Moving Picture World of November 9, 1918 noted a new owner for the Opera House in Blue Rapids: “O. A. Reed, of Blue Rapids, Kan., widely known throughout the northern portion of the state, has bought the opera there and is running a program of the best class of photoplays.”
The only theater listed at Blue Rapids in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory was called the Photoplay, listed on the east side of the square.
Sources differ on whether the Big Rapids was a new theater built on the site of the old Colonial in 1937 or was an extreme rebuilding of the earlier house. Water Winter Wonderland’s page of photos includes one with the Colonial gutted and its façade torn off but the side walls and roof trusses still in place. Because modern satellite views of the building show a pitched roof uncharacteristic of most theater construction in the 1930s, I’m inclined to go with the extreme rebuild belief.
The only mention of the project I’ve been able to find in trade publications is from the March 10, 1937 issue of Film Daily, which ran a brief item about three new Michigan houses to be built by the Butterfield chain, in Monroe, Manistee and Big Rapids. Of the Big Rapids project it said only “[a] 1,000-seat theater is to be built in Big Rapids on the present site of the Colonial. Pierra & Pierra [sic] of Chicago will probably be in charge of its construction.”
I haven’t found any other sources confirming William and Hal Pereira as architects of this house, but as they were designing one of the other Butterfield projects and the Big Rapids does strongly express their style of the period, they probably did design it.
As for the Colonial, it was a venerable house, dating from 1884, and despite some updating over the years it was a very old fashioned theater by the 1930s, as vintage photos show, and the interior was not well suited to the needs of a modern motion picture house. Cahn guides list it as a ground floor house with a total of about 700 seats arranged with only 319 in the orchestra and the rest in the balcony, gallery and boxes. It was not listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory, which listed only a house called the Vaudette for movies at Big Rapids. The Colonial was still listed in the legitimate theaters section of the 1922 Cahn Guide, as a road show house, but it was being listed in the FDY by 1926, and had been mentioned in Moving Picture World at least as early as December, 1923.
The Cameo apparently spent at least part of its rather short run closed. This item is from the October 9, 1937 issue of Film Daily: “Youngstown, O.—The Cameo Theater, long closed, is being reconditioned by Joe Trunk, who expects to reopen the house Oct. 16.”
The Rialto was still running in early 1930, before the full force of the depression kicked in. This is from the January 5 issue of Film Daily: “Youngstown — The Rialto, Joe Trunk’s house, has Tone-O-Graph installed, as well as the Uptown, owned by the same exhibitor.”
The October 9, 1937 issue of Film Daily had this item about the new Sanilac Theatre: “Sandusky, Mich.— W. H. Anderson has opened his new Sanilac Theater and has closed the old Star. New house, which seats 700, was designed by Bennett & Straight of Dearborn, Mich. Equipment, including RCA sound, was installed by McArthur Theater Equipment Co. of Detroit.”
The Orak Temple Shrine in Hammond was originally built in 1907-1909, and then massively expanded in 1921, which was when the auditorium that became the Temple Theatre was added. The enormous, 65,000 square foot Modern Gothic building also housed a large ballroom, and was long one of Hammond’s most important gathering places, hosting live events including the annual Shrine Circus.
In the late 20th century as lodge membership declined the building became too costly for the Masons to maintain, and by the 1990s the interior had begun to deteriorate badly. The lodge abandoned it for smaller quarters in 1999. New owners hoped to renovate and reopen the facility, but failed, and it was demolished in June, 2009. Its site is now occupied by a charter high school, The Hammond Academy of Science and Technology.
The Pastime was one of four theaters listed at Hammond in the 1926 FDY, unfortunately none with either address or seating capacity. Deluxe, Pantheon, and Orpheum were the other houses. Only the latter three were still listed in the 1927 edition.
The January 5, 1973 issue of The Lexington Herald ran multiple congratulatory ads for the new Crossroads Cinema 1 & 2, so that was likely the opening date. The house was originally run by an outfit called Showtime Cinema Theaters, and later by Associated Theatres of Kentucky, but was one of the Lexington houses that eventually came under the control of the USA Cinemas chain, a subsidiary of Boston- based Sack Theatres. The Crossroads Cinema operated at least into the late 1980s.
The Lyric, 603 N. Washington St., was one of three houses listed at Junction City in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. The others were the Aurora and the Opera House.
The October 9. 1954 issue of Boxoffice said that “O. A. Dickson is contemplating closing his Colonial at Alma, Kas., during December.” Dickson had run the Colonial since at least 1945, when he was mentioned in the April 7 issue of Boxoffice.
In a classified ad in the October 13, 1956 issue of Boxoffice 200 theater seats were offered for sale by Fred L. LaMar of Alma, Kansas. They probably came from the Colonial.
As it doesn’t depict this house on Grand Avenue, I’m thinking the photo uploaded by elmorovivo probably shows the Empire/Bungalow at 12th and Morrison. We don’t have a page for that theater. I’m now pretty sure the Baker Theatre at 11th and Morrison, which we do list, was a different house.
Apple maps is putting the pin icon in the wrong neighborhood. The Bakeronian was Downtown, not in the East Burnside district. Perhaps correcting the zip code to 97204 will fix the map error.
The Empire at old address 289 Grand was one of two houses of that name listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. The second was at 1141 (presumably also an old address) Albina Avenue. The August 8, 1903 issue of The Oregon Daily Journal mentioned the Empire Theatre in Portland, but I don’t know which Empire it was, or if it was a different theater than either of those operating in 1914.
The Pacific Coast Architecture Database has a page for an Empire Theatre built in 1903 with the aka Bungalow Theatre, but no address or photos or other details. The photo of this house on Grand Avenue shows that the building certainly had a bungalowish look to it, but I think this might have been a third Empire Theatre.
In 1909 there was a house called the Bungalow Theatre at 12th and Morrison, which was not near either of the Empire Theaters in the AMPD. A program from the Bungalow says they were presenting the Baker Stock Company, and noted that the house was leased by the Empire Theatre Company Inc. It might have been the house listed as the Baker Theater, 11th and Morrison, in the AMPD, though it might also have been a new home for the Baker Players. Apparently we also list it as the Baker. No house called the Bungalow is listed at Portland in the AMPD.
Quite a few theaters in the 1926 FDY are listed as Opera House or “(Name) Op H.” but the Wareham is not among them. It was surely the Wareham Theatre by then.
Currently, the theater is closed for rentals, and the dinner theater format appears to have been abandoned some time ago. In 2022 the building was purchased by a non-profit organization that hopes to renovate and return the building to full theatrical use as a regional performing arts facility. The group, which has already received state funding for feasibility studies, calls itself, and apparently the building as well, Wareham Hall. Here is their official web site.
The web site has a history of the building which unfortunately includes nothing about the rebuilding (or extensive alterations) that must have taken place in the 1910s. A page for Wareham Hall at the Downtown Manhattan web site says: “In 1893 Harry P, Wareham purchased the building, installed electricity and renamed it The Wareham Opera House. In 1910, the structure was enlarged and remodeled with the current facade. In 1911 a screen was installed in front of the stage and the Wareham became the second theater in Kansas to show movies [a dubious claim]. The Wareham remained one of Manhattan’s main movie theaters until 1986.”
The 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory lists an Orpheum Theatre at Williston, but gives the address as 46 Main Street, an address that does not appear on any Sanborn maps, and the adjacent and nearby addresses had buildings not suitable for use as a theater on 1913 and 1916 Sanborn maps. The 1916 Sanborn map (but not 1913) shows “Moving Pictures” in a building at 108 Main Street. The same building was still occupied by a movie house on the 1926 map, so I’m thinking that must be the correct address of the Orpheum. The 0 and the 8 in the address might have gotten transposed when the theater was submitted to Cinema Treasures.
The January 1, 1927 issue of Moving Picture World has an item about another theater planned for Marlow’s West Main Street. I wonder if it could have been the Rex, which we don’t have listed? “MARLOW, OKLA.—Frank Miller, owner of Whiteway Theatre, has purchased Briscoe Building on West Main street and is converting same into an up-to-date theatre.”
I wonder if the Airdome operated in conjunction with the old Opera House down the street, which was listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory as the “Electric Theatre, 410 Pointz Ave.?” I can imagine this being their summer location, in the days before air conditioning.
This house appears to have operated as a movie theater as early as 1914, when the American Motion Picture Directory listed the “Electric Theatre, 410 Pointz Ave.”
The January 1, 1927 issue of Moving Picture World had this announcement about the new Stevenson Theatres house to be built at Burlington: “BURLINGTON, N. C.—Stevenson Theatres. Inc., S. S. Stevenson, Carolina Theatre has awarded contract for theatre and office building, 59 by 167 feet. Theatre will have seating capacity 700 in main auditorium and 1,000 in balconies. Estimated cost, $150,000.”
And it appears my suspicion was correct. Moving Picture World of June 18, 1927 had this item: “‘U’ Names Two Managers Dan Michalove, general manager of Universal Chain Theatrical Enterprises, Inc., has appointed Montague Salmon manager of the new ‘U’ theatre, the Revere, nearing completion at Revere, Mass. Salmon also will supervise the Capitol, Somerville, Mass. Mark Hanna has been appointed manager of the Capitol.”
The 1941 MGM Theatre report cited earlier by Ron Salters said that the Revere was then over fifteen years old, but I wonder if it could have been this project noted in the January 1, 1927 issue of Moving Picture World: “REVERE, MASS.—Capabianco Construction Company, 46 Cornhill street, Boston, has contract for one-story theatre to be erected on Broadway for J. A. Di Pesa, 20 Pembertno square, Boston. Estimated cost $155,522.”
This house probably opened in 1927, if this item in the January 1 issue of Moving Picture World that year is correct: “WILLISTON, FLA.—George W. Livingston, of Newberry, has contract for theatre to be erected on site of Reddick Building on Noble avenue for Williston Development Corporation.”
There was a bit more detail in the item that had been published by Manufacturers' Record of November 18, 1926: “Fla., Williston George W. Livingston, Contr., Newberry, has contract for construction of concrete theater building on site of Reddick Building, Noble Ave., owned by Williston Development Corp.; plans call for remodeling buildings and erection of theater in rear, with lobby connecting to Noble Ave.”
The 250-seat Williston Theatre listed in the 1926 FDY was probably the predecessor to this house. If it was indeed on Main Street, as our description says, then it must have been an entirely different theater from the Arcade.
It’s likely that the new, larger theater on Noble Avenue never operated as the Williston, as the 1927 and 1928 FDYs list only a house called the Regent at Williston, and then only the Arcade in 1929 and later. Williston itself is not listed in 1930, but it returns in 1931 when the Arcade is the only house listed, and with 400 seats. The Arcade is listed as closed in 1932 and 1933, then Williston itself vanishes from the FDY again until 1938.
This item from the January 1, 1927 Moving Picture World was probably about the Galva Theater: “GALVA, ILL.—J. A. Miller & Son have general contract to erect up-to-date two-story moving picture theatre, with seating capacity of 500, located on Market street, east of Princess Theatre. Large stage suitable for vaudeville will be constructed, including orchestra pit. Pipe organ costing $4,000 will be installed. A. W. Trevor will be manager.”
The original Prytania Theatre was destroyed by a fire in late 1926. Here is a January 1, 1927 Moving Picture World item about Saenger Theatres' intention to replace the house: “NEW ORLEANS, LA.—M. H. Jacobs, of Saenger Theatres, Inc., 1401 Tulane street, plans to rebuild Prytania Theatre at Prytania and Lecontine streets, destroyed by fire.” The Billboard of December 4, 1926 said the fire had taken place on November 27.
Moving Picture World of November 9, 1918 noted a new owner for the Opera House in Blue Rapids: “O. A. Reed, of Blue Rapids, Kan., widely known throughout the northern portion of the state, has bought the opera there and is running a program of the best class of photoplays.”
The only theater listed at Blue Rapids in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory was called the Photoplay, listed on the east side of the square.
Sources differ on whether the Big Rapids was a new theater built on the site of the old Colonial in 1937 or was an extreme rebuilding of the earlier house. Water Winter Wonderland’s page of photos includes one with the Colonial gutted and its façade torn off but the side walls and roof trusses still in place. Because modern satellite views of the building show a pitched roof uncharacteristic of most theater construction in the 1930s, I’m inclined to go with the extreme rebuild belief.
The only mention of the project I’ve been able to find in trade publications is from the March 10, 1937 issue of Film Daily, which ran a brief item about three new Michigan houses to be built by the Butterfield chain, in Monroe, Manistee and Big Rapids. Of the Big Rapids project it said only “[a] 1,000-seat theater is to be built in Big Rapids on the present site of the Colonial. Pierra & Pierra [sic] of Chicago will probably be in charge of its construction.”
I haven’t found any other sources confirming William and Hal Pereira as architects of this house, but as they were designing one of the other Butterfield projects and the Big Rapids does strongly express their style of the period, they probably did design it.
As for the Colonial, it was a venerable house, dating from 1884, and despite some updating over the years it was a very old fashioned theater by the 1930s, as vintage photos show, and the interior was not well suited to the needs of a modern motion picture house. Cahn guides list it as a ground floor house with a total of about 700 seats arranged with only 319 in the orchestra and the rest in the balcony, gallery and boxes. It was not listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory, which listed only a house called the Vaudette for movies at Big Rapids. The Colonial was still listed in the legitimate theaters section of the 1922 Cahn Guide, as a road show house, but it was being listed in the FDY by 1926, and had been mentioned in Moving Picture World at least as early as December, 1923.
The Cameo apparently spent at least part of its rather short run closed. This item is from the October 9, 1937 issue of Film Daily: “Youngstown, O.—The Cameo Theater, long closed, is being reconditioned by Joe Trunk, who expects to reopen the house Oct. 16.”
The Rialto was still running in early 1930, before the full force of the depression kicked in. This is from the January 5 issue of Film Daily: “Youngstown — The Rialto, Joe Trunk’s house, has Tone-O-Graph installed, as well as the Uptown, owned by the same exhibitor.”
The October 9, 1937 issue of Film Daily had this item about the new Sanilac Theatre: “Sandusky, Mich.— W. H. Anderson has opened his new Sanilac Theater and has closed the old Star. New house, which seats 700, was designed by Bennett & Straight of Dearborn, Mich. Equipment, including RCA sound, was installed by McArthur Theater Equipment Co. of Detroit.”
The Orak Temple Shrine in Hammond was originally built in 1907-1909, and then massively expanded in 1921, which was when the auditorium that became the Temple Theatre was added. The enormous, 65,000 square foot Modern Gothic building also housed a large ballroom, and was long one of Hammond’s most important gathering places, hosting live events including the annual Shrine Circus.
In the late 20th century as lodge membership declined the building became too costly for the Masons to maintain, and by the 1990s the interior had begun to deteriorate badly. The lodge abandoned it for smaller quarters in 1999. New owners hoped to renovate and reopen the facility, but failed, and it was demolished in June, 2009. Its site is now occupied by a charter high school, The Hammond Academy of Science and Technology.
The Pastime was one of four theaters listed at Hammond in the 1926 FDY, unfortunately none with either address or seating capacity. Deluxe, Pantheon, and Orpheum were the other houses. Only the latter three were still listed in the 1927 edition.
The January 5, 1973 issue of The Lexington Herald ran multiple congratulatory ads for the new Crossroads Cinema 1 & 2, so that was likely the opening date. The house was originally run by an outfit called Showtime Cinema Theaters, and later by Associated Theatres of Kentucky, but was one of the Lexington houses that eventually came under the control of the USA Cinemas chain, a subsidiary of Boston- based Sack Theatres. The Crossroads Cinema operated at least into the late 1980s.
The Lyric, 603 N. Washington St., was one of three houses listed at Junction City in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. The others were the Aurora and the Opera House.
The October 9. 1954 issue of Boxoffice said that “O. A. Dickson is contemplating closing his Colonial at Alma, Kas., during December.” Dickson had run the Colonial since at least 1945, when he was mentioned in the April 7 issue of Boxoffice.
In a classified ad in the October 13, 1956 issue of Boxoffice 200 theater seats were offered for sale by Fred L. LaMar of Alma, Kansas. They probably came from the Colonial.
Well drat, it didn’t work, the map still shows the wrong location. I’m out of ideas.
As it doesn’t depict this house on Grand Avenue, I’m thinking the photo uploaded by elmorovivo probably shows the Empire/Bungalow at 12th and Morrison. We don’t have a page for that theater. I’m now pretty sure the Baker Theatre at 11th and Morrison, which we do list, was a different house.
Apple maps is putting the pin icon in the wrong neighborhood. The Bakeronian was Downtown, not in the East Burnside district. Perhaps correcting the zip code to 97204 will fix the map error.
The Empire at old address 289 Grand was one of two houses of that name listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. The second was at 1141 (presumably also an old address) Albina Avenue. The August 8, 1903 issue of The Oregon Daily Journal mentioned the Empire Theatre in Portland, but I don’t know which Empire it was, or if it was a different theater than either of those operating in 1914.
The Pacific Coast Architecture Database has a page for an Empire Theatre built in 1903 with the aka Bungalow Theatre, but no address or photos or other details. The photo of this house on Grand Avenue shows that the building certainly had a bungalowish look to it, but I think this might have been a third Empire Theatre.
In 1909 there was a house called the Bungalow Theatre at 12th and Morrison, which was not near either of the Empire Theaters in the AMPD. A program from the Bungalow says they were presenting the Baker Stock Company, and noted that the house was leased by the Empire Theatre Company Inc. It might have been the house listed as the Baker Theater, 11th and Morrison, in the AMPD, though it might also have been a new home for the Baker Players. Apparently we also list it as the Baker. No house called the Bungalow is listed at Portland in the AMPD.
Quite a few theaters in the 1926 FDY are listed as Opera House or “(Name) Op H.” but the Wareham is not among them. It was surely the Wareham Theatre by then.
Currently, the theater is closed for rentals, and the dinner theater format appears to have been abandoned some time ago. In 2022 the building was purchased by a non-profit organization that hopes to renovate and return the building to full theatrical use as a regional performing arts facility. The group, which has already received state funding for feasibility studies, calls itself, and apparently the building as well, Wareham Hall. Here is their official web site.
The web site has a history of the building which unfortunately includes nothing about the rebuilding (or extensive alterations) that must have taken place in the 1910s. A page for Wareham Hall at the Downtown Manhattan web site says: “In 1893 Harry P, Wareham purchased the building, installed electricity and renamed it The Wareham Opera House. In 1910, the structure was enlarged and remodeled with the current facade. In 1911 a screen was installed in front of the stage and the Wareham became the second theater in Kansas to show movies [a dubious claim]. The Wareham remained one of Manhattan’s main movie theaters until 1986.”
The 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory lists an Orpheum Theatre at Williston, but gives the address as 46 Main Street, an address that does not appear on any Sanborn maps, and the adjacent and nearby addresses had buildings not suitable for use as a theater on 1913 and 1916 Sanborn maps. The 1916 Sanborn map (but not 1913) shows “Moving Pictures” in a building at 108 Main Street. The same building was still occupied by a movie house on the 1926 map, so I’m thinking that must be the correct address of the Orpheum. The 0 and the 8 in the address might have gotten transposed when the theater was submitted to Cinema Treasures.
The January 1, 1927 issue of Moving Picture World has an item about another theater planned for Marlow’s West Main Street. I wonder if it could have been the Rex, which we don’t have listed? “MARLOW, OKLA.—Frank Miller, owner of Whiteway Theatre, has purchased Briscoe Building on West Main street and is converting same into an up-to-date theatre.”
I wonder if the Airdome operated in conjunction with the old Opera House down the street, which was listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory as the “Electric Theatre, 410 Pointz Ave.?” I can imagine this being their summer location, in the days before air conditioning.
This house appears to have operated as a movie theater as early as 1914, when the American Motion Picture Directory listed the “Electric Theatre, 410 Pointz Ave.”
The January 1, 1927 issue of Moving Picture World had this announcement about the new Stevenson Theatres house to be built at Burlington: “BURLINGTON, N. C.—Stevenson Theatres. Inc., S. S. Stevenson, Carolina Theatre has awarded contract for theatre and office building, 59 by 167 feet. Theatre will have seating capacity 700 in main auditorium and 1,000 in balconies. Estimated cost, $150,000.”
And it appears my suspicion was correct. Moving Picture World of June 18, 1927 had this item: “‘U’ Names Two Managers Dan Michalove, general manager of Universal Chain Theatrical Enterprises, Inc., has appointed Montague Salmon manager of the new ‘U’ theatre, the Revere, nearing completion at Revere, Mass. Salmon also will supervise the Capitol, Somerville, Mass. Mark Hanna has been appointed manager of the Capitol.”
The 1941 MGM Theatre report cited earlier by Ron Salters said that the Revere was then over fifteen years old, but I wonder if it could have been this project noted in the January 1, 1927 issue of Moving Picture World: “REVERE, MASS.—Capabianco Construction Company, 46 Cornhill street, Boston, has contract for one-story theatre to be erected on Broadway for J. A. Di Pesa, 20 Pembertno square, Boston. Estimated cost $155,522.”
This house probably opened in 1927, if this item in the January 1 issue of Moving Picture World that year is correct: “WILLISTON, FLA.—George W. Livingston, of Newberry, has contract for theatre to be erected on site of Reddick Building on Noble avenue for Williston Development Corporation.”
There was a bit more detail in the item that had been published by Manufacturers' Record of November 18, 1926: “Fla., Williston George W. Livingston, Contr., Newberry, has contract for construction of concrete theater building on site of Reddick Building, Noble Ave., owned by Williston Development Corp.; plans call for remodeling buildings and erection of theater in rear, with lobby connecting to Noble Ave.”
The 250-seat Williston Theatre listed in the 1926 FDY was probably the predecessor to this house. If it was indeed on Main Street, as our description says, then it must have been an entirely different theater from the Arcade.
It’s likely that the new, larger theater on Noble Avenue never operated as the Williston, as the 1927 and 1928 FDYs list only a house called the Regent at Williston, and then only the Arcade in 1929 and later. Williston itself is not listed in 1930, but it returns in 1931 when the Arcade is the only house listed, and with 400 seats. The Arcade is listed as closed in 1932 and 1933, then Williston itself vanishes from the FDY again until 1938.
This item from the January 1, 1927 Moving Picture World was probably about the Galva Theater: “GALVA, ILL.—J. A. Miller & Son have general contract to erect up-to-date two-story moving picture theatre, with seating capacity of 500, located on Market street, east of Princess Theatre. Large stage suitable for vaudeville will be constructed, including orchestra pit. Pipe organ costing $4,000 will be installed. A. W. Trevor will be manager.”
The original Prytania Theatre was destroyed by a fire in late 1926. Here is a January 1, 1927 Moving Picture World item about Saenger Theatres' intention to replace the house: “NEW ORLEANS, LA.—M. H. Jacobs, of Saenger Theatres, Inc., 1401 Tulane street, plans to rebuild Prytania Theatre at Prytania and Lecontine streets, destroyed by fire.” The Billboard of December 4, 1926 said the fire had taken place on November 27.