A July 7, 2013 article in the Winston-Salem Journal said that the New Liberty Theatre opened on September 11, 1911. Here is a quote from their opening day advertisement: “We are going to book only the best talent to be had in Vaudeville, and promise the mothers and other good people of the city that they may come to this theater without hesitancy; there will be nothing permitted to cause you to regret you came.”
In the 1923 city directory, 411 N. Liberty is listed as the address of the Ideal Theatre. A July 7, 2013 article in the Winston-Salem Journal said that the Ideal had opened in 1912 as the Elmont Theatre. The article doesn’t give the years of the name changes, but the house was still listed as the Elmont in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory.
The Home Theatre was one of three houses listed at Portage in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory, the other two being the Crystal Theatre on DeWitt Street and the Empire Theatre, no location given. By 1916 Portage had houses called the Gem and the Majestic, though the latter was slated to close that year.
I don’t see this house (or any other theater in Lake Orion) listed in the 1926 or 1929 Film Daily Year Books. It isn’t in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory either. It might have had a fairly short life. A July 9, 1938 Boxofficeitem noted the recent opening of the 350-seat Lake Theatre in a remodeled store building, and added “[t]his will be the first theatre Orion has had in several years.”
Whitney Point’s fire station is on the same site it occupied when it housed the Point Theatre upstairs, but it does not appear to be the historic building. The modern, 2-storey structure looks like it was probably built in the 1960s. The modern address is 2665 Main Street, though the historic address on a 1907 Sanborn map, which provided the evidence of the location, was 533 Main. The original building housed the fire station and a retail store on the ground floor, with the City Hall and Opera House occupying the upper floors.
The November 2, 1921 issue of Motion Picture News mentions this house under two of its earlier names: “H. M. Schwartzwalder has redecorated and renovated the old Cayuga theatre in Auburn, N. Y. and has reopened it under the name of the Universal.”
Comparing the vintage photo of the Owego Theatre with modern Google street view, it is clear that it was between the building now occupied by Honey Hollow Treasures, at 101 W. State Street, and the building now occupied by the Hole In the Wall Café, at 105 W. State. Street view doesn’t reveal the name of the business now at 103 W. State, and it’s impossible to say if it is the same building in the vintage photo or newer construction (though I suspect it is newer), but 103 W. was undoubtedly the address of the Owego.
The BP gas station and mini-mart on the site of the Lona Theatre in the photo lately uploaded by Sarah B is at 129 W. State, though that might not have been the exact address of the theater itself. We don’t yet have a page for the Lona. The Lona Theatre page at Water Winter Wonderland now has a comment saying that in 1976 the Lona was still in operation, but going by the name Family Theatre. The Lona was in operation by 1957, and may have been a replacement for the Owego Theatre. It’s difficult to imagine tiny Mancelona supporting two theaters at once at that late date.
The Crescent Theatre was rebuilt in 1916. The August 5 issue of Moving Picture World carried a notice that the old house had been razed and construction begun on the new building for operator P. H. Hoppen. The Crescent was still listed in the 1929 FDY with 500 seats.
The June 14, 1948 issue of The Exhibitor said that “H. J. Pueschner opened the new Randolph, Randolph, Wis.” A May 12 item had said that the new theater lately opened at Randolph had 350 seats.
The Doctoral thesis of Alexandra Heather Gibb, Beyond the Decline: Revaluing Montreal’s Movie Palaces, indicates that the Théâtre Lune Rousse was designed by Montreal architect Joseph-Raoul Gariépy.
The historical marker at the Strand Theatre says that it occupies the site of the Foree Hotel, which burned in 1925. Manning & Wink bought the site that year, so the Strand Theater the chain had been operating in 1916 must have been at a different location. The new Strand probably opened in 1926, as it makes its first appearance in the FDY in the 1927 edition.
This item about the Orpheum appeared in the January 4, 1919 issue of Moving Picture World:
“Orpheum Holds a Potato Matinee.
“A potato matinee, the admission for which was one potato, was given by the management of the Orpheum Theatre at Elkhart, Ind., on Saturday, December 21. All of the tubers—and there were several bushels collected—were turned over to Miss Bessie Owens, city welfare worker, for distribution among the poor of the city at Christmas time. ‘The Midnight Patrol,’ a Select film, was the attraction.”
Although the Orpheum is not listed in the 1926 FDY, it does appear in the 1929 edition and is still listed in the 1951 edition. CinemaTour gives the Orpheum the aka Cinema I. Another web page says that, in the 1980s, all the theaters in Elkhart, including Cinema I, were owned by a Bill Miller, who was murdered by a disgruntled employee at the Concord Theatre in 1987, after which the theaters were all sold to the GKC (Kerasotes) chain, which closed all but the Encore within a few years.
CinemaTour also gives an opening year of 1913 for the Orpheum, though it isn’t one of the three theaters listed at Elkhart in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. The Directory’s listings were often incomplete.
Through most of its history this house was styled the LaMax Theatre, though sometimes the name appears in print as the La Max or Lamax. I’ve only seen it styled New LaMax in a few trade journal items in the early 1940s. I suspect that the name of the theater was derived from the surnames of the original owners, Robert Lacy and the McCoy brothers (who were probably both known as Mac), so La for Lacy and Max for the two Macs.
A history of Clinton County published in 1915 notes two movie theaters at Wilmington: The La Max, owned by Lacy and McCoy, and the Cub, owned by Frank Murphy. These were also the two houses listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. The Cub was located on West Main Street. Numerous mentions of the Murphy Theatre in trade publications of the 1920s refer to Frank Murphy as the manager of the house. As the 1988 article about the closing refers to “…the 70-year-old building….” it seems likely that the Murphy was the replacement for Mr. Murphy’s Cub Theatre, perhaps built on the same site. The earliest announcement I’ve found of Murphy’s intention to build a new theater appeared in Moving Picture World of May 6, 1916.
An article about early exhibitor John Karzin in the June 13, 1925 issue of Moving Picture World says that he opened the Casino at Springfield in 1908. He later formed a partnership with Springfield candy store owner Gus Kerasotes and opened the Royal Theatre. In 1912, he sold his interest in both houses to Kerasotes and returned to St. Louis, where he had operated theaters before launching his Springfield ventures, and began operating theaters there again.
An article about John Karzin in the June 13, 1925 issue of Moving Picture World confirms that Karzin sold the World’s Dream around 1910/1911 to concentrate on a theater he had opened in Springfield, Illinois. There, he opened a second house in partnership with Gus Kerasotes, to whom he sold his interest in both houses in 1912. He then returned to St. Louis, where he operated a number of theaters over the years, but he appears never to have had any further connection to the World’s Dream.
This web page from the Schoolcraft County Historical Society has a brief history of the Gero Theatre and three vintage photos, two of the interior and one of the exterior. Another page from the same web site has a second exterior view of the Gero, with a 1940 film featured on the marquee.
The NRHP registration form for the Downtown Mount Holly Historic District says that the Gaston Theatre was built between 1922 and 1929, per Sanborn Maps. It was most likely the planned house noted in the January 19, 1928 issue of Film Daily, which said that Beam and Plummer, operators of the Palace Theatre at Bessemer City and the Princess and Lyric at Shelby, North Carolina, had signed contracts for the construction of their new, 500-seat Mount Holly house.
The NRHP form notes that Mount Holly’s other early movie house, the Holly Theatre, was located on East Charlotte Avenue. The 250-seat Holly was listed in the 1926 FDY.
The January 17, 1928 issue of Film Daily published this item: “Wilson, N. C.— A colored theatre is announced for Wilson, N. C, open Feb. 15. It will be known the Lincoln. This is the second colored house in Wilson, the first being operated by Sam Vicks.”
This building is still standing. It was extensively remodeled and the upper floors converted into practice space for the Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx basketball teams, as well as a sports medicine facility for the Mayo Clinic. It was reopened in 2015 as Mayo Clinic Square. The redesign, including an entirely new façade, was so radical that it might easily be mistaken for entirely new construction, but it is the original building’s bones underneath.
A July 7, 2013 article in the Winston-Salem Journal said that the New Liberty Theatre opened on September 11, 1911. Here is a quote from their opening day advertisement: “We are going to book only the best talent to be had in Vaudeville, and promise the mothers and other good people of the city that they may come to this theater without hesitancy; there will be nothing permitted to cause you to regret you came.”
In the 1923 city directory, 411 N. Liberty is listed as the address of the Ideal Theatre. A July 7, 2013 article in the Winston-Salem Journal said that the Ideal had opened in 1912 as the Elmont Theatre. The article doesn’t give the years of the name changes, but the house was still listed as the Elmont in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory.
The March 12, 1926 issue of the Newberry Observer noted that the Imperial Theatre was owned by the Piedmont Amusement Company.
The Home Theatre was one of three houses listed at Portage in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory, the other two being the Crystal Theatre on DeWitt Street and the Empire Theatre, no location given. By 1916 Portage had houses called the Gem and the Majestic, though the latter was slated to close that year.
I don’t see this house (or any other theater in Lake Orion) listed in the 1926 or 1929 Film Daily Year Books. It isn’t in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory either. It might have had a fairly short life. A July 9, 1938 Boxofficeitem noted the recent opening of the 350-seat Lake Theatre in a remodeled store building, and added “[t]his will be the first theatre Orion has had in several years.”
Whitney Point’s fire station is on the same site it occupied when it housed the Point Theatre upstairs, but it does not appear to be the historic building. The modern, 2-storey structure looks like it was probably built in the 1960s. The modern address is 2665 Main Street, though the historic address on a 1907 Sanborn map, which provided the evidence of the location, was 533 Main. The original building housed the fire station and a retail store on the ground floor, with the City Hall and Opera House occupying the upper floors.
The November 2, 1921 issue of Motion Picture News mentions this house under two of its earlier names: “H. M. Schwartzwalder has redecorated and renovated the old Cayuga theatre in Auburn, N. Y. and has reopened it under the name of the Universal.”
Leon H. Lempert, Sr. was the architect of the Burtis Opera House.
Comparing the vintage photo of the Owego Theatre with modern Google street view, it is clear that it was between the building now occupied by Honey Hollow Treasures, at 101 W. State Street, and the building now occupied by the Hole In the Wall Café, at 105 W. State. Street view doesn’t reveal the name of the business now at 103 W. State, and it’s impossible to say if it is the same building in the vintage photo or newer construction (though I suspect it is newer), but 103 W. was undoubtedly the address of the Owego.
The BP gas station and mini-mart on the site of the Lona Theatre in the photo lately uploaded by Sarah B is at 129 W. State, though that might not have been the exact address of the theater itself. We don’t yet have a page for the Lona. The Lona Theatre page at Water Winter Wonderland now has a comment saying that in 1976 the Lona was still in operation, but going by the name Family Theatre. The Lona was in operation by 1957, and may have been a replacement for the Owego Theatre. It’s difficult to imagine tiny Mancelona supporting two theaters at once at that late date.
The Crescent Theatre was rebuilt in 1916. The August 5 issue of Moving Picture World carried a notice that the old house had been razed and construction begun on the new building for operator P. H. Hoppen. The Crescent was still listed in the 1929 FDY with 500 seats.
The only mention of Williamston I’ve been able to find in the trade journals is this item from the January 3, 1942 issue of Showmen’s Trade Review:
A City Data Forum comment says that the Williamston Theatre was located at 104 East Main Street.The June 14, 1948 issue of The Exhibitor said that “H. J. Pueschner opened the new Randolph, Randolph, Wis.” A May 12 item had said that the new theater lately opened at Randolph had 350 seats.
The Doctoral thesis of Alexandra Heather Gibb, Beyond the Decline: Revaluing Montreal’s Movie Palaces, indicates that the Théâtre Lune Rousse was designed by Montreal architect Joseph-Raoul Gariépy.
The historical marker at the Strand Theatre says that it occupies the site of the Foree Hotel, which burned in 1925. Manning & Wink bought the site that year, so the Strand Theater the chain had been operating in 1916 must have been at a different location. The new Strand probably opened in 1926, as it makes its first appearance in the FDY in the 1927 edition.
This item about the Orpheum appeared in the January 4, 1919 issue of Moving Picture World:
Although the Orpheum is not listed in the 1926 FDY, it does appear in the 1929 edition and is still listed in the 1951 edition. CinemaTour gives the Orpheum the aka Cinema I. Another web page says that, in the 1980s, all the theaters in Elkhart, including Cinema I, were owned by a Bill Miller, who was murdered by a disgruntled employee at the Concord Theatre in 1987, after which the theaters were all sold to the GKC (Kerasotes) chain, which closed all but the Encore within a few years.CinemaTour also gives an opening year of 1913 for the Orpheum, though it isn’t one of the three theaters listed at Elkhart in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. The Directory’s listings were often incomplete.
Through most of its history this house was styled the LaMax Theatre, though sometimes the name appears in print as the La Max or Lamax. I’ve only seen it styled New LaMax in a few trade journal items in the early 1940s. I suspect that the name of the theater was derived from the surnames of the original owners, Robert Lacy and the McCoy brothers (who were probably both known as Mac), so La for Lacy and Max for the two Macs.
A history of Clinton County published in 1915 notes two movie theaters at Wilmington: The La Max, owned by Lacy and McCoy, and the Cub, owned by Frank Murphy. These were also the two houses listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. The Cub was located on West Main Street. Numerous mentions of the Murphy Theatre in trade publications of the 1920s refer to Frank Murphy as the manager of the house. As the 1988 article about the closing refers to “…the 70-year-old building….” it seems likely that the Murphy was the replacement for Mr. Murphy’s Cub Theatre, perhaps built on the same site. The earliest announcement I’ve found of Murphy’s intention to build a new theater appeared in Moving Picture World of May 6, 1916.
An article about early exhibitor John Karzin in the June 13, 1925 issue of Moving Picture World says that he opened the Casino at Springfield in 1908. He later formed a partnership with Springfield candy store owner Gus Kerasotes and opened the Royal Theatre. In 1912, he sold his interest in both houses to Kerasotes and returned to St. Louis, where he had operated theaters before launching his Springfield ventures, and began operating theaters there again.
An article about John Karzin in the June 13, 1925 issue of Moving Picture World confirms that Karzin sold the World’s Dream around 1910/1911 to concentrate on a theater he had opened in Springfield, Illinois. There, he opened a second house in partnership with Gus Kerasotes, to whom he sold his interest in both houses in 1912. He then returned to St. Louis, where he operated a number of theaters over the years, but he appears never to have had any further connection to the World’s Dream.
Correct spelling of street name is Rombach Avenue.
Correct spelling of street name is Rombach Avenue.
This web page from the Schoolcraft County Historical Society has a brief history of the Gero Theatre and three vintage photos, two of the interior and one of the exterior. Another page from the same web site has a second exterior view of the Gero, with a 1940 film featured on the marquee.
The NRHP registration form for the Downtown Mount Holly Historic District says that the Gaston Theatre was built between 1922 and 1929, per Sanborn Maps. It was most likely the planned house noted in the January 19, 1928 issue of Film Daily, which said that Beam and Plummer, operators of the Palace Theatre at Bessemer City and the Princess and Lyric at Shelby, North Carolina, had signed contracts for the construction of their new, 500-seat Mount Holly house.
The NRHP form notes that Mount Holly’s other early movie house, the Holly Theatre, was located on East Charlotte Avenue. The 250-seat Holly was listed in the 1926 FDY.
The January 17, 1928 issue of Film Daily published this item: “Wilson, N. C.— A colored theatre is announced for Wilson, N. C, open Feb. 15. It will be known the Lincoln. This is the second colored house in Wilson, the first being operated by Sam Vicks.”
This building is still standing. It was extensively remodeled and the upper floors converted into practice space for the Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx basketball teams, as well as a sports medicine facility for the Mayo Clinic. It was reopened in 2015 as Mayo Clinic Square. The redesign, including an entirely new façade, was so radical that it might easily be mistaken for entirely new construction, but it is the original building’s bones underneath.