A history of Denver movie houses in the July 15, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World said that the Princess Theatre had opened on October 11, 1910. It was the first theater in Denver to have been built expressly to show movies.
A lawsuit involving the Princess Amusement Company and the architects of the theater, the F. E. Edbrooke Architect Company, was reported in the 1915 edition of the legal journal Pacific Reporter.
The October 19, 1912, issue of Electrical Review and Western Electrician (Google Books scan) had an article about exterior illumination of Denver theaters which included a photo of the Princess Theatre by night.
The Denver Public Library provides this early photo of the Princess Theatre. Enlarging the photo reveals the intricate detail of the facade, which I suspect was cast iron painted white rather than terra cotta or plaster.
Ottawa’s original Orpheum Theatre was rebuilt in 1924, according to an item in the January 5 issue of Exhibitors Herald that year:
“Ottawa, Ill.— Architect Jason F. Richardson, Jr., has been commissioned to rebuild the Orpheum theatre in Ottawa for B. S. Jordon at a cost of $70,000. The seating capacity will be increased to 1,025, with new seats and the entire interior rebuilt. Work will start in spring.”
This was the house that was virtually destroyed by fire some years later. I’ve yet to discover how old the Orpheum was at the time of its 1924 rebuilding.
This item from the January 5, 1924, issue of Exhibitors Herald is about a combination theater-hotel project to be built in Tamaqua:
“New Theatre and Hotel Under Way
“A theatre and hotel combined which will cost $550,000 is under construction at Tamaqua, Pa., for G. J. Higgins & Sons. The theatre will have a seating capacity of 1,400, while the hotel will have 120 rooms with baths.
“W. H. Lee, 32 S. 17th Street. Philadelphia, is the architect for this project.”
This web page cites an item published by a Tamaqua newspaper in 1923 saying that George Higgins was planning to build a hotel and theater in Tamaqua. Both items must pertain to the Majestic. I’ve found references to the Higgins Amusement Company of Shamokin, Pennsylvania, operating houses called the Majestic in Pottsville and Gettysburg, so it was apparently the company’s favored name.
Here is an item from the January 5, 1924, issue of Exhibitors Herald which fills in another missing piece of the history of the Marysville/Atkins/National Theatre:
“L. R. Crook, president of the National Theatres Syndicate, announces the purchase of the Atkins theatre from Frank Atkins at Marysville, Cal., also the Webster theatre at Woodland. These houses will be entirely remodeled and renovated.”
The Cecil B. DeMille production The Affairs of Anatol would be showing at the Cozy Theatre on Wednesday and Thursday, October 12th and 13th, according to the theater’s advertisement in the October 7, 1921, issue of the Checotah Times.
The Roxy opened around November, 1916, as the Cline Theatre, built by local physician Dr. John Cline. In its early years it was operated under lease by a bay area theater man, whose name I’ve found variously spelled as Thomas G. Reaves and T. C. Reavis. The house featured movies and Orpheum circuit vaudeville.
The Roxy might have operated as late as 1969, when the building suffered structural damage from a pair of earthquakes that struck on the night of October 1, but the house might have already been closed by that date.
A. A. Cantin could have been the original architect of the Cline Theatre, as he was licensed to practice by 1916, but the work done by Cantin & Cantin might have been only a remodeling job sometime later.
Here is an item from the January 5, 1924, issue of Exhibitors Herald:
“The new G. & S. theatre was opened last week at Santa Rosa and is managed by T. C. Reavis, who also owns the Cline and Rosa of the same city. This house, it is said, cost $250,000 and seats 2000. The policy calls for feature pictures, vaudeville and road attractions.”
A September 11, 1977, article by Gaye LeBaron in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat says that the G & S Theatre was both designed and built by local contractor Albert M. Hildebrandt. The owners of the building, John Greeott and Eligio Strobino, leased the theater to an experienced theater man, Thomas G. Reaves.
The first show at the new house was a production of the Broadway musical Blossom Time, and the first movie shown was Lon Chaney’s version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The house was also on the Pantages vaudeville circuit in its early years.
This photo dated 1928 shows the name California Theatre on the vertical sign, but it looks like G & S Theatre might still be on the front of the marquee (it’s a bit blurry.)
This recent article in the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat is about two large stained glass windows that were in the Roxy Theatre, and are being offered for sale by their current owner.
I can’t find the exact address of the Tos Theatre, but the block of buildings it is part of is on the north side of Main Street between Broad and Grady Streets. The theater is closer to the Broad Street end of the block.
This web page from the Evans County Parks and Recreation Department has a slide show of photos of the restoration project, plus a link to a .zip file with renderings, a floor plan, and a site plan of the project.
There is also a link to a .pdf text about Salvino Tos and his theater. The house was built in the mid-1920s and originally operated under the name Italian Gardens. It was renamed the Tos Theatre after a remodeling and expansion in the 1940s. The Tos Theatre closed in 1976.
The 1894 edition of the New York Clipper Annual says that the Opera House in Washington, Indiana, was dedicated on January 2, 1893. I don’t know of this means that the Opera House was a different house than Wise’s Family Theatre, opened in 1892, or if new owners had renamed Wise’s and rededicated it.
This web page says that the Renaissance Revival facade (it looks mostly Italian Renaissance to me) was put on the building in the mid-1920s. I would imagine that the interior was rebuilt at the same time, or earlier. The Opera House was a second floor theater, and few of those survived long as movie houses. Those that did had almost invariably been rebuilt as ground-floor theaters at some point, and the Indiana was probably no exception.
DocSouth says that the Gem Theatre was in operation by 1926, when it had 200 seats.
BoxRec says that a bout between boxers Lew Carpenter and Tommy Swinson was held at the Gem Theatre in Siler City on February 19, 1927.
It’s possible that the Gem Theatre was in operation as early as 1914. A transcription of the 1914 edition of The North Carolina Year Book and Business Directoryhere lists a Gem Theatre, but somewhat ambiguously. It follows the listings for Siler City, but the section it is in is headed Chatham-Cherokee. Chatham is the name of the county of which Siler City is the seat, and Cherokee is the adjacent county. Another business listed in the same section has Siler City in its name, so the Gem was probably in Siler City as well. An actual scan of the book might clear up the mystery. But even if the 1914 Gem was in Siler City, it might not have been in the same building that housed the theater in 1926.
Probably opened in 1946, or soon after, the Barstow Theatre was located on the south side of W. Main Street (Route 66) where it curves in the block west of 1st Avenue. The house had been twinned by July, 1982, when this photo at American Classic Images was taken.
By January, 1988, the house was showing double features on both screens, as seen in this night shot from ACI. This ACI photo, dated June, 1988, shows the marquee vacant, so the house must have been closed during the first half of that year.
The site of the Barstow Theatre is now part of the very large parking lot of the New Life Foursquare Church. The church is at 134 W. Main Street, so the theater must have been right around 140-150 W. Main.
There is a big parking lot behind the building at 41 Market Street. I suspect that the Rialto’s auditorium once occupied that space. The existing building is too small to have contained a large theatre.
The entry for architect Warren G. Sargent in the 1956 edition of the AIA’s American Architects Directory has two listings for theater projects for Roth theaters in Silver Spring in 1954. Most likely Sargent designed the Silver Spring East and the remodeling job for the Silver Spring West Theatre as a package deal.
Camilla, by Warren Royal and Diane Dixon, says that the Camilla Theatre and the Dunn Drive-In were both owned by Bob and Kitty Dunn. the book has two 1949 photos showing the Camilla Theatre which, at that time, sported a simple art modern front. This could easily have been a remodeling job on a much older theater, but I’ve been unable to find any references to a theater in Camilla earlier than 1940.
The registration form for the inclusion of the Downtown Clarksburg Historic District on the NRHP says that after the Robinson Grand Theatre was gutted by fire on May 31, 1939, the repairs cost over $600,000.
The second of two photos (click the thumbnail and then the “slide show” link at the bottom of the enlarged photo for a high resolution version) on this web page shows that the brick of the auditorium’s side wall differs considerably from the brick on the rest of the building, as the auditorium that opened in 1940 was entirely new.
The entry for architect Tracy R. Stephens in the 1956 edition of the AIA’s American Architects Directory lists the Robinson Grand Theatre as one of his projects, dated 1939.
The Rita Theatre was definitely designed by Vincent G. Raney. The entry for architect Tristan Parego Smith in the 1956 edition of the AIA’s American Architects Directory lists the Rita Theatre as one of several projects on which Smith served as a participating associate while he was working in Raney’s office.
The correct spelling of the name of the architect of the Massac Theatre is Oliver W. Stiegemeyer, which is the way it is spelled in the 1956 and 1962 editions of the AIA’s American Architects Directory.
An ad in the January 2, 1943, issue of The Billboard lists the Colonial Theatre in Utica as part of the I. Hirst circuit, a chain of 15 burlesque houses. I’ve found a reference to the house operating as the Colonial Theatre as early as 1927, but as the
Shubert Theatre it was showing movies at least as early as 1916. I also found an undated reference to the Shubert Theatre being operated for a time by the Wilmer & Vincent vaudeville circuit. Both the Shubert brothers and Wilmer & Vincent began their careers as theater operators in Utica.
Ed’s right. The Tribune Theatre was in the white building partly seen about a block to the left of the City Hall Theatre in the photo at the top of this page.
Another contemporary source confirming the location of the Unique Theatre is a supplement to the trade journal Engineering News dated May 2, 1907, which has the following in an item about new construction in San Francisco:
“A steel frame, 7-story building of brick and terra-cotta construction is to be erected on the north line of Market St., between Mason and Taylor Sts., for Louis Metzger and Louis Shoenberg, to cost $125,000. The building will consist of basement and first and second stories for business purposes. The upper five stories will contain 75 rooms, which will be let as a hotel. The lot extends through to Turk St. and is the site of the old Unique Theatre.”
If the 7-story building was built, it is apparently no longer standing, or perhaps has lost most of its upper floors. The pre-fire site of the Unique would have been a few doors east of the post-fire Warfield Theatre. I believe the address of the first lot on Market east of Taylor that runs through to Turk Street is 944 Market, so the modern address of the Unique’s site would most likely be that number or a number just a bit lower.
A history of Denver movie houses in the July 15, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World said that the Princess Theatre had opened on October 11, 1910. It was the first theater in Denver to have been built expressly to show movies.
A lawsuit involving the Princess Amusement Company and the architects of the theater, the F. E. Edbrooke Architect Company, was reported in the 1915 edition of the legal journal Pacific Reporter.
The October 19, 1912, issue of Electrical Review and Western Electrician (Google Books scan) had an article about exterior illumination of Denver theaters which included a photo of the Princess Theatre by night.
The Denver Public Library provides this early photo of the Princess Theatre. Enlarging the photo reveals the intricate detail of the facade, which I suspect was cast iron painted white rather than terra cotta or plaster.
Ottawa’s original Orpheum Theatre was rebuilt in 1924, according to an item in the January 5 issue of Exhibitors Herald that year:
This was the house that was virtually destroyed by fire some years later. I’ve yet to discover how old the Orpheum was at the time of its 1924 rebuilding.This item from the January 5, 1924, issue of Exhibitors Herald is about a combination theater-hotel project to be built in Tamaqua:
This web page cites an item published by a Tamaqua newspaper in 1923 saying that George Higgins was planning to build a hotel and theater in Tamaqua. Both items must pertain to the Majestic. I’ve found references to the Higgins Amusement Company of Shamokin, Pennsylvania, operating houses called the Majestic in Pottsville and Gettysburg, so it was apparently the company’s favored name.Here is an item from the January 5, 1924, issue of Exhibitors Herald which fills in another missing piece of the history of the Marysville/Atkins/National Theatre:
The Cecil B. DeMille production The Affairs of Anatol would be showing at the Cozy Theatre on Wednesday and Thursday, October 12th and 13th, according to the theater’s advertisement in the October 7, 1921, issue of the Checotah Times.
The Roxy opened around November, 1916, as the Cline Theatre, built by local physician Dr. John Cline. In its early years it was operated under lease by a bay area theater man, whose name I’ve found variously spelled as Thomas G. Reaves and T. C. Reavis. The house featured movies and Orpheum circuit vaudeville.
The Roxy might have operated as late as 1969, when the building suffered structural damage from a pair of earthquakes that struck on the night of October 1, but the house might have already been closed by that date.
A. A. Cantin could have been the original architect of the Cline Theatre, as he was licensed to practice by 1916, but the work done by Cantin & Cantin might have been only a remodeling job sometime later.
Here is an item from the January 5, 1924, issue of Exhibitors Herald:
A September 11, 1977, article by Gaye LeBaron in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat says that the G & S Theatre was both designed and built by local contractor Albert M. Hildebrandt. The owners of the building, John Greeott and Eligio Strobino, leased the theater to an experienced theater man, Thomas G. Reaves.The first show at the new house was a production of the Broadway musical Blossom Time, and the first movie shown was Lon Chaney’s version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The house was also on the Pantages vaudeville circuit in its early years.
This photo dated 1928 shows the name California Theatre on the vertical sign, but it looks like G & S Theatre might still be on the front of the marquee (it’s a bit blurry.)
This recent article in the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat is about two large stained glass windows that were in the Roxy Theatre, and are being offered for sale by their current owner.
I can’t find the exact address of the Tos Theatre, but the block of buildings it is part of is on the north side of Main Street between Broad and Grady Streets. The theater is closer to the Broad Street end of the block.
This web page from the Evans County Parks and Recreation Department has a slide show of photos of the restoration project, plus a link to a .zip file with renderings, a floor plan, and a site plan of the project.
There is also a link to a .pdf text about Salvino Tos and his theater. The house was built in the mid-1920s and originally operated under the name Italian Gardens. It was renamed the Tos Theatre after a remodeling and expansion in the 1940s. The Tos Theatre closed in 1976.
The 1894 edition of the New York Clipper Annual says that the Opera House in Washington, Indiana, was dedicated on January 2, 1893. I don’t know of this means that the Opera House was a different house than Wise’s Family Theatre, opened in 1892, or if new owners had renamed Wise’s and rededicated it.
This web page says that the Renaissance Revival facade (it looks mostly Italian Renaissance to me) was put on the building in the mid-1920s. I would imagine that the interior was rebuilt at the same time, or earlier. The Opera House was a second floor theater, and few of those survived long as movie houses. Those that did had almost invariably been rebuilt as ground-floor theaters at some point, and the Indiana was probably no exception.
DocSouth says that the Gem Theatre was in operation by 1926, when it had 200 seats.
BoxRec says that a bout between boxers Lew Carpenter and Tommy Swinson was held at the Gem Theatre in Siler City on February 19, 1927.
It’s possible that the Gem Theatre was in operation as early as 1914. A transcription of the 1914 edition of The North Carolina Year Book and Business Directory here lists a Gem Theatre, but somewhat ambiguously. It follows the listings for Siler City, but the section it is in is headed Chatham-Cherokee. Chatham is the name of the county of which Siler City is the seat, and Cherokee is the adjacent county. Another business listed in the same section has Siler City in its name, so the Gem was probably in Siler City as well. An actual scan of the book might clear up the mystery. But even if the 1914 Gem was in Siler City, it might not have been in the same building that housed the theater in 1926.
Probably opened in 1946, or soon after, the Barstow Theatre was located on the south side of W. Main Street (Route 66) where it curves in the block west of 1st Avenue. The house had been twinned by July, 1982, when this photo at American Classic Images was taken.
By January, 1988, the house was showing double features on both screens, as seen in this night shot from ACI. This ACI photo, dated June, 1988, shows the marquee vacant, so the house must have been closed during the first half of that year.
The site of the Barstow Theatre is now part of the very large parking lot of the New Life Foursquare Church. The church is at 134 W. Main Street, so the theater must have been right around 140-150 W. Main.
Boxoffice has moved its archive to a new web site. Here is fresh link to the 1949 ad with photo of the lounge.
The 1951 photo of the entrance canopy that Gerald DeLuca linked to is now available at this link.
There is a big parking lot behind the building at 41 Market Street. I suspect that the Rialto’s auditorium once occupied that space. The existing building is too small to have contained a large theatre.
The entry for architect Warren G. Sargent in the 1956 edition of the AIA’s American Architects Directory has two listings for theater projects for Roth theaters in Silver Spring in 1954. Most likely Sargent designed the Silver Spring East and the remodeling job for the Silver Spring West Theatre as a package deal.
Camilla, by Warren Royal and Diane Dixon, says that the Camilla Theatre and the Dunn Drive-In were both owned by Bob and Kitty Dunn. the book has two 1949 photos showing the Camilla Theatre which, at that time, sported a simple art modern front. This could easily have been a remodeling job on a much older theater, but I’ve been unable to find any references to a theater in Camilla earlier than 1940.
The registration form for the inclusion of the Downtown Clarksburg Historic District on the NRHP says that after the Robinson Grand Theatre was gutted by fire on May 31, 1939, the repairs cost over $600,000.
The second of two photos (click the thumbnail and then the “slide show” link at the bottom of the enlarged photo for a high resolution version) on this web page shows that the brick of the auditorium’s side wall differs considerably from the brick on the rest of the building, as the auditorium that opened in 1940 was entirely new.
The entry for architect Tracy R. Stephens in the 1956 edition of the AIA’s American Architects Directory lists the Robinson Grand Theatre as one of his projects, dated 1939.
The Rita Theatre was definitely designed by Vincent G. Raney. The entry for architect Tristan Parego Smith in the 1956 edition of the AIA’sAmerican Architects Directory lists the Rita Theatre as one of several projects on which Smith served as a participating associate while he was working in Raney’s office.
The correct spelling of the name of the architect of the Massac Theatre is Oliver W. Stiegemeyer, which is the way it is spelled in the 1956 and 1962 editions of the AIA’s American Architects Directory.
An ad in the January 2, 1943, issue of The Billboard lists the Colonial Theatre in Utica as part of the I. Hirst circuit, a chain of 15 burlesque houses. I’ve found a reference to the house operating as the Colonial Theatre as early as 1927, but as the Shubert Theatre it was showing movies at least as early as 1916. I also found an undated reference to the Shubert Theatre being operated for a time by the Wilmer & Vincent vaudeville circuit. Both the Shubert brothers and Wilmer & Vincent began their careers as theater operators in Utica.
MyyaAngel: There is contact information on the Glen Theater’s official web site.
Ed’s right. The Tribune Theatre was in the white building partly seen about a block to the left of the City Hall Theatre in the photo at the top of this page.
I think the 1904 article might have been about the Unique Theatre at 24 E. Santa Clara Street in San Jose, which was also operated by the Graumans.
You’re right. I missed the location in the caption.
Another contemporary source confirming the location of the Unique Theatre is a supplement to the trade journal Engineering News dated May 2, 1907, which has the following in an item about new construction in San Francisco:
If the 7-story building was built, it is apparently no longer standing, or perhaps has lost most of its upper floors. The pre-fire site of the Unique would have been a few doors east of the post-fire Warfield Theatre. I believe the address of the first lot on Market east of Taylor that runs through to Turk Street is 944 Market, so the modern address of the Unique’s site would most likely be that number or a number just a bit lower.