Comments from Joe Vogel

Showing 2,251 - 2,275 of 14,773 comments

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Gem Theatre on Mar 9, 2020 at 1:49 pm

If this was Hedrick’s only movie house then in 1926 it was called the Gem Theatre. This item is from the September 11 issue of Motion Picture News that year:

“Fire caused considerable damage to the theatre at Hedrick, the Gem, owned by W. J. Jinks. The fire broke out in the booth from burning film. The damage caused is to the interior of the theatre, which was badly smoked, and to the booth. The Gem is closed while the adjustment of the insurance is being made.”
The October 9 issue of the same journal said that the fire-damaged Gem Theatre in Hedrick, Iowa, was undergoing repairs and would reopen soon.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Corby Theatre on Mar 8, 2020 at 10:50 pm

This house must be the project mentioned in the December 12, 1925 issue of Exhibitors Trade Review:

“OMAHA, NEBR.

“Archt : James T. Allen, Brandeis Theatre bldg. Drawing plans on a theatre at 16th & Corby. Owners, Sam & Lewis Epstein, 4932 S. 24th, South Omaha, Nebr.”

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Deerpath Theatre on Mar 8, 2020 at 9:44 pm

Planning for the Deerpath Theatre began nearly three years before it was opened. Here is an item from the November 21, 1925 issue of Exhibitors Trade Review:

“LAKE FOREST, ILL. Archt: Anderson & Ticknor, care Jas. A. Anderson, Deerpath. Drawing plans on theatres, stores, and offices at N. E. Forest and Deerpath. Owner— Estate of Jas. Anderson, Geo. Anderson, trustee.”
The James Anderson Trust, owners of the property, was named for architect Stanley Anderson’s grandfather, a Lake Forest pioneer.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Hudson Theatre on Mar 8, 2020 at 8:29 pm

The Hudson Theatre is also listed in the 1927 FDY. The house might have opened in 1926, and it is likely that this item from the November 21, 1925 issue of Exhibitors Trade Review is about the Hudson:

“KEARNY, N. J.

“Archt. W. E. Lehman, 972 Broad st., Newark, N. J. Drawing plans on theatre, stores and offices at 59-69 Kearney ave., Kearney. Owner: Joseph Stern, 207 Market st., Newark, N. J.”

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about New Oriental Theatre on Mar 8, 2020 at 7:36 pm

Boxoffice of November 20, 1978 noted the opening of the renovated New Oriental Theatre, formerly the long-closed Strand. Fred McLennan planned to operate the house with a policy of two changes of program a week, featuring both revivals and current movies, with an admission price of $1.50.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about New Theatre on Mar 8, 2020 at 6:52 pm

Boxoffice of November 20, 1978, said that the 170-seat Cinema Take One in Coral Gables would open that week. The first movie shown would be the 1972 Italian production Indian Summer in its belated American premier. Theater owners Joel Konski and Alan Martin had spent 60,000 to convert a former warehouse building into the cinema.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Colonial Theatre on Mar 8, 2020 at 6:41 pm

A short article in the November 20, 1978 issue of Boxoffice said that the Colonial Theatre in Harrisburg had suffered major damage from a probable arson fire on October 29. The house had been permanently closed some years earlier. The article noted that part of the building dated back to the mid-1830s, when it had housed the Wilson Hotel. The building was partly demolished and rebuilt and opened as the Colonial Theatre in 1912.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Burford Theatre on Mar 8, 2020 at 6:16 pm

Burford Theatre official web site. The “history” section has a couple of historic photos and five current photos.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Hawaii Theatre on Mar 7, 2020 at 8:43 pm

Here is a link to the first page of an article about the Hawaii Theatre in The Moving Picture World of March 3, 1923. Scroll down for additional photos and text on the next page and more text on a third page.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Pinehurst Theatre on Mar 7, 2020 at 7:19 pm

The March 24, 1923 issue of The Moving Picture World said that “[t]he new Carolina Theatre at Pinehurst, replacing the old one of the same name, opened on February 26.” Although the operating company was called the Pinehurst Theatre Co., the house itself was called the Carolina Theatre, at least during its early years.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Grand Theatre on Mar 6, 2020 at 12:26 am

The Grand was one of two theaters listed at Orrville in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. The other was a house called the Fairyland.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Alhambra Theatre on Mar 2, 2020 at 5:30 pm

Several sources indicate that the Alhambra Cinema Theatre opened in 1922. It was built for someone called H. Howard, and designed in a Moorish-atmospheric style by architect Arthur George Cross. The building was either completely replaced or radically altered (sources are not clear) in 1952 for African Consolidated Theatres, which had taken over operation of the house in 1927.

The new Alhambra opened with 800 seats on December 31, 1952, and operated as a first run cinema until 1963, when the lease was taken over by the newly-formed Natal Performing Arts Council for use as a venue for live performances. NAPAC bought the leasehold outright in 1970, and continued to use the Alhambra through its 1985 season. After that the theater became a church.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Espace Senghor on Mar 2, 2020 at 4:23 pm

The Continental Cinema in Etterbeek is listed as a 1936 project of architect Victor Bourgeois in the book Contemporary Architects, by Muriel Emanuel.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Rubidoux Drive-In on Feb 26, 2020 at 7:02 pm

Using the name Riverside still works to fetch this theater’s location in Google maps, but officially the area is now called Jurupa Valley. Here’s the rather old news from Wikipedia: “On March 8, 2011, voters of Rubidoux and adjoining towns passed Measure A by a 54% ‘Yes’ vote, to incorporate the areas of Mira Loma, Pedley, Rubidoux, Glen Avon, and Sunnyslope into the new city of Jurupa Valley. The effective date of incorporation was July 1, 2011.”

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Balsams Theater on Feb 6, 2020 at 11:18 pm

The description of this 1914 photo from the McArthur Library notes “Balsams Theater, the first ground-floor movie theater in Biddeford. Located at Franklin and Main Streets, the admission was 5 cents and it operated from 1912 to 1916.”

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Mayfair Theatre on Feb 6, 2020 at 11:00 pm

Cinema Tour gives 69 Main Street as the address of this house. The entrance of the new Magic Lantern is around the corner on Depot Street.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about State Theater on Feb 6, 2020 at 10:48 pm

The earliest mention of the State I’ve found in the trades is from the July 6, 1933 issue of The Film Daily and it simply says: “Bridgton, Me.— C. W. Millett has closed the State.”

Another brief item appears in the May 2, 1936 issue of Motion Picture Herald: “C. F. Millett is having the State, 900-seat theatre in Bridgton, Me., extensively reconditioned.” This would probably account for the claim of a 1936 opening for the State in the MGM Theatre Report cited earlier by Ron Salters.

Bridgton earlier had theaters called the Opera House and the Riverside. State might have been a later name for the Opera House (Cinema Tour gives the location of the Riverside Theatre as Depot Street.)

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Mayfair Theatre on Feb 6, 2020 at 10:21 pm

The Mayfair Theatre opened on June 5th, 1929 as the Meserve Theatre. Later operating as the Mayfair for a time, it was eventually renamed the Brookside Theatre, and finally the Magic Lantern Theatre. In 1990, the theater’s stage was closed and a second screen was added. The Magic Lantern Theatre closed on October 2nd, 2005, and the aged building, parts of which dated back to 1856, was demolished on February 7th, 2006. On the cleared site rose the new Magic Lantern Theatre, a three-screen operation which pays tribute to its predecessor by calling its three auditoriums the Meserve, the Mayfair, and the Brookside.

This history, and a bit more detail, can be found on this page of the Magic Lantern’s web site. There is also one historic photo of the original theater building.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Ogden Theater on Feb 6, 2020 at 9:26 pm

“Ogden Theatre closed in 1974 when Bill McGraw passed away at the age of 88.” (Ogden Reporter, January 24, 2018.) The operators of the McGraw Center have bought a 16-foot inflatable screen which has been set up on the stage, and a used projector (type not specified) and as of 2018 were attempting to bring movies back to the theater part time, but were having trouble with getting licenses from the movie companies. I don’t see anything on the Internet about movies being shown there currently, so they’ve probably not been able to get the project going yet.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Westwood Theatre of the Arts on Feb 5, 2020 at 9:22 pm

Here is an item from the January 22, 1927 issue of The Moving Picture World Concerning the theater to be built at Sylvania and Belmar avenues in Toledo:

“WEST TOLEDO, O. — Barbare Ferris has plans by Albert [sic] Hahn for two-story moving picture theatre and store building, to be located at northwest corner Sylvania and Belmar avenues. Site contains 130 feet on Sylvania avenue and extends 185 feet on Belmar avenue. Estimated cost $100,000.”
Note that the architect’s first name is in error. The correct name is Alfred A. Hahn.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Story Theatre-Grand Opera House on Jan 29, 2020 at 7:24 pm

The Story Theatre is in operation, but they haven’t updated their web site since last July. If you want to know what they are showing, the best bet is to check their Facebook page.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Lyric Theater on Jan 25, 2020 at 5:56 am

Here is an item about the Lyric from the September 16, 1916 issue of The Moving Picture World:

“Abilene, Kan.—G. A. Kubach, proprietor of the Lyric theater, Abilene, Kan., one of the handsomest theaters In the state of Kansas, has been sick all summer, and is only now growing able to attend to business. But the theater has had one of its most prosperous seasons. The reason is that when Mr. Kubach was taken ill, his wife pitched in, took charge, and has run the house most efficiently. The Lyric seats 500, and 5 and 10 cents are the charges. Features are run every night.”

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Strand Theatre on Jan 24, 2020 at 9:49 pm

Issues of The American Contractor from early 1915 carried several notices about a theater project in Woburn. Here is the notice in the issue of March 6:

“Theater, Store & Office Bldg. (theater cap. 1,100): 2 sty. & bas. 70x155. Woburn, Mass. Archt. A. J. Carpenter, Jr., 39 Dunreath st., Roxbury dist., Boston. Owner Woburn Theater, Inc.. care archt. Archt. taking bids on all materials separately. Brk., limestone, stucco on tile, tar & gravel rf.”

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Rialto Theatre on Jan 24, 2020 at 8:55 pm

This item is from the December 8, 1923 issue of The Moving Picture World:

“PONTIAC, MICH. — Renovating process has given practically new interior to Rialto Theatre, formerly the Howland, on West Pike street. Improvements which cost about $10,000 include new furnishings, carpets, redecorated ceiling and side walls; new pipe organ features; new stage setting built around screen, with appropriate draperies and curtain finished in gold and black and colored artificial flowers; new ventilating system; two new Simplex machines; operator’s booth enlarged and improved; marquee and electric sign erected. Will show only first-run pictures.”

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Orpheum Theatre on Jan 24, 2020 at 5:56 pm

The March 13, 1926 issue of The Moving Picture World said that “[t]he new Orpheum Theatre at Pontiac was opened last week and it proved a gala occasion in very respect for A. J. Kleist and his associates.”