Opened on April 17, 1922 with Norma Talmadge in “Love’s Redemption” and Buster Keaton in “The Boat” (both features with music by the theater’s orchestra led by J. Hamilton Kerr). It was closed on March 18, 1978.
Back known as the Niagara Square Triple Cinema, it had an original total capacity of 1,025 seats (with 450 seats at Screen 1, 325 seats at Screen 2, and 250 at Screen 3). Screens 1 and 2 featured cushioned velvet upholstered seats. Some original features in the lobby include live plants along with gallery of classic movie stars. The original triplex was first managed by Dave Molnar and the original projectionist is Dave Taylor.
Information about the Seneca as of 1940 goes as follows: The front of the theater featured a gray stone trimmed with a Macotta base in black. On either side of the front of the theater are designs in stone depicting the meeting of the chiefs of the Five Nations. The original marquee is in a design of a streamlined war bonnet illuminated by incandescent and neon lighting. The original lobby has a casted plaster from natural birch bark and is surmounted by a then-modernistic mural painted by one of Canada’s foremost theatrical decorators led by Emmanuel Briffa, and the mural is illuminated by concealed neon tubing. The box office in front of the theater is treated in blue mirror topped with silver plaque and the mirror glass is etched in Indian designs.
There are floor mats by employing the Seneca “Hospitality Belt of Welcome” in a pattern. Shown at the left are the designs depicting the “Calling Of The Tribe”, the “Treaty Belt”, and the “Hospitality” belt, which are combined in the floor covering design. The lobby floor is covered in Roman Travertine Marble. Entering the theater auditorium featured a surprising feature where the patron first sees the beautiful Indian fireplace which rises to the ceiling. It is decorated with mirrors skillfully illuminated by concealed lights and flanked by carved feathers, tomahawks, and other Indian designs in plaster. Extending from either side of the fireplace are standee rails of plate glass which act as a break against draughts and outside sound. The air-conditioning system features a complete change of air every 90 seconds with 60,000 cubic feet of fresh water-washed and filtered air being constantly forced through many outlets into the theater.
The Seneca Theatre is the first movie house in Canada to have blacklights. The side wall lighting consists of 18 plaques designed in the shape of Seneca masks. These are circled by ultra-violent ray tubing giving the plaques a glowing fluorescent light. The ceiling is indirectly lighted by fixtures which are built into the ceiling itself and both fluorescent and incandescent lighting are employed. The front row is very unusual with the arranged seating known as the “front row vision”. This means that every patron will have an unobstructed view of the entire screen at all times no matter where you are seating. This was accomplished by grading the floor to a fixed position of the screen there by giving each person clear light over the person directly in front of him. The result is the semi-reserved of the floor slope toward the stage and a minimum angle from seats closer to the screen. The carpeting of the theater was also very dazzling with a copy of the “To-Ta-Da-Ho Belt” leading a colorful and attractive touch to the decorative scheme of the theater.
Inside the auditorium featured are rows of green restful streamlined 42-springed seats. The exit doors featured two large replicas of the “Door Keeper’s or Medicine Man’s Masks” of the Seneca Indians. These masks are 9x5ft wide and especially illuminated. The wall plaques alternate in two designs, one of which are exact duplicate of the “Door Keeper’s or Medicine Man’s Masks” and the other is the Charm or “Gah-Gonh-Sah Mask”. A dazzling curtain design was made of green velour fringed with rawhide thong with two Seneca symbols reproduced at the base. The first is a copy of the “Hiawatha Belt” worked in gold (which was the Great Council Belt of the Five Nations commemorating the founding of the League of the Iroquois). Each square represents a nation and the heart of the center of the Onondaga. Beneath this also has a running full-width of the curtain which is the “George Washington Covenant Belt” (the symbolic of the peace treaty between both the Indians and the United States during Washington’s presidency).
On opening night, then-Mayor George R. Inglis (along with his wife), Famous Players president Mr. L. Nathanson, delivered a special announcement before the cutting of the ribbon featuring a pair of silver scissors handed by Dorothy Hawkins. Other speakers also include W.L. Houck and Dr. A.B. Whytock. The Seneca was first managed by Jack V. Ward.
This was generically known as the “Northern Lights Family Entertainment Center Cinemas” (or simply “Northern Lights Cinema”). When the cinema first opened its doors on August 1, 2000, it started life as a single-screener. But after a few months, it was twinned in November 2000 allowing for a wider selection. The theater originally has a total capacity of 244 seats (with 122 seats in each auditorium) but was downgraded over time to 218 seats (with 109 in each auditorium). Both screens featured installations of stereo sound. On January 2, 2001, the theater had its first sell-out since its grand opening.
The theater closed for the final time during the first week of September 2003.
The Center Theatre opened its doors on June 13, 1940 with a one-day showing of Ray Milland in “The Doctor Takes A Wife” along with a couple of short subjects (including a soundie on Vincent Lopez and his Orchestra), with an original capacity of 600 seats.
The Plaza closed in 1998 and was converted into an Ames for a short period of time. The Ames closed less than a year later, and Kmart occupied the former location.
The Kmart opened on March 15, 2000 marking the last of the ten Kmarts to open in the city of Chicago, but the Kmart only operated for a little more than three years as it was then closed on April 13, 2003.
The Opera House took two years to construct between 1890 and 1892. The original opera house was constructed in red brick with a wooden-built clock tower. The tower extends from the ground level to a heigh of some 90ft and the huge clock with four faces (one in each direction) featured an 1890-built brass bell cast by the McShane Bell Foundry of Baltimore, Maryland. The Seymour Opera House was renamed the Majestic Theatre in 1908.
During the vaudeville and early movie heyday, Mr. and Mrs. Walter W. Eagleston became prominent names in the Illinois theater business. The Eaglestons bought the Majestic Theatre in early-1911.
Right after the Majestic Theatre closed for the final time in July 1966, the theater businesses in Seymour received struggles. The only indoor theater remaining, the Vondee Theatre, was a seasonal-only theater from October to April at the time (which began doing that in 1959), while the Stardust was the theater for April to October. People who want to watch movies indoors must head to Columbus for a time. That all changed when the Vondee Theatre reopened back as an all-season indoor theater on October 4, 1967.
The Vondee Theatre opened its doors on July 15, 1936 with Robert Montgomery in “Trouble For Two” along with the Happy Harmonies cartoon “Bottles” and a Universal Newsreel.
During the mid-1960s, the theater business in Seymour struggled following the closure of the Majestic Theatre in July 1966. At the time, the Vondee Theatre was operating only during the winter months (which began doing that in 1959). People who want to see movies indoors during the summer must travel to neighboring Columbus. However, that all changed when the Vondee Theatre relaunched as an all-season indoor movie house on October 4, 1967 with “The Sound Of Music”.
Charles W. Hawn operated the Vondee for its entire life until the theater closed for the final time in early-1976.
The Vernon Theatre actually closed in 1984. Both the Vernon Theatre and the Pines Drive-In remain as the only movie houses until the launch of the Lee Hills 6 Cinemas that same year.
The 1,250-seat Colquitt Theatre opened its doors on May 27, 1942 with Betty Grable in “Song Of The Islands” along with an unnamed Popeye cartoon, a March Of Time reel, and a newsreel (all unlisted on grand opening ad). The Colquitt Theatre itself measures 60x140ft, and was the dominant mainstream A-film house in Moultrie.
On March 3, 1956, during a showing of John Payne in “Slightly Scarlet” (along with an unnamed cartoon and Warner-Pathe News), the Colquitt Theatre was heavily destroyed by a fire with an unknown cause broke out in the false ceiling area and sparks dropped onto the stage screen. Out of the some 600 people who attended the screening, no injuries were reported, and the estimate loss of the theater costed around $200,000 in damages. The people at the independent Moulete Theatres Incorporated chain had no choice but to shift the Colquitt Theatre’s schedule to the nearby Moultrie Theatre.
The Moultrie Theatre, who had been running B-films since the 1942 opening of the Colquitt, began picking up the Colquitt Theatre’s mainstream A-film lineup one week after the fire. The staff quickly installed CinemaScope in the Moultrie following the fire at the Colquitt, and on March 11, 1956, the Moultrie Theatre ran its first A-film in almost 14 years, which is Fred MacMurray in “There’s Always Tomorrow” along with an unnamed cartoon. It would remain like that for the following two years.
After a fully two-year construction, the Colquitt Theatre reopened its doors on March 20, 1958 with Robert Stack in “The Gift Of Love” along with a cartoon and short subjects. The general manager of the theater is Charlie C. Clark, with Mr. Charlie Powell being the president.
As of 1958, the doors are solid oak doors and the foyers are dominated by a Venetian mural depicting a view of old Venice complete with antique buildings and bridges. The Colquitt Theatre is the only movie house in South Georgia that has as much as 41 inches of space in between rows of seats, and was the second theater to do so in the state (with the other one being the Art Theatre in Atlanta). The projection room featured two Century 35mm projectors that is equipped with a 16x41ft Bausch & Lomb-made CinemaScope screen (the largest in South Central Georgia) as well as Kellmorgan General Scientific prime lenses and RCA Magnetic Sound-Acoustical walls. The curtains are draped in gold and white fireproof damask featuring a switch in the booth that raises and lowers automatically which is the waterfall type. Compared to both the 1942 and 1958 Colquitt Theatres, the capacity was reduced a bit from its original 1,250 to 1,000 seats in the 1958 rebuild. There are also two 40-ton air conditioners providing comfortable temperatures all-year-round. There is also an outgoing telephone located next to the water fountain where it was formerly located since the fire.
Exactly a day right after the Colquitt Theatre reopened its doors to the public, the Moulette Theatre nearby experienced a schedule change and returned back to its B-film policy after stunting as an A-film house in dedication to the then-destroyed Colquitt Theatre for two years and two weeks in total. The last A-film the Moultrie Theatre ran is Don Murray in “A Hatful Of Rain” plus a cartoon and comedy reel.
The Georgia Theatres Company chain last operated the Colquitt (who also operated both the Moulette Twin Cinema and the Sunset Drive-In) until the Colquitt Theatre closed for the final time on October 15, 1978 with Michael Brandon in “FM”.
The Sunset Drive-In opened its gates on November 19, 1954 with Spencer Tracy in “Broken Lance” along with the Tom and Jerry cartoon “Just Ducky” and the Tweety & Sylvester Looney Tune “A Street Cat Named Sylvester”.
On March 23, 1977, John H. Stembler, the president of the Georgia Theatre Company, and Hugh Tolleson, president of Southeastern Investment Trust, announced that a new deluxe Twin Cinema was planned near the south end of the plaza featuring automated xeon-latter projection for both screens. Construction didn’t start until the following year.
After a very short construction, GTC opened the Moultrie Twin Cinema’s doors on June 30, 1978 with “Grease” at Screen 1 and “Convoy” at Screen 2, featuring a total capacity of 565 seats (with 355 seats at Screen 1 and 210 seats at Screen 2).
Opened on November 19, 1993 as a Loews theater. It would eventually become a Sony theater the following year and then back to Loews two years later. Loews Cineplex closed Rolling Meadows' only remaining movie house on August 19, 2000 after the building itself was sold.
The capacity of the second Cordele Drive-In looks a lot larger than the first Cordele Drive-In. The first Cordele Drive-In had 145 cars, while this one looks more like 300 (which represent an expenditure of some $100,000 according to a very small article on its construction in September 1965).
Opened on April 17, 1922 with Norma Talmadge in “Love’s Redemption” and Buster Keaton in “The Boat” (both features with music by the theater’s orchestra led by J. Hamilton Kerr). It was closed on March 18, 1978.
Back known as the Niagara Square Triple Cinema, it had an original total capacity of 1,025 seats (with 450 seats at Screen 1, 325 seats at Screen 2, and 250 at Screen 3). Screens 1 and 2 featured cushioned velvet upholstered seats. Some original features in the lobby include live plants along with gallery of classic movie stars. The original triplex was first managed by Dave Molnar and the original projectionist is Dave Taylor.
Information about the Seneca as of 1940 goes as follows: The front of the theater featured a gray stone trimmed with a Macotta base in black. On either side of the front of the theater are designs in stone depicting the meeting of the chiefs of the Five Nations. The original marquee is in a design of a streamlined war bonnet illuminated by incandescent and neon lighting. The original lobby has a casted plaster from natural birch bark and is surmounted by a then-modernistic mural painted by one of Canada’s foremost theatrical decorators led by Emmanuel Briffa, and the mural is illuminated by concealed neon tubing. The box office in front of the theater is treated in blue mirror topped with silver plaque and the mirror glass is etched in Indian designs.
There are floor mats by employing the Seneca “Hospitality Belt of Welcome” in a pattern. Shown at the left are the designs depicting the “Calling Of The Tribe”, the “Treaty Belt”, and the “Hospitality” belt, which are combined in the floor covering design. The lobby floor is covered in Roman Travertine Marble. Entering the theater auditorium featured a surprising feature where the patron first sees the beautiful Indian fireplace which rises to the ceiling. It is decorated with mirrors skillfully illuminated by concealed lights and flanked by carved feathers, tomahawks, and other Indian designs in plaster. Extending from either side of the fireplace are standee rails of plate glass which act as a break against draughts and outside sound. The air-conditioning system features a complete change of air every 90 seconds with 60,000 cubic feet of fresh water-washed and filtered air being constantly forced through many outlets into the theater.
The Seneca Theatre is the first movie house in Canada to have blacklights. The side wall lighting consists of 18 plaques designed in the shape of Seneca masks. These are circled by ultra-violent ray tubing giving the plaques a glowing fluorescent light. The ceiling is indirectly lighted by fixtures which are built into the ceiling itself and both fluorescent and incandescent lighting are employed. The front row is very unusual with the arranged seating known as the “front row vision”. This means that every patron will have an unobstructed view of the entire screen at all times no matter where you are seating. This was accomplished by grading the floor to a fixed position of the screen there by giving each person clear light over the person directly in front of him. The result is the semi-reserved of the floor slope toward the stage and a minimum angle from seats closer to the screen. The carpeting of the theater was also very dazzling with a copy of the “To-Ta-Da-Ho Belt” leading a colorful and attractive touch to the decorative scheme of the theater.
Inside the auditorium featured are rows of green restful streamlined 42-springed seats. The exit doors featured two large replicas of the “Door Keeper’s or Medicine Man’s Masks” of the Seneca Indians. These masks are 9x5ft wide and especially illuminated. The wall plaques alternate in two designs, one of which are exact duplicate of the “Door Keeper’s or Medicine Man’s Masks” and the other is the Charm or “Gah-Gonh-Sah Mask”. A dazzling curtain design was made of green velour fringed with rawhide thong with two Seneca symbols reproduced at the base. The first is a copy of the “Hiawatha Belt” worked in gold (which was the Great Council Belt of the Five Nations commemorating the founding of the League of the Iroquois). Each square represents a nation and the heart of the center of the Onondaga. Beneath this also has a running full-width of the curtain which is the “George Washington Covenant Belt” (the symbolic of the peace treaty between both the Indians and the United States during Washington’s presidency).
On opening night, then-Mayor George R. Inglis (along with his wife), Famous Players president Mr. L. Nathanson, delivered a special announcement before the cutting of the ribbon featuring a pair of silver scissors handed by Dorothy Hawkins. Other speakers also include W.L. Houck and Dr. A.B. Whytock. The Seneca was first managed by Jack V. Ward.
This was generically known as the “Northern Lights Family Entertainment Center Cinemas” (or simply “Northern Lights Cinema”). When the cinema first opened its doors on August 1, 2000, it started life as a single-screener. But after a few months, it was twinned in November 2000 allowing for a wider selection. The theater originally has a total capacity of 244 seats (with 122 seats in each auditorium) but was downgraded over time to 218 seats (with 109 in each auditorium). Both screens featured installations of stereo sound. On January 2, 2001, the theater had its first sell-out since its grand opening.
The theater closed for the final time during the first week of September 2003.
The Center Theatre opened its doors on June 13, 1940 with a one-day showing of Ray Milland in “The Doctor Takes A Wife” along with a couple of short subjects (including a soundie on Vincent Lopez and his Orchestra), with an original capacity of 600 seats.
Correction: The event lasted for two weeks, not one.
The Plaza closed in 1998 and was converted into an Ames for a short period of time. The Ames closed less than a year later, and Kmart occupied the former location.
The Kmart opened on March 15, 2000 marking the last of the ten Kmarts to open in the city of Chicago, but the Kmart only operated for a little more than three years as it was then closed on April 13, 2003.
The Opera House took two years to construct between 1890 and 1892. The original opera house was constructed in red brick with a wooden-built clock tower. The tower extends from the ground level to a heigh of some 90ft and the huge clock with four faces (one in each direction) featured an 1890-built brass bell cast by the McShane Bell Foundry of Baltimore, Maryland. The Seymour Opera House was renamed the Majestic Theatre in 1908.
During the vaudeville and early movie heyday, Mr. and Mrs. Walter W. Eagleston became prominent names in the Illinois theater business. The Eaglestons bought the Majestic Theatre in early-1911.
Right after the Majestic Theatre closed for the final time in July 1966, the theater businesses in Seymour received struggles. The only indoor theater remaining, the Vondee Theatre, was a seasonal-only theater from October to April at the time (which began doing that in 1959), while the Stardust was the theater for April to October. People who want to watch movies indoors must head to Columbus for a time. That all changed when the Vondee Theatre reopened back as an all-season indoor theater on October 4, 1967.
The Vondee Theatre opened its doors on July 15, 1936 with Robert Montgomery in “Trouble For Two” along with the Happy Harmonies cartoon “Bottles” and a Universal Newsreel.
During the mid-1960s, the theater business in Seymour struggled following the closure of the Majestic Theatre in July 1966. At the time, the Vondee Theatre was operating only during the winter months (which began doing that in 1959). People who want to see movies indoors during the summer must travel to neighboring Columbus. However, that all changed when the Vondee Theatre relaunched as an all-season indoor movie house on October 4, 1967 with “The Sound Of Music”.
Charles W. Hawn operated the Vondee for its entire life until the theater closed for the final time in early-1976.
Twinned in Late December 1990.
The Vernon Theatre actually closed in 1984. Both the Vernon Theatre and the Pines Drive-In remain as the only movie houses until the launch of the Lee Hills 6 Cinemas that same year.
The Pines Drive-In opened its gates on August 15, 1952 with Jane High in “Fort Osage” with no extra short subjects. It was closed in 1984.
Opened on May 18, 1984.
The 1,250-seat Colquitt Theatre opened its doors on May 27, 1942 with Betty Grable in “Song Of The Islands” along with an unnamed Popeye cartoon, a March Of Time reel, and a newsreel (all unlisted on grand opening ad). The Colquitt Theatre itself measures 60x140ft, and was the dominant mainstream A-film house in Moultrie.
On March 3, 1956, during a showing of John Payne in “Slightly Scarlet” (along with an unnamed cartoon and Warner-Pathe News), the Colquitt Theatre was heavily destroyed by a fire with an unknown cause broke out in the false ceiling area and sparks dropped onto the stage screen. Out of the some 600 people who attended the screening, no injuries were reported, and the estimate loss of the theater costed around $200,000 in damages. The people at the independent Moulete Theatres Incorporated chain had no choice but to shift the Colquitt Theatre’s schedule to the nearby Moultrie Theatre.
The Moultrie Theatre, who had been running B-films since the 1942 opening of the Colquitt, began picking up the Colquitt Theatre’s mainstream A-film lineup one week after the fire. The staff quickly installed CinemaScope in the Moultrie following the fire at the Colquitt, and on March 11, 1956, the Moultrie Theatre ran its first A-film in almost 14 years, which is Fred MacMurray in “There’s Always Tomorrow” along with an unnamed cartoon. It would remain like that for the following two years.
After a fully two-year construction, the Colquitt Theatre reopened its doors on March 20, 1958 with Robert Stack in “The Gift Of Love” along with a cartoon and short subjects. The general manager of the theater is Charlie C. Clark, with Mr. Charlie Powell being the president.
As of 1958, the doors are solid oak doors and the foyers are dominated by a Venetian mural depicting a view of old Venice complete with antique buildings and bridges. The Colquitt Theatre is the only movie house in South Georgia that has as much as 41 inches of space in between rows of seats, and was the second theater to do so in the state (with the other one being the Art Theatre in Atlanta). The projection room featured two Century 35mm projectors that is equipped with a 16x41ft Bausch & Lomb-made CinemaScope screen (the largest in South Central Georgia) as well as Kellmorgan General Scientific prime lenses and RCA Magnetic Sound-Acoustical walls. The curtains are draped in gold and white fireproof damask featuring a switch in the booth that raises and lowers automatically which is the waterfall type. Compared to both the 1942 and 1958 Colquitt Theatres, the capacity was reduced a bit from its original 1,250 to 1,000 seats in the 1958 rebuild. There are also two 40-ton air conditioners providing comfortable temperatures all-year-round. There is also an outgoing telephone located next to the water fountain where it was formerly located since the fire.
Exactly a day right after the Colquitt Theatre reopened its doors to the public, the Moulette Theatre nearby experienced a schedule change and returned back to its B-film policy after stunting as an A-film house in dedication to the then-destroyed Colquitt Theatre for two years and two weeks in total. The last A-film the Moultrie Theatre ran is Don Murray in “A Hatful Of Rain” plus a cartoon and comedy reel.
The Georgia Theatres Company chain last operated the Colquitt (who also operated both the Moulette Twin Cinema and the Sunset Drive-In) until the Colquitt Theatre closed for the final time on October 15, 1978 with Michael Brandon in “FM”.
The Sunset Drive-In opened its gates on November 19, 1954 with Spencer Tracy in “Broken Lance” along with the Tom and Jerry cartoon “Just Ducky” and the Tweety & Sylvester Looney Tune “A Street Cat Named Sylvester”.
Opened in June 1948, closed after the 1956 season.
On March 23, 1977, John H. Stembler, the president of the Georgia Theatre Company, and Hugh Tolleson, president of Southeastern Investment Trust, announced that a new deluxe Twin Cinema was planned near the south end of the plaza featuring automated xeon-latter projection for both screens. Construction didn’t start until the following year.
After a very short construction, GTC opened the Moultrie Twin Cinema’s doors on June 30, 1978 with “Grease” at Screen 1 and “Convoy” at Screen 2, featuring a total capacity of 565 seats (with 355 seats at Screen 1 and 210 seats at Screen 2).
It was closed on May 10, 2007.
Opened on February 19, 1993.
Once operated by Loews Cineplex.
Actual closing date is March 1, 2001, and was last operated by Loews Cineplex.
Opened on November 19, 1993 as a Loews theater. It would eventually become a Sony theater the following year and then back to Loews two years later. Loews Cineplex closed Rolling Meadows' only remaining movie house on August 19, 2000 after the building itself was sold.
The capacity of the second Cordele Drive-In looks a lot larger than the first Cordele Drive-In. The first Cordele Drive-In had 145 cars, while this one looks more like 300 (which represent an expenditure of some $100,000 according to a very small article on its construction in September 1965).
This closed in 1966 just in time for the opening of the newer and larger Cordele Drive-In north of town.
Actual closing date is July 27, 2000.
A 1972 aerial view shows the Rio appearing that it was still operational, but was completely gone by the early-1980s.