Comments from Joe Vogel

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Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Sherburn Theatre on Oct 12, 2023 at 9:04 pm

The Sherburn Community Building, which includes the Sherburn Theatre on its ground floor, was built by the municipal government with assistance from the Federal Works Progress Administration. This PDF file contains the Registration Form for the building’s inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places. Construction on the long-anticipated project began in 1936, with plans prepared by New Ulm, Minnesota architect Albert G. Plagens, but the building was not ready for occupancy until 1940.

In addition to the theater, the building contains a basement community banquet hall with kitchen facilities, and the upper floor includes a good-sized meeting room that was originally used as the council chamber.

There was an earlier Sherburn Theatre, though the December 3, 1937 issue of Film Daily misspelled both town and theater name in this item: “Sherburne, Minn.—George Ehlers has bought the Sherburne Theater here.” The Sherburn Theatre actually appears (correctly spelled) in the 1938 FDY, with 250 seats. Though the town had not been listed in the FDY for many years previous, it is likely that this theater was the same house that was listed in FDYs in the late 1920s as the Star Theatre, listed with 350 seats. A 1928 Sanborn map shows “Moving Pictures” with a lodge hall above in the building immediately north of the Community Building’s site, at 118 N. Main Street. The I.O.O.F. building is still standing on this lot.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Strand Theatre on Oct 11, 2023 at 10:23 pm

The original location of the Strand Theatre, in the Knight Block, where it operated from May 8, 1924 until the building was destroyed by fire on March 13, 1926, was in fact the old Chilliwack Opera House, on the top floor of a three story building built in 1907, where Chilliwack’s first regular programs of movies were presented beginning in the summer of 1909. The movie programs were transferred to the new Edison Theatre in 1910, and the Opera House then remained a live venue until adapted into the Strand in 1924. The new Strand of 1926 was in a single-story building on the same site.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Rialto Theatre on Oct 6, 2023 at 6:47 pm

The According to this page from the Little Falls Historical Society, the Gateway Theatre was built in 1922, the Rialto closed in 1972, and the building was razed in 1997.

Early reports about the project that was to become the Gateway had W. H. Linton involved. Linton, who had operated the Hippodrome Theatre in Little Falls for over a decade, had also renovated the City Theatre, originally the Skinner Opera House, reopening it as the Lintonian Theatre on May 21, 1919. I’ve been unable to discover if Mr. Linton remained connected with the Gateway project or not. In any case, the May 5, 1923 issue of Moving Picture World reported that Linton had given up ownership of his Little Falls houses on May 1, and was planning to build a new theater on the site of his other Hippodrome Theatre, in Utica. The item did not identify who took over Linton’s houses in Little Falls, but the Schine brothers did end up owning every house in town by 1925.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Gem Theatre on Oct 6, 2023 at 4:08 pm

The Gem was still in operation as late as 1925, when it was mentioned in the April 11 issue of Moving Picture World. The original Gem opened some years prior to March 7, 1908, the date on which the MPW reported that its owners were planning to move their theater to a new and larger location:

“NEW THEATER FOR LITTLE FALLS, N. Y.

“Messrs. John E. Reardon and Casper Shults, proprietors of the Gem Theater, have concluded negotiations with R. D. Fuller for the erection of a new theater for them on Main street. Architect Carl Haug is now at work on drawing plans for a model up-to-date playhouse. It will be on the ground floor and will have an attractive city entrance with doors on each side. The inside of the theater will be 25 by 90, and every seat will be elevated. There will be a balcony and gallery and the seating capacity will be about 500. The ceiling will be of iron and the entire structure will be absolutely fireproof. Work will be commenced on the building soon and it is expected that the theater will be ready for occupancy about May 1. Messrs. Reardon and Shults will present vaudeville entertainment in connection with their moving pictures and illustrated songs. They are popular, progressive amusement providers, and their many friends will congratulate them on- this evidence of their prosperity.”

According to this web page from the Little Falls Historical Society, which has an extensive history of the town’s theaters, the Gem Theatre of 1908 was located at 519 E. Main Street, and occupied a building that was half new construction and half a renovated older building. Reardon and Shults eventually took control of other Little Falls movie houses, and in 1920 they sold the Gem to a Mr. and Mrs. McGraw. Following Mr. McGraw’s death in 1925, Mrs. McGraw sold the house to the Schine brothers, who also acquired three other theaters in Little Falls. It does not appear that the Schines ever actually operated the Gem, though, concentrating their efforts primarily on the newer and larger Gateway Theatre, which they renamed the Rialto.

The Historical Society page also notes that Reardon and Shults opened the original Gem at 44 W. Main Street in 1905.

The 1908 Gem’s architect, Carl Haug, was noted in the region, and a few years after the Gem was built founded a firm with two of his sons, one of whom predeceased him.

All the historic buildings on the odd-numbered side of this block of Main Street have been demolished. A very bland, modern bank building occupies the site of the Gem.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Hollywood Theatre on Oct 3, 2023 at 1:21 am

An opening day ad for the Hollywood Theatre posted to the photo page by Gerald DeLuca names the architect of the house as Oresto DiSaia.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Town Hall on Oct 3, 2023 at 12:05 am

The architectural firm of William R. Walker & Son was formed in 1881. William Russell Walker remained the head of the firm until his death in 1905, and was probably the lead architect on the 1888-89 Town Hall project.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Rialto Theatre on Oct 2, 2023 at 12:17 am

The founder of the firm William R. Walker & Son died in 1905, and would not have been involved in drawing the plans for converting the church into a theater in late 1906, so the principal architect on the project, and probably the 1919 alterations and expansion for the Rialto as well, would have been his son, William Howard Walker.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Majestic Theatre on Oct 2, 2023 at 12:04 am

The founder of the architectural firm William R. Walker & Son died in 1905, so the architect of the Majestic Theatre commissioned in 1914 would have been the son, William Howard Walker. The founder’s grandson, William Russell Walker II, was born in 1884 and had undoubtedly joined the family firm by 1914, but I don’t know how much he had to do with this project.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Park Theatre on Oct 1, 2023 at 11:56 pm

This page needs to be updated with the information provided in Gerald DeLuca’s comment of June 25, 2005: The Park Theatre opened on November 17, 1924, and plans for the building were prepared by William R. Walker & Son. (William Russell Walker died in 1905 and his son William Howard Walker in 1922, so the architect for the Park Theatre of 1924 would have been the founder’s grandson, William Russell Walker II.)

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Paramount Theatre on Sep 30, 2023 at 6:17 pm

A June 25, 2023 article in the Bangor Daily Newssaid that Fort Fairfield has lost about half of its population since 1962, and that most of its historic buildings have been destroyed, many in disasters. Fort Fairfield’s downtown was (there’s really not enough left of it to say is) on low lying land along the Aroostook river and has flooded periodically. A particularly devastating flood took place in 1994, when broken ice jams swept through town, and buildings were actually being struck by icebergs.

In any case, I’ve cruised Google street view along the length of Main Street, now lined mostly with vacant lots, and see nothing that could have been the Paramount. CinemaTour lists all of Fort Fairfield’s theaters as demolished. I think we should too.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Five Flags Center on Sep 30, 2023 at 1:12 am

This is not the only theater in Dubuque to have had the name Orpheum. The 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory lists a house called the Orpheum at 336 Main Street.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Lyric Theater on Sep 29, 2023 at 10:47 pm

According to the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory the Lyric had an afterlife. It was listed in that publication at 904 Main Street. The Lyric also presented some vaudeville during its earlier incarnation, as an act (the name of which is unfortunately unreadable) was listed as appearing there in the October 16, 1909 issue of The New York Dramatic Mirror. The Lyric had also been mentioned, with an even more garbled text, in the January 5, 1908 issue of Show World.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Uptown Theatre on Sep 29, 2023 at 9:44 pm

We have a discrepancy in opening dates. The October 30, 1908 issue of Moving Picture World said: “A new moving picture theater opened its doors for business at the corner of Fourteenth and Clay streets. Jake Rosenthal is manager of the new enterprise.”

Generally if there’s discrepancy between a Sanborn map and a trade journal item I’m inclined to trust the map, but would MPW publish a notice of an event three or more months before it happened? Is the February 1909 date on the map itself, or just on the web page serving it? I can imagine the LOC misdating a map, as I’ve seen mistakes on that site before. It seems more likely than either Sanborn or MPW making this particular error.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Airdome on Sep 29, 2023 at 4:56 pm

The September 12, 1913 issue of Variety had this item mentioning the Airdome:

“OUT OF AIRDOME.

“Dubuque, Ia., Sept. 11. After a season of eighteen weeks, the James S. Garside stock company closes at the Airdome next Saturday night. The company goes from here to Paducah, Ky., for a winter stay. The Airdome business was the biggest recorded in five years.”

Dubuque’s Airdome is mentioned in other national theatrical publications as well as Variety (New York Clipper and The New York Dramatic Mirror.) So far I’ve found it only in issues published from 1909 to 1913. It might be that it stopped booking the national acts that these publications followed, or it might have closed, or perhaps converted mostly to movies, though if the latter it didn’t get listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. If it closed down permanently after the 1913 season, which seems likely, at least it went out on a high note.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Gem Theatre on Sep 28, 2023 at 10:09 pm

The theater at 128 E. Front is gone from the May, 1916 Sanborn, but the Reaper is shown. If the Gem (quite a few historical sources call it the Little Gem) was in fact the second permanent movie theater in Michigan it had to have opened long before 1911. J. H. Reaper arrived in Monroe in 1903, and the Gem could have opened not long after that. Movie theaters had become commonplace in Michigan by the end of 1905, so the Gem must have been in operation by then.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Avon Theatre on Sep 27, 2023 at 9:02 pm

The 1957 Boxoffice article about the closure and demolition of the Avon obviously got the year of its construction wrong. As they were writing about an event almost half a century after it happened, that’s a bit surprising. Boxoffice usually got stuff wrong much sooner.

As for the Princess being on Court Street, the exact wording of the 1909 MPW item datelined Dubuque, Ia. was “M. H. Cooley, of Herscher, has bought a part interest in the Princess Theater, on Court Street.” It is a bit ambiguous, now that I see it again. Although datelined Dubuque, the item could have been referring to a Princess Theatre in a place called Herscher. The problem with that is that there is no place in Iowa called Herscher. There is one in Illinois, but it’s nowhere near Dubuque, and is quite tiny, and also lacks a Court Street.

I then thought it might be about East Dubuque, Illinois, but alas, again there is a paucity of streets called Court. I tried searching for Mr. M. H. Cooley, but as far as Google can determine, this was his only appearance in a theater industry trade journal. With so many dead ends, and so much evidence against its existence, I think we can safely declare Dubuque’s Court Street Princess Theatre of 1908 a phantom.

I now suspect Mr. Cooley of having been perpetrating some sort of con, planting a fake story about buying a part interest in a non-existent theater, then leaving a trail of depleted purses across Iowa as he sold shares of his share at bargain prices due to some fake personal emergency. Shame on you, Mr. Cooley! Who did you think you were, Harold Hill?

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Dreamland Theatre on Sep 27, 2023 at 6:51 pm

This item from Moving Picture World of January 22, 1916 came up faster at Google than I’d expected: “J. E. Boyle, owner of Dreamland theater in Dubuque, has taken a lease on a building at Fifth and Main streets which will be remodeled into a modern photoplay house.” That must have been the building at 506 into which the Dreamland moved. Unfortunately nothing revealing the exact date of the move comes up, but unless MPW was very late publishing the news about the lease, or Mr. Boyle suffered substantial delays in developing his project, the deed must have been done pretty early in 1916.

What else did come up at Google was several issues of MPW from 1910 that mentioned the Dreamland, starting with the issue of October 8, in which the Dreamland’s Peerless electric piano was offered for sale at $150.00. Later, ads for mirror screens in the December 3 and 10 issues listed the Dreamland among the house at which the devices had been installed.

The first Dreamland was listed at 530 Main Street in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. The second Dreamland was mentioned in the trade journals frequently, and both houses had been owned by J. E. Boyle, according to his obituary from the April 7, 1923 issue of Exhibitors Herald:

“J. E. Boyle, Exhibitor At Dubuque, Iowa, Dies

“(Special to Exhibitors Herald)

“DUBUQUE, IA., March 27.—J. E. Boyle, owner and manager of the Dreamland and Liberty theatres in this city, died at his home following a prolonged illness.

“Mr. Boyle came to Dubuque in 1909 and opened the Dreamland. He has been prominent in the activities of the city and was a member of a number of lodges.”

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Gem Theatre on Sep 26, 2023 at 8:10 pm

Boxoffice of January 24, 1948, had an item about the reopening of the Gem Theatre, slated for February 1. Bryan Burns “…was a showman in Snyder many years ago….” and was reopening the house, the item said. The Gem had been listed in the 1945 FDY, but not in the 1940 or 1942 editions. I haven’t checked other editions.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Family Theatre on Sep 26, 2023 at 3:58 am

Monroe’s original Family Theatre launched a bit earlier than 1917. A Family Theatre is listed on Monroe Street in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory, but an item in the March 3, 1917 issue of Moving Picture World reveals an even earlier origin for the house. The item concerns the plans of J. R. Denniston to open a new, 1000-seat theater in Monroe by September. Mr. Denniston’s background in Monroe is described thusly:

“J. R. Denniston is proprietor of the Family theater in Monroe. Six years ago he took it over after it had undergone a series of financial failures made by six proprietors in two years. It only goes to prove that the right man can always succeed.”
If this item’s account is accurate, the Family must have been opened by 1909. After this the story gets a bit garbled. Both Cinema Treasures and Water Winter Wonderland say there were two Monroe houses called the Family, but if one was built in 1929 I think there would have to have been three: The first (opened by 1909) and the third (opened in 1929) on Monroe Street, and the second, which would have operated from 1917 until (probably) 1929 on Front Street.

However, there is good evidence that there were indeed only two Family Theatres, both were on Monroe Street, and no new house was built in 1929. The only references I can find to the Family Theatre in 1929 are about the installation of sound, and an item from the June 3, 1959 issue of Motion Picture Exhibitor says that “Joe Deniston [sic], now in his 80’s, made proud the citizens of this city when he opened the doors of the plush $75,000 Family in 1917. Last week he closed it and passersby stare at the closed doors, letterless and lightless marquee.” This was the location across the street from the Monroe Theatre, as is made clear later in the article.

As for the exact location of the first Family Theatre, I’ve been unable to discover if it was on the site of the second house and demolished to make way for it, or at another location on Monroe Street. If it was at another location I don’t know if it was closed when the new Family opened or continued to operate under a different name. All we can be sure of at this point is that the first Family Theatre was on Monroe Street, was opened by 1909, and was either closed or its name changed in 1917, and the second Family Theatre, at 115 Monroe Street South, opened in 1917 and closed in 1959. There was never a Family Theatre on Front Street.

As for the 225-seat house owned by Mr. and Mrs. Frank Bissonette, it was called the Monroe Theatre and was located at First and Monroe Streets, according to the item about its opening in the April 15, 1916 issue of Moving Picture World. It can’t have had anything to do with the Family Theatre. I have no idea what became of it. A 244-seat house called the Eagle Theatre was listed in the 1926 FDY with no location specified, and that might have been the Bissonette’s house, but I’m not at all sure.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Reaper Theatre on Sep 26, 2023 at 1:56 am

The 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory lists the Gem Theatre on Front Street, plus a house on Monroe Street called the Family Theatre, and the Armory Opera House, for which no location was given, but no Reaper Theatre. Still, plans for the Reaper were underway by 1913. Here is a relevant item from the July 5, 1913 issue of Moving Picture World: “Monroe, Mich.—J. H. Reaper, 52 Humphrey Avenue, has plans under way for a two-story theater with a seating capacity for 700.”

The April 12, 1913 issue of The American Contractor had also mentioned the project, describing it as a two story and basement theater building, 40x82, for which plans were being drawn by local architect J. H. Gilmore. Finding no mentions of the Reaper in trade journals of the period, I don’t know if the completion of the house was delayed until after the AMPD went to press in 1914, or if the Directory simply overlooked it.

I’ve been unable to find out more about the architect J. H. Gilmore either, but he was active in a few other projects in the early 1910s.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Fine Arts 1 and 2 on Sep 24, 2023 at 9:29 am

The Fine Arts originally opened in 1916. The arrival in Westport of Horace S. Wakeman, formerly of Los Angeles, who would manage the new house, was noted in the January 8 issue of Moving Picture World that year. It was clear from the wording of the item that the house was not yet complete, but the arrival of the future manager suggested that it must have been approaching completion.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Earle Theatre on Sep 23, 2023 at 1:38 am

Some nine months before the Earle Theatre opened, its financier and namesake George C. Earle presided over the ceremonial laying of the cornerstone for the new building, as reported in the July 7, 1923 Moving Picture World. The item said that the new theater was to be named the Elrae, which is Earle spelled backwards, in his honor. For some reason this plan was abandoned, and the house opened as the Earle Theatre, and two older Philadelphia neighborhood theaters were renamed Elrae instead.

Although those neighborhood houses, which last operated as the Ritz and the Hollywood, are long since closed, their buildings are both still standing, unlike the Earle, which was razed shortly before what would have been the thirtieth anniversary of that cornerstone ceremony.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Empire Theatre on Sep 23, 2023 at 1:03 am

The 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory lists only the Princess, the Empire and the Island Park theaters at Brattleboro. The Princess was the only house other than the Empire on Elliot Street. The location of the Island Park was in its name.

Island Park was an amusement park on a small island that existed in the Connecticut River until a major flood washed it entirely away in 1927. The Island Park Theatre was one of the park’s original attractions when it opened in 1911, and presented a wide array of entertainments, including movies, for the next several years, though the park was only open during the summer season.

As we know that Princess was an earlier name for the Capitol Theatre, which is accounted for, and we now know that the Island Park was not on Elliot Street, I’d say that that increases the likelihood that the house at 12 Elliot was the Empire.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Hollywood Theatre on Sep 22, 2023 at 10:14 pm

This house is one of two listed as the Elrae Theatre in the 1926 Film Daily Year Book, the other being the former Apollo and future Ritz Theatre on Orthodox Street. The name Elrae is a reversed spelling of the name Earle, and it is possible that financier George C. Earle had something to do with these two houses.

In 1923 Earle financed the construction of the movie palace that opened in 1924 bearing his name. At least one early report about that project said that it was to be named the Elrae Theatre in his honor, but somehow that name ended up on these two lesser theaters instead. It’s a bit sad that though the buildings these two neighborhood houses occupied have survived all these decades, the splendid Earle was demolished less than thirty years after opening its doors.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Ritz Theater on Sep 22, 2023 at 9:17 pm

The 1926 Film Daily Year Book lists two houses called the Elrae Theatre; this one, and the former Apollo and future Hollywood Theatre on 22nd Street. The 1932 FDY doesn’t list any houses called the Elrae, but the 480-seat New Ritz Theatre is listed on Orthodox Street.

The name Elrae is the reverse of the name Earle. A July 7, 1923 Moving Picture World item noted a recent ceremony at which George C. Earle participated in the laying of the cornerstone of the grand movie palace that would open in 1924 as the Earle Theatre. Earle had financed the project, and the item said that the new theater was to be named the Elrae in his honor. Apparently the plans were changed and the honor was made more direct, while the unusual reversed spelling of his name ended up being given to these two other theaters instead.