Boxoffice of August 24, 1964, reported that United Artists would shutter the Penn Theatre on September 30. Operating losses were cited as the reason. UA had operated the Penn in recent years, the item said, and prior to that the house had for some time been operated by a local stock company. That would explain why the Penn didn’t benefit from all those MGM hits in the 1950s. They must have gone to other theaters that were still being operated by Loew’s.
As noted in Ed Blank’s comment of June 3, 2008, the Guild had once been called the Princess Theatre. The name was changed to the Beacon Theatre in 1937, according to Boxoffice of April 3 that year. The item said the Princess had been closed for a week for renovations before reopening as the Beacon on Easter Sunday.
Boxoffice of January 1, 1955, made a reference to “…the Guild Theatre, formerly the Beacon, in Squirrel Hill.” The house had adopted an art policy, competing with Stanley Warner’s nearby Squirrel Hill Theatre.
Boxoffice of April 24, 1937, said that Warner Bros. had recently opened its newly-constructed Squirrel Hill Theatre. It was the first new house built by Warner in the Pittsburgh area in six years.
Stanley Warner gave the Squirrel Hill an updating in 1956, according to Boxoffice of October 13 that year. The item said that the Squirrel Hill was the first art house in this district of Pittsburgh.
The Manor was mentioned as a Warner Bros. house in Motion Picture Times of May 5, 1931.
Boxoffice of February 8, 1965, reported: “The remodeled Manor Theatre, now a SW art house, has 1024 seats, inside ticket desk, 50-foot wall-to-wall screen, modern sound and projection, large lounge area, deep pile carpeting, plus new decorations, etc….” An item from February 1 had said that the Manor seated 884 on the main floor and 140 in the balcony.
The Stanley Warner circuit also operated the nearby Squirrel Hill Theatre, which had long been an art house. The Guild Theatre also operated as an art house at times during this period. Squirrel Hill must have been an arty neighborhood in those days.
A photo of the lobby of the Village Opera House appeared on the cover of Boxoffice, August 18, 1969. The caption says the new road show house seated 520.
Israel White, operator of the Elite Theatre, committed suicide on August 1, 1935. He had been worried about financial reverses, according to a report in Boxoffice of August 17 that year. His assistant and intended son-in-law, Sidney Pink, took over operation of the theater.
The name of the architect currently credited with designing this theater is probably wrong. I can’t find an architect named James C. Van Buren (or even just James Van Buren) in an Internet search, but there are numerous references to a prominent New Haven firm called Brown & Von Beren, and there is also this brief biography of architect Ferdinand Von Beren.
Most telling is an item in the records of the New York Architectural Terra Cotta Company which lists a 1913 bid to supply terra cotta ornament for an addition to an unnamed theater on Main Street in Bridgeport, which had been designed for S.Z. Poli by the firm of Brown & Von Beren. Brown & Von Beren might have been the original architects of this theater as well as architects of the 1913 expansion. The New York Architectural Terra Cotta Company’s records only list projects on which they made bids, and they apparently didn’t bid on the original construction project.
With regard to my comment of March 11, 2009, I’ve found that the proposed Center Theatre in Charlotte designed by Erle Stillwell (rendering at upper right here) was never built, and was never intended for this Morehead Street location. Comparing the rendering to the photos recently posted, it’s clear that these were two different projects.
The Center Theatre on Morehead Street was apparently designed by Charles C. Benson. The only reference in Boxoffice citing Benson as the architect of the Center was an article in the issue of February 1, 1947, at which time the proposed Meiselman theater at this location had not yet been given a name, but the item said that Benson had drawn the plans for it. Later items in 1947 and 1948 report on the project and give the same location and general description of the building as the February item, and give the name Center.
Construction of the Center was delayed due to post-war restrictions on building materials, as was the case with many projects during that period, but I’ve found nothing to indicate that the original design by Benson was not carried out.
The intro for the Bekay currently says it opened in 1932. All the periodical references to its construction in the California Index (citing Southwest Builder & Contractor, and Motion Picture Herald) say it dates from 1936.
Frank Baumgart and Louis Kanstein were the owners. The reinforced concrete structure was built by local contractors Art Lange and Joe Fowles. There was apparently no architect, but Southwest Builder and Contractor of July 11, 1936, gave the name of the engineer as F.O. Reyenga of Los Angeles.
Baumgart and Kanstein sold the Beekay to Mr. and Mrs. Robert Nelson in 1954, according to Boxoffice of October 12 that year.
Boxoffice of January 27, 1940, said the Vogue had been opened the previous week by J.E. Mooney. The Vogue reopened in 1956 after closing for twelve days to redecorate and install CinemaScope equipment, according to Boxoffice of May 26 that year. The theater was then being operated by Mr. and Mrs. Leman Lee. These are the only references to the Vogue I can find in Boxoffice.
It’s too bad they knocked that building down. That was a very nice Colonial Revival facade. Liebenberg and Kaplan’s undated work on the building must have involved only minor alterations as far as the exterior was concerned if it was done before that photo was taken.
Maybe Liebenberg & Kaplan did some remodeling work on the building in 1939. Unfortunately the finding aid for the University of Minnesota’s collection doesn’t give details about the projects, only names, dates, building types, and locations.
The archives of the architectural firm of Liebenberg & Kaplan list an undated theater project at Vermillon under the name March. The photo of the theater linked by ken mc above does look like their earlier work, but seems quite old fashioned for the opening date of 1935. Perhaps this was an older building that was converted into a movie theater?
The November 30, 1946, issue of Boxoffice has an interesting item datelined Vermillion: “George March is the new owner of the March Theatre here. He purchased the house at an auction.”
The Coyote Theatre at Vermillion is listed as a 1939 design in the archives of the architectural firm of Liebenberg & Kaplan.
A November 25, 1939, Boxoffice item indicates that at that time the March circuit consisted of six theaters in three towns: The March and Coyote at Vermillion; the Elite and Royal at LeMars, Iowa; and the Crystal and Gay at Wayne, Nebraska.
The rear portion of La Plaza Theatre was demolished in 1957. The front portion (which must have been the arcade leading to the theater) had been demolished in 1955, and the entire complex had been condemned in 1953, according to this article in the St. Petersburg Times of April 9, 1957.
This 1913 article about amusements available in St. Petersburg says that construction of La Plaza had begun in May, 1912, and the 1,800-seat theater had opened in March, 1913, with a series of three operas presented by the Royal Italian Grand Opera company. The article also mentions that there were three movie houses then operating in St. Petersburg: the Rex, the Star, and the Royal Palms.
The Dakota was under construction in 1950 when the March 25 issue of Boxoffice reported that the walls and roof had been completed and the heating plant installed. I haven’t found any announcement of the opening, but it probably came that year.
The Majestic was being rebuilt in 1929, according to the the April 13 issue of Movie Age. 150 seats were to be added to the 500-seat house. I haven’t found the Majestic mentioned later than 1929, nor any other theater in Sturgis until the Dakota was being built. It could be that the Majestic operated until the Dakota opened, perhaps under a different name. It seems unlikely that a town of Sturgis’s size would have been without a movie theater for any length of time between 1929 and 1950, but about as unlikely that it would have supported two theaters at any one time.
A postcard showing the Majestic was sold on E-bay some time ago. Unfortunately even the Google cache of the listing appears to be gone, so no details from the listing page are available.
It’s difficult to research Sturgis because it is one of four towns of that name, and the other three were mentioned in Boxoffice far more frequently than the one in South Dakota.
A couple of years after it opened, three photos of the Dixie ran in Boxoffice of May 5, 1951. It was a nice Art Moderne style theater built for the N.N. Bernstein circuit.
The theater’s name was changed from Dixie to Rio in 1965, according to Boxoffice of December 20 that year. Wometco was set to reopen the house at Christmas.
Boxoffice of March 27, 1955, said that the Community Theatre in Miami Beach was being demolished. The article says that the house was built by local investors when no theater operators were willing to build in Miami Beach. After a year of successful operation, the Community Theatre was taken over by Paramount interests.
The Boxoffice article diverges from the history given in comments above, and says that the Community opened in 1924 and was closed in 1935 when Paramount leased another theater. Thereafter, it says, the building was used for storage.
To belatedly answer Al Alvarez’s question of March 30 last year, the E.J. Sparks circuit was for many years the Paramount affiliate in Florida.
I think this must be the theater that was, in its original plans, to have been called the Broadway. A rendering of the Broadway Theatre, which was then under construction, appeared in Boxoffice of December 20, 1965. One of the owners of the proposed Broadway, Herb Kaplan, was mentioned in later issues of Boxoffice as a co-owner of the Bay Harbor Theatre. In even later issues of Boxoffice, Kaplan is mentioned as a director of Loew’s Florida division.
The caption of the drawing says that the Broadway was designed by architect Arthur Thomas. I’ve been unable to find anything about him on the Internet.
Originally operated by a partnership called Broadway Enterprises, by May, 1968, the Bay Harbor was being operated by Loew’s. A January 13, 1969, item about the planned benefit premier of “Oliver” referred to the house as “…Loew’s 972-seat Bay Harbor Theatre….”
I’ve had no luck finding a confirmation of the address, but the June 6, 1977, issue of Boxoffice has a list of theater projects completed during 1976, and it includes the Showboat Cinema 2 at Mandan, with 144 seats. As the item doesn’t mention a Showboat Cinema 1, I suspect the new screen might have been in an addition or in space annexed from an adjacent building rather than carved from the existing auditorium.
Boxoffice of August 24, 1964, reported that United Artists would shutter the Penn Theatre on September 30. Operating losses were cited as the reason. UA had operated the Penn in recent years, the item said, and prior to that the house had for some time been operated by a local stock company. That would explain why the Penn didn’t benefit from all those MGM hits in the 1950s. They must have gone to other theaters that were still being operated by Loew’s.
As noted in Ed Blank’s comment of June 3, 2008, the Guild had once been called the Princess Theatre. The name was changed to the Beacon Theatre in 1937, according to Boxoffice of April 3 that year. The item said the Princess had been closed for a week for renovations before reopening as the Beacon on Easter Sunday.
Boxoffice of January 1, 1955, made a reference to “…the Guild Theatre, formerly the Beacon, in Squirrel Hill.” The house had adopted an art policy, competing with Stanley Warner’s nearby Squirrel Hill Theatre.
Boxoffice of April 24, 1937, said that Warner Bros. had recently opened its newly-constructed Squirrel Hill Theatre. It was the first new house built by Warner in the Pittsburgh area in six years.
Stanley Warner gave the Squirrel Hill an updating in 1956, according to Boxoffice of October 13 that year. The item said that the Squirrel Hill was the first art house in this district of Pittsburgh.
The Manor was mentioned as a Warner Bros. house in Motion Picture Times of May 5, 1931.
Boxoffice of February 8, 1965, reported: “The remodeled Manor Theatre, now a SW art house, has 1024 seats, inside ticket desk, 50-foot wall-to-wall screen, modern sound and projection, large lounge area, deep pile carpeting, plus new decorations, etc….” An item from February 1 had said that the Manor seated 884 on the main floor and 140 in the balcony.
The Stanley Warner circuit also operated the nearby Squirrel Hill Theatre, which had long been an art house. The Guild Theatre also operated as an art house at times during this period. Squirrel Hill must have been an arty neighborhood in those days.
A photo of the lobby of the Village Opera House appeared on the cover of Boxoffice, August 18, 1969. The caption says the new road show house seated 520.
Israel White, operator of the Elite Theatre, committed suicide on August 1, 1935. He had been worried about financial reverses, according to a report in Boxoffice of August 17 that year. His assistant and intended son-in-law, Sidney Pink, took over operation of the theater.
The name of the architect currently credited with designing this theater is probably wrong. I can’t find an architect named James C. Van Buren (or even just James Van Buren) in an Internet search, but there are numerous references to a prominent New Haven firm called Brown & Von Beren, and there is also this brief biography of architect Ferdinand Von Beren.
Most telling is an item in the records of the New York Architectural Terra Cotta Company which lists a 1913 bid to supply terra cotta ornament for an addition to an unnamed theater on Main Street in Bridgeport, which had been designed for S.Z. Poli by the firm of Brown & Von Beren. Brown & Von Beren might have been the original architects of this theater as well as architects of the 1913 expansion. The New York Architectural Terra Cotta Company’s records only list projects on which they made bids, and they apparently didn’t bid on the original construction project.
Phantom Screen is correct. Capri is an aka for the Ritz. Boxoffice of July 29, 1963, makes reference to “…the new Capri Theatre, formerly the Ritz….”
The Los Angeles Public Library gives the date of this photo of the Rosemary Theatre’s proscenium during demolition as 1970.
The Brooklyn was well inside the city limits of Los Angeles, not in East Los Angeles. Here’s a 1987 photo from the LAPL.
With regard to my comment of March 11, 2009, I’ve found that the proposed Center Theatre in Charlotte designed by Erle Stillwell (rendering at upper right here) was never built, and was never intended for this Morehead Street location. Comparing the rendering to the photos recently posted, it’s clear that these were two different projects.
The Center Theatre on Morehead Street was apparently designed by Charles C. Benson. The only reference in Boxoffice citing Benson as the architect of the Center was an article in the issue of February 1, 1947, at which time the proposed Meiselman theater at this location had not yet been given a name, but the item said that Benson had drawn the plans for it. Later items in 1947 and 1948 report on the project and give the same location and general description of the building as the February item, and give the name Center.
Construction of the Center was delayed due to post-war restrictions on building materials, as was the case with many projects during that period, but I’ve found nothing to indicate that the original design by Benson was not carried out.
According to JamBase, the Uptown will be hosting a concert by retro band Big Bad Voodoo Daddy on May 14.
The intro for the Bekay currently says it opened in 1932. All the periodical references to its construction in the California Index (citing Southwest Builder & Contractor, and Motion Picture Herald) say it dates from 1936.
Frank Baumgart and Louis Kanstein were the owners. The reinforced concrete structure was built by local contractors Art Lange and Joe Fowles. There was apparently no architect, but Southwest Builder and Contractor of July 11, 1936, gave the name of the engineer as F.O. Reyenga of Los Angeles.
Baumgart and Kanstein sold the Beekay to Mr. and Mrs. Robert Nelson in 1954, according to Boxoffice of October 12 that year.
Boxoffice of January 27, 1940, said the Vogue had been opened the previous week by J.E. Mooney. The Vogue reopened in 1956 after closing for twelve days to redecorate and install CinemaScope equipment, according to Boxoffice of May 26 that year. The theater was then being operated by Mr. and Mrs. Leman Lee. These are the only references to the Vogue I can find in Boxoffice.
It’s too bad they knocked that building down. That was a very nice Colonial Revival facade. Liebenberg and Kaplan’s undated work on the building must have involved only minor alterations as far as the exterior was concerned if it was done before that photo was taken.
Maybe Liebenberg & Kaplan did some remodeling work on the building in 1939. Unfortunately the finding aid for the University of Minnesota’s collection doesn’t give details about the projects, only names, dates, building types, and locations.
The archives of the architectural firm of Liebenberg & Kaplan list an undated theater project at Vermillon under the name March. The photo of the theater linked by ken mc above does look like their earlier work, but seems quite old fashioned for the opening date of 1935. Perhaps this was an older building that was converted into a movie theater?
The November 30, 1946, issue of Boxoffice has an interesting item datelined Vermillion: “George March is the new owner of the March Theatre here. He purchased the house at an auction.”
The Coyote Theatre at Vermillion is listed as a 1939 design in the archives of the architectural firm of Liebenberg & Kaplan.
A November 25, 1939, Boxoffice item indicates that at that time the March circuit consisted of six theaters in three towns: The March and Coyote at Vermillion; the Elite and Royal at LeMars, Iowa; and the Crystal and Gay at Wayne, Nebraska.
The rear portion of La Plaza Theatre was demolished in 1957. The front portion (which must have been the arcade leading to the theater) had been demolished in 1955, and the entire complex had been condemned in 1953, according to this article in the St. Petersburg Times of April 9, 1957.
This 1913 article about amusements available in St. Petersburg says that construction of La Plaza had begun in May, 1912, and the 1,800-seat theater had opened in March, 1913, with a series of three operas presented by the Royal Italian Grand Opera company. The article also mentions that there were three movie houses then operating in St. Petersburg: the Rex, the Star, and the Royal Palms.
The Dakota was under construction in 1950 when the March 25 issue of Boxoffice reported that the walls and roof had been completed and the heating plant installed. I haven’t found any announcement of the opening, but it probably came that year.
The Majestic was quite old, and was listed in a 1909 business directory.
The Majestic was being rebuilt in 1929, according to the the April 13 issue of Movie Age. 150 seats were to be added to the 500-seat house. I haven’t found the Majestic mentioned later than 1929, nor any other theater in Sturgis until the Dakota was being built. It could be that the Majestic operated until the Dakota opened, perhaps under a different name. It seems unlikely that a town of Sturgis’s size would have been without a movie theater for any length of time between 1929 and 1950, but about as unlikely that it would have supported two theaters at any one time.
A postcard showing the Majestic was sold on E-bay some time ago. Unfortunately even the Google cache of the listing appears to be gone, so no details from the listing page are available.
It’s difficult to research Sturgis because it is one of four towns of that name, and the other three were mentioned in Boxoffice far more frequently than the one in South Dakota.
In better days, the Gene Theatre, pictured in Boxoffice of May 5, 1951.
A couple of years after it opened, three photos of the Dixie ran in Boxoffice of May 5, 1951. It was a nice Art Moderne style theater built for the N.N. Bernstein circuit.
The theater’s name was changed from Dixie to Rio in 1965, according to Boxoffice of December 20 that year. Wometco was set to reopen the house at Christmas.
Boxoffice of March 27, 1955, said that the Community Theatre in Miami Beach was being demolished. The article says that the house was built by local investors when no theater operators were willing to build in Miami Beach. After a year of successful operation, the Community Theatre was taken over by Paramount interests.
The Boxoffice article diverges from the history given in comments above, and says that the Community opened in 1924 and was closed in 1935 when Paramount leased another theater. Thereafter, it says, the building was used for storage.
To belatedly answer Al Alvarez’s question of March 30 last year, the E.J. Sparks circuit was for many years the Paramount affiliate in Florida.
I think this must be the theater that was, in its original plans, to have been called the Broadway. A rendering of the Broadway Theatre, which was then under construction, appeared in Boxoffice of December 20, 1965. One of the owners of the proposed Broadway, Herb Kaplan, was mentioned in later issues of Boxoffice as a co-owner of the Bay Harbor Theatre. In even later issues of Boxoffice, Kaplan is mentioned as a director of Loew’s Florida division.
The caption of the drawing says that the Broadway was designed by architect Arthur Thomas. I’ve been unable to find anything about him on the Internet.
Originally operated by a partnership called Broadway Enterprises, by May, 1968, the Bay Harbor was being operated by Loew’s. A January 13, 1969, item about the planned benefit premier of “Oliver” referred to the house as “…Loew’s 972-seat Bay Harbor Theatre….”
I’ve had no luck finding a confirmation of the address, but the June 6, 1977, issue of Boxoffice has a list of theater projects completed during 1976, and it includes the Showboat Cinema 2 at Mandan, with 144 seats. As the item doesn’t mention a Showboat Cinema 1, I suspect the new screen might have been in an addition or in space annexed from an adjacent building rather than carved from the existing auditorium.