The May 29, 1948, issue of Boxoffice reported from Wickenburg that the Saguaro Theatre “…was opened here recently by Dwight ‘Red’ Harkins in association with the Nace interests of Phoenix.” The item said that Harkins had designed the theater himself.
The May 30, 1936, issue of Boxoffice said that the old Elcora Theatre at Delmar had been reopened as the Delmar Theatre. The operator was Eastern Shores Theatres.
A line from Boxoffice, February 16, 1946: “Lee Insley came in to book for his Avenue in Delmar, Del. House was formerly called the Delmar.” Another item said that Lee Insley had reopened the Delmer Theatre in Delmer, though oddly that item was published in the subsequent issue of Boxoffice.
The December 10, 1955, issue of Boxoffice said “The Middleburg in Middleburg and the Avenue in Delmar, Del. have shuttered.” I haven’t found the Avenue mentioned in Boxoffice as an operating theater after that. It is mentioned retrospectively in a July 26, 1971, item about Paul Wise, who had become manager of the Delmer at the age of 15. He was 38 in 1971, so that was probably in 1948.
A photo of the auditorium of the Little Carnegie as remodeled by John McNamara was featured on the cover of Boxoffice, October 4, 1952. Two giant salamanders, cleverly disguising themselves as Art Moderne ornamentation, waited on either side of the screen to pounce upon and devour arriving audience members.
The Gay Theatre was opened a year earlier than the intro currently says. Boxoffice of May 1, 1948, said that Bert Kennerson’s new Gay Theatre at San Jose would be ready to open about June 1. Boxoffice of July 10 said the house had opened, that the $55,000 house seated 600, and that its opening had brought the total number of theaters operating in San Jose to twelve.
The name was changed to the Capri as early as 1967, according to the item in Boxoffice of January 30 that year. I haven’t found the opening year, but this Avalon was mentioned in Boxoffice of October 2, 1948, as one of several houses that had recently installed Altec Lansing sound equipment. That might be an indication that it was then under construction.
A new Avalon Theatre was built at 2915 East Ninth Street in 1946, replacing an earlier and smaller Avalon Theatre at Ninth and Hull Avenue, just up the block. This was reported in Boxoffice of March 9, 1946. The address of 2965 East Ninth currently listed above must be for the old Avalon.
The new Avalon’s building was still standing and recognizable as a former theater when Google’s street view truck last rolled by it. The old Avalon’s building appears to have been replaced by another building.
The building in Google street view does look like the Beach building in the 1981 photo, with some of the windows sealed up. The Bing Maps bird’s eye view shows that there’s auditorium behind it, too, and it looks quite old. The Beach has not been demolished— or at least hadn’t been at the time the Google and Bing images were made.
The July 31, 1967, issue of Boxoffice said that Nutmeg Theatres had opened their new Cinema Norwalk at Norwalk. The original seating capacity of the single-screen house was 875. Though the item about the opening didn’t repeat it, an earlier issue of Boxoffice had given the name of the architect on the project as Burton S. Yolen, who had designed the chain’s Wilton Cinema at Wilton, Connecticut, two years earlier.
A full-page item about the Edwards Cinema appeared in Boxoffice of October 19, 1964. The theater was designed by the Orange County firm of Schwager & Desatoff (Lester H. Schwager and Alex Desatoff.)
There were two theaters named for the town of Etna. On June 19, 1956, Boxoffice reported that “The new Etna Theatre in Etna was given a festive opening Saturday (18). …it replaces the old Etna which has been closed.” The only other mention I can find of the earlier Etna Theatre in Boxoffice was in 1948, and I haven’t found the new Etna mentioned any time after the opening announcement.
The 1948 item says that the Etna’s operator, Don Avery, hoped to open a theater at Fort Jones by July 4. The 1956 item also mentions Don Avery owning a Del Rio Theatre at Happy Camp, where he had just installed CinemaScope. Etna, Fort Jones, and Happy Camp are all in Siskiyou County, in the far north of the state.
Did the Valley Plaza resemble the Century 21 in Anaheim? Statewide opened several theaters in the early 1960s, with very similar plans designed by the San Diego architectural firm of Tucker, Sadler, & Bennett. I think the Bakersfield house was one of them, but haven’t been able to find a published reference confirming it. A close resemblance between the Valley Plaza and any of the other Statewide projects designed by that firm would be the next best thing.
The Eden was another Henry G. Greene design for ABC. The architect attended the May 27, 1969, opening of the house. He appeared in a photo taken at the event and published in Boxoffice of June 16.
The line in the intro saying that the Fulton is one of only three theaters in the U.S. that is listed as a National Historic Landmark may have been true at one time, but the NHL program’s web site now lists nine: the Fox in Detroit; the Fox in Atlanta; the Fulton; the theater of the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival at Beckett, Massachusetts; the Majestic in San Antonio; the Ohio Theatre in Columbus; the Pabst in Milwaukee; the Paramount in Oakland, California; and the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia. Undoubtedly, more will be added to the list in the future.
The National Historic Landmark program is not the same thing as the National Register of Historic Places, a much longer list which includes a much greater number of theaters.
Jesse Jones, currently listed as the architect of this theater, was not an architect but a busnessman and a real estate developer. The architect of the Kirby Theatre was Alfred Charles Finn.
The closing year currently given in the intro for this theater must be wrong. The April 10, 1954, issue of Boxoffice says this: “Bill Cupples has the distinction of being the last manager of the Capitol at Guelph, a former unit of 20th Century Theatres which has been torn down. the theatre had previously been operated by Famous Players for years.”
I’ve found Boxoffice references to a Palace Theatre at Guelph, opened by Famous Players in 1941; a Royal Theatre, operating from at least 1937 and until at least 1957; and a Regent Theatre, which was mentioned in 1941 and 1945, but apparently was opened about 1918 or 1919 for Paramount and taken over shortly after by Famous Players. There’s no indication of what became of it later, but it’s possible that Regent was an early aka for either the Capitol or the Royal, both of which were long operated by Famous Players.
A 1945 Boxoffice item made it clear that there were then only three theaters operating at Guelph, those being the Capitol, Royal, and Palace, all Famous Players houses.
An item in Boxoffice of October 19, 1946, about delays in construction on various theater projects in Canada said that the Odeon at Guelph was an exception, and that it was expected to be completed soon. They should have knocked on wood. The house was not opened for another year.
Boxoffice of November 8, 1947, said that the Odeon Theatre at Guelph had opened on October 31. The item also said that architect Leslie Kemp had been “interested in the design” of the theater. Kemp was an English theater architect who had come to Canada to oversee the completion of the various Odeon theater projects designed by the late Jay English, who had drowned that August.
The long-delayed date of opening indicates that the Guelph house was designed by Jay English, and that Kemp only oversaw the later period of its construction and took care of any minor design changes that might have been made while the project was being completed. Kemp’s arrival in Canada was announced in the October 11, 1947, issue of Boxofffice, though he probably had been in the country for some days before the item appeared.
There is a 2006 photo of the restored 1935 Art Moderne facade, and a view dated 1935 showing the original mission style front, on this page at Houston Deco.
According to the records of the New York Terra Cotta Company, the 1916 remodeling of this theater was designed by an architect named P.P. Scroggs. Philander P. Scroggs was an Augusta architect who later formed the partnership of Scroggs & Ewing with Whitley L. Ewing.
According to the records of the New York Terra Cotta Company, the National Theatre was designed by the architectural firm of Joseph & Joseph, with Albert Kahn associated. Joseph & Joseph, founded in 1908, is still in business.
A four month delay in the expected opening date is pretty drastic, especially in the pre-war period when labor and materials shortages were not yet a problem. I wonder what happened? It wasn’t even a bad hurricane season.
The article does name the architects of the Boulevard as Weed & Reeder (Robert Law Weed and Edwin T. Reeder.)
The Delancey Street Theatre was designed by architect S.S. Sugar, who also designed Loew’s Greeley Square Theatre. An item saying plans for the project had been filed was published in The New York Times of July 2, 1911.
Eleven drawings of this theater are digitized and available for viewing at the LOC’s online collection (search using the name Fulton Theater.) The building was designed by the New York architectural firm Dodge & Morrison.
The May 29, 1948, issue of Boxoffice reported from Wickenburg that the Saguaro Theatre “…was opened here recently by Dwight ‘Red’ Harkins in association with the Nace interests of Phoenix.” The item said that Harkins had designed the theater himself.
The May 30, 1936, issue of Boxoffice said that the old Elcora Theatre at Delmar had been reopened as the Delmar Theatre. The operator was Eastern Shores Theatres.
A line from Boxoffice, February 16, 1946: “Lee Insley came in to book for his Avenue in Delmar, Del. House was formerly called the Delmar.” Another item said that Lee Insley had reopened the Delmer Theatre in Delmer, though oddly that item was published in the subsequent issue of Boxoffice.
The December 10, 1955, issue of Boxoffice said “The Middleburg in Middleburg and the Avenue in Delmar, Del. have shuttered.” I haven’t found the Avenue mentioned in Boxoffice as an operating theater after that. It is mentioned retrospectively in a July 26, 1971, item about Paul Wise, who had become manager of the Delmer at the age of 15. He was 38 in 1971, so that was probably in 1948.
A photo of the auditorium of the Little Carnegie as remodeled by John McNamara was featured on the cover of Boxoffice, October 4, 1952. Two giant salamanders, cleverly disguising themselves as Art Moderne ornamentation, waited on either side of the screen to pounce upon and devour arriving audience members.
The Gay Theatre was opened a year earlier than the intro currently says. Boxoffice of May 1, 1948, said that Bert Kennerson’s new Gay Theatre at San Jose would be ready to open about June 1. Boxoffice of July 10 said the house had opened, that the $55,000 house seated 600, and that its opening had brought the total number of theaters operating in San Jose to twelve.
The name was changed to the Capri as early as 1967, according to the item in Boxoffice of January 30 that year. I haven’t found the opening year, but this Avalon was mentioned in Boxoffice of October 2, 1948, as one of several houses that had recently installed Altec Lansing sound equipment. That might be an indication that it was then under construction.
A new Avalon Theatre was built at 2915 East Ninth Street in 1946, replacing an earlier and smaller Avalon Theatre at Ninth and Hull Avenue, just up the block. This was reported in Boxoffice of March 9, 1946. The address of 2965 East Ninth currently listed above must be for the old Avalon.
The new Avalon’s building was still standing and recognizable as a former theater when Google’s street view truck last rolled by it. The old Avalon’s building appears to have been replaced by another building.
The building in Google street view does look like the Beach building in the 1981 photo, with some of the windows sealed up. The Bing Maps bird’s eye view shows that there’s auditorium behind it, too, and it looks quite old. The Beach has not been demolished— or at least hadn’t been at the time the Google and Bing images were made.
The July 31, 1967, issue of Boxoffice said that Nutmeg Theatres had opened their new Cinema Norwalk at Norwalk. The original seating capacity of the single-screen house was 875. Though the item about the opening didn’t repeat it, an earlier issue of Boxoffice had given the name of the architect on the project as Burton S. Yolen, who had designed the chain’s Wilton Cinema at Wilton, Connecticut, two years earlier.
A full-page item about the Edwards Cinema appeared in Boxoffice of October 19, 1964. The theater was designed by the Orange County firm of Schwager & Desatoff (Lester H. Schwager and Alex Desatoff.)
There were two theaters named for the town of Etna. On June 19, 1956, Boxoffice reported that “The new Etna Theatre in Etna was given a festive opening Saturday (18). …it replaces the old Etna which has been closed.” The only other mention I can find of the earlier Etna Theatre in Boxoffice was in 1948, and I haven’t found the new Etna mentioned any time after the opening announcement.
The 1948 item says that the Etna’s operator, Don Avery, hoped to open a theater at Fort Jones by July 4. The 1956 item also mentions Don Avery owning a Del Rio Theatre at Happy Camp, where he had just installed CinemaScope. Etna, Fort Jones, and Happy Camp are all in Siskiyou County, in the far north of the state.
Did the Valley Plaza resemble the Century 21 in Anaheim? Statewide opened several theaters in the early 1960s, with very similar plans designed by the San Diego architectural firm of Tucker, Sadler, & Bennett. I think the Bakersfield house was one of them, but haven’t been able to find a published reference confirming it. A close resemblance between the Valley Plaza and any of the other Statewide projects designed by that firm would be the next best thing.
The Eden was another Henry G. Greene design for ABC. The architect attended the May 27, 1969, opening of the house. He appeared in a photo taken at the event and published in Boxoffice of June 16.
Boxoffice of April 22, 1950, named John and Drew Eberson as architects of the King Theatre, which was then being rushed to completion.
The line in the intro saying that the Fulton is one of only three theaters in the U.S. that is listed as a National Historic Landmark may have been true at one time, but the NHL program’s web site now lists nine: the Fox in Detroit; the Fox in Atlanta; the Fulton; the theater of the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival at Beckett, Massachusetts; the Majestic in San Antonio; the Ohio Theatre in Columbus; the Pabst in Milwaukee; the Paramount in Oakland, California; and the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia. Undoubtedly, more will be added to the list in the future.
The National Historic Landmark program is not the same thing as the National Register of Historic Places, a much longer list which includes a much greater number of theaters.
Jesse Jones, currently listed as the architect of this theater, was not an architect but a busnessman and a real estate developer. The architect of the Kirby Theatre was Alfred Charles Finn.
The closing year currently given in the intro for this theater must be wrong. The April 10, 1954, issue of Boxoffice says this: “Bill Cupples has the distinction of being the last manager of the Capitol at Guelph, a former unit of 20th Century Theatres which has been torn down. the theatre had previously been operated by Famous Players for years.”
I’ve found Boxoffice references to a Palace Theatre at Guelph, opened by Famous Players in 1941; a Royal Theatre, operating from at least 1937 and until at least 1957; and a Regent Theatre, which was mentioned in 1941 and 1945, but apparently was opened about 1918 or 1919 for Paramount and taken over shortly after by Famous Players. There’s no indication of what became of it later, but it’s possible that Regent was an early aka for either the Capitol or the Royal, both of which were long operated by Famous Players.
A 1945 Boxoffice item made it clear that there were then only three theaters operating at Guelph, those being the Capitol, Royal, and Palace, all Famous Players houses.
An item in Boxoffice of October 19, 1946, about delays in construction on various theater projects in Canada said that the Odeon at Guelph was an exception, and that it was expected to be completed soon. They should have knocked on wood. The house was not opened for another year.
Boxoffice of November 8, 1947, said that the Odeon Theatre at Guelph had opened on October 31. The item also said that architect Leslie Kemp had been “interested in the design” of the theater. Kemp was an English theater architect who had come to Canada to oversee the completion of the various Odeon theater projects designed by the late Jay English, who had drowned that August.
The long-delayed date of opening indicates that the Guelph house was designed by Jay English, and that Kemp only oversaw the later period of its construction and took care of any minor design changes that might have been made while the project was being completed. Kemp’s arrival in Canada was announced in the October 11, 1947, issue of Boxofffice, though he probably had been in the country for some days before the item appeared.
There is a 2006 photo of the restored 1935 Art Moderne facade, and a view dated 1935 showing the original mission style front, on this page at Houston Deco.
According to the records of the New York Terra Cotta Company, the Central Theatre was designed by E.C. Horne & Sons. It was opened in 1920.
Miner’s Empire Theatre was designed jointly by George Keister and the firm of McMurray & Pulis.
According to the records of the New York Terra Cotta Company, the 1916 remodeling of this theater was designed by an architect named P.P. Scroggs. Philander P. Scroggs was an Augusta architect who later formed the partnership of Scroggs & Ewing with Whitley L. Ewing.
According to the records of the New York Terra Cotta Company, the National Theatre was designed by the architectural firm of Joseph & Joseph, with Albert Kahn associated. Joseph & Joseph, founded in 1908, is still in business.
A four month delay in the expected opening date is pretty drastic, especially in the pre-war period when labor and materials shortages were not yet a problem. I wonder what happened? It wasn’t even a bad hurricane season.
The article does name the architects of the Boulevard as Weed & Reeder (Robert Law Weed and Edwin T. Reeder.)
The Delancey Street Theatre was designed by architect S.S. Sugar, who also designed Loew’s Greeley Square Theatre. An item saying plans for the project had been filed was published in The New York Times of July 2, 1911.
Eleven drawings of this theater are digitized and available for viewing at the LOC’s online collection (search using the name Fulton Theater.) The building was designed by the New York architectural firm Dodge & Morrison.