Comments from mcassady

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mcassady
mcassady commented about Maple Theatre on Jul 9, 2014 at 6:04 pm

Yes, this was the second of three known locations. In 1927 the Princess, owned by H.G. Day, was down the hill at the west end of Main St., exact street address unknown. By 1929, when the theater moved up the street to 420 Main, the Princess was owned by Mrs. Ella M. Weekes. After the 1929 move the former Princess building was used as an auto repair shop in 1931. It’s possible the Princess may have had an even earlier home circa 1915. The theater story in Mapleton is a little confusing because there were two theaters at this location from 1929-1936 and 1936-1950 with different owners and involving three marquee names. The first, the Princess Theatre opened at this location in July 1929 with new equipment for talking pictures. The first such feature shown here was Fred Waring’s “Syncopation”, as announced in the 7/11/1929 issue of the Mapleton Press along with an article on p.6*(see note below) describing how this innovative process worked. The New Orpheum moved into this location in 1936 after the Princess apparently was evicted for rent payment difficulties according to the March 19, 1936 issue of the Mapleton Press which proudly proclaimed “Mapleton To Have 2 Picture Theatres”. The Princess moved east into the next block of Main St. to reopen in the American Legion Hall. The New Orpheum was owned by A.B. Friedman, who owned theaters in Sioux City and Mickey Gross who seems to have been a partner. The Orpheum, purchased by E.W. Kugel in 1942 and renamed Maple, closed at this site in January 1950. A photo of how the old Maple looked three weeks before closing is found on the front page of the 12/15/1949 issue of the Mapleton Press. Back issues of the Mapleton Press may be viewed online with a search capability at http://mapleton.advantage-preservation.com/

note: *page can be viewed by going to http://mapleton.advantage-preservation.com/document/mapleton-press-1929-07-11-page-6

See other entries on this Web page for Princess and Maple theatres.

mcassady
mcassady commented about State Theatre on Jul 9, 2014 at 5:35 pm

The Kugels also owned the Orpheum/Maple theatres in Mapleton, Iowa. Mr. Kugel sold the new Maple to Doc Naulteus in 1952. See the Mapleton entries on Cinema Treasures.

mcassady
mcassady commented about Princess Theatre on Jul 8, 2014 at 9:28 am

To view the site of the former opera house/American Legion Hall and final venue of the Princess Theatre use the + feature on the Google scene to enlarge the right side of Main St. Up the street this space is occupied by the second building from the end with vertical white trim that continues horizontally at the top partially obscured by a tree. When the Princess closed the owner of the Orpheum down the street kindly “bought” the patronage and good will of the former, but not the equipment. The owner of the late Princess, O.P. Brown, not out of the theater business, traded his cinema gear for newer equipment which he intended to use in a theater in California.

mcassady
mcassady commented about Maple Theatre on Jul 2, 2014 at 4:35 am

Regarding the several comments. As someone who grew up in Mapleton in the late ‘40s and through the ‘50s I can verify that “Doc’s” name was spelled Naulteus, who along with his wife, Laura or “Kitch”, as everyone called her, managed the Maple Theatre and then owned it. In 1952 Doc bought the Maple from his former employer, E.W. Kugel, and sold it in 1955 to Charles Vickers. The owner when the theater closed in 1969 was Merle Davis. The local newspaper, the Mapleton Press, digitized and online with a marvelous search capability can be found at http://mapleton.advantage-preservation.com The Jan. 5, 1950 issue (the newspaper staff forgot to change the year to 1950 so the masthead erroneously reads 1949) shows the new Maple Theatre on the front page and the paper has several pages regarding the new theater. The Maple was demolished in Nov. 1994 leaving behind the space with the cars seen in the photo at the top of this page. The Dec. 1, 1994 issue of the Mapleton Press offers a major write-up of the Maple’s life from beginning to end with several pictures and an interview with Doc Naulteus. Please refer to the two other entries on this web page for additional information on the Princess and the older Orpheum/Maple theatres.