This web page from a walking tour of downtown Richmond says that the Tivoli Theatre was built in 1926.
A business chronology published in the April 26, 2009, issue of the Richmond Palladium-Item (PDF here) has an ad for the Thor Construction Company, established 1987, and it says that the company remodeled the Sidewalk Cinema that year to add a second screen.
This web page from the Indiana Economic Digest has an excerpt from a Palladium-Item article about the Tivoli’s Wurlitzer organ (there’s a link to the original newspaper article but it now fetches only an error page.)
The Wikipedia page for this theater (which has several photos) says that it was designed by Italian architect Odoardo Cavagnari. A number of other Internet sources call Cavagnari an engineer. Archinform says he was both. As head of the colonial government’s Civil Engineering Office from 1912 to 1918, he prepared master plans for the cities of Asmara and Keren.
A vintage postcard of Spruce Street which looks to be from the early 1940s occasionally shows up on auction web sites (this link will probably go away soon.) The Princess Theatre is at the right. Comparing the postcard with modern street view, I think the Princess must have been on the east side of Spruce just south of First Street (Nebraska Highway 61.) It would have been across the street from the current locations of Verizon Wireless and H&R Block, so its most likely address would have been 17 N. Spruce Street.
The last section of this web page from the Farmingdale-Bethpage Historical Society says that the Unqua began in a shed-like structure. The April 7, 1916, issue of The Long Islander had this item about the theater construction project then underway:
“A scaffold in use at the Unqua Theatre, being erected on Main street by Smith & Beierling, collapsed Tuesday, badly shaking up several of the men employed on the job. Fortunately no one was seriously injured, although several were badly scratched.”
It’s possible that the 1916 project was the rebuilding of the Unqua’s original shed-like building, but I’ve found no other items about the construction project, nor any earlier mentions of the theater, so I’m not certain.
CinemaTour actually lists the Opera House. It’s possible they have a source indicating that it did show movies at some point, but I haven’t found any. The caption of a photo of the Opera House about ¾ of the way down this web page says that it opened in 1909, was converted into a woodworking shop in 1915, and was destroyed by fire in 1923. It did present some vaudeville shows during its brief life as a theater, though, and vaudeville shows were often accompanied by a reel or two of movies.
This item about the Criterion Theatre appeared in the July 18, 1927, issue of The Film Daily:
“Remodel Tonkawa House
“Tonkawa, Okla.— Work of remodeling the Criterion has been begun by J. M. Scwab, local contractor. The house, which was damaged by fire two months ago, has been bought by the Griffith Amusement Co., of Oklahoma City.”
According to the report on drive-in construction in 1952 that appeared on Boxoffice of January 10, 1953, the Community Drive-In at Mascot, Tennessee, had been opened by the Cherokee Amusement Company. Car capacity and date of opening were not given.
The Carmike Movies 2 in La Follette closed in February, 2015. A January 23 report from ABC television affiliate WATE said that Carmike’s lease on the theater would be up on February 19, and that the building would then be converted into a new home for The Harbor, a community church.
The address of the law firm that now occupies the former Farmingdale Theatre is 360 N. Main Street. 354 was the address of the earlier Strand Theatre next door.
Here is an item about the opening of the Prairie Theatre from the January 17, 1936, issue of The Film Daily:
“New Nebraska House Opens
“Ogallala, Neb. — The newest theater property in the state, the Prairie here, opened this week and represents the biggest building project of its kind in two years in this area. Owned by A. F. Kehr & Son, it cost $85,000 and seats 552. Kehr will operate the house. He still operates the Princess.”
A thumbnail biography of A. F. Kehr published in 1940 said that he entered the movie theater business in Ogallala in 1912. In 1940 he was still operating two theaters there. Presumably the second house was still the Princess, which dated back to at least as early as 1920.
Here is the brief notice of the opening of the Farmingdale Theatre that appeared in The Nassau Daily Review-Star of Friday, January 30, 1942:
“Theatre Opens Tonight
“The official opening of the new Farmingdale theatre, tonight at 8 o'clock, will feature the attendance of village and town officials who have accepted invitations to be present at the first performance. The theatre, of which Sidney Jacobsen will be managing director, has a seating capacity of 800. It adjoins the Farmingdale Strand, motion picture theatre owned and operated for many years by Mr. Jacobsen. The new theatre is one of the Prudential chain. Only one feature film has been planned for the opening night, in addition to the dedication program.”
DVA Architects was taken over by the Dallas firm 5G Studio Collaborative in 2012. Photos of The Moviehouse and Eatery can now be seen on this page of 5G’s web site.
Cinergy Copperas Cove was one of the multiplexes designed for Cinergy Cinemas by the Atlanta firm DVA Architects which, in 2012, was taken over by the Dallas firm 5G Studio Collaborative.
The Plaza Cinema Cafe was designed by the Atlanta architectural firm DVA Architects, which has since been taken over by the Dallas firm 5G Studio Collaborative. It is one of several cinema projects for which photos are available in the “Entertainment” section of 5G’s web site at this link.
DVA Architects, the Atlanta firm that designed the Cinergy Cinema, was taken over by Dallas-based 5G Studio Collaborative in 2012. Though DVA’s Facebook page hasn’t been updated since then there are still a few photo albums associated with it, and this one has photos of the Cinergy Cinema in Corsicana.
This article from the suburban Daily Herald, dated August 25, 2014, says that the Des Plaines Theatre was closed due to violations of the building code. The owner of the theater would like to reopen but is seeking funds from the city to make repairs. Two other potential operators are also interested in reopening the house, including the operator of the Arvada Theatre in St. Charles, but at the time of the article no deals had been made. I haven’t found any more recent articles.
(My apologies for the broken HTML in the version of this comment I posted yesterday, which turned the comment box into a link. I usually check after I’ve posted a comment, but that one I missed.)
We do need a better picture. The Majestic was in the building to the left of the YMCA. The picture shows just a bit of the original marquee. The building was probably remodeled in later years.
Though miamiguy says the Kentucky Theatre was demolished, from his description of what happened it sounds like it was only dismantled and converted to retail use. The building at 224 W. Main Street looks like it dates from the 1910s or 1920s. Unless the auditorium was behind the building, where there is now a huge parking garage, the building it occupied still exists.
A house called the Kozy Theatre opened in Ludington on July 1, 1914, according to Motography, but it was located on James Street:
“July 1 the Kozy, a new motion picture theater opened in the Zeif building on James street, Ludington. Rudolph Zeber and R. R. Cunningham being the proprietors of the new show house.”
I don’t know when the Kozy moved to its Ludington Avenue location, but it was probably long before the 1942 rebuilding. In addition to the changes noted in the article LouisRugani cited above, the June 4 issue of the paper said that the rebuilt house had a greater pitch to the floor to improve sight lines, and the seating capacity had been increased. The rebuilding had taken eight weeks. The house reopened as the Center Theatre on Saturday, June 6, 1942.
There was a Strand Theatre operating in Norfolk at least as early as 1916, when it was mentioned in The Moving Picture World in both January and February.
The only mention of the Victoria Theatre I’ve found in any theater publications of the period is in the 1912-1913 Cahn guide, which gave no details but said the house was showing vaudeville and pictures.
The June 10, 1911, issue of Engineering Record listed bids that had been received for the construction of the Victoria Theatre in Norfolk. The architect was C. K. Howell of Richmond.
There was an earlier movie house called the New Dixie Theatre across the street from this one. It was listed at 220 Hay Street in the 1909-1910 city directory, operated by S. A. Lambert, who must have been the Steve Lambert who operated the Dixie Theatre at 225 Hay Street until 1919.
According to DocSouth’s “Going to the Show” the theater at 225 Hay Street became the 300-seat Rose Theatre in 1919 and kept that name until 1926.
DocSouth also has a page for the Princess Theatre. Though no address is given for it, it appears in 1927, when it had 333 seats, and operated until at least 1930, when it seated 350. I think there’s a very good chance that Princess is another aka for the Dixie/Rose/Cameo.
This web page from a walking tour of downtown Richmond says that the Tivoli Theatre was built in 1926.
A business chronology published in the April 26, 2009, issue of the Richmond Palladium-Item (PDF here) has an ad for the Thor Construction Company, established 1987, and it says that the company remodeled the Sidewalk Cinema that year to add a second screen.
This web page from the Indiana Economic Digest has an excerpt from a Palladium-Item article about the Tivoli’s Wurlitzer organ (there’s a link to the original newspaper article but it now fetches only an error page.)
The Wikipedia page for this theater (which has several photos) says that it was designed by Italian architect Odoardo Cavagnari. A number of other Internet sources call Cavagnari an engineer. Archinform says he was both. As head of the colonial government’s Civil Engineering Office from 1912 to 1918, he prepared master plans for the cities of Asmara and Keren.
A vintage postcard of Spruce Street which looks to be from the early 1940s occasionally shows up on auction web sites (this link will probably go away soon.) The Princess Theatre is at the right. Comparing the postcard with modern street view, I think the Princess must have been on the east side of Spruce just south of First Street (Nebraska Highway 61.) It would have been across the street from the current locations of Verizon Wireless and H&R Block, so its most likely address would have been 17 N. Spruce Street.
The last section of this web page from the Farmingdale-Bethpage Historical Society says that the Unqua began in a shed-like structure. The April 7, 1916, issue of The Long Islander had this item about the theater construction project then underway:
It’s possible that the 1916 project was the rebuilding of the Unqua’s original shed-like building, but I’ve found no other items about the construction project, nor any earlier mentions of the theater, so I’m not certain.CinemaTour actually lists the Opera House. It’s possible they have a source indicating that it did show movies at some point, but I haven’t found any. The caption of a photo of the Opera House about ¾ of the way down this web page says that it opened in 1909, was converted into a woodworking shop in 1915, and was destroyed by fire in 1923. It did present some vaudeville shows during its brief life as a theater, though, and vaudeville shows were often accompanied by a reel or two of movies.
Here is a 1952 photo of Crossville’s Main Street with the Palace Theatre at left.
This item about the Criterion Theatre appeared in the July 18, 1927, issue of The Film Daily:
According to the report on drive-in construction in 1952 that appeared on Boxoffice of January 10, 1953, the Community Drive-In at Mascot, Tennessee, had been opened by the Cherokee Amusement Company. Car capacity and date of opening were not given.
Here is a a 1952 photo of Rogersville’s Main Street with the Roxy Theatre in the foreground.
The Carmike Movies 2 in La Follette closed in February, 2015. A January 23 report from ABC television affiliate WATE said that Carmike’s lease on the theater would be up on February 19, and that the building would then be converted into a new home for The Harbor, a community church.
The address of the law firm that now occupies the former Farmingdale Theatre is 360 N. Main Street. 354 was the address of the earlier Strand Theatre next door.
Here is an item about the opening of the Prairie Theatre from the January 17, 1936, issue of The Film Daily:
A thumbnail biography of A. F. Kehr published in 1940 said that he entered the movie theater business in Ogallala in 1912. In 1940 he was still operating two theaters there. Presumably the second house was still the Princess, which dated back to at least as early as 1920.Here is the brief notice of the opening of the Farmingdale Theatre that appeared in The Nassau Daily Review-Star of Friday, January 30, 1942:
Photos of the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Lubbock can be seen on this page at the web site of the architects, 5G Studio Collaborative.
DVA Architects was taken over by the Dallas firm 5G Studio Collaborative in 2012. Photos of The Moviehouse and Eatery can now be seen on this page of 5G’s web site.
Dallas architectural firm 5G Studio Collaborative acquired Atlanta’s DVA Architects in 2012.
Cinergy Copperas Cove was one of the multiplexes designed for Cinergy Cinemas by the Atlanta firm DVA Architects which, in 2012, was taken over by the Dallas firm 5G Studio Collaborative.
The Plaza Cinema Cafe was designed by the Atlanta architectural firm DVA Architects, which has since been taken over by the Dallas firm 5G Studio Collaborative. It is one of several cinema projects for which photos are available in the “Entertainment” section of 5G’s web site at this link.
DVA Architects, the Atlanta firm that designed the Cinergy Cinema, was taken over by Dallas-based 5G Studio Collaborative in 2012. Though DVA’s Facebook page hasn’t been updated since then there are still a few photo albums associated with it, and this one has photos of the Cinergy Cinema in Corsicana.
This article from the suburban Daily Herald, dated August 25, 2014, says that the Des Plaines Theatre was closed due to violations of the building code. The owner of the theater would like to reopen but is seeking funds from the city to make repairs. Two other potential operators are also interested in reopening the house, including the operator of the Arvada Theatre in St. Charles, but at the time of the article no deals had been made. I haven’t found any more recent articles.
(My apologies for the broken HTML in the version of this comment I posted yesterday, which turned the comment box into a link. I usually check after I’ve posted a comment, but that one I missed.)
We do need a better picture. The Majestic was in the building to the left of the YMCA. The picture shows just a bit of the original marquee. The building was probably remodeled in later years.
Though miamiguy says the Kentucky Theatre was demolished, from his description of what happened it sounds like it was only dismantled and converted to retail use. The building at 224 W. Main Street looks like it dates from the 1910s or 1920s. Unless the auditorium was behind the building, where there is now a huge parking garage, the building it occupied still exists.
A house called the Kozy Theatre opened in Ludington on July 1, 1914, according to Motography, but it was located on James Street:
I don’t know when the Kozy moved to its Ludington Avenue location, but it was probably long before the 1942 rebuilding. In addition to the changes noted in the article LouisRugani cited above, the June 4 issue of the paper said that the rebuilt house had a greater pitch to the floor to improve sight lines, and the seating capacity had been increased. The rebuilding had taken eight weeks. The house reopened as the Center Theatre on Saturday, June 6, 1942.The Alhambra Theatre can be marked as demolished. A liquor store and its parking lot now occupy the site of this theater.
There was a Strand Theatre operating in Norfolk at least as early as 1916, when it was mentioned in The Moving Picture World in both January and February.
The only mention of the Victoria Theatre I’ve found in any theater publications of the period is in the 1912-1913 Cahn guide, which gave no details but said the house was showing vaudeville and pictures.
The June 10, 1911, issue of Engineering Record listed bids that had been received for the construction of the Victoria Theatre in Norfolk. The architect was C. K. Howell of Richmond.
There was an earlier movie house called the New Dixie Theatre across the street from this one. It was listed at 220 Hay Street in the 1909-1910 city directory, operated by S. A. Lambert, who must have been the Steve Lambert who operated the Dixie Theatre at 225 Hay Street until 1919.
According to DocSouth’s “Going to the Show” the theater at 225 Hay Street became the 300-seat Rose Theatre in 1919 and kept that name until 1926.
DocSouth also has a page for the Princess Theatre. Though no address is given for it, it appears in 1927, when it had 333 seats, and operated until at least 1930, when it seated 350. I think there’s a very good chance that Princess is another aka for the Dixie/Rose/Cameo.