There were two houses called the Cameo Theatre in White Salmon. The second is a bit easier easier to trace, though I haven’t found an address for it. The March 10, 1951 issue of Boxoffice said that Larry Bristol was aiming for a May 1 opening for his Cameo Theatre in White Salmon. A March 31 item in the same journal said that the Cameo was a new house, seating 350, and was being outfitted by the B. F. Shearer Co. of Seattle. I haven’t found out how long it operated, but it was fitted for CinemaScope in 1955. In 1982 it was in use by a little theater group called the Cameo Players.
The first Cameo is a bit puzzling. It first appears in the 1937 FDY, with 247 seats. Prior to that, when White Salmon is listed in the FDY at all, it is with a 200-seat house called the Leo, a 200-seat house called the Wauna, or a house called the Dewey, with no capacity listed. The Dewey is mentioned frequently in trade journals in the mid-1920s, but doesn’t show up in the FDY until 1931 and 1932, and then never again. And yet modern documents from the city itself mention the Dewey Theatre Building, at 121 N. Main Avenue, so it is clearly remembered by that name. I thought Dewey might have been an aka for the first Cameo, but it turns out not to have been.
There is this line from a February 21, 1941 article in The Enterprise, the local newspaper: “The Cameo Theatre now occupies the site which will be remembered as the one called the Alpha Opera House, as seen in the pictures of the town taken in earlier days. It has been run by Mr. Percy since 1935.”
Then there is this photo from 1949, and I’m pretty sure a building up the block on the left has a marquee with the name Cameo over it, though it’s hard to make out. I believe that this building, which would have been at approximately 113-115 E. Jewett Boulevard, has been demolished within the last ten years. It shows up in Google street views from 2012, but not in those from 2018.
One puzzle is, were Leo Theatre and Wuana Theatre aka’s for the first Cameo, or were they aka’s for the Dewey, or was there a third theater somewhere in White Salmon? Even if the building actually started out as a theater (Alpha Opera House) it’s not impossible that it would be used for other purposes for decades and then return to theatrical use in 1935, when Mr. Percy began running the Cameo, but it could quite easily have housed the Leo and the Wuana as well. No editions of the FDY list more than one theater in operation at White Salmon at a given time.
The other puzzle of course is where was the second Cameo? I don’t see any buildings in Google street views that look like a theater from the early 1950s, and the town’s planning documents available on the Internet never mention it.
50sSNIPES is correct. The Orpheum sign was still on the building in the mid-1950s, and a photo from that time was published in Boxoffice of June 2, 1958. Though the theater was advertised as the Fox Orpheum in the 1930s, the Fox Wisconsin circuit only leased the house from 1933 to 1943, after which it was independently operated as the Orpheum Theatre by Victor McCormick until he leased it to Marcus Theatres in 1956.
The Granada Theatre was built by real estate developer George S. Smith in 1924. It was designed in a Moorish Revival style by Portland architect Earl G. (Gilbert) Cash. Opening on August 24, 1924, the house began a 32-year run as the leading movie theater in Portland’s Montavilla district. The Granada closed in 1956, and since 1957 has been in almost continuous use as a church. The 1926 Film Daily Year Book listed the Granada with 630 seats.
The Phoenix-based Rickard and Nace chain were the first operators of Tucson’s Rialto Theatre on its opening in 1920. The theater had been built by Emanuel Drachman, owner of the Tucson Opera House, whose family maintained a connection to the Rialto for many years, Drachman’s son Roy acting as manager on behalf of Rickard and Nace as late as 1933.
The explosion that closed the theater in January, 1984 was not gas but steam. The theater’s ancient boiler ruptured violently after being fitted with the wrong type of safety valve, allowing excessive pressure to build up.
Elysian Grove was one of the privately owned pleasure parks that thrived in modern cities in the late 19th and early 20th centuries (Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen is a rare survivor of the type.) Elysian Grove began as Carrillo Gardens, founded in the late 19th century by Leopoldo Carrillo, and taken over by Emanuel Drachman around 1902 and renamed. Among the many attractions in the eight acre park were two theaters, one indoor and one outdoor, both of which were equipped to show movies as well as live entertainments. The first movie known to have been shown in Tucson, Edwin S. Porter’s The Great Train Robbery, was presented at the outdoor theater in Elysian Grove in 1903. The indoor theater was built a few years later.
Arizona Territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Arizona in 1912, and the legislature soon passed a law prohibiting the sale of alcoholic beverages. As a big part of Elysian Grove’s business had been in its saloons and beer gardens, custom fell off rapidly and the operation was closed by 1915. The theaters remained open until the end. Manny Drachman then assumed control of the Tucson Opera House and converted it to a movie theater, renaming it the State Theatre in 1917.
Oddly, only one theater is listed at Tucson in the 1914-1915 American Moving Picture Directory, that being the Clifton Theatre, at 32 W. Congress Street, but there must have been several by that time.
The 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory lists the Palm Theatre at Ballard (still an independent city at that time, so not part of Seattle’s listings) at 5346 Ballard Avenue. It lists a house called the Tivoli at the same address. I suspect that the double listing resulted from a name change around the time the directory was being compiled, late 1913 or early 1914.
A page about Seattle’s early theaters at Historylink says that three movie houses in Ballard, the Ballard, Tivoli and Crystal, were all in operation by 1910. It also says that of these only the Ballard Theatre survived the WWI period, so the Tivoli/Palm must have closed before the end of 1918. The Ballard is certainly the only one of the three that is listed in the 1926 FDY.
A page about Seattle’s early theaters at Historylink says that three movie houses in Ballard, the Ballard, Tivoli and Crystal, were all in operation by 1910.
Before becoming the Paramount, this house was in operation by 1914 as Hub’s Theatre, which is how it was listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory.
This article from the February 1, 2022 issue of the Omak-Okanogan County Chronicle tells of a mural installed in the theater for owner Hub Carlton in 1915. The mural was long ago plastered over, and its existence only rediscovered recently. The article has a recent photo of the mural and a vintage photo of the Paramount’s auditorium.
The address of the Paramount is 118 N. Second Avenue.
They May 22, 1954 issue of Boxoffice said that new theater was to be built in Twisp: “The Charles Nelsons have signed a contract for the building for a new theatre in Twisp, Wash., to replace the one that burned down last year.”
The article rivest266 just posted says that the yet-unnamed theater on Bethany Home Road was designed by Elmo K. Lathrop & Associates. The finding aid for the J. Evan Miler Collection of Cinerama Theater Plans at UCLA also lists Elmo K. Lathrop as the architect of the Bethany Theatre. The 1962 edition of the AIA’s American Architects Directory lists Lathrop’s address then as 4201 N. 2nd Ave, Phoenix, Arizona.
As near as I can puzzle out from the scant information on the Internet, the Jim Coles & Associates that operated in Phoenix in the 1960s was an interior design firm. There is an architect named Jim Coles currently practicing in Idaho, as head of Design West Architects, but I doubt it would be the same guy, sixty years later.
This web page says that the Princess Theatre was at 924 First Street, in a building designed and owned by J. S. White, the town’s first architect. Nothing is known about the theater itself, but there is a small, undated photo of it. I’ve been unable to find the Princess mentioned in the trade journals.
The 200-seat Republic Theatre first appears in the 1936 FDY. In 1935 there is a 200-seat house called the Liberty Theatre, which could be the same theater under an earlier name. Republic’s theater history is pretty straightforward through 1929. The 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory lists a house called the Casino Theatre, on Main Street (as there is no Main Street in Republic now, it was probably an earlier name for Clark Avenue.) The Casino is still listed in the 1929 FDY, with 218 seats.
It’s from 1930 through 1934 that things get a bit puzzling. Republic does not appear in the 1930 FDY, but in 1931 the Casino is listed, now with 235 seats, and it is joined by a 150-seat house called the Liberty. Neither house had been wired for sound. In 1932 the Casino is gone, and the Liberty, still with 150 seats, is listed as closed. Republic vanishes again in 1933 and 1934, reappearing only with the 200-seat Liberty in 1935, followed by the 200-seat Republic the next year.
It could be that the Liberty of 1935 and the later Republic were the same house as the Casino, and the Liberty of 1931-1932 was a short-lived rival, or it might be that the 1931-32 Liberty was expanded and reopened and became the Republic. It will probably be difficult to find out just what happened during that period.
Republic did have another theater at one time, which came to a tragic end. The November 18, 1916 issue of Moving Picture World reported that a theater called either the Princess or the Palace (the item uses both names) was destroyed by a fire on November 11, leading to the death of Mrs. B. F. Hibbard, wife of the projectionist. The item noted that this theater had previously been the Republic Opera House.
The names Dream and Onalaska switched more than once. The Dream was listed in the 1935 FDY and the Onalaska in 1936. The Dream had been listed with 229 seats but the Onalaska was listed with only 150.
It doesn’t give a theater name, but an item in The Moving Picture World of June 7, 1919 mentions a Richard J. Charles, operating theaters in Vader, Winlock, and Onalaska, Washington.
There is also this notice of a change of ownership, from Film Daily of March 31, 1937: “ONALASKA— Onalaska (formerly Dream), transferred to Carlyle Lumber Co.”
The January 6, 1940 issue of Boxoffice had this item: “Remington— The Rem, operated entirely by local merchants and tradesmen, has opened under management of Howard A. Hyer.”
The 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory lists three theaters in this block: The Arc at 103 National Avenue, the Colonial at 105, and the Isis at 109.
The 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory lists a movie house called the Princess Theatre at 15 E. National Avenue, next door to the store that would become the Beverly. I’ve been unable to find out how long this theater lasted.
The January 11, 1935 issue of Motion Picture Daily had an item about a new theater that might have been the Beverly, but it doesn’t give an exact location or name:
“Brazil, Ind., Jan. 10.— A new downtown theatre is being completed here from a remodeled business building by a company headed by H. V. Neese. It will seat 500.”
I wonder if Carver was a later name for the Rainbow Theatre, opened in 1939, noted in the January 6, 1940 issue of Boxoffice?: “Waycross— H. G. Williams of Fitzgerald has opened the Rainbow, a colored house, seating 400.”
There might have been two houses called the Star in Toccoa, or this house might have been rebuilt in 1939-1940. Here is an item from Boxoffice of January 6, 1940: “Toccoa— Joe B. Meyer reports progress on the new house by Wilby Theatre[s]. Enterprise to be known as the New Star. An early opening is indicated.”
There were two houses called the Cameo Theatre in White Salmon. The second is a bit easier easier to trace, though I haven’t found an address for it. The March 10, 1951 issue of Boxoffice said that Larry Bristol was aiming for a May 1 opening for his Cameo Theatre in White Salmon. A March 31 item in the same journal said that the Cameo was a new house, seating 350, and was being outfitted by the B. F. Shearer Co. of Seattle. I haven’t found out how long it operated, but it was fitted for CinemaScope in 1955. In 1982 it was in use by a little theater group called the Cameo Players.
The first Cameo is a bit puzzling. It first appears in the 1937 FDY, with 247 seats. Prior to that, when White Salmon is listed in the FDY at all, it is with a 200-seat house called the Leo, a 200-seat house called the Wauna, or a house called the Dewey, with no capacity listed. The Dewey is mentioned frequently in trade journals in the mid-1920s, but doesn’t show up in the FDY until 1931 and 1932, and then never again. And yet modern documents from the city itself mention the Dewey Theatre Building, at 121 N. Main Avenue, so it is clearly remembered by that name. I thought Dewey might have been an aka for the first Cameo, but it turns out not to have been.
There is this line from a February 21, 1941 article in The Enterprise, the local newspaper: “The Cameo Theatre now occupies the site which will be remembered as the one called the Alpha Opera House, as seen in the pictures of the town taken in earlier days. It has been run by Mr. Percy since 1935.”
Then there is this photo from 1949, and I’m pretty sure a building up the block on the left has a marquee with the name Cameo over it, though it’s hard to make out. I believe that this building, which would have been at approximately 113-115 E. Jewett Boulevard, has been demolished within the last ten years. It shows up in Google street views from 2012, but not in those from 2018.
One puzzle is, were Leo Theatre and Wuana Theatre aka’s for the first Cameo, or were they aka’s for the Dewey, or was there a third theater somewhere in White Salmon? Even if the building actually started out as a theater (Alpha Opera House) it’s not impossible that it would be used for other purposes for decades and then return to theatrical use in 1935, when Mr. Percy began running the Cameo, but it could quite easily have housed the Leo and the Wuana as well. No editions of the FDY list more than one theater in operation at White Salmon at a given time.
The other puzzle of course is where was the second Cameo? I don’t see any buildings in Google street views that look like a theater from the early 1950s, and the town’s planning documents available on the Internet never mention it.
50sSNIPES is correct. The Orpheum sign was still on the building in the mid-1950s, and a photo from that time was published in Boxoffice of June 2, 1958. Though the theater was advertised as the Fox Orpheum in the 1930s, the Fox Wisconsin circuit only leased the house from 1933 to 1943, after which it was independently operated as the Orpheum Theatre by Victor McCormick until he leased it to Marcus Theatres in 1956.
The Granada Theatre was built by real estate developer George S. Smith in 1924. It was designed in a Moorish Revival style by Portland architect Earl G. (Gilbert) Cash. Opening on August 24, 1924, the house began a 32-year run as the leading movie theater in Portland’s Montavilla district. The Granada closed in 1956, and since 1957 has been in almost continuous use as a church. The 1926 Film Daily Year Book listed the Granada with 630 seats.
The Phoenix-based Rickard and Nace chain were the first operators of Tucson’s Rialto Theatre on its opening in 1920. The theater had been built by Emanuel Drachman, owner of the Tucson Opera House, whose family maintained a connection to the Rialto for many years, Drachman’s son Roy acting as manager on behalf of Rickard and Nace as late as 1933.
The explosion that closed the theater in January, 1984 was not gas but steam. The theater’s ancient boiler ruptured violently after being fitted with the wrong type of safety valve, allowing excessive pressure to build up.
Elysian Grove was one of the privately owned pleasure parks that thrived in modern cities in the late 19th and early 20th centuries (Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen is a rare survivor of the type.) Elysian Grove began as Carrillo Gardens, founded in the late 19th century by Leopoldo Carrillo, and taken over by Emanuel Drachman around 1902 and renamed. Among the many attractions in the eight acre park were two theaters, one indoor and one outdoor, both of which were equipped to show movies as well as live entertainments. The first movie known to have been shown in Tucson, Edwin S. Porter’s The Great Train Robbery, was presented at the outdoor theater in Elysian Grove in 1903. The indoor theater was built a few years later.
Arizona Territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Arizona in 1912, and the legislature soon passed a law prohibiting the sale of alcoholic beverages. As a big part of Elysian Grove’s business had been in its saloons and beer gardens, custom fell off rapidly and the operation was closed by 1915. The theaters remained open until the end. Manny Drachman then assumed control of the Tucson Opera House and converted it to a movie theater, renaming it the State Theatre in 1917.
Oddly, only one theater is listed at Tucson in the 1914-1915 American Moving Picture Directory, that being the Clifton Theatre, at 32 W. Congress Street, but there must have been several by that time.
The 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory lists the Palm Theatre at Ballard (still an independent city at that time, so not part of Seattle’s listings) at 5346 Ballard Avenue. It lists a house called the Tivoli at the same address. I suspect that the double listing resulted from a name change around the time the directory was being compiled, late 1913 or early 1914.
A page about Seattle’s early theaters at Historylink says that three movie houses in Ballard, the Ballard, Tivoli and Crystal, were all in operation by 1910. It also says that of these only the Ballard Theatre survived the WWI period, so the Tivoli/Palm must have closed before the end of 1918. The Ballard is certainly the only one of the three that is listed in the 1926 FDY.
A page about Seattle’s early theaters at Historylink says that three movie houses in Ballard, the Ballard, Tivoli and Crystal, were all in operation by 1910.
Before becoming the Paramount, this house was in operation by 1914 as Hub’s Theatre, which is how it was listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory.
This article from the February 1, 2022 issue of the Omak-Okanogan County Chronicle tells of a mural installed in the theater for owner Hub Carlton in 1915. The mural was long ago plastered over, and its existence only rediscovered recently. The article has a recent photo of the mural and a vintage photo of the Paramount’s auditorium.
The address of the Paramount is 118 N. Second Avenue.
They May 22, 1954 issue of Boxoffice said that new theater was to be built in Twisp: “The Charles Nelsons have signed a contract for the building for a new theatre in Twisp, Wash., to replace the one that burned down last year.”
The Alcazar was listed in the 1907-1908 edition of Henry’s Official Western Theatrical Guide, though with an exaggerated seating capacity of 600.
The article rivest266 just posted says that the yet-unnamed theater on Bethany Home Road was designed by Elmo K. Lathrop & Associates. The finding aid for the J. Evan Miler Collection of Cinerama Theater Plans at UCLA also lists Elmo K. Lathrop as the architect of the Bethany Theatre. The 1962 edition of the AIA’s American Architects Directory lists Lathrop’s address then as 4201 N. 2nd Ave, Phoenix, Arizona.
As near as I can puzzle out from the scant information on the Internet, the Jim Coles & Associates that operated in Phoenix in the 1960s was an interior design firm. There is an architect named Jim Coles currently practicing in Idaho, as head of Design West Architects, but I doubt it would be the same guy, sixty years later.
This web page says that the Princess Theatre was at 924 First Street, in a building designed and owned by J. S. White, the town’s first architect. Nothing is known about the theater itself, but there is a small, undated photo of it. I’ve been unable to find the Princess mentioned in the trade journals.
The 200-seat Republic Theatre first appears in the 1936 FDY. In 1935 there is a 200-seat house called the Liberty Theatre, which could be the same theater under an earlier name. Republic’s theater history is pretty straightforward through 1929. The 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory lists a house called the Casino Theatre, on Main Street (as there is no Main Street in Republic now, it was probably an earlier name for Clark Avenue.) The Casino is still listed in the 1929 FDY, with 218 seats.
It’s from 1930 through 1934 that things get a bit puzzling. Republic does not appear in the 1930 FDY, but in 1931 the Casino is listed, now with 235 seats, and it is joined by a 150-seat house called the Liberty. Neither house had been wired for sound. In 1932 the Casino is gone, and the Liberty, still with 150 seats, is listed as closed. Republic vanishes again in 1933 and 1934, reappearing only with the 200-seat Liberty in 1935, followed by the 200-seat Republic the next year.
It could be that the Liberty of 1935 and the later Republic were the same house as the Casino, and the Liberty of 1931-1932 was a short-lived rival, or it might be that the 1931-32 Liberty was expanded and reopened and became the Republic. It will probably be difficult to find out just what happened during that period.
Republic did have another theater at one time, which came to a tragic end. The November 18, 1916 issue of Moving Picture World reported that a theater called either the Princess or the Palace (the item uses both names) was destroyed by a fire on November 11, leading to the death of Mrs. B. F. Hibbard, wife of the projectionist. The item noted that this theater had previously been the Republic Opera House.
The names Dream and Onalaska switched more than once. The Dream was listed in the 1935 FDY and the Onalaska in 1936. The Dream had been listed with 229 seats but the Onalaska was listed with only 150.
The Dream Theatre is listed in the 1935 FDY and the Onalaska in the 1936 edition.
It doesn’t give a theater name, but an item in The Moving Picture World of June 7, 1919 mentions a Richard J. Charles, operating theaters in Vader, Winlock, and Onalaska, Washington.
There is also this notice of a change of ownership, from Film Daily of March 31, 1937: “ONALASKA— Onalaska (formerly Dream), transferred to Carlyle Lumber Co.”
The January 6, 1940 issue of Boxoffice had this item: “Remington— The Rem, operated entirely by local merchants and tradesmen, has opened under management of Howard A. Hyer.”
The 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory lists three theaters in this block: The Arc at 103 National Avenue, the Colonial at 105, and the Isis at 109.
The 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory lists a movie house called the Princess Theatre at 15 E. National Avenue, next door to the store that would become the Beverly. I’ve been unable to find out how long this theater lasted.
The January 11, 1935 issue of Motion Picture Daily had an item about a new theater that might have been the Beverly, but it doesn’t give an exact location or name:
I wonder if Carver was a later name for the Rainbow Theatre, opened in 1939, noted in the January 6, 1940 issue of Boxoffice?: “Waycross— H. G. Williams of Fitzgerald has opened the Rainbow, a colored house, seating 400.”
There might have been two houses called the Star in Toccoa, or this house might have been rebuilt in 1939-1940. Here is an item from Boxoffice of January 6, 1940: “Toccoa— Joe B. Meyer reports progress on the new house by Wilby Theatre[s]. Enterprise to be known as the New Star. An early opening is indicated.”
The January 6, 1940 issue of Boxoffice said “Pearson— The new Drake has opened.” The opening was probably in November or December, 1939.
The January 6, 1940 Boxoffice said: “Marietta— A new theatre, the Cobb, has been built on North Park Square.” It might have opened in late 1939.
CinemaTour says the Fort Theatre was at 104 N. Third Avenue. The current use is office space. There is one photo, from 2019.
The January 6, 1940 issue of Boxoffice said: “Plant City— The State, E. J. Sparks house seating 700, is in operation.”