The Metro Theatre was still in operation in the 1980s when it was renovated by AGT Enterprises, according to this article in Boxoffice of February, 1994. AGT also opened the two-screen Showboat Cinemas at Prairie du Chien in March, 1984, and the Star Cinemas a decade later.
Bway: No, the photos David uploaded do depict this Pussycat Theatre (the New-View/Ritz.) The old Monica/Pussycat on Santa Monica Boulevard had a much plainer front.
A 2004 press release about the Pallazeo 16 Tehatre can still be seen on this page of Dickinson Theatres' web site. The multiplex was designed by the architectural firm Gould Evans Associates.
AMC’s Mansell Crossing 14 was featured on the cover of the September, 1994, issue of Boxoffice. In addition, an article about the house starts on this page of the same issue. The multiplex was designed by the architectural firm Gould Evans Associates.
Although sometimes advertised as being in Mansfield, this multiplex was actually within the city limits of Ontario, Ohio, as is its successor, the Cinemark 14 Mansfield Town Center. What we apparently have here is a brazen case of municipal identity theft- or multiple cases, as Ontario isn’t Springfield, either. For that matter, “Ontario” isn’t even Canadian. I wonder what “Ontario’s” real name is?
Here is another article about the Alhambra, from the October 7, 1992, issue of the Kentucky New Era. It features a photo of the auditorium, though the scan is a bit muddy.
This item is from the August 2, 1913, issue of The Moving Picture World:
“The Lincoln moving picture theater, 700 Jay street, Rochester, has been improved by the addition of a large balcony. Harry Wick, manager of this house, is well known among moving picture men in that city. Hundreds of children are included among the patrons of his theater. Mr. Wick is noted for continually introducing novelties at his house. Not long ago when he presented ‘Alkali Ike’s Home Coming,’ he wanted to add realism to the part of the scene showing the hero welcomed by the village musicians. Mr. Wick hired a band for the occasion at a considerable expense. When the picture of the band serenading "Alkali Ike” appeared, the real band, concealed behind the curtain, struck up a lively air, and Mr. Wick found his spectators aroused to great enthusiasm.“
700-702 Jay Street is at the northwest corner of Jay and Child Streets, which is now a parking lot, so the Lincoln Theatre has been demolished.
Pages 85 through 89 of Donovan Shilling’s book Rochester’s Movie Mania features a number of advertisements and early programs from the Lincoln Theatre (Google Books preview.) One program advertises movies from the Kinemacolor company, which thrived around 1913 (the year they released their three-real version of War and Peace, which appeared at the Lincoln on November 22-23.)
The Saturday-Sunday, March 14-15, 2008 edition of the Kentucky New Era featured an article about Hopkinsville’s Alhambra Theatre, which had recently re-opened following nine months of renovations. The article can be seen online at Google News.
The December 27, 1913, issue of The Moving Picture World had this item:
“Alexander Brothers & Company, of Cadiz. Ky., have completed their new picture house, which has been named the Gem, and opened it to the public. The house is one of the prettiest in that section.”
The January 13, 1939, issue of the Daily Kentucky New Era said that Andy Anderson had bought the American Legion Theatre in Cadiz and would change the name of the house to Kentucky Theatre. Anderson also operated theaters at Eddyville and Hartford, and had previously operated the Kentucky Theatre at Hopkinsville.
The Capitol Theatre was never Art Deco in style. This weblog post has a few photos over the years. It changed little from its opening in 1913 until its demolition in 1964.
The Capitol Theatre was in operation by 1927, when this photo was taken.
Old Photos show that the Capitol was across the street from the Dexter Hotel, which is still standing at 67-69 E.Main Street, so the address of the Capitol was most likely 66 or 68 E. Main Street.
A list of buildings designed by architect Herbert George Duerr includes an unnamed theater at Val d'Or, Quebec, built in 1937. This photo of the Cinéma Capitol is dated 1937, and the building looks new. The Cinéma Capitol was most likely Duerr’s 1937 project.
Near the bottom of this web page is a photo of Antoine’s Home Furnishings as it looks now. The arch is still there, but the decorative detail has been painted over.
Harry Switow, son of Michael Switow who built the New Grand Theatre in 1913, gave an interview to the Jefferson Reporter in 1975. The article, appearing in the March 12 edition, said that the Grand Theatre in New Albany was the last house Switow owned. At its peak, M. Switow & Sons operated 17 theaters in Kentucky and southern Indiana.
The Rex Theatre was built in 1911 as the Novelty Theatre, as reported in the July 29 issue of The Moving Picture World:
“Work of construction was commenced last week at 410 South Fourth Avenue, Louisville, where The Novelty, a $30,000 theater, to be managed by the 3-Falls-Cities Amusement Company, will stand. The old building, which occupied this prominent downtown site, has been razed and by September 15, one of the handsomest moving picture houses in the South will have been reared. M. Switow, president of the 3-Falls-Cities concern, says that no expense will be spared to make the Novelty one of the most up-to-date establishments below the Mason & Dixon line.”
The Novelty suffered construction delays, and didn’t open until early 1912. Here is part of the article about the opening in The Moving Picture World:
“The newest, one of the largest and one of the most magnificent moving picture theaters in the entire South, was opened recently in Louisville, Ky., in the heart of the retail shopping district. The new showhouse is called The Novelty. The house is extremely novel from an architectural standpoint. The dimensions of the structure permit of its being a real theater. Its capacious lobby and commodious auditorium are richly furnished. The auditorium is a marvel of novelty. Comfortable seats, spaced well apart, broad aisles, and an interior that is as bright as day even while the pictures are being shown, combine to make the Novelty interior emblematic of the name of the house in the highest degree.”
After several changes of operators, the Novelty Theatre was remodeled and reopened as the Rex Theatre in 1916, as reported in the March 18 issue of The Moving Picture World:
“NEW REX OPENS
“The remodeled Novelty theater, of Louisville, under a new title, ‘The Rex,’ was re-opened to the public on Sunday, February 26 as an exclusive ‘Mutual Masterpicture De Luxe’ feature house.
“The theater has been thoroughly renovated, painted and decorated, and the seats have been covered with white canvas jackets. The house, now makes a very attractive appearance, and night admission prices have been advanced to fifteen cents. Manager Koch reports that the advanced price is being tried out, and it is probable that the old price of ten cents will be put back, as there are too many theaters in the district showing at ten cents.”
The building says “19-SWITOW-14” on the parapet. I suppose it’s possible that Mr. Switow was just commemorating his remodeling of an existing building, and locals have assumed that the date refers to its original construction. But then the facade of the Switow Building is plainer than those of the clearly Victorian buildings flanking it, and 1913 is the last year I’ve found the Crystal Theatre mentioned in the trade publications, so the building certainly could date from 1914.
In 1911, Michael Switow was operating three theaters at New Albany; the Grand, the Crystal, and a house called the Victoria. He also had two theaters in Jeffersonville and one in Louisville, with a second Louisville house under construction that summer.
In the early 1910s, New Albany also had theaters called the Lyric and the Hippodrome, the latter being the old opera house renamed. There might have been others, but I haven’t found any yet.
If Michael Switow actually demolished the Crystal Theatre building in 1914, he must have regretted the expense he’d gone to of fixing up the theater in late 1913, as he was reported to have been doing by the November 29 issue of The Moving Picture World:
“Switow’s Crystal Theatre, in New Albany, was closed down all last week for repairs, remodeling, and re-decoration. The house will be practically new when the work is completed, which is expected to be within a short time.”
The Switow Amusement Company itself had opened the 1,000-seat New Grand Theatre earlier that month, the Kerrigan Theatre had opened the same year, and there were other movie theaters operating in New Albany and in nearby Jeffersonville. In renovating and reopening the Crystal, Mr. Switow might have overestimated the demand for entertainment in New Albany.
I’m not sure if this item refers to this theater or some other early house in Atascadero, but this is what the July 31, 1915, issue of The Moving Picture World had to say:
“The theater recently opened at Atascadero, Calif, by Emil Clark has been taken over by the Atascadero Colony and Mr. Clark has been retained as the operator.”
There was a movie theater operating in Atascadero in November, 1918, as it was listed as one of the houses ordered to close by State officials due to the influenza epidemic, but the list didn’t give its name.
The June 22 article that OCRon uploaded confirms A. H. McCulloh as the architect of the Lyric Theatre. The June 25 article says that the theater was decorated in the Egyptian style, but also says that the Lyric was a “copy” of Grauman’s Million Dollar, and that house was not Egyptian at all.
The unusual spelling of the architect’s surname, McCulloh, appears to be correct, as it is spelled that way in several trade journal items from 1921 and 1922. I can find only one instance of a Los Angeles architect called A. H. McCollough, that being from 1913, and that might not even be the same guy.
Plans for what would become the Rivoli Theatre were announced in the March 18, 1921, issue of Southwest Builder & Contractor. Greenberg & Siebert were the developers of the project, which was designed by the Architectural & Engineering Co., which had its offices in the Story Building in Los Angeles. I’ve been unable to discover anything about this generically-named firm.
The Metro Theatre was still in operation in the 1980s when it was renovated by AGT Enterprises, according to this article in Boxoffice of February, 1994. AGT also opened the two-screen Showboat Cinemas at Prairie du Chien in March, 1984, and the Star Cinemas a decade later.
Bway: No, the photos David uploaded do depict this Pussycat Theatre (the New-View/Ritz.) The old Monica/Pussycat on Santa Monica Boulevard had a much plainer front.
A 2004 press release about the Pallazeo 16 Tehatre can still be seen on this page of Dickinson Theatres' web site. The multiplex was designed by the architectural firm Gould Evans Associates.
AMC’s Mansell Crossing 14 was featured on the cover of the September, 1994, issue of Boxoffice. In addition, an article about the house starts on this page of the same issue. The multiplex was designed by the architectural firm Gould Evans Associates.
An early street scene in Hamilton, with Smith’s Theatre on the left.
The web site Lost Memory linked to says that the Cinemark Mansfield 12 was designed by Beck Architecture (the Beck Group.)
Although sometimes advertised as being in Mansfield, this multiplex was actually within the city limits of Ontario, Ohio, as is its successor, the Cinemark 14 Mansfield Town Center. What we apparently have here is a brazen case of municipal identity theft- or multiple cases, as Ontario isn’t Springfield, either. For that matter, “Ontario” isn’t even Canadian. I wonder what “Ontario’s” real name is?
Here is another article about the Alhambra, from the October 7, 1992, issue of the Kentucky New Era. It features a photo of the auditorium, though the scan is a bit muddy.
This item is from the August 2, 1913, issue of The Moving Picture World:
700-702 Jay Street is at the northwest corner of Jay and Child Streets, which is now a parking lot, so the Lincoln Theatre has been demolished.Pages 85 through 89 of Donovan Shilling’s book Rochester’s Movie Mania features a number of advertisements and early programs from the Lincoln Theatre (Google Books preview.) One program advertises movies from the Kinemacolor company, which thrived around 1913 (the year they released their three-real version of War and Peace, which appeared at the Lincoln on November 22-23.)
The Saturday-Sunday, March 14-15, 2008 edition of the Kentucky New Era featured an article about Hopkinsville’s Alhambra Theatre, which had recently re-opened following nine months of renovations. The article can be seen online at Google News.
The December 27, 1913, issue of The Moving Picture World had this item:
The January 13, 1939, issue of the Daily Kentucky New Era said that Andy Anderson had bought the American Legion Theatre in Cadiz and would change the name of the house to Kentucky Theatre. Anderson also operated theaters at Eddyville and Hartford, and had previously operated the Kentucky Theatre at Hopkinsville.The Capitol Theatre was never Art Deco in style. This weblog post has a few photos over the years. It changed little from its opening in 1913 until its demolition in 1964.
The Capitol Theatre was in operation by 1927, when this photo was taken.
Old Photos show that the Capitol was across the street from the Dexter Hotel, which is still standing at 67-69 E.Main Street, so the address of the Capitol was most likely 66 or 68 E. Main Street.
A list of buildings designed by architect Herbert George Duerr includes an unnamed theater at Val d'Or, Quebec, built in 1937. This photo of the Cinéma Capitol is dated 1937, and the building looks new. The Cinéma Capitol was most likely Duerr’s 1937 project.
Near the bottom of this web page is a photo of Antoine’s Home Furnishings as it looks now. The arch is still there, but the decorative detail has been painted over.
Harry Switow, son of Michael Switow who built the New Grand Theatre in 1913, gave an interview to the Jefferson Reporter in 1975. The article, appearing in the March 12 edition, said that the Grand Theatre in New Albany was the last house Switow owned. At its peak, M. Switow & Sons operated 17 theaters in Kentucky and southern Indiana.
The Rex Theatre was built in 1911 as the Novelty Theatre, as reported in the July 29 issue of The Moving Picture World:
The Novelty suffered construction delays, and didn’t open until early 1912. Here is part of the article about the opening in The Moving Picture World: After several changes of operators, the Novelty Theatre was remodeled and reopened as the Rex Theatre in 1916, as reported in the March 18 issue of The Moving Picture World:The building says “19-SWITOW-14” on the parapet. I suppose it’s possible that Mr. Switow was just commemorating his remodeling of an existing building, and locals have assumed that the date refers to its original construction. But then the facade of the Switow Building is plainer than those of the clearly Victorian buildings flanking it, and 1913 is the last year I’ve found the Crystal Theatre mentioned in the trade publications, so the building certainly could date from 1914.
In 1911, Michael Switow was operating three theaters at New Albany; the Grand, the Crystal, and a house called the Victoria. He also had two theaters in Jeffersonville and one in Louisville, with a second Louisville house under construction that summer.
In the early 1910s, New Albany also had theaters called the Lyric and the Hippodrome, the latter being the old opera house renamed. There might have been others, but I haven’t found any yet.
If Michael Switow actually demolished the Crystal Theatre building in 1914, he must have regretted the expense he’d gone to of fixing up the theater in late 1913, as he was reported to have been doing by the November 29 issue of The Moving Picture World:
The Switow Amusement Company itself had opened the 1,000-seat New Grand Theatre earlier that month, the Kerrigan Theatre had opened the same year, and there were other movie theaters operating in New Albany and in nearby Jeffersonville. In renovating and reopening the Crystal, Mr. Switow might have overestimated the demand for entertainment in New Albany.I’m not sure if this item refers to this theater or some other early house in Atascadero, but this is what the July 31, 1915, issue of The Moving Picture World had to say:
There was a movie theater operating in Atascadero in November, 1918, as it was listed as one of the houses ordered to close by State officials due to the influenza epidemic, but the list didn’t give its name.The June 22 article that OCRon uploaded confirms A. H. McCulloh as the architect of the Lyric Theatre. The June 25 article says that the theater was decorated in the Egyptian style, but also says that the Lyric was a “copy” of Grauman’s Million Dollar, and that house was not Egyptian at all.
The unusual spelling of the architect’s surname, McCulloh, appears to be correct, as it is spelled that way in several trade journal items from 1921 and 1922. I can find only one instance of a Los Angeles architect called A. H. McCollough, that being from 1913, and that might not even be the same guy.
Plans for what would become the Rivoli Theatre were announced in the March 18, 1921, issue of Southwest Builder & Contractor. Greenberg & Siebert were the developers of the project, which was designed by the Architectural & Engineering Co., which had its offices in the Story Building in Los Angeles. I’ve been unable to discover anything about this generically-named firm.
Clickable version of David’s link. The page says that the Scarboro Theatre opened in 1936 and was designed by Herbert George Duerr.
There are a few small photos of the Santikos Northwest Six Theatres illustrating this single-page article in Boxoffice of August 2, 1976.