Interstate’s Yale Theatre opened on May 30, 1938. A drawing of it appeared at lower right on this page of the June 25 issue of Boxoffice. The Yale was designed by Raymond F. Smith of the Dallas firm Houston & Smith.
A photo of the auditorium of the Roxy Theatre at Kalispell appears at lower left on this page of Boxoffice, June 25, 1938. The caption does not reveal if the Roxy was a new theater or an old house that had lately been redecorated.
An architect’s rendering of the 1938 facade of the Palace Theatre, demolished after the 1946 explosion, can be seen at upper right on this page of the June 25, 1938, issue of Boxoffice the caption of the drawing says that the Palace was designed by the San Antonio architectural firm of Spillman & Spillman.
The caption says nothing about whether the Palace was entirely new construction or a remodeling, but if there was a theater on the site in the silent era it must have been one or the other.
The Boxoffice article Tinseltoes linked to says that the Paramount Theatre was designed by Jackson architect R. W. Naef.
An article called Movie Theaters in Twentieth-Century Jackson, Mississippi, by Jerry Dallas, says that the Paramount was initially planned to have 800 seats, but the capacity was cut to 668 by the time it opened. The Boxoffice article claims a seating capacity of 1,800, and says that the auditorium was 76x125 feet. A 1960 view at Historic Aerials confirms that this was a very large theater, and I suspect that Boxoffice was closer to the truth than Dallas was. Perhaps the house was intended to have 1,800 seats and opened with 1,668, and Dallas lost a digit from each number.
An AIA survey form filled out by R. W. Naef’s office lists the cost of the Paramount Theatre project as $200,000, and in Mississippi, in still-depressed 1938, that would certainly have bought far more than a 700-seat theater. Also, the Boxoffice photo shows a foyer and lounge much too spacious for a small house.
It might have been only a reopening under a new owner. The Rosebud’s address was the same in 1915 and 1942, so it was probably the same building in 1933. New construction was a rarity in African American neighborhoods during the early years of the depression.
Another example of the occasional sloppiness of old newspaper reports: The caption of the sketch Tinseltoes just uploaded mangles architect William Sterling Hebbard’s name into W. S. Shephard.
The October 2, 1915, issue of The Moving Picture World said that the former Orpheum Theatre in Topeka had reopened as the Electric Theatre after having been closed for two months for remodeling by its new owners, the Grubel Brothers. The new name didn’t stick for long, though, and the house was called the Orpheum again by late summer of 1916.
The item said that the Orpheum, with a seating capacity of 1,700 and a good location on West Eighth Street, “…has had an irregular career, sometimes vaudeville, sometimes pictures, for several years.” I’ve looked for earlier references to the Topeka Orpheum, but haven’t been able to find any. Still, it must have opened quite some time prior to 1915.
I came across a Duluth Herald item about the Othello Theatre, dated January 29, 1910. It referred to the house as a new theater. It’s the first paragraph of the Gilbert news section on this page. Then a July 22, 1915, Herald item says that the old Othello Theatre in Eveleth was to be boarded up by order of the health department (left column of this page.)
I now can’t find the item about the Strand that I thought was from 1912, so I might have gotten sloppy when I noted it down. It’s quite possible that the earliest actual reference to it is from early 1916, in which case it could well have been the Bijou renamed. The reference I thought was from 1912 was probably from 1917. The earliest reference to the Bijou I’ve found is in an issue of Variety from May, 1908. The latest is from The Moving Picture World of October 2, 1915, so I don’t think that the Bijou and the Othello were the same house.
rvarani, as you know where these theaters were, maybe you’d like to add them to Cinema Treasures. Just start with the “Submit Your Favorite” box on the site’s home page.
I’ve also come across a couple of references to a house called the Bijou Theatre in Eveleth, from 1908 and 1915. As the Strand and Empress were both operating before and after 1915, the Bijou must have been yet another theater.
I should have checked the photos. I see that the Empress appears in one of them. In Google Street View it looks like the building has a new front and is part of the Wells Fargo Bank.
rvarani, you posted your comment while I was still writing mine. I’m not surprised that the Regent ended up without its balcony. I was wondering how they could have stretched that $12,000 budget to build one. It probably had to be left out due to lack of funds.
I’ve been trying to find out which building across the street from the Regent was the location of the Empress Theatre. It was supposed to have been a wood framed building, and it looks like a few are still standing on that side of the street. The Empress was in operation by 1912, though Rabinowitz was not running it at that time.
Here is one of several items about Frank Rabinowitz’s theater project at Eveleth that appeared in various issues of The American Contractor in late 1918:
“M. P. Theater: $12,000. 1 sty. & balcony. 25x125. Eveleth, Minn. Archts. Holstead & Sullivan, Palladio bldg., Duluth. Engr. W. K. Robertson, 4321 Fremont av., S., Minneapolis, Minn. Owner Frank Rabinowitz, Empress & Strand Theater, Eveleth. Brk. Ready to fig. abt. Sept. 27.”
Abraham Holstead and William J. Sullivan ran Duluth’s leading architectural firm of the period, and have many impressive buildings to their credit.
The December 7, 1918, issue of The Moving Picture World had this item about the new theater soon to be built in Eveleth:
“EVELETH, MINN.— Virginia Builders Supply & Contracting Company, Virginia, Minn., has the contract to erect one-story and balcony moving picture theatre, 25 by 125 feet, for Frank Rabinowitz, Empress and Strand Theatre, Duluth, to cost $12,000.”
The Regent Theatre in Eveleth was opened around 1920 by Frank Rabinowitz, the father of Marc Rabwin, who would later become one of the best known physicians on California’s movie colony. The future Dr. Rabwin himself even operated the Regent and an older house across the street called the Empress for about a year. Around 1924, Rabinowitz sold his theaters in Eveleth and moved to California, where his sons had already relocated.
The Regent is mentioned a few times in Judy, Gerold Frank’s biography of Judy Garland, whose father, Frank Gumm, was an exhibitor in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, and a friend of Marc Rabwin’s (Google Books preview). Frank says that when Ethel Gumm, pregnant with an unwanted third child, sought medical student Rabwin’s advice about getting an abortion, Rabwin advised against it. I would hope that Liza Minnelli at least puts flowers on his grave now and then.
A book published in 1919, Westfield Quarter-Millennium, has this line: “A spacious new theater, ‘The Strand’ was recently erected on Church Street and ‘The New Nickel’ is located on Elm Street, near Bartlett.”
The Massachusetts district police report for the year ending October 31, 1917, lists only the New Nickel Theatre and a house called Columbia Hall in Westfield, so the Strand must have opened sometime between late 1917 and early 1919.
The Thursday, September 5, 1935, issue of the Arizona Independent-Republic said that George Mauk’s new Mauk theater at Coolidge would open Friday night. Mauk already operated an eponymous house at Florence, Arizona.
Mauk’s obituary in the January 22, 1946, issue of the Prescott Evening Courier said that he operated his chain of theaters until 1938, when he sold them to Louis Long and others.
Re kenmcintyre’s previous comment: was the name Lyric Theatre restored to this house in its last years, or was there a third Lyric in Springfield, or did Boxoffice just make a mistake?
In any case, this was the Lyric Theatre that was designed by Helmle & Helmle. It’s possible that one or another of the Helmles also designed the first Lyric, across the street (a storefront conversion), as members of the family were among Springfield’s busiest architects during the late 19th-early 20th centuries, but I haven’t found documentation.
It sounds like another case of FDY failing to keep its listings up to date.
The address field needs to be corrected. The first Lyric was at 223-225 S. Fifth. Odd and even numbers were on opposite sides of the street in Springfield, as in most American cities. The Vaudette/Lyric/Tivoli, at 216-218, would have been just a couple of doors from being directly across the street.
Interstate’s Yale Theatre opened on May 30, 1938. A drawing of it appeared at lower right on this page of the June 25 issue of Boxoffice. The Yale was designed by Raymond F. Smith of the Dallas firm Houston & Smith.
A photo of the auditorium of the Roxy Theatre at Kalispell appears at lower left on this page of Boxoffice, June 25, 1938. The caption does not reveal if the Roxy was a new theater or an old house that had lately been redecorated.
An architect’s rendering of the 1938 facade of the Palace Theatre, demolished after the 1946 explosion, can be seen at upper right on this page of the June 25, 1938, issue of Boxoffice the caption of the drawing says that the Palace was designed by the San Antonio architectural firm of Spillman & Spillman.
The caption says nothing about whether the Palace was entirely new construction or a remodeling, but if there was a theater on the site in the silent era it must have been one or the other.
The Boxoffice article Tinseltoes linked to says that the Paramount Theatre was designed by Jackson architect R. W. Naef.
An article called Movie Theaters in Twentieth-Century Jackson, Mississippi, by Jerry Dallas, says that the Paramount was initially planned to have 800 seats, but the capacity was cut to 668 by the time it opened. The Boxoffice article claims a seating capacity of 1,800, and says that the auditorium was 76x125 feet. A 1960 view at Historic Aerials confirms that this was a very large theater, and I suspect that Boxoffice was closer to the truth than Dallas was. Perhaps the house was intended to have 1,800 seats and opened with 1,668, and Dallas lost a digit from each number.
An AIA survey form filled out by R. W. Naef’s office lists the cost of the Paramount Theatre project as $200,000, and in Mississippi, in still-depressed 1938, that would certainly have bought far more than a 700-seat theater. Also, the Boxoffice photo shows a foyer and lounge much too spacious for a small house.
The Pawnee Drive-In was designed by Wichita architect Homer K. Brunk, as noted in his entry in the 1962 AIA directory.
John P. Filbert was a contractor. The architect of the Holiday Theatre, according to his entry in the 1962 AIA directory, was William N. Bonham.
The entry for Battle Creek architect Henry Chase Black in the 1962 AIA directory lists the West Point Auto Theatre as his design.
Here is a photo of the Soisson Theatre, ca.1946.
Another photo can be found in the third row of thumbnails on this page.
The Boxoffice article Tinseltoes linked to says that the Oak Village Theatre was designed by architects Richard B. Walton and Woodrow Bush.
It might have been only a reopening under a new owner. The Rosebud’s address was the same in 1915 and 1942, so it was probably the same building in 1933. New construction was a rarity in African American neighborhoods during the early years of the depression.
Another example of the occasional sloppiness of old newspaper reports: The caption of the sketch Tinseltoes just uploaded mangles architect William Sterling Hebbard’s name into W. S. Shephard.
The October 2, 1915, issue of The Moving Picture World said that the former Orpheum Theatre in Topeka had reopened as the Electric Theatre after having been closed for two months for remodeling by its new owners, the Grubel Brothers. The new name didn’t stick for long, though, and the house was called the Orpheum again by late summer of 1916.
The item said that the Orpheum, with a seating capacity of 1,700 and a good location on West Eighth Street, “…has had an irregular career, sometimes vaudeville, sometimes pictures, for several years.” I’ve looked for earlier references to the Topeka Orpheum, but haven’t been able to find any. Still, it must have opened quite some time prior to 1915.
I came across a Duluth Herald item about the Othello Theatre, dated January 29, 1910. It referred to the house as a new theater. It’s the first paragraph of the Gilbert news section on this page. Then a July 22, 1915, Herald item says that the old Othello Theatre in Eveleth was to be boarded up by order of the health department (left column of this page.)
I now can’t find the item about the Strand that I thought was from 1912, so I might have gotten sloppy when I noted it down. It’s quite possible that the earliest actual reference to it is from early 1916, in which case it could well have been the Bijou renamed. The reference I thought was from 1912 was probably from 1917. The earliest reference to the Bijou I’ve found is in an issue of Variety from May, 1908. The latest is from The Moving Picture World of October 2, 1915, so I don’t think that the Bijou and the Othello were the same house.
rvarani, as you know where these theaters were, maybe you’d like to add them to Cinema Treasures. Just start with the “Submit Your Favorite” box on the site’s home page.
I’ve also come across a couple of references to a house called the Bijou Theatre in Eveleth, from 1908 and 1915. As the Strand and Empress were both operating before and after 1915, the Bijou must have been yet another theater.
I should have checked the photos. I see that the Empress appears in one of them. In Google Street View it looks like the building has a new front and is part of the Wells Fargo Bank.
rvarani, you posted your comment while I was still writing mine. I’m not surprised that the Regent ended up without its balcony. I was wondering how they could have stretched that $12,000 budget to build one. It probably had to be left out due to lack of funds.
I’ve been trying to find out which building across the street from the Regent was the location of the Empress Theatre. It was supposed to have been a wood framed building, and it looks like a few are still standing on that side of the street. The Empress was in operation by 1912, though Rabinowitz was not running it at that time.
I have no clue where the Strand was located.
Here is one of several items about Frank Rabinowitz’s theater project at Eveleth that appeared in various issues of The American Contractor in late 1918:
Abraham Holstead and William J. Sullivan ran Duluth’s leading architectural firm of the period, and have many impressive buildings to their credit.The December 7, 1918, issue of The Moving Picture World had this item about the new theater soon to be built in Eveleth:
The Regent Theatre in Eveleth was opened around 1920 by Frank Rabinowitz, the father of Marc Rabwin, who would later become one of the best known physicians on California’s movie colony. The future Dr. Rabwin himself even operated the Regent and an older house across the street called the Empress for about a year. Around 1924, Rabinowitz sold his theaters in Eveleth and moved to California, where his sons had already relocated.
The Regent is mentioned a few times in Judy, Gerold Frank’s biography of Judy Garland, whose father, Frank Gumm, was an exhibitor in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, and a friend of Marc Rabwin’s (Google Books preview). Frank says that when Ethel Gumm, pregnant with an unwanted third child, sought medical student Rabwin’s advice about getting an abortion, Rabwin advised against it. I would hope that Liza Minnelli at least puts flowers on his grave now and then.
A book published in 1919, Westfield Quarter-Millennium, has this line: “A spacious new theater, ‘The Strand’ was recently erected on Church Street and ‘The New Nickel’ is located on Elm Street, near Bartlett.”
The Massachusetts district police report for the year ending October 31, 1917, lists only the New Nickel Theatre and a house called Columbia Hall in Westfield, so the Strand must have opened sometime between late 1917 and early 1919.
The Thursday, September 5, 1935, issue of the Arizona Independent-Republic said that George Mauk’s new Mauk theater at Coolidge would open Friday night. Mauk already operated an eponymous house at Florence, Arizona.
Mauk’s obituary in the January 22, 1946, issue of the Prescott Evening Courier said that he operated his chain of theaters until 1938, when he sold them to Louis Long and others.
Here is a photo of Mauks Theatre in Coolidge, Arizona, dated 1937.
Here is a photo of the San Carlos Theatre in Coolidge, Arizona, dated 1939.
Re kenmcintyre’s previous comment: was the name Lyric Theatre restored to this house in its last years, or was there a third Lyric in Springfield, or did Boxoffice just make a mistake?
In any case, this was the Lyric Theatre that was designed by Helmle & Helmle. It’s possible that one or another of the Helmles also designed the first Lyric, across the street (a storefront conversion), as members of the family were among Springfield’s busiest architects during the late 19th-early 20th centuries, but I haven’t found documentation.
It sounds like another case of FDY failing to keep its listings up to date.
The address field needs to be corrected. The first Lyric was at 223-225 S. Fifth. Odd and even numbers were on opposite sides of the street in Springfield, as in most American cities. The Vaudette/Lyric/Tivoli, at 216-218, would have been just a couple of doors from being directly across the street.