Bad news from Marysville.The auditorium of the Avalon Theatre partly collapsed on June 3, 2020 during renovations. Fortunately the collapse took place overnight, and there were no reported injuries. Spokespersons say the renovation project will go ahead despite the loss.
The American Contractor of March 26, 1921, carried a notice about a project that was probably the Illinois Theatre:
“Centralia, Ill.– Theater (MP) $50 000, 2 sty., 138x50, Centralia. Archt. Gill & Fat [sic], 1329A Walnut St., Murphysboro I11. Owner Hall & Griffin, Centralia. Gen. contr. let to MJ Heaton, Centralia. Owner & Gen. contr. taking bids on subs.”
The correct name of the architectural firm was Gill & Fath, who also designed the Rodgers Theatre at Carbondale and Marlow’s Theatre at Murphysboro. Rudolph Zerses Gill was a well-known architect in the region, and several of his buildings have been nominated to the NRHP. I’ve been unable to find any information about Mr. Fath.
The Webb Theatre in Peru is listed in the Department of Inspection’s section of the Annual Reports of the Officers of State of the State of Indiana for the fiscal year ending October 31, 1904. The Webb was reported to be in good condition, not surprising since it must have been built after 1899 and was thus no more than four years old. I’ve searched construction journals for the period from 1899 to 1904, but haven’t yet found any notices for the theater project.
The news that the building would be converted into a YMCA was false. Only the front section of the building survives. The auditorium has been razed and a new structure erected in its place. The Lyric Theatre is gone.
I don’t seen any links in previous comments to this video about the restoration of Shea’s Buffalo, posted at YouTube in 2014. It’s worth a look, with lots of interesting details. I had no idea, for example, that the interior decoration was done by Tiffany Studios.
A book of Schuylkill County biographies published in 1916 says that Charles F. Kear had been the manager of the Opera House in Minersville since 1891. The Opera House was listed in the 1903-1904 Cahn guide as a second-floor house with 750 seats. Kear submitted capsule movie reviews that were published in several issues of The Moving Picture World in 1924, and listed the seating capacity of the Opera House as 450 at that time. Kear was also mentioned in the April 7, 1928 issue of Exhibitors Herald, when he was elected a vice-president of the regional exhibitor’s organization.
The July 16, 1937 issue of The Film Daily said that M. A. Lightman’s Malco Theatres had taken over Max Davitts' house at Winona, Mississippi, but this deal must have fallen through, as another notice appeared in Boxoffice of August 12, 1939, over two years later:
“Malco Adds Winona
“Memphis — M. A. Lightman, president of Malco Theatres, has added another theatre to his circuit. He advises that effective August 15 he is taking over the Winona Theatre at Winona, Miss. This theatre has been operated for the past 28 years by Max Davitts. Other houses operated by Lightman in Mississippi are located at West Point, Columbus and Tupelo”
The August 2, 1950 issue of Motion Picture Daily carried this notice about the Winona Theatre:
“New Orleans, Aug. 1. — Paramount Gulf Theatres has sold the Winona Theatre at Winona, Miss., to E. W. Clinton, exhibitor of Monticello, Miss. He also owns theatres in Georgetown and Summerall, Miss.”
The October 15, 1910 issue of The Moving Picture World had this item:
“Palestine. Tex. — Bell & Englebretch, of St.
Louis, have opened a new moving picture theater at 288 Oak street. It is known as the ‘Gem.’”
It’s possible that Palestine renumbered its lots at some point, accounting for the discrepancy in the address. It might also be that the building erected in 1908 did not become a theater until 1910, or perhaps Bell & Englebretch simply didn’t tell the magazine that they were taking over an existing theater when they sent in their notice to the editors.
By 1925 the Gem was being operated by Robb & Rowley Theatres, and that year it suffered a major fire, as noted in this item from the October 24 issue of Universal Weekly:
“H B. ROBB of the Robb and Rowley Enterprises announces that his firm is planning an extensive remodeling program for their theatres in Palestine, Texas. Besides remodeling and rebuilding the Gem, which was recently destroyed by fire, they contemplate spending $25,000 on the Best.”
The Hippodrome Theatre at Covington, Virginia, was listed as a subscriber to The American Motion Picture League in that outfit’s ad in The Moving Picture World of December 20, 1913.
The Masonic Theatre is listed in the 1909-1910 Cahn guide as a 700 seat ground floor house. It is listed in the December 20, 1913 issue of The Moving Picture World as being a subscriber to The American Motion Picture League. Another Covington house, the Hippodrome, was also on that list.
An item in the June 10, 1916 issue of The Moving Picture World says that the Masonic Theatre in Covington, Virginia, had been renovated and renamed the Strand Theatre.
Historic photos of the Masonic/Strand Theatre show that it was not in the two story building at 311 W. Main Street, but in a three story building in the 200 block, on the opposite side of the street, east of what is now the Wells Fargo Bank building and sited on what is now that building’s parking lot.
Here is a 1956 photo of the Strand, next door to the Citizens Bank building, which might be the Wells Fargo building, now extensively remodeled, but probably in the same location either way.
Here is a very small, undated photo of Main Street looking west, with the Strand at right. The building farther down on the right with the arched windows on the ground floor is still standing, as is the more distant, taller building with the blank white wall. There can be no mistake about the Strand’s location, or the fact that it has been demolished, though its exact address is moot. Wells Fargo is at 246 W. Main, so the Strand’s address might have been about 240.
The June 10, 1916 Moving Picture World had another item about the Lyric Theatre:
“Covington, Ind.—Fred Bower, popular moving picture theater manager, has opened his new house, the Lyric, and has been accorded fine patronage by Covingtonians. Bower is entitled to all he gets, because the Lyric is a beautifully appointed theater. While not a large theater as large theaters are known in larger cities, there is ample seating capacity and no pains have been spared on the decorative effects. The finishing has been done throughout in soft colors and one feels like walking into a beautifully appointed home instead of a theater when one enters. A ‘homey’ theater has always been one of the Bower strong points.”
The “New Motion Picture Theatres Planned” column of The Moving Picture World for July 3, 1920, had this item:
“UHRICHSVILLE, O.— C. S. Valo has plans by Arnold & Lewis, New Philadelphia, O., for two-story brick and concrete moving picture theatre, 60 by 100 feet, to cost $35,000.”
I’ve been unable to find out if the name “C. S. Valo” might have been a typo, but as it is so close to Vale it does seem a possibility. The only mention of the Vale Theatre itself I’ve found is in a 1925 newspaper article, in which it is mentioned only in passing. It would be quite a coincidence if someone named Valo had a theater built in Uhrichsville in 1920 and a few years later there was a theater there called the Vale, and there wasn’t a connection between them.
The October 11, 1924 issue of Exhibitors Herald had an article about E. E. Bair, owner of the State Theatre, and it said that he had opened the house on January 1, 1923.
The Strand Theatre opened in 1921. In 1922, as reported in the February 2 issue of the Bath Independent, Frank Owen, lessor of the rival Orono Theatre, bought out the owner of the Strand and moved his operation to the new house.
The November 30, 1948 issue of Boxoffice said that the Arcadia Theatre in Bells, Texas had been badly damaged by a fire on November 4. At that time it was owned by a Mr. Coy Anderson.
I don’t know if the Grand Rich Theatre in Stamford, mentioned in this item from the September 5, 1936 issue of Motion Picture Herald, is this house or not, but it could be:
“Griffith Circuit Adds Four
“The Griffith Amusement Company, Oklahoma City, has opened its new Grand Rich theatre in Stamford, Texas, and has taken over the State in Odessa, the Texas in Ballinger and the Queen in Winners, all in Texas.
I haven’t found the name "Grand Rich Theatre” anywhere else on the Internet, so it might have been an error, or perhaps it was only used briefly. The Film Daily of September 12, 1924, said that a new theater was being erected in Stamford Texas, but no other details were given. I’ve found the name Alcove Theatre in the trade journals only once so far, dating from 1929, so it could have been the 1924 project.
Earlier theater names used at Stamford include houses called the Cozy, the Cozy Airdome, the Crystal, the Joyland, the Candy, the Dixie, the Ideal, and the Majestic Summer Garden, the latter two having been the only movie houses listed at Stamford in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory.
An article about theaters in Martins Ferry (PDF here) says that the Elzane Theatre occupied the location of a house called the Rex Theatre, which had opened in 1916 and closed around 1918-1919. An item from The Moving Picture World of May 8, 1926 confirms that a new theater was to be opened on the site of the Rex, but doesn’t make clear if it involved a remodeling of the old building or an entirely new structure. Given the cost of the project an entirely new building does seem likely:
“New Theatre For Martins Ferry, Ohio
“Moving Picture World
"Bureau, Cincinnati,
"April 26.
“ANNOUNCEMENT has been made by the Fenray Photoplay Co., Martins' Ferry, Ohio, that it will shortly begin the construction of a pretentious picture house in that city to occupy the old site of the Rex Theatre on Fourth street. The house will be equipped with a stage sufficiently large to accommodate vaudeville acts. The estimated cost is $30,000. The company now operates the Pastime Theatre at Martins Ferry.”
The October 16, 1915 issue of The American Contractor said that the theater building being erected for the Fenray Amusement Co. at Martins Ferry had been designed by architect Charles W. Bates of Wheeling, West Virginia.
This PDF (from DavidZornig’s link) has an article about theaters in Martins Ferry, and says that the Fenray opened on January 8, 1916, and operated until February 29, 1964. Although it reopened and closed a few more times in the late 1960s and early 1970s, it was finally dismantled in 1972.
The Grand Opera House was still standing at least a late as 1979, when an article about it appeared in the October issue of Boone Magazine (PDF here), though it had not been used as a theater since 1918. It was quite a large theater, with 700 seats on the main floor and 300 in the gallery, with additional seating for 32 in the side boxes. The stage was 38 feet deep and 60 feet wide. I’ve been unable to discover to what extent movies were presented at the Grand, but its inclusion in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory would have been unlikely had they not been shown fairly often.
Here is an item about Brown’s Grand Opera House from the August 17, 1886 issue of The Indianapolis Journal:
“Lebanon’s New Opera-House.
"Special to the Indianapolis Journal.
“Lebanon, Aug. 16.— Brown’s new opera-house was opened to the public for the first time tonight, the Gilbert Comedy company giving the Inaugural performance to an audience numbering twelve hundred people. The occasion is a notable one, from the fact that the house is one of the handsomest places of amusement in Indiana. The work is, for the most part, that of Indianapolis artisans. The architect is R. P. Daggett. The brick and stone work was done by J. V. Woods, of Indianapolis, and the wood work by George W. Busby, of Lebanon. The decorating was done by Albert Gall, and the carpets and draperies are also from his house. The scenery and drop curtains are from the brush of Frank Cox, of New York. The theater is seated throughout, including the gallery, with folding opera chairs of the latest design, those on the lower floor being upholstered in cardinal plush. The proscenium and party boxes, of which there are ten, are also exquisitely draped and furnished. The house, which is provided with all modern conveniences and accessories, is a model in every respect, and is a monument to the energy and public spirit of J. C. Brown & Cos.”
Architect Robert Platt Daggett began practicing at Indianapolis in 1868, and the firm he established with junior partner James B. Lizius in 1880, R. P. Daggett & Company, continued operation after his death in 1915, run first by his son Robert Frost Daggett and then by his grandson Robert Frost Daggett Jr. until the latter’s retirement in 1977. The firm was one of the city’s most prolific, but unfortunately very little of its early work has survived.
The Olympic Theatre is listed at 122 S. Lebanon Street in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. The only other theater listed at Lebanon was the Grand Opera House, 216-220 W. Main Street.
According to Indiana Memory, the Colonial Theatre was remodeled and renamed the Avon in 1936. The venerable house was still in operation when it was destroyed in a spectacular fire on February 26, 1999. In a photograph of the theater in flames, the marquee shows two titles: Payback and Message. The first was undoubtedly the Mel Gibson movie released that year, and the second was most likely Message in a Bottle, the Kevin Kostner-Robin Wright Penn romance. Since double features, especially of two recently released major titles, were very rare by 1999, I suspect the house had been twinned, though I don’t see any signage on the building indicating two screens.
As noted in my earlier comment, the Colonial Theatre was in operation by late 1914. The Colonial was not listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory, which listed only two movie houses at Lebanon: the Grand Opera House, 216-220 Main Street, and the Olympic Theatre, 122 S. Lebanon Street.
Judging from the automobiles and the skirt length of the woman pedestrian, I’d say this photo dates from the 1920s, and no earlier than 1922.
That should say June 4, not June 3.
Bad news from Marysville.The auditorium of the Avalon Theatre partly collapsed on June 3, 2020 during renovations. Fortunately the collapse took place overnight, and there were no reported injuries. Spokespersons say the renovation project will go ahead despite the loss.
The American Contractor of March 26, 1921, carried a notice about a project that was probably the Illinois Theatre:
The correct name of the architectural firm was Gill & Fath, who also designed the Rodgers Theatre at Carbondale and Marlow’s Theatre at Murphysboro. Rudolph Zerses Gill was a well-known architect in the region, and several of his buildings have been nominated to the NRHP. I’ve been unable to find any information about Mr. Fath.The Webb Theatre in Peru is listed in the Department of Inspection’s section of the Annual Reports of the Officers of State of the State of Indiana for the fiscal year ending October 31, 1904. The Webb was reported to be in good condition, not surprising since it must have been built after 1899 and was thus no more than four years old. I’ve searched construction journals for the period from 1899 to 1904, but haven’t yet found any notices for the theater project.
The news that the building would be converted into a YMCA was false. Only the front section of the building survives. The auditorium has been razed and a new structure erected in its place. The Lyric Theatre is gone.
I don’t seen any links in previous comments to this video about the restoration of Shea’s Buffalo, posted at YouTube in 2014. It’s worth a look, with lots of interesting details. I had no idea, for example, that the interior decoration was done by Tiffany Studios.
A book of Schuylkill County biographies published in 1916 says that Charles F. Kear had been the manager of the Opera House in Minersville since 1891. The Opera House was listed in the 1903-1904 Cahn guide as a second-floor house with 750 seats. Kear submitted capsule movie reviews that were published in several issues of The Moving Picture World in 1924, and listed the seating capacity of the Opera House as 450 at that time. Kear was also mentioned in the April 7, 1928 issue of Exhibitors Herald, when he was elected a vice-president of the regional exhibitor’s organization.
The July 16, 1937 issue of The Film Daily said that M. A. Lightman’s Malco Theatres had taken over Max Davitts' house at Winona, Mississippi, but this deal must have fallen through, as another notice appeared in Boxoffice of August 12, 1939, over two years later:
The August 2, 1950 issue of Motion Picture Daily carried this notice about the Winona Theatre:The October 15, 1910 issue of The Moving Picture World had this item:
It’s possible that Palestine renumbered its lots at some point, accounting for the discrepancy in the address. It might also be that the building erected in 1908 did not become a theater until 1910, or perhaps Bell & Englebretch simply didn’t tell the magazine that they were taking over an existing theater when they sent in their notice to the editors.By 1925 the Gem was being operated by Robb & Rowley Theatres, and that year it suffered a major fire, as noted in this item from the October 24 issue of Universal Weekly:
The Hippodrome Theatre at Covington, Virginia, was listed as a subscriber to The American Motion Picture League in that outfit’s ad in The Moving Picture World of December 20, 1913.
The Masonic Theatre is listed in the 1909-1910 Cahn guide as a 700 seat ground floor house. It is listed in the December 20, 1913 issue of The Moving Picture World as being a subscriber to The American Motion Picture League. Another Covington house, the Hippodrome, was also on that list.
An item in the June 10, 1916 issue of The Moving Picture World says that the Masonic Theatre in Covington, Virginia, had been renovated and renamed the Strand Theatre.
Historic photos of the Masonic/Strand Theatre show that it was not in the two story building at 311 W. Main Street, but in a three story building in the 200 block, on the opposite side of the street, east of what is now the Wells Fargo Bank building and sited on what is now that building’s parking lot.
Here is a 1956 photo of the Strand, next door to the Citizens Bank building, which might be the Wells Fargo building, now extensively remodeled, but probably in the same location either way.
Here is an undated photo showing the Strand when it was the Masonic Theatre.
Here is a very small, undated photo of Main Street looking west, with the Strand at right. The building farther down on the right with the arched windows on the ground floor is still standing, as is the more distant, taller building with the blank white wall. There can be no mistake about the Strand’s location, or the fact that it has been demolished, though its exact address is moot. Wells Fargo is at 246 W. Main, so the Strand’s address might have been about 240.
The June 10, 1916 Moving Picture World had another item about the Lyric Theatre:
The “New Motion Picture Theatres Planned” column of The Moving Picture World for July 3, 1920, had this item:
I’ve been unable to find out if the name “C. S. Valo” might have been a typo, but as it is so close to Vale it does seem a possibility. The only mention of the Vale Theatre itself I’ve found is in a 1925 newspaper article, in which it is mentioned only in passing. It would be quite a coincidence if someone named Valo had a theater built in Uhrichsville in 1920 and a few years later there was a theater there called the Vale, and there wasn’t a connection between them.The October 11, 1924 issue of Exhibitors Herald had an article about E. E. Bair, owner of the State Theatre, and it said that he had opened the house on January 1, 1923.
The Strand Theatre opened in 1921. In 1922, as reported in the February 2 issue of the Bath Independent, Frank Owen, lessor of the rival Orono Theatre, bought out the owner of the Strand and moved his operation to the new house.
The November 30, 1948 issue of Boxoffice said that the Arcadia Theatre in Bells, Texas had been badly damaged by a fire on November 4. At that time it was owned by a Mr. Coy Anderson.
I don’t know if the Grand Rich Theatre in Stamford, mentioned in this item from the September 5, 1936 issue of Motion Picture Herald, is this house or not, but it could be:
I haven’t found the name "Grand Rich Theatre” anywhere else on the Internet, so it might have been an error, or perhaps it was only used briefly. The Film Daily of September 12, 1924, said that a new theater was being erected in Stamford Texas, but no other details were given. I’ve found the name Alcove Theatre in the trade journals only once so far, dating from 1929, so it could have been the 1924 project.Earlier theater names used at Stamford include houses called the Cozy, the Cozy Airdome, the Crystal, the Joyland, the Candy, the Dixie, the Ideal, and the Majestic Summer Garden, the latter two having been the only movie houses listed at Stamford in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory.
An article about theaters in Martins Ferry (PDF here) says that the Elzane Theatre occupied the location of a house called the Rex Theatre, which had opened in 1916 and closed around 1918-1919. An item from The Moving Picture World of May 8, 1926 confirms that a new theater was to be opened on the site of the Rex, but doesn’t make clear if it involved a remodeling of the old building or an entirely new structure. Given the cost of the project an entirely new building does seem likely:
The October 16, 1915 issue of The American Contractor said that the theater building being erected for the Fenray Amusement Co. at Martins Ferry had been designed by architect Charles W. Bates of Wheeling, West Virginia.
This PDF (from DavidZornig’s link) has an article about theaters in Martins Ferry, and says that the Fenray opened on January 8, 1916, and operated until February 29, 1964. Although it reopened and closed a few more times in the late 1960s and early 1970s, it was finally dismantled in 1972.
The Grand Opera House was still standing at least a late as 1979, when an article about it appeared in the October issue of Boone Magazine (PDF here), though it had not been used as a theater since 1918. It was quite a large theater, with 700 seats on the main floor and 300 in the gallery, with additional seating for 32 in the side boxes. The stage was 38 feet deep and 60 feet wide. I’ve been unable to discover to what extent movies were presented at the Grand, but its inclusion in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory would have been unlikely had they not been shown fairly often.
Here is an item about Brown’s Grand Opera House from the August 17, 1886 issue of The Indianapolis Journal:
Architect Robert Platt Daggett began practicing at Indianapolis in 1868, and the firm he established with junior partner James B. Lizius in 1880, R. P. Daggett & Company, continued operation after his death in 1915, run first by his son Robert Frost Daggett and then by his grandson Robert Frost Daggett Jr. until the latter’s retirement in 1977. The firm was one of the city’s most prolific, but unfortunately very little of its early work has survived.The Olympic Theatre is listed at 122 S. Lebanon Street in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. The only other theater listed at Lebanon was the Grand Opera House, 216-220 W. Main Street.
According to Indiana Memory, the Colonial Theatre was remodeled and renamed the Avon in 1936. The venerable house was still in operation when it was destroyed in a spectacular fire on February 26, 1999. In a photograph of the theater in flames, the marquee shows two titles: Payback and Message. The first was undoubtedly the Mel Gibson movie released that year, and the second was most likely Message in a Bottle, the Kevin Kostner-Robin Wright Penn romance. Since double features, especially of two recently released major titles, were very rare by 1999, I suspect the house had been twinned, though I don’t see any signage on the building indicating two screens.
As noted in my earlier comment, the Colonial Theatre was in operation by late 1914. The Colonial was not listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory, which listed only two movie houses at Lebanon: the Grand Opera House, 216-220 Main Street, and the Olympic Theatre, 122 S. Lebanon Street.