The March 11, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World refers to a Cape May house called the Perry Street Theatre, run by a Mr. J. P. Cox. It’s probably a safe assumption that Perry Street Theatre was an AKA for the Cox Theatre, and it was probably located on Perry Street. The magazine said that the house was Cape May’s exclusive Paramount theater.
Sometimes the photo is there, and sometimes it isn’t, Chuck. Google Maps is still a work in progress, I guess. But at least they’ve got the Street View matched with the right address in this case.
Encyclopedia Dubuque’s page for the Grand Opera House says that movies were first shown there in 1915, but I found an item in the July 4, 1908, issue of The Moving Picture World saying that movies were then being shown there.
The page gives the opening date of the Grand Opera House as August 14, 1890. Photographs reveal the exterior style of the building to be Romanesque Revival. I’ve been unable to discover any photos showing Rapp & Rapp’s 1910 interior.
Although the former Majestic Theater is part of the Five Flags Center, the theater itself is billed as the Five Flags Theater (move Street View closer and see the name on the windows.)
Encyclopedia Dubuque has pages for the Majestic Theatre, which features three interior photos, and for the Orpheum Theatre, which has a photo showing the facade.
The line in the introduction saying that the Majestic was modeled after the original Moulin Rouge in Paris doesn’t make sense, as this is what the original Moulin Rouge looked like.
This page at Encyclopedia Dubuque says that the architect of the Princess Theatre was Thomas T. Carkeek. It, too, says that the theater was renamed the Avon in 1928, but it also displays a complimentary season pass to the Princess Theatre dated 1933.
Encyclopedia Dubuque says that the Strand Theatre was in a building converted from a church in 1919. It was taken over by the Dubinsky circuit in 1976, and the building was gutted by a fire in August, 1980. It remained vacant for a decade, and was demolished in 1989-1990.
The October 30, 1912, issue of The American Architect said that the proposed theater on Fayette Street in Syracuse would be operated under a long term lease by the Eckel Company. Plans for the project, by architect C. Merritt Curtis, were almost complete.
This house was already called the Plaza by 1912, when the September 4 issue of The American Architect said that “…the Plaza Theatre, at Broad and Porter Sts.” had been acquired by William W. Miller, operator of the William Penn Theatre. The item mentioned Charles Oelschlager as architect for the project Miller planned to carry out on the site.
The October 9, 1912, issue of The American Architect carried a notice about a theater that was to be built on White Street. The $20,000 project was being designed by the local firm J.C. & G.A. Delatush. White Street is only two blocks long. I wonder if this 1912 project, assuming it was carried out, is the house that became the Red Bank Art Cinemas?
An item in the January 15, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World said that a new theater called the Grand had opened in Osceola, Missouri. I’ve been unable to discover if the Grand was the same house that became the Civic, but Osceola being as small as it is, it’s possible that it only ever had the one theater. The building the Civic is in is typical of commercial structures built during the 1910s.
The Capitol Theatre was built in 1883 as the Frankfort Opera House, and was designed by none other than the noted Chicago theater architect Oscar Cobb. It was among the buildings listed in a 1971 survey of historic sites in Kentucky, prepared for the Kentucky Historical Commission.
The Frankfort Opera House and City Hall was also listed in an advertisement for Cobb’s firm that appeared in the 1884-1885 edition of Harry Miner’s American Dramatic Directory, and in an article about Cobb in a book about the Chicago Board of Trade published in 1885. Here, from the latter publication, is a list (probably not exhaustive) of theaters Cobb had designed up to that time:
“Wieting Opera House, Syracuse, N. Y.; Grand Opera House, Minneapolis, Minn.; Haverly’s new Columbia Theatre, Chicago, Ill.; Grand Opera House, St. Louis, Mo.; Schultz & Co.’s Opera House, Zanesville, O.; Coates' Opera House, Kansas City, Mo.; Nat. Mem. Theatre, Soldiers' Home, Dayton, O.; Faurot’s Opera House and Block, Lima, O.; Black’s Opera House, Springfield, O.; Sloane House and Block, Sandusky, O.; Academy of Music, Chicago, Ill.; Keokuk Opera House, Keokuk, Ia.; Standard Theatre, Chicago, Ill.; Heuck’s New Opera House, Cincinnati, O.; Opera House and City Hall, Frankfort, Ky., Doxey Theatre, Anderson, Ind.; Wood’s Opera House and Block, Sedalia, Mo.; Wilhelm’s Opera House, Portsmouth, O.; Case Opera House, Norwalk, O.; Washington Opera House, Maysville, Ky.; Louisville Opera House, Louisville, Ky.; Knowls Opera House, Washington, Kan.; New Grand Opera House, St. Louis, Mo.; Wellington City Hall and Opera House, Wellington, O.; Selma Opera House, Selma, Ala.; Belleville Opera House and Block, Belleville, Ill.”
The overview says the theater was on Clay at 5th Street, so the address currently given is wrong. The only modern building near Clay and 5th is on the northeast corner, so that must be where the theater was. The building there now has a 5th Street address, but the theater’s address was probably 421 Clay, extrapolating from the address of the flower shop up the block at 415.
The address of the building at Cuyler and Francis is 300 N. Cuyler Street. It is currently listed on the HGTV Front Door real estate website, with two exterior photos of the sort that real estate agents take with their cellphones.
The Internet says there is a Subway sandwich shop at 29 Vaughan Mall. Unless Subway has moved since the introduction for this theater was written, that must be the address of the Olympia Theatre’s building. Google Street View only provides views of Vaughan Mall from the north and south ends.
A photo of the Olympia’s auditorium can be found at this link.
I don’t know why this page is not fetching a Google map or street view, but you can go to the Riviera Theatre page, turn the street view left, and proceed a few doors down the block to the Rialto’s location on the opposite side of the street.
The upper part of the building has brickwork characteristic of the period from about 1910 to the mid-1920s. Satellite view shows that the building has a gabled roof, probably carried by trusses, so it must have been designed to have a wide clear span. That makes it more likely that it was built specifically as a theater.
In the current Google Street View for the address 31 N. Main Street there’s a fairly old-looking building with a Sherwin-Williams paint store in it. The Rialto might not have been demolished, merely dismantled.
This page at the Riviera Theatre’s web site says that the Rialto was already in operation under the name Rex Theatre in 1925, when the Riviera was built. The Rex Theatre was mentioned in at least three 1916 issues of The Moving Picture World.
Theaters at Three Rivers called the Bijou and the Vaudette were mentioned in a 1913 publication reporting changes or repairs ordered for buildings open to the public in Michigan in 1912. Another government report mentioned a Lenhart Opera House at Three Rivers.
A December 11, 1917, item in the Michigan Film Review said that the Rex and Vaudette theaters at Three Rivers had been taken over by the Chicago chain Fitzpatrick & McElroy. The item said that the Vaudette would be closed, but I found it mentioned in items from 1918 and 1921, so it apparently continued operating at least into the early 1920s.
I’ve been unable to discover what became of the Bijou. It might have become the Rex. The Lenhart Opera House, also known as the Armory Opera House and the Three Rivers Opera House, appears to have been converted into a church by the early 1920s.
The March 11, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World refers to a Cape May house called the Perry Street Theatre, run by a Mr. J. P. Cox. It’s probably a safe assumption that Perry Street Theatre was an AKA for the Cox Theatre, and it was probably located on Perry Street. The magazine said that the house was Cape May’s exclusive Paramount theater.
Sometimes the photo is there, and sometimes it isn’t, Chuck. Google Maps is still a work in progress, I guess. But at least they’ve got the Street View matched with the right address in this case.
Linkrot repair: Here is the October 7, 1950, Boxoffice page with the Heywood-Wakefield ad featuring two photos of the Crest Theatre.
Bonus link: The architect’s rendering of the Crest, as featured in Boxoffice of December 4, 1948.
Encyclopedia Dubuque’s page for the Grand Opera House says that movies were first shown there in 1915, but I found an item in the July 4, 1908, issue of The Moving Picture World saying that movies were then being shown there.
The page gives the opening date of the Grand Opera House as August 14, 1890. Photographs reveal the exterior style of the building to be Romanesque Revival. I’ve been unable to discover any photos showing Rapp & Rapp’s 1910 interior.
Although the former Majestic Theater is part of the Five Flags Center, the theater itself is billed as the Five Flags Theater (move Street View closer and see the name on the windows.)
Encyclopedia Dubuque has pages for the Majestic Theatre, which features three interior photos, and for the Orpheum Theatre, which has a photo showing the facade.
The line in the introduction saying that the Majestic was modeled after the original Moulin Rouge in Paris doesn’t make sense, as this is what the original Moulin Rouge looked like.
This page at Encyclopedia Dubuque says that the architect of the Princess Theatre was Thomas T. Carkeek. It, too, says that the theater was renamed the Avon in 1928, but it also displays a complimentary season pass to the Princess Theatre dated 1933.
The Encyclopedia Dubuque says that the Princess Theatre was renamed the Avon Theatre in August, 1928. The web page has a drawing of the theater.
Encyclopedia Dubuque says that the Strand Theatre was in a building converted from a church in 1919. It was taken over by the Dubinsky circuit in 1976, and the building was gutted by a fire in August, 1980. It remained vacant for a decade, and was demolished in 1989-1990.
The October 30, 1912, issue of The American Architect said that the proposed theater on Fayette Street in Syracuse would be operated under a long term lease by the Eckel Company. Plans for the project, by architect C. Merritt Curtis, were almost complete.
This house was already called the Plaza by 1912, when the September 4 issue of The American Architect said that “…the Plaza Theatre, at Broad and Porter Sts.” had been acquired by William W. Miller, operator of the William Penn Theatre. The item mentioned Charles Oelschlager as architect for the project Miller planned to carry out on the site.
Here is Clearview’s web page for the Red Bank Art Cinemas.
The October 9, 1912, issue of The American Architect carried a notice about a theater that was to be built on White Street. The $20,000 project was being designed by the local firm J.C. & G.A. Delatush. White Street is only two blocks long. I wonder if this 1912 project, assuming it was carried out, is the house that became the Red Bank Art Cinemas?
An item in the January 15, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World said that a new theater called the Grand had opened in Osceola, Missouri. I’ve been unable to discover if the Grand was the same house that became the Civic, but Osceola being as small as it is, it’s possible that it only ever had the one theater. The building the Civic is in is typical of commercial structures built during the 1910s.
The Capitol Theatre was built in 1883 as the Frankfort Opera House, and was designed by none other than the noted Chicago theater architect Oscar Cobb. It was among the buildings listed in a 1971 survey of historic sites in Kentucky, prepared for the Kentucky Historical Commission.
The Frankfort Opera House and City Hall was also listed in an advertisement for Cobb’s firm that appeared in the 1884-1885 edition of Harry Miner’s American Dramatic Directory, and in an article about Cobb in a book about the Chicago Board of Trade published in 1885. Here, from the latter publication, is a list (probably not exhaustive) of theaters Cobb had designed up to that time:
Here is a fresh link to the 1939 LOC photo of the Park Theatre (click thumbnail to embiggen.)
The Orpheum is one of five Butte theaters depicted in this ca.1915 photomontage from a book published that year. The Orpheum is at upper right.
The building at 25 W. Park Street, on the site of the American Theatre, is now occupied by the Park Street Mall, a collection of small retail shops.
The overview says the theater was on Clay at 5th Street, so the address currently given is wrong. The only modern building near Clay and 5th is on the northeast corner, so that must be where the theater was. The building there now has a 5th Street address, but the theater’s address was probably 421 Clay, extrapolating from the address of the flower shop up the block at 415.
Here is an updated link to the official web site of the Glenns Ferry Opera Theatre.
Boxoffice Magazine’s 1970 article about the rebuilt Esquire, cited in my earlier comment, can be seen at this link.
The address of the building at Cuyler and Francis is 300 N. Cuyler Street. It is currently listed on the HGTV Front Door real estate website, with two exterior photos of the sort that real estate agents take with their cellphones.
The Internet says there is a Subway sandwich shop at 29 Vaughan Mall. Unless Subway has moved since the introduction for this theater was written, that must be the address of the Olympia Theatre’s building. Google Street View only provides views of Vaughan Mall from the north and south ends.
A photo of the Olympia’s auditorium can be found at this link.
The current occupant of 9 Congress Street is a restaurant called the Bakery Cafe.
I don’t know why this page is not fetching a Google map or street view, but you can go to the Riviera Theatre page, turn the street view left, and proceed a few doors down the block to the Rialto’s location on the opposite side of the street.
The upper part of the building has brickwork characteristic of the period from about 1910 to the mid-1920s. Satellite view shows that the building has a gabled roof, probably carried by trusses, so it must have been designed to have a wide clear span. That makes it more likely that it was built specifically as a theater.
In the current Google Street View for the address 31 N. Main Street there’s a fairly old-looking building with a Sherwin-Williams paint store in it. The Rialto might not have been demolished, merely dismantled.
This page at the Riviera Theatre’s web site says that the Rialto was already in operation under the name Rex Theatre in 1925, when the Riviera was built. The Rex Theatre was mentioned in at least three 1916 issues of The Moving Picture World.
Theaters at Three Rivers called the Bijou and the Vaudette were mentioned in a 1913 publication reporting changes or repairs ordered for buildings open to the public in Michigan in 1912. Another government report mentioned a Lenhart Opera House at Three Rivers.
A December 11, 1917, item in the Michigan Film Review said that the Rex and Vaudette theaters at Three Rivers had been taken over by the Chicago chain Fitzpatrick & McElroy. The item said that the Vaudette would be closed, but I found it mentioned in items from 1918 and 1921, so it apparently continued operating at least into the early 1920s.
I’ve been unable to discover what became of the Bijou. It might have become the Rex. The Lenhart Opera House, also known as the Armory Opera House and the Three Rivers Opera House, appears to have been converted into a church by the early 1920s.
Internet Broadway Database has three photos from the Shubert Archive depicting the 44th Street Theatre.