetteer, with no address alas, so it’s not possible to say if it was the same Scenic that was operating in 1926.
The Ritz Theatre first appears in the FDY in 1928, which is also the first year in which two other theater names are not listed: the Scenic and the New Radio. Those two were listed 1926 through 1928. Correctionville does not appear in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. I’ve been unable to discover if the Ritz was an entirely new house or if it was either the Scenic or the Radio under a new name. As the Ritz first appears in the 1928 FDY it must have opened in 1927, and would have appeared on the 1927 Sanborn (kdavis' first comment above) whether it was a new building or an older one. The Ritz was first listed with 200 seats, but no seating capacities were listed for the Scenic or Radio.
The local belief that Eddie Osipowicz built and operated the Ritz is partly correct. Boxoffice of October 27, 1951 reported that R. P. DeVries had sold the Ritz Theatre at Correctionville to Edward Osipowicz. After that, Osipowicz is mentioned in connection wit the Ritz in many issue of Boxoffice, as late as the issue of May 11, 1964. The Ritz might not have been providing an adequate income for him by then, though, as the item noted that Osipowicz was busy painting a drive-in restaurant that was to be operated by his brother-in-law. Earlier items had noted the Ritz closing, or re-opening after being closed for extended periods of time, and often operating on a limited schedule.
The only theater listed at Canton in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory was called the Lyric. It is still listed in the 1926 FDY, along with the Opera House, but no seating capacity is listed for either house. After that Canton is represented only by the Kennedy or the Lowell, both of which we list as akas for the Opera House.
It looks like a straightforward story, but alas, the trade journals throw a curve. There might have been a second (or third) theater in Canton by 1916, which might or might not have been the Opera House under an aka. The November 13, 1915 Moving Picture World mentions the Lyric, but only a few paragraphs earlier had said that “Bansall & Justensen of Kearny, Neb., will open a moving picture theater at Canton, S.D..” A year later, a November 11, 1916 MPW item datelined Canton says that “Manager Clifford Bowman of the Empress theater has changed the theater’s name to the Paramount-Empress.” An item datelined Canton in the October 6, 1917 MPW says “[t]he Empress theater has been leased by J. C. Marsh.”
So, the Empress might have been this house at 112 N. Broadway, or the name might have been an aka for the Opera House, but if there’d been a third theater in Canton in 1917 it would have to have been on any Sanborn map drawn before October that year. Of course I can’t think of anything that would preclude 112 Broadway from having operated as the Lyric in 1914 and 1915 and then again by 1926, and as the Empress in 1915 and 1917.
Canton also had an earlier movie theater, the Dreamland, mentioned in an April, 1908 MPW. It was located in the Syndicate Block, and in 1908 was managed by partners named Sullivan and Collins.
This theater is puzzling me. A Grand Theatre is listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. I’ve found the name Kathleen Theatre mentioned in multiple years, from 1903 to 1922. It was listed in the 1907 Cahn guide with 769 seats. A June, 1917 Manufacturers Record item said the Kathleen was being remodeled and enlarged! The Kathleen burned twice, in 1906 (Americus Times-Recorder, November 15) and again in 1922 (The Billboard, February 2.) The Grand is in the 1926 FDY with 350 seats. Stuff just isn’t matching up here. Why would a burned theater with over 750 seats be replaced by one with only 350?
While the Hawarden Theatre is listed (without an address) in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory, Polk’s 1914 Iowa Gazetteer lists only one movie theater (the Lyric) and the opera house (Brunskill Opera House, David Brunskill, propr.) at Hawarden. Items in theater industry trade journals indicate that Lyric was a new name for the Hawarden Theatre, but not in 1914. The earliest mention of the Lyric in Hawarden I’ve found in the trades is from Moving Picture World of March 6, 1915, which says that the Hawarden Theatre had recently changed hands and would be renamed the Lyric. But I do wonder how a name change from 1915 ended up in the 1914 Gazetteer?
In any case, after that March 6, 1915 item, Lyric is the only theater name I’ve found associated with Hawarden in the trade journals for the next few years, and the last of those mention, in MPW of January 4, 1919, says that the Lyric had “…burned to the ground….” Is there any indication of the building at 804 Central having burned? It most likely would have been only whatever was between the brick side walls. Roof and floors were usually built of wood in those old commercial buildings.
Polk’s 1914 Iowa Gazetteer lists only one movie theater (the Lyric) and the opera house (Brunskill Opera House, David Brunskill, propr.) at Hawarden. Items in theater industry trade journals indicate that Lyric was a new name for the Hawarden Theatre, but not until early 1915, so I don’t know how it got named in the 1914 Gazetteer.
This house at 906 Central might not have opened until after the 1914 Gazetteer went to press, so didn’t get listed that year, but this might be the house called the Electric Theatre that was listed (along with the Lyric) in the 1918 Gazetteer. An Electric Theatre was listed in the 1912 Gazetteer, but as it wasn’t listed in 1914 it must have been a different house. Perhaps it was an earlier name for the Hawarden/Lyric Theatre.
700 might have been a mistake by the FDYs. The 1908 Polk Iowa Gazetteer lists the Buffalo Center Opera House with 400 seats. I’ve been unable to re-find the web page that said the museum was in the old Opera House. I didn’t check for a date on it, so the source might have been obsolete.
Sadly, the only theater I’ve been able to find mentioned at Estherville in the trade journals or the directories available online is the Grand. This other theater wasn’t there in 1914-1915 and was gone by 1926, and there aren’t any Estherville newspapers from that period online. For now, this house seems likely to remain nameless.
Tiny Buffalo Center had no fewer than four movie theaters listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory: the Dreamland Theatre, the Lyric Theatre, the Opera House, and the Star Theatre.
The Opera House building is still standing and now houses a museum. It operated as a movie house in the late 1920s, listed as the 700-seat Opera House in the 1926 FDY and as the 700-seat Community Theatre by 1929. The Community was listed as late as 1931, with an asterisk denoting it as a silent house, but in 1932 it is gone.
The July 26, 1932 Film Daily has this item: “Buffalo Center — New Iowa, sold to H. M. Johnson by R. M. Enders.” The house was double listed as both the New Iowa and the Regent in the 1931 FDY. Buffalo Center had not been listed at all in the 1930 FDY.
The house became merely the Iowa Theatre in its later years. The October 30, 1954 issue of Boxoffice said that Charles Recker had celebrated his 20th year running the Iowa Theatre at Buffalo Center on October 12, which was also his birthday.
The March 4, 1911 issue of The Motion Picture News mentioned the Gem in an item saying that the house had been sold to a Mr. Porterfield of Hubbard, Iowa, by a Mr. Bixby.
The Scenic was mentioned in the May, 1909 issue of The Nickelodeon: “Forest City, Iowa. — G. C. Sample, who formerly conducted the Scenic Electric Theater in this city, has opened a moving picture theater at Jackson, Minn.”
This house was still called the Lesden in 1954, when the September 4 issue of The Independent Film Journal listed it as one of seven houses in the region which had recently installed CinemaScope equipment and Stereophonic sound.
The Empire was one of two Storm Lake theaters mentioned in the September 8, 1917 issue of Motography. The item about the Empire says “J. M. Russell has announced that he will at once commence work on the enlargement of the Empire Theater at Storm Lake and make of it a modern opera house.” This was probably a response to the destruction by fire of the Storm Lake Opera House in 1916.
The Empire is listed in FDYs from 1930, 1934, 1936 and 1939. I haven’t checked other editions from the 1930s, but I suspect it was open through most of the decade. The October 7, 1938 Film Daily had this item about the closing: “IOWA. Storm Lake — Empire (9-27-38), Owner: George R. Norman; Moving to new theater.” The new theater was the Vista. The absence of the Vista from the 1939 FDY and the continued listing of the Empire was probably just sloppy editing.
I haven’t found the exact reopening date of the house as the Lake, but The January 6, 1940 issue of Boxoffice had an item datelined Storm Lake that said “Frank Schoonover is managing the new Lake, opened recently.” The June 21, 1952 Boxoffice noted the recent closing of the Lake Theatre after some forty years, giving a brief history with its previous names World and Empire. The owners of the building had decided not to renew the Pioneer Theatre Corporation’s lease, which had expired on June 1, and converted the building for retail use by the Earl May seed store.
The 1912-1913 Cahn-Leighton guide lists the Storm Lake Opera House with 601 seats. The 1914 Gus Hill Directory is a bit more generous, giving it 700 seats. The American Motion Picture Directory skipped Storm Lake altogether, likely just an oversight, as other sources indicate three theaters in town by February, 1914: the World, the Princess, and the Palace.
The obituary of long-time Tracy Theatre operator Mike Tracy in the January 15, 1962 Boxoffice said that “[p]rior to owning the theatre Tracy and W. S. Skiff Presented stage shows at the old Storm Lake Opera House.”
The Westfield Republican of May 2, 1912, mentions the Main Street Theatre, and the context makes clear that the house had been in operation for at least several weeks.
This is an item from the November 25, 1916 issue of Moving Picture World: “WESTFIELD, N. Y.-C. J. Carlson has plans by Freeburg Fidler [but see note below], Chadakoin building, Jamestown, N. Y., for a two-story theater and store building, 60 by 136 feet, to cost $35,000.” According to this web page, that project turned out to be the first Grand Theatre, which opened in 1917.
The catastrophic 1941 fire was not the first to visit the Grand. The building was gutted by a fire on November 3, 1923, and the house was not reopened until September, 1924. That was when it became the New Grand Theatre.
NOTE: Architect Freeburg, whose first name was either George or Raymond, of Freeburg & Fidler, died suddenly in late 1916, and it appears that the successor firm of Phillips, Fidler & Beck designed the Grand. I had a source for this some time ago but have lost track of it. Some information about Freeburg & Fidler can be found in my comment on our page for the Mozart Theatre in Jamestown, New York, which they designed.
Okay, this web page has a map showing the locations of Jacksonville’s historic theaters, and the Savoy was a the southwest corner of Forsyth and Main while the Prince was at the northwest corner and became the Rialto. That un-explains why the Savoy was not listed in the AMPD in 1914.
The Savoy was one of several Jacksonville houses mentioned in an article in the May 27, 1911 issue of The New York Clipper. Of the Savoy the article says it “…is of simply beautiful design, and is one of the sights of the city.” The 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory does not list the Savoy, but there is a Prince Theatre located at Forsyth and Main. I wonder if that could have been an aka? The Prince was open prior to March 1, 1913, as it was mentioned in that date’s issue of Moving Picture World.
The Capitol is first listed in the FDY in 1929, which suggests an opening in 1928. The 1927 edition has a listing for a 600-seat “Theater planned by Sparks” which might have been the Capitol. The two early photos we have both show 1927 releases advertised, “The Magic Garden” and “Yankee Clipper.”
Another item about the 1911 Imperial has surfaced, this one in the May 27 issue of The New York Clipper. It says that the 800-seat house opened on May 20, and was located on Forsyth Street just off of Main. That very well might have been the later Imperial, with a different front, which the item describes as having an entrance like “…a monster sea shell… brilliantly illuminated with several hundred electric lights.” It sounds like a rather typical triumphal arch entrance of the early 1910s, which would have been looking very old-fashioned even before the end of the decade, triggering a remodeling in a more sedate style.
We know the 1911 Imperial couldn’t have been any of the other theaters on Forsyth just off Main (Grand, which already existed, Palace, which wasn’t built yet, or Empress, which was too small) so it must have been the origin of the later Imperial.
Are we certain of the aka Pastime for this house? I found a reference to a Pastime Theatre at Jacksonville in the October 15, 1910 issue of The Nickelodeon, and a house of that name is listed at 215 W. Bay Street in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. As the opening name of this 1918 house at 212 W. Bay was New Casino, I suspect we have conflated its history with that of an earlier Casino across the street, which was previously the Pastime, and may have been demolished to make way for the Florida Motor Lines bus terminal.
The October 15, 1910 issue of The Nickelodeon said that “[t]he Grand is a new picture house at Main and Forsyth streets, Jacksonville. It is operated by H. B. Montgomery.” An article in The New York Clipper of May 27, 1911, mentions several Jacksonville movie houses and says “[t]he Grand, operated by the Montgomery Amusement Co., is the most popular one of them all, and is crowded nightly.”
The Orpheum at Jacksonville is mentioned in Variety at least as early as the issue of June 6, 1908. It is mentioned frequently in show business journals Variety, The Billboard and The New York Clipper through the 1910s. An item in The Billboard of August 31, 1918 mentions the Orpheum as having been part of the Southern Circuit of burlesque theaters in the early 1910s.
Nevertheless, the Orpheum must have been operating as a movie house at least part of that period, as it is one of seven movie theaters listed at Jacksonville in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. The earliest (and so far only) mention of it I’ve found in a regular movie theater trade journal is in the August 12, 1916 issue of Moving Picture World. The Orpheum’s time as a movie house was clearly limited, though, as it is never listed in the FDYs from the 1920s that are available online.
It is most likely that this is the Scenic Theatre, an apparently false history of which appears on the current State Theatre’s official web site. The Scenic was around long before 1927, and was apparently not an aka for the State. The Scenic was listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory, and was mentioned in the August 24, 1912 Moving Picture World, which said that C. L. Voelkers had sold his interest in the Scenic Theatre at Holstein to Conrad Claussen.
118 E. 2nd may not have been the theater’s original location, though, as a December 13, 1913 MPW item said that William Werner had recently purchased Clausen’s interest in the Scenic and planned to erect anew building for the house. However, I have not found any follow-up items indicating that Mr. Werner carried out his plans, so it might not have happened.
In any case, the Scenic was still in operation when the State opened in late 1927, and continued to be listed in the FDY through 1930, along with the State. If, as I suspect, the Scenic was the house at 118 E. 2nd Street, it’s presence on the 1933 Sanborn map could be evidence that it was still in existence at least that late, even though the State was the only house the FDY listed in the town that year, and with the notation that even it was closed. It might be that the Scenic was opened for part of the year in 1933, after the FDY went to press, and thus appeared on the Sanborn map as a theater. If so, it didn’t survive long. The 1934 FDY does not list the Scenic, but does list the State as open again.
Whoever wrote the history on the current State Theatre’s official web site got a lot of it wrong. I think I’ve pieced together an accurate early history from FDYs and trade journals though. This house never operated as the Scenic Theatre, which was a different house which was listed in the 1914-1915 American motion Picture Directory and mentioned in trade journals even earlier.
The October 29, 1927 issue of The Billboard listed the State in its “Theater Openings” column, though mistakenly gave the name as Seff Theatre. Building owner C. F. Paulson leased the new house to the Seff brothers. A brief article about Cecil R. Seff in the January 28, 1928 issue of Exhibitors Herald and Moving Picture World also notes the opening of the house, but correctly calls it the State. The State name does not appear in the FDY until 1929, the 1928 edition listing only the Scenic and the generic name Movie. The State and the Scenic are both listed in the 1929 and 1930 FDYs. I haven’t checked later editions to see how long the two theaters remained competitors.
Incidentally, the 1930 FDY’s listing of a house called the Moon Theatre at Holstein, Iowa, is apparently a mistake. Other sources indicate that the Moon was at Holstein, Nebraska.
Two theater names associated with Correctionville were the Scenic and the Radio, or New Radio. Both appear in the FDY in 1926 and 1927, while the 1928 edition lists only the Ritz Theatre. It’s possible that the Ritz was one or the other of those houses, renamed, and if so then this theater at 325 Fifth must have been the other.
One other Correctionville theater name is revealed in the 1996 obituary of Doris L. Grawburg Beers, which says that during the silent movie era she played the piano at the New Radio Theatre and, before that, at a house called the Luna Theatre. It says her piano playing career lasted six years, and as the Radio apparently closed or was renamed in 1927, she might have begun playing as early as 1922, when she was thirteen years old.
One other bit of information probably useful is that a Scenic Theatre was listed at Correctionville in Polk’s 1914 Iowa Gazetteer, with no address alas, so it’s not possible to say if it was the same Scenic that was operating in 1926.
The Ritz Theatre first appears in the FDY in 1928, which is also the first year in which two other theater names are not listed: the Scenic and the New Radio. Those two were listed 1926 through 1928. Correctionville does not appear in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. I’ve been unable to discover if the Ritz was an entirely new house or if it was either the Scenic or the Radio under a new name. As the Ritz first appears in the 1928 FDY it must have opened in 1927, and would have appeared on the 1927 Sanborn (kdavis' first comment above) whether it was a new building or an older one. The Ritz was first listed with 200 seats, but no seating capacities were listed for the Scenic or Radio.
The local belief that Eddie Osipowicz built and operated the Ritz is partly correct. Boxoffice of October 27, 1951 reported that R. P. DeVries had sold the Ritz Theatre at Correctionville to Edward Osipowicz. After that, Osipowicz is mentioned in connection wit the Ritz in many issue of Boxoffice, as late as the issue of May 11, 1964. The Ritz might not have been providing an adequate income for him by then, though, as the item noted that Osipowicz was busy painting a drive-in restaurant that was to be operated by his brother-in-law. Earlier items had noted the Ritz closing, or re-opening after being closed for extended periods of time, and often operating on a limited schedule.
The only theater listed at Canton in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory was called the Lyric. It is still listed in the 1926 FDY, along with the Opera House, but no seating capacity is listed for either house. After that Canton is represented only by the Kennedy or the Lowell, both of which we list as akas for the Opera House.
It looks like a straightforward story, but alas, the trade journals throw a curve. There might have been a second (or third) theater in Canton by 1916, which might or might not have been the Opera House under an aka. The November 13, 1915 Moving Picture World mentions the Lyric, but only a few paragraphs earlier had said that “Bansall & Justensen of Kearny, Neb., will open a moving picture theater at Canton, S.D..” A year later, a November 11, 1916 MPW item datelined Canton says that “Manager Clifford Bowman of the Empress theater has changed the theater’s name to the Paramount-Empress.” An item datelined Canton in the October 6, 1917 MPW says “[t]he Empress theater has been leased by J. C. Marsh.”
So, the Empress might have been this house at 112 N. Broadway, or the name might have been an aka for the Opera House, but if there’d been a third theater in Canton in 1917 it would have to have been on any Sanborn map drawn before October that year. Of course I can’t think of anything that would preclude 112 Broadway from having operated as the Lyric in 1914 and 1915 and then again by 1926, and as the Empress in 1915 and 1917.
Canton also had an earlier movie theater, the Dreamland, mentioned in an April, 1908 MPW. It was located in the Syndicate Block, and in 1908 was managed by partners named Sullivan and Collins.
This theater is puzzling me. A Grand Theatre is listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. I’ve found the name Kathleen Theatre mentioned in multiple years, from 1903 to 1922. It was listed in the 1907 Cahn guide with 769 seats. A June, 1917 Manufacturers Record item said the Kathleen was being remodeled and enlarged! The Kathleen burned twice, in 1906 (Americus Times-Recorder, November 15) and again in 1922 (The Billboard, February 2.) The Grand is in the 1926 FDY with 350 seats. Stuff just isn’t matching up here. Why would a burned theater with over 750 seats be replaced by one with only 350?
While the Hawarden Theatre is listed (without an address) in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory, Polk’s 1914 Iowa Gazetteer lists only one movie theater (the Lyric) and the opera house (Brunskill Opera House, David Brunskill, propr.) at Hawarden. Items in theater industry trade journals indicate that Lyric was a new name for the Hawarden Theatre, but not in 1914. The earliest mention of the Lyric in Hawarden I’ve found in the trades is from Moving Picture World of March 6, 1915, which says that the Hawarden Theatre had recently changed hands and would be renamed the Lyric. But I do wonder how a name change from 1915 ended up in the 1914 Gazetteer?
In any case, after that March 6, 1915 item, Lyric is the only theater name I’ve found associated with Hawarden in the trade journals for the next few years, and the last of those mention, in MPW of January 4, 1919, says that the Lyric had “…burned to the ground….” Is there any indication of the building at 804 Central having burned? It most likely would have been only whatever was between the brick side walls. Roof and floors were usually built of wood in those old commercial buildings.
Polk’s 1914 Iowa Gazetteer lists only one movie theater (the Lyric) and the opera house (Brunskill Opera House, David Brunskill, propr.) at Hawarden. Items in theater industry trade journals indicate that Lyric was a new name for the Hawarden Theatre, but not until early 1915, so I don’t know how it got named in the 1914 Gazetteer.
This house at 906 Central might not have opened until after the 1914 Gazetteer went to press, so didn’t get listed that year, but this might be the house called the Electric Theatre that was listed (along with the Lyric) in the 1918 Gazetteer. An Electric Theatre was listed in the 1912 Gazetteer, but as it wasn’t listed in 1914 it must have been a different house. Perhaps it was an earlier name for the Hawarden/Lyric Theatre.
700 might have been a mistake by the FDYs. The 1908 Polk Iowa Gazetteer lists the Buffalo Center Opera House with 400 seats. I’ve been unable to re-find the web page that said the museum was in the old Opera House. I didn’t check for a date on it, so the source might have been obsolete.
Sadly, the only theater I’ve been able to find mentioned at Estherville in the trade journals or the directories available online is the Grand. This other theater wasn’t there in 1914-1915 and was gone by 1926, and there aren’t any Estherville newspapers from that period online. For now, this house seems likely to remain nameless.
Tiny Buffalo Center had no fewer than four movie theaters listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory: the Dreamland Theatre, the Lyric Theatre, the Opera House, and the Star Theatre.
The Opera House building is still standing and now houses a museum. It operated as a movie house in the late 1920s, listed as the 700-seat Opera House in the 1926 FDY and as the 700-seat Community Theatre by 1929. The Community was listed as late as 1931, with an asterisk denoting it as a silent house, but in 1932 it is gone.
The July 26, 1932 Film Daily has this item: “Buffalo Center — New Iowa, sold to H. M. Johnson by R. M. Enders.” The house was double listed as both the New Iowa and the Regent in the 1931 FDY. Buffalo Center had not been listed at all in the 1930 FDY.
The house became merely the Iowa Theatre in its later years. The October 30, 1954 issue of Boxoffice said that Charles Recker had celebrated his 20th year running the Iowa Theatre at Buffalo Center on October 12, which was also his birthday.
The March 4, 1911 issue of The Motion Picture News mentioned the Gem in an item saying that the house had been sold to a Mr. Porterfield of Hubbard, Iowa, by a Mr. Bixby.
The Scenic was mentioned in the May, 1909 issue of The Nickelodeon: “Forest City, Iowa. — G. C. Sample, who formerly conducted the Scenic Electric Theater in this city, has opened a moving picture theater at Jackson, Minn.”
This house was still called the Lesden in 1954, when the September 4 issue of The Independent Film Journal listed it as one of seven houses in the region which had recently installed CinemaScope equipment and Stereophonic sound.