This article about the Mayflower says that the house opened on January 31, 1928. The article does not mention the Mayflower’s “steam beams.” Perhaps they were only a local urban legend.
Although the Jewel is mentioned at least once in a trade journal in 1911 (The Moving Picture World, October 7,) and is mentioned in multiple issues of the trades after 1915, it is not listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. This might have been an accidental omission from the directory, or the house might have been closed at the time the directory was being put together and then reopened later.
The Star was one of three movie theater listed at Troy in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. No details were provided but the location West Main Street. Also listed were the Gem Theatre, S. Market Street, and the New Theatre, no location given.
The description needs to be updated with the February, 1916 closing of this house, noted in an article of February 8 that year, cited in a comment by vokoban on January 2, 2006. The article noted the impending opening of the Palace Theatre on 7th Street by the operators of the Palace of Pictures, and the last line said that “[t]he present Palace of Pictures will cease to exist at the end of this week,” Its location was taken over by Innes Shoe Company.
I believe I saw the article I cited at newspapers.com, but since then that site has put its content behind a paywall, so I, not being a subscriber to their service, don’t have access to it anymore.
50sSNIPES: See the page for the New Bluebird Theatre. The name was moved there when this house closed in 1959, and the Bluebird operated at that location (143 N. Sycamore) into the 1980s.
This house is once again using the name Fox West Theatre. Here is the official web site, which features numerous historic and contemporary photos, and a fairly detailed history of the house.
The 1889 edition of Jeffrey’s guide lists the Anthony Opera House with 850 seats (folding opera chairs) and a stage 24x60. The builders of the Anthony Opera House went out of state to Trinidad, Colorado for their architects, the Trinidad firm of Bulger & Rapp (Charles William Bulger and Isaac Hamilton Rapp.) The firm lasted for less than five years, after which Bulger left Trinidad, and Rapp was joined there by his brother William Rapp, forming a firm called Rapp & Rapp (not to be confused with the Chicago firm of the same name operated by Isaac and William’s older brothers Cornelius and George.)
This PDF file of the NRHP application for the Bulger & Rapp-designed Zion’s German Lutheran Church in Trinidad mentions the Anthony project, saying that the opera house was dedicated and opened on December 13, 1887. Bulger had been a prominent resident of Anthony for some time before moving to Trinidad.
The North Complex fires which began in August eventually led to Paradise being placed under an evacuation warning for about two weeks, but the fire never advanced far enough to reach the town, and the warning was never upgraded to an evacuation order.
The October 4, 1937 issue of Film Daily had this item under the heading “Change in Ownership”:
“REDWOOD FALLS— Falls, (formerly Dream) transferred to Don Buckley.”
The April 11th 1934 Daily had listed the New Dream at Redwood Falls as one of several Minnesota houses that had recently been reopened. A New Dream Theatre in Redwood Falls was also mentioned in the March 6, 1926 issue of Motion Picture News. Going back even farther, the New Dream was mentioned in the September 7, 1918 issue of The Moving Picture World. The 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory lists two movie theaters at Redwood Falls: the Opera House and the Redwood Dream Theatre. Whether or not this last was the same house as the later Dream or New Dream I haven’t discovered.
The July 9, 1938 issue of Boxoffice had this brief item:
“Mr. Mellon [sic] of Portage la Prairie has started construction on a new theatre which will seat between 400 and 500. This house will stand on the site of the old Elite, which has been torn down.”
The man who rebuilt the Elite in 1938 was named Amasa E. Mellen, and according to this thumbnail biography he was the owner and operator of the Elite Theatre from 1907 until his death in 1949.
The architects for the rebuilding of the Elite Theatre were the Winnipeg firm Green, Blankstein, Russell (GBR) who also designed several other theaters in Canada, from Ontario to British Columbia.
The July 2, 1938 issue of Boxoffice said that the Perkins Electric Company had sold CTR equipment to three new theaters, one of which was the Cartier in Timmins.
The July 2, 1938 issue of Boxoffice said that Ted Lewis, of Texarkana, would open his new theater at Overton on July 8. The building was owned by local businessmen and Lewis would operate the house under contract. It would be in competition with the Jefferson Amusement Company, but the article didn’t mention any theatre names.
Jefferson might have had two theaters in Overton, as a November 15, 1941 issue of Motion Picture Herald mentioned houses called the Gem and the Strand there, though it didn’t name the operators. The two houses had enjoyed a 60 day clearance over the Overton Theatre, which an arbiter had cut to 14 days.
This item is from the July 2, 1938 issue of Boxoffice:
“Millvale, Pa. — The Grant Theatre is being remodeled. Present front on Grant St. will be closed and a new front will be installed facing 42 feet on North Ave. Seating capacity will be increased from the present capacity of 500 to approximately 800. The work will cover a period of several months and the house will be closed during the final week of the extensive remodeling. Louis J. Bender is the owner of the Grant, and Floyd Bender is the manager.”
Boxoffice of July 2, 1938 reported that the owners of the new Eastland Theatre, then under construction in Fairmont, expected to open the house in late July. The Eastland was being outfitted by the National Theatre Supply Co.
The July 2, 1938 issue of Boxoffice said that “[a] new theatre is being constructed in Parksley by John Hopkins jr. It will be called New Opera House and seat 600.”
The new Avon Theatre was mentioned in the March 31, 1934 issue of Motion Picture Herald, which said that Gordon Ballew had been named manager, and added that “[t]he house is owned by local business men and constructed at a cost of $65,000.” The Avon had opened in February.
This house opened in 1926 as the Imperial Theatre. On December 11, 1932 it was taken over by the Paramount affiliate North Carolina Theatres, which operated it as a B-movie and sub-run house in conjunction with their State Theatre, the former Universal Theatre, acquired at the same time.
When Paramount opened their new Center Theatre in 1941, they converted the State into their B-house and closed the Imperial. It sat dark for over two years, then was reopened as the Strand by an independent operator in October, 1943. The Strand ran its last movies August, 1949.
A fairly extensive history of the State Theatre can be found on this web page. The house opened in 1922 as the Universal Theatre, which had operated earlier at another location. It became the State Theatre in 1933, and for the next several years competed with the new Avon Theatre (1934) for the position of the town’s leading theater.
The State’s smaller sister theater, the Imperial, was the town’s B-movie and sub-run house, while the State presented first run movie, often with vaudeville shows, though these became fewer as the years passed. In 1941, the operating company opened the new Center Theatre, which took the State’s place as the town’s outlet for Paramount pictures. The Imperial Theatre was closed and the State replaced it as the town’s B-movie and sub-run house.
The State became an independent operation in 1950 and, with other small town theaters, slipped into a gradual decline. For part of the next decade it was operating only two days a week, and ran a great many exploitation movies, though it still had an occasional live performance, particularly of country music. The last movie advertised in the local paper at the State was shown on September 27, 1960, though the house did sometimes run unadvertised shows, so there might have been some movies shown after that date. What is certain is that the lobby of the theater was converted for use as a hairdressing salon in early 1963, and the auditorium sat intact but vacant for decades.
The same website providing the page about the State also has this page about the house’s earlier life as the Universal Theatre. The Universal opened on May 9, 1922. In 1926, a new owner had a Wurlitzer organ installed. Lenoir heard its first talking picture at the Universal on May 20, 1929. The Universal and its sister theater, the Imperial, were taken over by Paramount-affiliated North Carolina Theatres on December 11, 1932.
The Olympia Theatre was listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. In 1915, the Star and Whipple Amusement Company sold the Olympia to Mrs. R. C. Howell, according to the June 26 issue of Motography.
The closing of the Amusement Hall at North Wales was noted in the Pennsylvania section of the “Theatre Changes” column in The Film Daily of June 2, 1930.
This article about the Mayflower says that the house opened on January 31, 1928. The article does not mention the Mayflower’s “steam beams.” Perhaps they were only a local urban legend.
Although the Jewel is mentioned at least once in a trade journal in 1911 (The Moving Picture World, October 7,) and is mentioned in multiple issues of the trades after 1915, it is not listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. This might have been an accidental omission from the directory, or the house might have been closed at the time the directory was being put together and then reopened later.
The Star was one of three movie theater listed at Troy in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. No details were provided but the location West Main Street. Also listed were the Gem Theatre, S. Market Street, and the New Theatre, no location given.
The description needs to be updated with the February, 1916 closing of this house, noted in an article of February 8 that year, cited in a comment by vokoban on January 2, 2006. The article noted the impending opening of the Palace Theatre on 7th Street by the operators of the Palace of Pictures, and the last line said that “[t]he present Palace of Pictures will cease to exist at the end of this week,” Its location was taken over by Innes Shoe Company.
I believe I saw the article I cited at newspapers.com, but since then that site has put its content behind a paywall, so I, not being a subscriber to their service, don’t have access to it anymore.
50sSNIPES: See the page for the New Bluebird Theatre. The name was moved there when this house closed in 1959, and the Bluebird operated at that location (143 N. Sycamore) into the 1980s.
This house is once again using the name Fox West Theatre. Here is the official web site, which features numerous historic and contemporary photos, and a fairly detailed history of the house.
The 1889 edition of Jeffrey’s guide lists the Anthony Opera House with 850 seats (folding opera chairs) and a stage 24x60. The builders of the Anthony Opera House went out of state to Trinidad, Colorado for their architects, the Trinidad firm of Bulger & Rapp (Charles William Bulger and Isaac Hamilton Rapp.) The firm lasted for less than five years, after which Bulger left Trinidad, and Rapp was joined there by his brother William Rapp, forming a firm called Rapp & Rapp (not to be confused with the Chicago firm of the same name operated by Isaac and William’s older brothers Cornelius and George.)
This PDF file of the NRHP application for the Bulger & Rapp-designed Zion’s German Lutheran Church in Trinidad mentions the Anthony project, saying that the opera house was dedicated and opened on December 13, 1887. Bulger had been a prominent resident of Anthony for some time before moving to Trinidad.
The North Complex fires which began in August eventually led to Paradise being placed under an evacuation warning for about two weeks, but the fire never advanced far enough to reach the town, and the warning was never upgraded to an evacuation order.
The October 4, 1937 issue of Film Daily had this item under the heading “Change in Ownership”:
The April 11th 1934 Daily had listed the New Dream at Redwood Falls as one of several Minnesota houses that had recently been reopened. A New Dream Theatre in Redwood Falls was also mentioned in the March 6, 1926 issue of Motion Picture News. Going back even farther, the New Dream was mentioned in the September 7, 1918 issue of The Moving Picture World. The 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory lists two movie theaters at Redwood Falls: the Opera House and the Redwood Dream Theatre. Whether or not this last was the same house as the later Dream or New Dream I haven’t discovered.The July 9, 1938 issue of Boxoffice had this brief item:
The man who rebuilt the Elite in 1938 was named Amasa E. Mellen, and according to this thumbnail biography he was the owner and operator of the Elite Theatre from 1907 until his death in 1949.The architects for the rebuilding of the Elite Theatre were the Winnipeg firm Green, Blankstein, Russell (GBR) who also designed several other theaters in Canada, from Ontario to British Columbia.
Boxoffice of July 9, 1938 said that the new Harbor Theatre at Two Harbors had recently been opened by Nick Grengs and his sons.
The July 2, 1938 issue of Boxoffice said that the Perkins Electric Company had sold CTR equipment to three new theaters, one of which was the Cartier in Timmins.
The July 2, 1938 issue of Boxoffice said that Ted Lewis, of Texarkana, would open his new theater at Overton on July 8. The building was owned by local businessmen and Lewis would operate the house under contract. It would be in competition with the Jefferson Amusement Company, but the article didn’t mention any theatre names.
Jefferson might have had two theaters in Overton, as a November 15, 1941 issue of Motion Picture Herald mentioned houses called the Gem and the Strand there, though it didn’t name the operators. The two houses had enjoyed a 60 day clearance over the Overton Theatre, which an arbiter had cut to 14 days.
This item is from the July 2, 1938 issue of Boxoffice:
Boxoffice of July 2, 1938 reported that the owners of the new Eastland Theatre, then under construction in Fairmont, expected to open the house in late July. The Eastland was being outfitted by the National Theatre Supply Co.
The July 2, 1938 issue of Boxoffice said that “[a] new theatre is being constructed in Parksley by John Hopkins jr. It will be called New Opera House and seat 600.”
The Central Opera House building was destroyed by a fire in 2012.
The new Avon Theatre was mentioned in the March 31, 1934 issue of Motion Picture Herald, which said that Gordon Ballew had been named manager, and added that “[t]he house is owned by local business men and constructed at a cost of $65,000.” The Avon had opened in February.
This house opened in 1926 as the Imperial Theatre. On December 11, 1932 it was taken over by the Paramount affiliate North Carolina Theatres, which operated it as a B-movie and sub-run house in conjunction with their State Theatre, the former Universal Theatre, acquired at the same time.
When Paramount opened their new Center Theatre in 1941, they converted the State into their B-house and closed the Imperial. It sat dark for over two years, then was reopened as the Strand by an independent operator in October, 1943. The Strand ran its last movies August, 1949.
A fairly extensive history of the State Theatre can be found on this web page. The house opened in 1922 as the Universal Theatre, which had operated earlier at another location. It became the State Theatre in 1933, and for the next several years competed with the new Avon Theatre (1934) for the position of the town’s leading theater.
The State’s smaller sister theater, the Imperial, was the town’s B-movie and sub-run house, while the State presented first run movie, often with vaudeville shows, though these became fewer as the years passed. In 1941, the operating company opened the new Center Theatre, which took the State’s place as the town’s outlet for Paramount pictures. The Imperial Theatre was closed and the State replaced it as the town’s B-movie and sub-run house.
The State became an independent operation in 1950 and, with other small town theaters, slipped into a gradual decline. For part of the next decade it was operating only two days a week, and ran a great many exploitation movies, though it still had an occasional live performance, particularly of country music. The last movie advertised in the local paper at the State was shown on September 27, 1960, though the house did sometimes run unadvertised shows, so there might have been some movies shown after that date. What is certain is that the lobby of the theater was converted for use as a hairdressing salon in early 1963, and the auditorium sat intact but vacant for decades.
The same website providing the page about the State also has this page about the house’s earlier life as the Universal Theatre. The Universal opened on May 9, 1922. In 1926, a new owner had a Wurlitzer organ installed. Lenoir heard its first talking picture at the Universal on May 20, 1929. The Universal and its sister theater, the Imperial, were taken over by Paramount-affiliated North Carolina Theatres on December 11, 1932.
The Olympia Theatre was listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. In 1915, the Star and Whipple Amusement Company sold the Olympia to Mrs. R. C. Howell, according to the June 26 issue of Motography.
The March 9, 1937 issue of The Film Daily said that the New Theatre in Vicco, Kentucky, had been renamed the State Theatre.
The closing of the Amusement Hall at North Wales was noted in the Pennsylvania section of the “Theatre Changes” column in The Film Daily of June 2, 1930.
Liebenberg & Kaplan were the architects for the 1938 remodeling.