This drive-in must have opened before 1955. An item datelined Bonifay, Fla., in the January 17, 1953 issue of Boxoffice said “Al Saunders has installed new Century equipment in his 250-car Al’s Drive-In here”.
The theater in the photo apparently dates from 1948, when the April 24 issue of Boxoffice reported that “A. C. Saunders is planning a June opening for the Bonifay Theatre, currently under construction as a replacement for the theater destroyed by fire in 1945.” Since the fire Saunders had been operating a temporary theater in a store building adjacent to the construction site. The new house was to seat 550.
The August 19, 1963 issue of Boxoffice said that “Dewey Brannon has closed his indoor Bonifay Theatre in Bonifay concurrent with the opening of a new walk-in addition to his Al’s Drive-In, also located in Bonifay.” Brannon was the son-in-law of theater owner Al Saunders.
A Bonifay Theatre was listed in a 1918 Polk directory of Florida, but I don’t know if it was the same house that burned in 1945.
August of 1915 seems rather late for the American Theatre to have opened. Not only was the house listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory, which must have gone to press fairly early in 1914, but also in that year’s Chicago Blue Book directory, published in December.
A May 5, 1914 article in the Chicago Tribune reported a contretemps that had taken place at the theater when a non-union landscape artist came to paint the scenic curtain for the house, leading to a walkout by union sign, scene and pictorial painters working on the project. The walkout ended when the landscape painter agreed to join the union. This sort of decorative work is typically undertaken when a theater is fairly close to completion.
Konrad Schiecke’s Historic Movie Theatres in Illinois, 1883-1960 says that the Alma Theatre opened in 1913, was renamed the Cort Theatre in 1948, and closed in 1955. The Alma is listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory.
The Glamour Theatre was still in operation at least as late as August 1, 1915, when it was mentioned in that day’s edition of the Chicago Examiner. The owner at that time was an E. A. Rysdon, who had contributed $5 to the Mayor’s fund for the survivors of the S.S. Eastland, a Great Lakes excursion steamer which had capsized at its berth in the Chicago River a few days earlier, leading to the deaths of 844 passengers and crew members. This event remains the deadliest disaster in Chicago’s history and in the history of Great Lakes shipping.
The July 16, 1921 issue of The Commercial and Financial Chronicle had an item about Goldwyn Pictures Corporation which said that the company had acquired an interest in Ascher Bros. Theatres in January, 1920, and over the course of that year six new theaters were added to the 16 already operated by the chain. One of these was the Merrill Theatre in Milwaukee, which the item said had opened on May 15, 1920.
This Facebook post says that the ICON cinema chain has plans to renovate and reopen the Windsor Hills 10. ICON also intended to reopen the old Litchfield-built Kickingbird Cinemas at Edmond, OK, but have missed their announced opening date, so we shall see. They might have overextended themselves. They currently have only three locations, two in New Mexico and one in Colorado.
A list of subscribers to the American Motion Picture League published in the December 20, 1913 issue of Moving Picture World includes the Theato Amusement Co. of Sheffield, Alabama. The Theato is the only movie house listed at Sheffield in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory.
Clickable link. The LaSalle Theatre is currently in operation as an event venue. Judging from the gallery on their web site, it is most often used for weddings and receptions. The auditorium floor has been leveled into three terraces which can be used for tables, but otherwise the theater appears to be largely intact.
Louis Rosenbaum bought the Strand and Pastime Theatres at Tuscumbia around the beginning of 1922, according to an item in the January 18 issue of Film Daily that year. He was still the owner in 1928, as noted in this item from Film Daily of January 3 that year:
“Athens, Ala.— Louis Rosenbaum of Muscle Shoals Theaters, Inc., operating the Princess and Majestic at Florence, Palace at Sheffield, and Strand at Tuscumbia, announces the building of a theater here to be opened some time in April.”
If the Pastime was gone from this location by May, 1921, it’s likely that it had simply moved to new quarters by then. This item is from the January 18, 1922 issue of Film Daily:
“Adding Houses to Chain
“(Special to THE FILM DAILY)
“Florence, Ala.— The Rosenbaum interests have bought all holdings of Southern Enterprises at Sheffield and Tuscumbia. The new houses are the [unreadable] at Sheffield, and the Pastime and Strand at Tuscumbia. The operating company will be known as the North Alabama Enterprises.”
The Pastime was soon to pass anyway. The only house listed at Tuscumbia in the 1927 FDY was the Strand (the town is not listed in the 1926 FDY, but quite a few Alabama towns went missing that year. I think FDY just screwed up the listings for the state.)
Well, here we go. 1927 and 1928 FDYs also list the Grand, the 1928 edition giving it 211 seats. The Roscoe first appears in 1929, also with 211 seats, and the only theater listed at Roscoe that year. That definitely looks like a name change, but maybe it was more. A comment by Robert Deavers on a photo of the Grand on this Flickr page says of the original wooden theater that “[in] either 1927 or 28 it burned down and was replaced by a brick building.” Since seating capacity wasn’t listed until 1928, maybe that was the new “brick building” already in use before the name change.
As for the original Grand, the photo shows signage for Pathé Newsreels (first made in 1910,) actress Ruth Roland (who made her first movie in 1911) and Baroness Blanc’s Talking Pictures, which were a topic of discussion as early as 1911, so the photo could actually be quite early. Pathé and Ruth Roland were around through the entire silent era. Baroness Blanc was more of a nine days wonder, and I haven’t found references to her later than 1917, so the photo most likely dates from the 1910s.
robboehm: I don’t think that’s a safe presumption. It’s merely one possible explanation, suggesting one avenue of exploration. The Star might also have been on Wayne Street and become the Roscoe. The Palace and Star might both have closed and another theater of unknown name could have opened and later become the Roscoe. The only theater listed at Roscoe in the 1926 FDY is called the Grand. The Grand might have become the Roscoe. The Grand itself might have been either the Palace or the Star renamed, or Grand could have been the new name of a third theater (or a fourth or a fifth or….) And the Roscoe might have been newly opened at some point, either in a new building or a remodeled existing building. In other words, the theatrical history of Roscoe is largely still a mystery that is yet to be revealed. But at least this is a start.
The 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory listed two theaters at Roscoe; the Palace Theatre on Wayne Street and the Star Theatre, no location given.
The original National Theatre appears to have closed in late 1950 or early 1951, and the name was moved to the former Palace Theatre, which had been remodeled. This was reported in the January 6, 1951 issue of Boxoffice. Maurice Easterling then owned both houses, as well as the Mexia Theatre, opened in late 1949.
A bit of name switching took place in Mexia in 1951. The January 6 issue of Boxoffice said that the former Palace Theatre had been remodeled and reopened as the National Theatre. Both houses had been owned by Maurice Easterling, who also owned the newer Mexia Theatre.
The Mexia Theatre was in the planning stage as early as 1947, with the plans being drawn by Dallas theater architect Raymond Smith, but construction was delayed by postwar materials shortages. Boxoffice of June 28, 1948, said that construction was slated to begin as soon as long-delayed structural steel became available. Apparently there was further delay, as the recent opening of the Mexia Theatre was noted in the November 19, 1949 issue of Boxoffice. The Mexia was built for Maurice Easterling, then owner of the National and Palace Theatres in Mexia. The house opened with 680 seats.
The Liberty Theatre was advertised in the May 19, 1939 issue of the local newspaper. It had still been advertised as the American Theatre at least as late as March 26, 1937.
The American Theatre at Mexia was mentioned in the June 10, 1922 issue of Moving Picture World, along with some good advice:
“Lest You Forget
“The donkey stunt still works. Ray Stemmit, of the American Theatre, Mexia, Tex., used it lately to good advantage, the jack carrying a sign which read, ‘I am a jackass because I have not seen "Over the Hill.”’
“A better wording is, ‘I have not seen "Over the Hill,” but that’s because I’m a jackass.’“
rdimucci: Yes, the Boulevard Theatre was the first home of the Inner City Cultural Center, from its founding in 1966 until 1972. The Center moved into the former Masonic Temple at 1308 S. New Hampshire Avenue in 1972 and acquired the Ivar Theatre in Hollywood in 1986.
The Coronet opened in late 1962. It was still under construction when Boxoffice of September 3 mentioned the project in an article about twin cinemas, several of which were slated to open or begin construction over the next several months. Rugoff’s Cinema I and II down the block from the Baronet had already opened on July 25.
This item from the March 1, 1924 issue of Moving Picture World has to be about this theater, though the hotel was downsized from five stories to three before it was built:
“CADIZ, O.— Cadiz Prospect Company has plans by Hubert L. Wardner, 522 Everett Building, Akron, for five-story brick theatre, store and hotel building, 78 by 147 and 22 by 100 feet, to cost about $200,000.”
Also please note correct name, address and seating capacity provided in the previous comment by Comfortably Cool. Both the theater and the hotel have now been completely demolished, though the hotel still appears in the Google street view dated July, 2012.
This drive-in must have opened before 1955. An item datelined Bonifay, Fla., in the January 17, 1953 issue of Boxoffice said “Al Saunders has installed new Century equipment in his 250-car Al’s Drive-In here”.
The theater in the photo apparently dates from 1948, when the April 24 issue of Boxoffice reported that “A. C. Saunders is planning a June opening for the Bonifay Theatre, currently under construction as a replacement for the theater destroyed by fire in 1945.” Since the fire Saunders had been operating a temporary theater in a store building adjacent to the construction site. The new house was to seat 550.
The August 19, 1963 issue of Boxoffice said that “Dewey Brannon has closed his indoor Bonifay Theatre in Bonifay concurrent with the opening of a new walk-in addition to his Al’s Drive-In, also located in Bonifay.” Brannon was the son-in-law of theater owner Al Saunders.
A Bonifay Theatre was listed in a 1918 Polk directory of Florida, but I don’t know if it was the same house that burned in 1945.
August of 1915 seems rather late for the American Theatre to have opened. Not only was the house listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory, which must have gone to press fairly early in 1914, but also in that year’s Chicago Blue Book directory, published in December.
A May 5, 1914 article in the Chicago Tribune reported a contretemps that had taken place at the theater when a non-union landscape artist came to paint the scenic curtain for the house, leading to a walkout by union sign, scene and pictorial painters working on the project. The walkout ended when the landscape painter agreed to join the union. This sort of decorative work is typically undertaken when a theater is fairly close to completion.
The Alpha Theatre is listed at this address in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory.
Konrad Schiecke’s Historic Movie Theatres in Illinois, 1883-1960 says that the Alma Theatre opened in 1913, was renamed the Cort Theatre in 1948, and closed in 1955. The Alma is listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory.
The Glamour Theatre was still in operation at least as late as August 1, 1915, when it was mentioned in that day’s edition of the Chicago Examiner. The owner at that time was an E. A. Rysdon, who had contributed $5 to the Mayor’s fund for the survivors of the S.S. Eastland, a Great Lakes excursion steamer which had capsized at its berth in the Chicago River a few days earlier, leading to the deaths of 844 passengers and crew members. This event remains the deadliest disaster in Chicago’s history and in the history of Great Lakes shipping.
Cincinnati’s Capitol Theatre was opened by the Ascher Bros. circuit on April 2, 1921.
The July 16, 1921 issue of The Commercial and Financial Chronicle had an item about Goldwyn Pictures Corporation which said that the company had acquired an interest in Ascher Bros. Theatres in January, 1920, and over the course of that year six new theaters were added to the 16 already operated by the chain. One of these was the Merrill Theatre in Milwaukee, which the item said had opened on May 15, 1920.
This Facebook post says that the ICON cinema chain has plans to renovate and reopen the Windsor Hills 10. ICON also intended to reopen the old Litchfield-built Kickingbird Cinemas at Edmond, OK, but have missed their announced opening date, so we shall see. They might have overextended themselves. They currently have only three locations, two in New Mexico and one in Colorado.
A list of subscribers to the American Motion Picture League published in the December 20, 1913 issue of Moving Picture World includes the Theato Amusement Co. of Sheffield, Alabama. The Theato is the only movie house listed at Sheffield in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory.
Clickable link. The LaSalle Theatre is currently in operation as an event venue. Judging from the gallery on their web site, it is most often used for weddings and receptions. The auditorium floor has been leveled into three terraces which can be used for tables, but otherwise the theater appears to be largely intact.
It might have been reopened after May, 1921 then. I doubt Louis Rosenbaum would have bought a phantom theater along with the Strand.
Louis Rosenbaum bought the Strand and Pastime Theatres at Tuscumbia around the beginning of 1922, according to an item in the January 18 issue of Film Daily that year. He was still the owner in 1928, as noted in this item from Film Daily of January 3 that year:
If the Pastime was gone from this location by May, 1921, it’s likely that it had simply moved to new quarters by then. This item is from the January 18, 1922 issue of Film Daily:
The Pastime was soon to pass anyway. The only house listed at Tuscumbia in the 1927 FDY was the Strand (the town is not listed in the 1926 FDY, but quite a few Alabama towns went missing that year. I think FDY just screwed up the listings for the state.)Well, here we go. 1927 and 1928 FDYs also list the Grand, the 1928 edition giving it 211 seats. The Roscoe first appears in 1929, also with 211 seats, and the only theater listed at Roscoe that year. That definitely looks like a name change, but maybe it was more. A comment by Robert Deavers on a photo of the Grand on this Flickr page says of the original wooden theater that “[in] either 1927 or 28 it burned down and was replaced by a brick building.” Since seating capacity wasn’t listed until 1928, maybe that was the new “brick building” already in use before the name change.
As for the original Grand, the photo shows signage for Pathé Newsreels (first made in 1910,) actress Ruth Roland (who made her first movie in 1911) and Baroness Blanc’s Talking Pictures, which were a topic of discussion as early as 1911, so the photo could actually be quite early. Pathé and Ruth Roland were around through the entire silent era. Baroness Blanc was more of a nine days wonder, and I haven’t found references to her later than 1917, so the photo most likely dates from the 1910s.
robboehm: I don’t think that’s a safe presumption. It’s merely one possible explanation, suggesting one avenue of exploration. The Star might also have been on Wayne Street and become the Roscoe. The Palace and Star might both have closed and another theater of unknown name could have opened and later become the Roscoe. The only theater listed at Roscoe in the 1926 FDY is called the Grand. The Grand might have become the Roscoe. The Grand itself might have been either the Palace or the Star renamed, or Grand could have been the new name of a third theater (or a fourth or a fifth or….) And the Roscoe might have been newly opened at some point, either in a new building or a remodeled existing building. In other words, the theatrical history of Roscoe is largely still a mystery that is yet to be revealed. But at least this is a start.
The 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory listed two theaters at Roscoe; the Palace Theatre on Wayne Street and the Star Theatre, no location given.
The original National Theatre appears to have closed in late 1950 or early 1951, and the name was moved to the former Palace Theatre, which had been remodeled. This was reported in the January 6, 1951 issue of Boxoffice. Maurice Easterling then owned both houses, as well as the Mexia Theatre, opened in late 1949.
A bit of name switching took place in Mexia in 1951. The January 6 issue of Boxoffice said that the former Palace Theatre had been remodeled and reopened as the National Theatre. Both houses had been owned by Maurice Easterling, who also owned the newer Mexia Theatre.
The Mexia Theatre was in the planning stage as early as 1947, with the plans being drawn by Dallas theater architect Raymond Smith, but construction was delayed by postwar materials shortages. Boxoffice of June 28, 1948, said that construction was slated to begin as soon as long-delayed structural steel became available. Apparently there was further delay, as the recent opening of the Mexia Theatre was noted in the November 19, 1949 issue of Boxoffice. The Mexia was built for Maurice Easterling, then owner of the National and Palace Theatres in Mexia. The house opened with 680 seats.
The Liberty Theatre was advertised in the May 19, 1939 issue of the local newspaper. It had still been advertised as the American Theatre at least as late as March 26, 1937.
The American Theatre at Mexia was mentioned in the June 10, 1922 issue of Moving Picture World, along with some good advice:
rdimucci: Yes, the Boulevard Theatre was the first home of the Inner City Cultural Center, from its founding in 1966 until 1972. The Center moved into the former Masonic Temple at 1308 S. New Hampshire Avenue in 1972 and acquired the Ivar Theatre in Hollywood in 1986.
The Coronet opened in late 1962. It was still under construction when Boxoffice of September 3 mentioned the project in an article about twin cinemas, several of which were slated to open or begin construction over the next several months. Rugoff’s Cinema I and II down the block from the Baronet had already opened on July 25.
This item from the March 1, 1924 issue of Moving Picture World has to be about this theater, though the hotel was downsized from five stories to three before it was built:
Also please note correct name, address and seating capacity provided in the previous comment by Comfortably Cool. Both the theater and the hotel have now been completely demolished, though the hotel still appears in the Google street view dated July, 2012.