Architects' and Builders' Magazine of August, 1910, has an illustrated article about the New Brighton Theatre at Brighton Beach. The theater was designed by the architectural firm of Dodge & Morrison.
The obituary of exhibitor Herman Becker in Boxoffice of September 14, 1957, said that he and Edward Rugoff acquired the Brighton Theatre in 1929. It said that the Brighton had been a theater “…where plays intended for Broadway were tried out….”
In the late 1940s and early 1950s the Brighton was part of George Brandt’s “subway circuit” which took stage plays to theaters in the outlying neighborhoods of New York City during the summer months. One Boxoffice item of the period mentioned that some of the houses in the circuit, including the Brighton, showed movies during the winter.
A 1944 Boxoffice item says that Frank Panero operated a theater at McFarland. Late in 1945, another item said that Panero had a new theater under construction at McFarland, to cost $70,000. An August 17, 1946, item mentioned that Panero was operating only one theater at McFarland, so the old one must have been closed.
I’ve found no mention of the opening date for the new theater, nor the name of the architect, but Panero built several new theaters in the post-war period, and so far all those I’ve found attributed to an architect (at Selma, Shafter, and Delano) were designed by Vincent G. Raney. He’s the likely architect for this house, too, but I haven’t found confirmation.
Chuck, you must be right about the address. The Beach must be the theater that was at 1318 Atlantic. But I still think the Beach was once the City Square, one reason being an entry in the 1920 edition of Boyd’s Atlantic City Directory, which lists: “O'Keefe Edw J genl mgr Criterion Theatre Cort Theatre City Square Theatre h 1318 Atlantic.”
A January 6, 1951, Boxoffice item I found said that the Cinema was a former burlesque house taken over by Waxmann in 1940. It was still called the Cinema in 1951, and got the name Shore the next year.
The same item repeated the claim that the then-Shore (this house) had been the City Square, and added that it was once operated by Eddie O'Keefe, and was taken over on a lease by Waxmann in 1945. But the Cinema, at 1831 Atlantic, has to be the last theater to have had the name Shore, so the address currently given on the Shore page is wrong and actually belongs here on the Beach page.
Comparing the 1981 photo of the Beach linked above by Lost Memory with the 1968 Shore photo he linked on the Shore page, they are both seen with their post-1950s names on the marquees. That would indicate that this house, which still had the name Beach in 1981, is the 1911 Embassy which became the City Square in the 1920s and the Shore in 1947 and finally the Beach in 1952. The front must date from the 1947 renovation by Waxmann, which would explain why it doesn’t look like a building from the 1920s (or 1911.)
I hope this can finally unravel the confusion that has prevailed on the various Atlantic City theater pages.
If the various reports in Boxoffice are correct (and I see no reason to doubt them in this case) then this theater, the last to be called the Shore, was a former burlesque house that was taken over by Harry Waxmann in 1940 and renamed the Cinema, which was its name through 1951. It became the Shore in 1952.
One of Chuck’s comments on the Beach page says that the address of the Cinema was 1831 Atlantic, so that has to be the correct address for this theater. The address 1318 must be the address of the previous Shore Theater, which became the Beach when this house became the Shore.
So the Shore should have the aka Cinema, and the correct address is 1831 Atlantic.
A January 6, 1951, Boxoffice item about Harry Waxmann says that the Hollywood Theatre opened as the Royal in 1930, was bought by Waxmann in 1934 and remodeled. It doesn’t give the year of remodeling but it was certainly the 1936 project by David Supowitz, which is one of four remodeling projects illustrating an article by the architect in Boxoffice of July 25, 1936.
The August 27, 1979, issue of Boxoffice has a letter from Peyton Terry, owner of the Survant Theatre, Glasgow, Montana. He must have renamed the house after himself some time after that. A Roxy Theatre in Glasgow, destroyed by fire in November, 1952, was replaced by a house called the Survant Theatre, the opening of which was reported in Boxoffice of January 30, 1954. The description of the new house says that the front had facing of Arizona flagstone, which the photos linked above show Valley Cinemas building has.
The Survant featured a “south seas” motif, the article said, beginning with a floral pattern on the sidewalk at the entrance. The first photo Chuck linked to shows that the decorative sidewalk has been replaced by ordinary concrete. The lobby and auditorium of the Survant were decorated with hand-painted murals by San Francisco artist Homer Sterios. Construction was by the Harvey Theatre Construction Company, a California firm, and the theater was designed by San Francisco architect Bernard Nobler.
Bernard G. Nobler died in 2003, and an obituary referred to him as an architect who had designed theaters and other buildings in California and Hawaii. Though the Boxoffice item also refers to him as a theater architect I’ve been unable to find out much about his work. The only other Boxoffice references to him are for his unfortunate 1970 remodeling of the Empire Theatre in San Francisco, his position as local associate to architect Henry Greene in the 1968 twinning of the St. Francis Theatre in the same city, and a project for a twin theater that was planned for a site on Ventura Boulevard in North Hollywood as long ago as 1948, but which was apparently never built.
I’ve found Internet references to several of his non-theater projects, including the Tahoe Biltmore resort and casino of 1946, which was originally owned by the Blumenfelds, operators of the San Francisco-based theater chain, though the resort apparently didn’t have a theater in it. But given the association with the Blumenfelds, it seems possible that Nobler designed some of the theaters for that chain, most of which so far remain unattributed at Cinema Treasures.
The 1970 renovation mentioned by Slevin in a comment above was designed by architect Bernard G. Nobler, according to an item in Boxoffice of March 2, 1970.
A March 22, 1947, Boxoffice item said that G.W. Page was building a new theater at the corner of Grand Avenue and Alder Street in Arroyo Grande. Boxoffice of December 13, 1947, said that Bob Page had opened his new Fairoaks Theatre in Arroyo Grande. Page also operated the Bay Theatre in Morro Bay.
I’ve found Boxoffice referring to not only a Grande Theatre in Arroyo Grande, but also to an Arroyo Theatre and an Arroyo Grande Theatre. So far I’ve been unable to tell if this was one theater that kept changing its name, or if Boxoffice was just inconsistent about the name, or if there were actually two (probably not three in this tiny town) different theaters.
In 1938 and 1939, all three names were given, though always one name per item, for a theater operated by Charlie Olds. A March 5, 1938, item said that Charles Olds was taking over the dark Mission Theatre in Arroyo Grande and would reopen the 400-seat house on March 15, after remodeling was complete. There was nothing about him ever opening a second theater. Olds vanished from Boxoffice by 1945, but the multiple theater names continued.
An ad in Boxoffice of January 17, 1948, said that the Arroyo Theatre had installed new chairs. The February 18, 1950, issue said the Grande Theatre was getting a complete remodeling. In 1949, one item named George Page as the operator of the Arroyo Theatre. Did he buy the rival house, or was this an example of confusion by Boxoffice?
I haven’t found any of these three names mentioned after the 1950 item other than retrospectively (former owner of the Arroyo, for example) but the Fairoaks (Boxoffice split the name into Fair Oaks a few times, but Fairoaks was their most frequent usage) is last mentioned in the January 8, 1955, issue.
Boxoffice of November 16, 1964, reported that the Roosevelt Theatre at Seattle would be replaced by a new, first-run house called the Town, to be operated by Sterling Theatres. The bland and boxy facade that replaced that splendid zig-zag Art Deco front was the work of architect Alfred H. Croonquist. The impression given by the article was that the theatre would be virtually rebuilt, indicating that an art deco interior was probably lost at the same time.
A larger version of the 1941 photo linked above, along with additional information about the theater, can be seen at this web post by Seattle chronicler Paul Dorpat. Especially interesting is the information in a comment by David Jeffers, revealing that the original architect of the Roosevelt was Henry Bittman. Bittman, an engineer who became a licensed architect in 1923, was known for his use of terra-cotta ornament, and many buildings of his design featuring that material still grace the streets of Seattle’s older neighborhoods.
The Embassy Theatre was built in 1926, and was designed by Seattle architect Henry Bittman, who also designed the Music Box Theatre (1924) and the Roosevelt Theatre (1933.) Bittman was credited as the engineer for the 1914 Liberty Theatre, designed by architect Henderson Ryan. Bittman was licensed to practice architecture in 1923.
The Music Box Theatre was designed by architect Henry Bittman. Previously an engineer, in which capacity he worked with architect Henderson Ryan on the innovative 1914 design for the Liberty Theatre, Bittman went on to gain an architect’s licence in 1923 and, in addition to the Music Box, designed at least two other theatres in Seattle, the surviving Embassy Theatre of 1926, and the Art Deco Roosevelt Theatre, aka Pike Street Theatre and Town Theatre, which opened in 1933 and has been demolished.
Bittman was a master of terra-cotta decoration, and used it on numerous Seattle buildings including and the one he designed for the Fraternal Order of Eagles. The Eagles' building was renovated in the 1990s as a home for the ACT theater company. This was an appropriate use for the building, as the club had been founded by six Seattle theater owners, including John Cort, who went on the become a leading impresario in New York.
Engineer Henry Bittman, who collaborated with Henderson Ryan on the Liberty Theatre project in 1914, was licensed as an architect in 1923 and went on to design at least three Seattle theatres himself; The Embassy Theatre of 1926, the Music Box Theatre of 1928, and the Town Theatre (aka Roosevelt) of 1933. The Embassy is the only one of these three still standing.
Unlike most Fox theaters of the postwar period, which were designed by in-house architects such as Mel Glatz or Carl G. Moeller, the Palos Verdes Fox was the work of Carver L. Baker, coordinating architect and planning consultant for the development company that managed almost 7000 acres of the Palos Verdes Peninsula for the Great Lakes Carbon Company, which had acquired title to the land in 1953.
An item about the opening of the Fox Theatre appeared in Boxoffice, August 12, 1963, a few days after the house opened. It includes a photo. The caption says that this was the fifth theater opened by National General Theatres, and brought the circuit to 225 theaters in 27 states.
Most of the information about National General Theatres available on the Internet is a bit confusing. The company was incorporated as National Theatres in 1952, but at that time had already operated under that name for many years, having been formed in a 1934 reorganization of Fox West Coast Theatres, which had gone into receivership the previous year, part of the collapse of William Fox’s various enterprises. 20th Century Fox owned a minority interest in National Theatres for a number of years, then acquired a majority interest in the 1940s. The 1952 incorporation was the result of a reorganization of the company stemming from the anti-trust decrees that required movie studios to divest their theater operations.
The various claims that National General took over Fox Theatres in the 1960s are thus misleading, as the company and its predecessor National Theatres had by then been running Fox Theatres for about three decades. The name change to National General in 1962 was a belated reflection of the fact that the National Theatres Corporation incorporated in 1952 had been from the beginning a diversified conglomerate, with movie exhibition only one facet of its operations. A majority of the company’s revenues came from publishing and insurance.
Boxoffice says that the Fox Conejo Theatre was in the Conejo Village Shopping Center, but I’ve been unable to track down an address for it. The shopping center’s name has apparently been changed. The theater opened in 1963.
There was a 750-seat Melody Theatre in Thousand Oaks, opened on October 13, 1965. It was mentioned in several issues of Boxoffice. The Melody was originally operated by Jack Grossman’s Holiday Theatres. It was in the Park Oaks Shopping Center, at Moorpark and Janss Road. I think it must be one of the theaters Knatcal remembers.
It turns out that S. Charles Lee’s 1938 design for the Sierra Theatre was not carried out. The theater as opened in 1946 was designed by Vincent G. Raney. There are a couple of small photos from the time of the opening in Boxoffice of November 2, 1946.
Boxoffice of April 5, 1971, said that a new facade was being built at the Delano Theatre. It was the final step in a multi-year renovation project which had brought the theater new seats, wider aisles, a new sound system and projection equipment, and an new air conditioning system.
I also suspect an opening year of 1924 for the Delano Theatre. Southwest Builder & Contractor of February 29, 1924, said a theater was being planned at Delano as part of the proposed Grower’s Security Bank building, then being designed by Bakersfield architect Charles H. Bigger. An ad for Paramount Pictures in Boxoffice of September 7, 1940, includes tiny photos of the Delano Theatre and the Wasco Theatre along with a photo of operator Frank Panero.
The photo of the pre-remodel Delano shows a building with arched windows characteristic of the 1920s but pretty much out of style by 1930. There is also a letter from Frank Panero indicating that he had been in the theater business for 25 years. The circuit having been headquartered in Delano suggests that the Delano could have been the Panero’s first theater, as its likely opening date of 1925-1925 would have been about the time they got their start.
An article about the new Eastown Theatre was published in Boxoffice of December 12, 1936. There are several photos. The Art Moderne design of the 1,000-seat house was by Grand Rapids architect Harry L. Colton. The Eastown was built for B&J Theatres (Butterfield & Johnson.)
A photo of the recently remodeled facade of the Denis Theatre appeared in this article in Boxoffice of October 15, 1938. The architect for the remodeling was Victor A. Rigaumont.
The Vogue opened in 1938. It was a rebuild of a 1923 theater called the Michigan, which had been closed for ten years according to one Boxoffice item about the project. Before and after photos appeared in this article in Boxoffice of October 15, 1938. I can’t find the name of the architect who designed the remodeling, though architects are named for the other two remodeling projects featured in the article.
This house was mentioned in passing in an item datelined Toronto in Boxoffice of January 3, 1948, which referred to the “…newly-opened Glendale Theatre here….”
I’ve found a couple of references to “William” Overpeck on the Internet, but the architect’s actual first name was Warren. He has been a member of the Architectural Review Board of the Bel Air Association, and a document published by the association indicates why the confusion arose:[quote]“Warren Frazier Overpeck- Bill, as he is called by his friends, graduated from the USC School of Architecture. After graduation he joined the A. Quincy Jones, F.A.I.A. Architectural firm. Two years later he opened his own office in Pacific Palisades, designing custom residences. Later, in
partnership with Bob Kite, their firm designed the John Thomas Dye School after the Bel-Air fire. In 1969 he associated with a major architectural firm to develop Marina City and the Marina City Club”[/quote]The “identical” theater opened by Lippert the same year as the Buena Park was apparently the Corbin Theatre in Tarzana. Presumably it too was designed by Overpeck. The only major difference I can see between the Buena Park as pictured in this Boxoffice feature from 1959 and this 1984 photo of the Corbin is that the Corbin had a traditional marquee, probably added later as it is mounted on columns rather than on the building itself.
On page 14 of the same issue of Boxoffice linked above is an article about Robert Lippert’s twin Riviera and Capri Theatres in Los Angeles, and that project was attributed to architect John P. Edwards with W. F. Overpeck associated. As Lippert had Overpeck work on three projects in a short period, it’s possible that he also designed others of the theaters Lippert was building during the brief time when Overpeck had an individual practice- from about 1958 to 1961, as near as I’ve been able to determine.
A July 12, 1941, Boxoffice item about Walter Noa, manager of the Olson Brothers' Gaylord Theatre, said that he had managed the Gaylord Theatre’s predecessor since 1931. I also found a 1938 item mentioning James Olson of Gaylord, but the name of the earlier theater was not mentioned. Maybe it was called the Gaylord, too.
The Corbin was built for Robert Lippert Theatres and was opened in 1959. It was a near twin to the Buena Park Theatre opened the same year and which was the subject of this Boxoffice feature of October 19 that year. You can see the resemblance to the 1984 photo, though it looks like the Corbin had a traditional marquee added later, judging from the way it’s mounted on columns rather than attached to the building itself. The Corbin was probably designed by the architect of the Buena Park, Warren F. Overpeck.
Here is a detailed history of the Star and Garter at the Jazz Age Chicago web site. The theater was designed by the New York architectural firm Dodge & Morrison.
Architects' and Builders' Magazine of August, 1910, has an illustrated article about the New Brighton Theatre at Brighton Beach. The theater was designed by the architectural firm of Dodge & Morrison.
The obituary of exhibitor Herman Becker in Boxoffice of September 14, 1957, said that he and Edward Rugoff acquired the Brighton Theatre in 1929. It said that the Brighton had been a theater “…where plays intended for Broadway were tried out….”
In the late 1940s and early 1950s the Brighton was part of George Brandt’s “subway circuit” which took stage plays to theaters in the outlying neighborhoods of New York City during the summer months. One Boxoffice item of the period mentioned that some of the houses in the circuit, including the Brighton, showed movies during the winter.
Here is an illustrated article about the Bronx Theatre in the November, 1909, issue of the trade publication Architect’s and Builders' Magazine.
A 1944 Boxoffice item says that Frank Panero operated a theater at McFarland. Late in 1945, another item said that Panero had a new theater under construction at McFarland, to cost $70,000. An August 17, 1946, item mentioned that Panero was operating only one theater at McFarland, so the old one must have been closed.
I’ve found no mention of the opening date for the new theater, nor the name of the architect, but Panero built several new theaters in the post-war period, and so far all those I’ve found attributed to an architect (at Selma, Shafter, and Delano) were designed by Vincent G. Raney. He’s the likely architect for this house, too, but I haven’t found confirmation.
Chuck, you must be right about the address. The Beach must be the theater that was at 1318 Atlantic. But I still think the Beach was once the City Square, one reason being an entry in the 1920 edition of Boyd’s Atlantic City Directory, which lists: “O'Keefe Edw J genl mgr Criterion Theatre Cort Theatre City Square Theatre h 1318 Atlantic.”
A January 6, 1951, Boxoffice item I found said that the Cinema was a former burlesque house taken over by Waxmann in 1940. It was still called the Cinema in 1951, and got the name Shore the next year.
The same item repeated the claim that the then-Shore (this house) had been the City Square, and added that it was once operated by Eddie O'Keefe, and was taken over on a lease by Waxmann in 1945. But the Cinema, at 1831 Atlantic, has to be the last theater to have had the name Shore, so the address currently given on the Shore page is wrong and actually belongs here on the Beach page.
Comparing the 1981 photo of the Beach linked above by Lost Memory with the 1968 Shore photo he linked on the Shore page, they are both seen with their post-1950s names on the marquees. That would indicate that this house, which still had the name Beach in 1981, is the 1911 Embassy which became the City Square in the 1920s and the Shore in 1947 and finally the Beach in 1952. The front must date from the 1947 renovation by Waxmann, which would explain why it doesn’t look like a building from the 1920s (or 1911.)
I hope this can finally unravel the confusion that has prevailed on the various Atlantic City theater pages.
If the various reports in Boxoffice are correct (and I see no reason to doubt them in this case) then this theater, the last to be called the Shore, was a former burlesque house that was taken over by Harry Waxmann in 1940 and renamed the Cinema, which was its name through 1951. It became the Shore in 1952.
One of Chuck’s comments on the Beach page says that the address of the Cinema was 1831 Atlantic, so that has to be the correct address for this theater. The address 1318 must be the address of the previous Shore Theater, which became the Beach when this house became the Shore.
So the Shore should have the aka Cinema, and the correct address is 1831 Atlantic.
A January 6, 1951, Boxoffice item about Harry Waxmann says that the Hollywood Theatre opened as the Royal in 1930, was bought by Waxmann in 1934 and remodeled. It doesn’t give the year of remodeling but it was certainly the 1936 project by David Supowitz, which is one of four remodeling projects illustrating an article by the architect in Boxoffice of July 25, 1936.
The August 27, 1979, issue of Boxoffice has a letter from Peyton Terry, owner of the Survant Theatre, Glasgow, Montana. He must have renamed the house after himself some time after that. A Roxy Theatre in Glasgow, destroyed by fire in November, 1952, was replaced by a house called the Survant Theatre, the opening of which was reported in Boxoffice of January 30, 1954. The description of the new house says that the front had facing of Arizona flagstone, which the photos linked above show Valley Cinemas building has.
The Survant featured a “south seas” motif, the article said, beginning with a floral pattern on the sidewalk at the entrance. The first photo Chuck linked to shows that the decorative sidewalk has been replaced by ordinary concrete. The lobby and auditorium of the Survant were decorated with hand-painted murals by San Francisco artist Homer Sterios. Construction was by the Harvey Theatre Construction Company, a California firm, and the theater was designed by San Francisco architect Bernard Nobler.
Bernard G. Nobler died in 2003, and an obituary referred to him as an architect who had designed theaters and other buildings in California and Hawaii. Though the Boxoffice item also refers to him as a theater architect I’ve been unable to find out much about his work. The only other Boxoffice references to him are for his unfortunate 1970 remodeling of the Empire Theatre in San Francisco, his position as local associate to architect Henry Greene in the 1968 twinning of the St. Francis Theatre in the same city, and a project for a twin theater that was planned for a site on Ventura Boulevard in North Hollywood as long ago as 1948, but which was apparently never built.
I’ve found Internet references to several of his non-theater projects, including the Tahoe Biltmore resort and casino of 1946, which was originally owned by the Blumenfelds, operators of the San Francisco-based theater chain, though the resort apparently didn’t have a theater in it. But given the association with the Blumenfelds, it seems possible that Nobler designed some of the theaters for that chain, most of which so far remain unattributed at Cinema Treasures.
The 1970 renovation mentioned by Slevin in a comment above was designed by architect Bernard G. Nobler, according to an item in Boxoffice of March 2, 1970.
A March 22, 1947, Boxoffice item said that G.W. Page was building a new theater at the corner of Grand Avenue and Alder Street in Arroyo Grande. Boxoffice of December 13, 1947, said that Bob Page had opened his new Fairoaks Theatre in Arroyo Grande. Page also operated the Bay Theatre in Morro Bay.
I’ve found Boxoffice referring to not only a Grande Theatre in Arroyo Grande, but also to an Arroyo Theatre and an Arroyo Grande Theatre. So far I’ve been unable to tell if this was one theater that kept changing its name, or if Boxoffice was just inconsistent about the name, or if there were actually two (probably not three in this tiny town) different theaters.
In 1938 and 1939, all three names were given, though always one name per item, for a theater operated by Charlie Olds. A March 5, 1938, item said that Charles Olds was taking over the dark Mission Theatre in Arroyo Grande and would reopen the 400-seat house on March 15, after remodeling was complete. There was nothing about him ever opening a second theater. Olds vanished from Boxoffice by 1945, but the multiple theater names continued.
An ad in Boxoffice of January 17, 1948, said that the Arroyo Theatre had installed new chairs. The February 18, 1950, issue said the Grande Theatre was getting a complete remodeling. In 1949, one item named George Page as the operator of the Arroyo Theatre. Did he buy the rival house, or was this an example of confusion by Boxoffice?
I haven’t found any of these three names mentioned after the 1950 item other than retrospectively (former owner of the Arroyo, for example) but the Fairoaks (Boxoffice split the name into Fair Oaks a few times, but Fairoaks was their most frequent usage) is last mentioned in the January 8, 1955, issue.
Boxoffice of November 16, 1964, reported that the Roosevelt Theatre at Seattle would be replaced by a new, first-run house called the Town, to be operated by Sterling Theatres. The bland and boxy facade that replaced that splendid zig-zag Art Deco front was the work of architect Alfred H. Croonquist. The impression given by the article was that the theatre would be virtually rebuilt, indicating that an art deco interior was probably lost at the same time.
A larger version of the 1941 photo linked above, along with additional information about the theater, can be seen at this web post by Seattle chronicler Paul Dorpat. Especially interesting is the information in a comment by David Jeffers, revealing that the original architect of the Roosevelt was Henry Bittman. Bittman, an engineer who became a licensed architect in 1923, was known for his use of terra-cotta ornament, and many buildings of his design featuring that material still grace the streets of Seattle’s older neighborhoods.
The Embassy Theatre was built in 1926, and was designed by Seattle architect Henry Bittman, who also designed the Music Box Theatre (1924) and the Roosevelt Theatre (1933.) Bittman was credited as the engineer for the 1914 Liberty Theatre, designed by architect Henderson Ryan. Bittman was licensed to practice architecture in 1923.
The Music Box Theatre was designed by architect Henry Bittman. Previously an engineer, in which capacity he worked with architect Henderson Ryan on the innovative 1914 design for the Liberty Theatre, Bittman went on to gain an architect’s licence in 1923 and, in addition to the Music Box, designed at least two other theatres in Seattle, the surviving Embassy Theatre of 1926, and the Art Deco Roosevelt Theatre, aka Pike Street Theatre and Town Theatre, which opened in 1933 and has been demolished.
Bittman was a master of terra-cotta decoration, and used it on numerous Seattle buildings including and the one he designed for the Fraternal Order of Eagles. The Eagles' building was renovated in the 1990s as a home for the ACT theater company. This was an appropriate use for the building, as the club had been founded by six Seattle theater owners, including John Cort, who went on the become a leading impresario in New York.
Engineer Henry Bittman, who collaborated with Henderson Ryan on the Liberty Theatre project in 1914, was licensed as an architect in 1923 and went on to design at least three Seattle theatres himself; The Embassy Theatre of 1926, the Music Box Theatre of 1928, and the Town Theatre (aka Roosevelt) of 1933. The Embassy is the only one of these three still standing.
Unlike most Fox theaters of the postwar period, which were designed by in-house architects such as Mel Glatz or Carl G. Moeller, the Palos Verdes Fox was the work of Carver L. Baker, coordinating architect and planning consultant for the development company that managed almost 7000 acres of the Palos Verdes Peninsula for the Great Lakes Carbon Company, which had acquired title to the land in 1953.
An item about the opening of the Fox Theatre appeared in Boxoffice, August 12, 1963, a few days after the house opened. It includes a photo. The caption says that this was the fifth theater opened by National General Theatres, and brought the circuit to 225 theaters in 27 states.
Most of the information about National General Theatres available on the Internet is a bit confusing. The company was incorporated as National Theatres in 1952, but at that time had already operated under that name for many years, having been formed in a 1934 reorganization of Fox West Coast Theatres, which had gone into receivership the previous year, part of the collapse of William Fox’s various enterprises. 20th Century Fox owned a minority interest in National Theatres for a number of years, then acquired a majority interest in the 1940s. The 1952 incorporation was the result of a reorganization of the company stemming from the anti-trust decrees that required movie studios to divest their theater operations.
The various claims that National General took over Fox Theatres in the 1960s are thus misleading, as the company and its predecessor National Theatres had by then been running Fox Theatres for about three decades. The name change to National General in 1962 was a belated reflection of the fact that the National Theatres Corporation incorporated in 1952 had been from the beginning a diversified conglomerate, with movie exhibition only one facet of its operations. A majority of the company’s revenues came from publishing and insurance.
Boxoffice says that the Fox Conejo Theatre was in the Conejo Village Shopping Center, but I’ve been unable to track down an address for it. The shopping center’s name has apparently been changed. The theater opened in 1963.
There was a 750-seat Melody Theatre in Thousand Oaks, opened on October 13, 1965. It was mentioned in several issues of Boxoffice. The Melody was originally operated by Jack Grossman’s Holiday Theatres. It was in the Park Oaks Shopping Center, at Moorpark and Janss Road. I think it must be one of the theaters Knatcal remembers.
It turns out that S. Charles Lee’s 1938 design for the Sierra Theatre was not carried out. The theater as opened in 1946 was designed by Vincent G. Raney. There are a couple of small photos from the time of the opening in Boxoffice of November 2, 1946.
Boxoffice of April 5, 1971, said that a new facade was being built at the Delano Theatre. It was the final step in a multi-year renovation project which had brought the theater new seats, wider aisles, a new sound system and projection equipment, and an new air conditioning system.
I also suspect an opening year of 1924 for the Delano Theatre. Southwest Builder & Contractor of February 29, 1924, said a theater was being planned at Delano as part of the proposed Grower’s Security Bank building, then being designed by Bakersfield architect Charles H. Bigger. An ad for Paramount Pictures in Boxoffice of September 7, 1940, includes tiny photos of the Delano Theatre and the Wasco Theatre along with a photo of operator Frank Panero.
The photo of the pre-remodel Delano shows a building with arched windows characteristic of the 1920s but pretty much out of style by 1930. There is also a letter from Frank Panero indicating that he had been in the theater business for 25 years. The circuit having been headquartered in Delano suggests that the Delano could have been the Panero’s first theater, as its likely opening date of 1925-1925 would have been about the time they got their start.
An article about the new Eastown Theatre was published in Boxoffice of December 12, 1936. There are several photos. The Art Moderne design of the 1,000-seat house was by Grand Rapids architect Harry L. Colton. The Eastown was built for B&J Theatres (Butterfield & Johnson.)
A photo of the recently remodeled facade of the Denis Theatre appeared in this article in Boxoffice of October 15, 1938. The architect for the remodeling was Victor A. Rigaumont.
The Vogue opened in 1938. It was a rebuild of a 1923 theater called the Michigan, which had been closed for ten years according to one Boxoffice item about the project. Before and after photos appeared in this article in Boxoffice of October 15, 1938. I can’t find the name of the architect who designed the remodeling, though architects are named for the other two remodeling projects featured in the article.
This house was mentioned in passing in an item datelined Toronto in Boxoffice of January 3, 1948, which referred to the “…newly-opened Glendale Theatre here….”
I’ve found a couple of references to “William” Overpeck on the Internet, but the architect’s actual first name was Warren. He has been a member of the Architectural Review Board of the Bel Air Association, and a document published by the association indicates why the confusion arose:[quote]“Warren Frazier Overpeck- Bill, as he is called by his friends, graduated from the USC School of Architecture. After graduation he joined the A. Quincy Jones, F.A.I.A. Architectural firm. Two years later he opened his own office in Pacific Palisades, designing custom residences. Later, in
partnership with Bob Kite, their firm designed the John Thomas Dye School after the Bel-Air fire. In 1969 he associated with a major architectural firm to develop Marina City and the Marina City Club”[/quote]The “identical” theater opened by Lippert the same year as the Buena Park was apparently the Corbin Theatre in Tarzana. Presumably it too was designed by Overpeck. The only major difference I can see between the Buena Park as pictured in this Boxoffice feature from 1959 and this 1984 photo of the Corbin is that the Corbin had a traditional marquee, probably added later as it is mounted on columns rather than on the building itself.
On page 14 of the same issue of Boxoffice linked above is an article about Robert Lippert’s twin Riviera and Capri Theatres in Los Angeles, and that project was attributed to architect John P. Edwards with W. F. Overpeck associated. As Lippert had Overpeck work on three projects in a short period, it’s possible that he also designed others of the theaters Lippert was building during the brief time when Overpeck had an individual practice- from about 1958 to 1961, as near as I’ve been able to determine.
A July 12, 1941, Boxoffice item about Walter Noa, manager of the Olson Brothers' Gaylord Theatre, said that he had managed the Gaylord Theatre’s predecessor since 1931. I also found a 1938 item mentioning James Olson of Gaylord, but the name of the earlier theater was not mentioned. Maybe it was called the Gaylord, too.
The Corbin was built for Robert Lippert Theatres and was opened in 1959. It was a near twin to the Buena Park Theatre opened the same year and which was the subject of this Boxoffice feature of October 19 that year. You can see the resemblance to the 1984 photo, though it looks like the Corbin had a traditional marquee added later, judging from the way it’s mounted on columns rather than attached to the building itself. The Corbin was probably designed by the architect of the Buena Park, Warren F. Overpeck.