The Varsity Theatre opened in 1947, according to a 1999 document prepared by historic preservation consultant Michelle L. Dennis. The document has no other information about the house.
By mid-1957, items in The Eugene Guard are noting events other then movies at the Varsity. In 1958 it was the home of a theater group called the Willamalane Players. In 1956 the Players were still using the Springfield Memorial Building. It’s probably safe to assume that the Varsity closed as a movie theater no later than early 1957. Given the timing, the cost of equipping theaters for CinemaScope could have been a factor.
Sandersville had two theaters open in 1948, and one of them was likely the Arcade, though the names are not given in this item from Motion Picture Herald of November 6 that year:
“Hal Macon, owner of the two theatres in Sandersville, has announced the opening of his new drive-in there for November 15.”
The Arcade was still in operation in 1962, when manager B. L. Brown had three capsule movie reviews published in the “Exhibitor Has His Say” column of Boxoffice for January 15.
This web page has six photos of the outside of the Arcade building after the demolition of the front section, and says that it was operating as a theater into the 1970s. The fake mansard on the front which can still be seen in the June, 2014 Google street view is characteristic of the 1970s and 1980s, so was probably added when the Arcade was converted to other uses, but the glass brick around the entrance was pure 1930s, or maybe early 1940s. That’s probably the period when it opened, unless it was converted from some other original use later.
The auditorium building looks like it might have been added behind an even older commercial building at some point, and could originally have housed something else, like a skating rink, a dance hall, or a bowling alley, any of which would have been likely to use glass blocks as a feature in the 1930s. The external projection booth, which could have been added later, also suggests that something of that sort might have happened.
The NRHP registration form for the Sandersville Commercial and Industrial Historic District says that the new Pastime Theatre opened at this location in 1938. It replaced the smaller Pastime that had operated on Malone Street since 1911.
The NRHP registration form for the Sandersville
Commercial and Industrial Historic District confirms that 116 Malone Street was the location of the original Pastime Theatre, opened in February, 1911. It moved to the Harris Street location in 1938.
I wonder if this house could have been Sandersville’s first Pastime Theatre? It was listed, without an address, in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory, and no other theaters were listed in the town.
This web page has a brief history of the Playhouse, and notes that for about four months in 1898-1899 it was also known as the Casino Theatre, then reverted to the name Savoy. The Savoy originally opened in the converted church on February 17, 1896, and the building was demolished in September, 1933, after having served as a warehouse and garage for a department store for 14 years.
Trade journals in 1949 and 1950 make a number of references to the manager of the Home Theatre, a Mr. Sid Landers. Mr. Landers had an earlier connection to the theater business in Zephyrhills. Here is an item from the September 18, 1948 issue of Boxoffice:
“Zephyrhills, Fla., Zephyr Will Be Reopened Soon
“ZEPHYRHILLS, FLA.— Sid Landers has returned to Zephyrhills and will reopen the Zephyr Theatre, which he operated for four years, from 1940 to 1944, when he left to go into business in St. Petersburg. He plans to operate on a nightly schedule.”
The November 8, 1948 issue of Boxoffice said that The new, 500-seat Krusen Theatre in Zephyrhills was almost complete, and was waiting only on the arrival of some equipment to be opened. As Sid Landers became manager of the new house, opened as the Home Theatre, I suppose we can presume that the Zephyr was closed at that time. I’ve been unable to discover anything else about the Zephyr Theatre. The only other mention of a movie theater in Zephyrhills that I’ve found is from 1912, when a two story building, 25x50 feet, being put up at the corner of 8th Street and 6th Avenue was to have a Masonic Lodge upstairs and a movie theater downstairs.
The Roxy changed hands multiple times in the early 1950s. Boxofficeof July 14, 1951 said that Roxart Theatres of Tampa had bought the house from Florida Coast Theatres. Then the May 7, 1952 issue of The Exhibitor reported that local developer W. R. Parsley had bought the Roxy from Roxart. The April 26 1952 issue of Tampa Bay Times said that Parsley had leased the Roxy to Claughton Theatres.
The July 14, 1951 issue of Boxoffice reported that Video Independent Theatres had acquired full ownership of the Kihekah Theatre in Pawhuska, having purchased the half interest still held by Fred Pickrel, who had held an interest in the house since 1927. Video had acquired a half interest from Pickrel’s partner in 1950. Video Independent was still operating the Kihekah in 1963, when it was mentioned in the November 25 issue of Boxoffice.
Live performances were being presented at the Kihekah Theatre even before its name reverted to Constantine. A performance of the play “The Crucible” was mounted there in 1976, according to the June 27 issue of the Oklahoma City Daily Oklahoman.
I don’t know if it was in the same building or not, but there was a Ramona Theatre in Kermmling in 1938, when the July 2 issue of Film Daily said that Ramona was the new name of the former Victory Theatre.
The July 2, 1938 issue of Film Daily had this item:
“4,024-Seat Minneapolis Theater Closed by Para.
“Paramount has closed the 4,024-seat Minnesota Theater, Minneapolis, and will not reopen it, John Friedl, president of the Minnesota Amusement Co., Paramount affiliate, stated yesterday in New York. House closed Thursday night. Lease on the theater does not expire until next February but under the terms of the agreement, Paramount was not obliged to operate it more than six months of any calendar year.
“It is not likely that any other company will take the Minnesota over because of the high overhead; house was built before Minneapolis was ready for such a theater, it was said.”
If Paramount’s lease was ending until February, 1939 and the house opened in March of 1928, it seems unlikely that they were the original operators of the Minnesota. I’ve never heard of anyone taking an eleven year lease on a theater.
The April 18, 1957 issue of the Brazil Daily Times said that the Beverly Theatre building was being remodeled for the Thrift Department Store, which was located one door west. The floor had been leveled. The article didn’t say how long the house had been closed.
The January 6, 1940 issue of Boxoffice had a brief item datelined Brazil saying “Samuel M. Grimes has opened the new Cine, a 375-seat house.” I’ve been unable to find a theater called the Cine mentioned in the local newspaper, or any mention of a Samuel Grimes. The size and maybe the timing sort of match up with the Beverly, though.
The January 6, 1957 issue of the Brazil Daily Times said that Stanley Cooper had sold the Lark Theatre building to a developer who planned to convert it to retail use. The article noted that the Lark had been closed since 1953 except for a brief period of operation the previous spring, so the final closing must have been by summer of 1956. The article also said that the Lark had opened in March, 1922. The conversion to a J. C. Penney store came in late 1957.
The site of Tobin’s Opera House is just outside the boundaries of the Sidney Historic Business District, but the NRHP registration form for the district nevertheless notes that it was located on the north side of Jackson Street between 10th and 11th Avenues. As the buildings on the west side of 10th Avenue at Jackson are part of the historic district, and the corner of 11th Avenue is occupied by the Elks Lodge and City Auditorium building erected in 1929 before the Tobin was demolished, the only place it could have been was on the parking lot across the street from the Cheyenne County Courthouse. That would be somewhere in the range of 1012-1022 Jackson Street.
The May 14, 1949 Boxoffice article about the opening of E.E. Branscome’s North Miami Theatre said that the event, a benefit for the Optimist’s Club, consisted of five acts of vaudeville and the feature film “The Untamed Breed.” This must have been before the beginning of regular operations on May 5, 1949, but Boxoffice doesn’t give the date of the event. It was likely on May 4.
The off-center projection booth noted by some earlier commenters was probably the result of the inclusion of a small balcony that served as a smoking loge on one side of the house. Despite the vaudeville acts at the opening, the North Miami was a new build, not an old legitimate theater converted for movies.
Boxoffice gave the name of the architect as M. Ungaro. After poking around the Internet I’ve concluded that this must have been Manfred Mancusi-Ungaro, a fairly well known Miami modernist in his time, best known for designing many single family houses and small apartment buildings. I’ve found no other theaters among his works.
Boxoffice of May 14, 1949 said that the Normandie Twin Outdoor Theatre had recently opened at Jacksonville. In addition to accommodating over 1,000 cars, the facility had outdoor seating areas near the refreshment stands for about 400 walk-in customers.
The May 14, 1949 issue of Boxoffice said that the Georgia Theatre Company’s 350-car Athens Drive-In had been opened on a 50-acre site. It was the first Drive-In theater in Athens.
Google satellite view shows that this entire block of buildings along Avenue J has now been demolished. An earlier street view from 2007 shows the buildings at the end of the block still standing, and I’m inclined to agree that one of them was the neighboring building we see a sliver of in the vintage photo of the theater.
The photo was taken in January, 1939 by Marion Post Walcott for the Farm Security Administration. Boxoffice of May 29, 1937 had said that the New Glades Theatre had been opened that month by Mrs. Mary Kay Davis. The building looked rather older than that in the 1939 photo, so I suspect it was either an old theater that had been reopened or an old commercial building that had just been converted into a theater.
Boxoffice of May 14, 1949 said that construction had begun at Moore Haven on a new theater to replace one that had been destroyed by a fire. It was to be a quonset structure behind a store building that would contain a foyer providing access to the new auditorium. I don’t think the new theater was at the same location as the old one, though the article didn’t say so.
There is currently a quonset building as described in the article at 134 Avenue J, and it even has a second-floor structure at one end of the quonset that is perfectly positioned to have been a projection booth. In the current Google street view it is occupied by a dance studio, though earlier it was a cabinet maker’s shop. I strongly suspect that this building was the replacement theater built in 1949.
The 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory lists two theaters at St. Paul: The Opera House and the Dreamland Theatre.
The Varsity Theatre opened in 1947, according to a 1999 document prepared by historic preservation consultant Michelle L. Dennis. The document has no other information about the house.
By mid-1957, items in The Eugene Guard are noting events other then movies at the Varsity. In 1958 it was the home of a theater group called the Willamalane Players. In 1956 the Players were still using the Springfield Memorial Building. It’s probably safe to assume that the Varsity closed as a movie theater no later than early 1957. Given the timing, the cost of equipping theaters for CinemaScope could have been a factor.
Sandersville had two theaters open in 1948, and one of them was likely the Arcade, though the names are not given in this item from Motion Picture Herald of November 6 that year:
The Arcade was still in operation in 1962, when manager B. L. Brown had three capsule movie reviews published in the “Exhibitor Has His Say” column of Boxoffice for January 15.This web page has six photos of the outside of the Arcade building after the demolition of the front section, and says that it was operating as a theater into the 1970s. The fake mansard on the front which can still be seen in the June, 2014 Google street view is characteristic of the 1970s and 1980s, so was probably added when the Arcade was converted to other uses, but the glass brick around the entrance was pure 1930s, or maybe early 1940s. That’s probably the period when it opened, unless it was converted from some other original use later.
The auditorium building looks like it might have been added behind an even older commercial building at some point, and could originally have housed something else, like a skating rink, a dance hall, or a bowling alley, any of which would have been likely to use glass blocks as a feature in the 1930s. The external projection booth, which could have been added later, also suggests that something of that sort might have happened.
The NRHP registration form for the Sandersville Commercial and Industrial Historic District says that the new Pastime Theatre opened at this location in 1938. It replaced the smaller Pastime that had operated on Malone Street since 1911.
The NRHP registration form for the Sandersville Commercial and Industrial Historic District confirms that 116 Malone Street was the location of the original Pastime Theatre, opened in February, 1911. It moved to the Harris Street location in 1938.
I wonder if this house could have been Sandersville’s first Pastime Theatre? It was listed, without an address, in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory, and no other theaters were listed in the town.
An earlier Pastime Theatre at Sandersville was listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory, unfortunately with no address given.
This web page has a brief history of the Playhouse, and notes that for about four months in 1898-1899 it was also known as the Casino Theatre, then reverted to the name Savoy. The Savoy originally opened in the converted church on February 17, 1896, and the building was demolished in September, 1933, after having served as a warehouse and garage for a department store for 14 years.
Trade journals in 1949 and 1950 make a number of references to the manager of the Home Theatre, a Mr. Sid Landers. Mr. Landers had an earlier connection to the theater business in Zephyrhills. Here is an item from the September 18, 1948 issue of Boxoffice:
The November 8, 1948 issue of Boxoffice said that The new, 500-seat Krusen Theatre in Zephyrhills was almost complete, and was waiting only on the arrival of some equipment to be opened. As Sid Landers became manager of the new house, opened as the Home Theatre, I suppose we can presume that the Zephyr was closed at that time. I’ve been unable to discover anything else about the Zephyr Theatre. The only other mention of a movie theater in Zephyrhills that I’ve found is from 1912, when a two story building, 25x50 feet, being put up at the corner of 8th Street and 6th Avenue was to have a Masonic Lodge upstairs and a movie theater downstairs.The Roxy changed hands multiple times in the early 1950s. Boxofficeof July 14, 1951 said that Roxart Theatres of Tampa had bought the house from Florida Coast Theatres. Then the May 7, 1952 issue of The Exhibitor reported that local developer W. R. Parsley had bought the Roxy from Roxart. The April 26 1952 issue of Tampa Bay Times said that Parsley had leased the Roxy to Claughton Theatres.
The July 14, 1951 issue of Boxoffice reported that Video Independent Theatres had acquired full ownership of the Kihekah Theatre in Pawhuska, having purchased the half interest still held by Fred Pickrel, who had held an interest in the house since 1927. Video had acquired a half interest from Pickrel’s partner in 1950. Video Independent was still operating the Kihekah in 1963, when it was mentioned in the November 25 issue of Boxoffice.
Live performances were being presented at the Kihekah Theatre even before its name reverted to Constantine. A performance of the play “The Crucible” was mounted there in 1976, according to the June 27 issue of the Oklahoma City Daily Oklahoman.
I don’t know if it was in the same building or not, but there was a Ramona Theatre in Kermmling in 1938, when the July 2 issue of Film Daily said that Ramona was the new name of the former Victory Theatre.
The Film Daily of July 2, 1938 said that the Rio Theatre in Mount Harris, Colorado was now called the Liberty Theatre.
The Film Daily of July 2, 1938 said that the Walden Theatre in Walden, Colorado, had been renamed the Star Theatre.
The July 2, 1938 issue of Film Daily said that the Crystal Theatre at Carrizozo had been renamed the Lyric.
The July 2, 1938 issue of Film Daily had this item:
If Paramount’s lease was ending until February, 1939 and the house opened in March of 1928, it seems unlikely that they were the original operators of the Minnesota. I’ve never heard of anyone taking an eleven year lease on a theater.An item datelined Fowler in the January 6, 1940 issue of Boxoffice said “Dick Viastos is operating the new Fowler.”
The April 18, 1957 issue of the Brazil Daily Times said that the Beverly Theatre building was being remodeled for the Thrift Department Store, which was located one door west. The floor had been leveled. The article didn’t say how long the house had been closed.
The January 6, 1940 issue of Boxoffice had a brief item datelined Brazil saying “Samuel M. Grimes has opened the new Cine, a 375-seat house.” I’ve been unable to find a theater called the Cine mentioned in the local newspaper, or any mention of a Samuel Grimes. The size and maybe the timing sort of match up with the Beverly, though.
The January 6, 1957 issue of the Brazil Daily Times said that Stanley Cooper had sold the Lark Theatre building to a developer who planned to convert it to retail use. The article noted that the Lark had been closed since 1953 except for a brief period of operation the previous spring, so the final closing must have been by summer of 1956. The article also said that the Lark had opened in March, 1922. The conversion to a J. C. Penney store came in late 1957.
The Academy of Music was built in 1892.
The site of Tobin’s Opera House is just outside the boundaries of the Sidney Historic Business District, but the NRHP registration form for the district nevertheless notes that it was located on the north side of Jackson Street between 10th and 11th Avenues. As the buildings on the west side of 10th Avenue at Jackson are part of the historic district, and the corner of 11th Avenue is occupied by the Elks Lodge and City Auditorium building erected in 1929 before the Tobin was demolished, the only place it could have been was on the parking lot across the street from the Cheyenne County Courthouse. That would be somewhere in the range of 1012-1022 Jackson Street.
The May 14, 1949 Boxoffice article about the opening of E.E. Branscome’s North Miami Theatre said that the event, a benefit for the Optimist’s Club, consisted of five acts of vaudeville and the feature film “The Untamed Breed.” This must have been before the beginning of regular operations on May 5, 1949, but Boxoffice doesn’t give the date of the event. It was likely on May 4.
The off-center projection booth noted by some earlier commenters was probably the result of the inclusion of a small balcony that served as a smoking loge on one side of the house. Despite the vaudeville acts at the opening, the North Miami was a new build, not an old legitimate theater converted for movies.
Boxoffice gave the name of the architect as M. Ungaro. After poking around the Internet I’ve concluded that this must have been Manfred Mancusi-Ungaro, a fairly well known Miami modernist in his time, best known for designing many single family houses and small apartment buildings. I’ve found no other theaters among his works.
Boxoffice of May 14, 1949 said that the Normandie Twin Outdoor Theatre had recently opened at Jacksonville. In addition to accommodating over 1,000 cars, the facility had outdoor seating areas near the refreshment stands for about 400 walk-in customers.
The May 14, 1949 issue of Boxoffice said that the Georgia Theatre Company’s 350-car Athens Drive-In had been opened on a 50-acre site. It was the first Drive-In theater in Athens.
Google satellite view shows that this entire block of buildings along Avenue J has now been demolished. An earlier street view from 2007 shows the buildings at the end of the block still standing, and I’m inclined to agree that one of them was the neighboring building we see a sliver of in the vintage photo of the theater.
The photo was taken in January, 1939 by Marion Post Walcott for the Farm Security Administration. Boxoffice of May 29, 1937 had said that the New Glades Theatre had been opened that month by Mrs. Mary Kay Davis. The building looked rather older than that in the 1939 photo, so I suspect it was either an old theater that had been reopened or an old commercial building that had just been converted into a theater.
Boxoffice of May 14, 1949 said that construction had begun at Moore Haven on a new theater to replace one that had been destroyed by a fire. It was to be a quonset structure behind a store building that would contain a foyer providing access to the new auditorium. I don’t think the new theater was at the same location as the old one, though the article didn’t say so.
There is currently a quonset building as described in the article at 134 Avenue J, and it even has a second-floor structure at one end of the quonset that is perfectly positioned to have been a projection booth. In the current Google street view it is occupied by a dance studio, though earlier it was a cabinet maker’s shop. I strongly suspect that this building was the replacement theater built in 1949.