Palace Theater

5 Wick Avenue,
Youngstown, OH 44502

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Showing 1 - 25 of 70 comments

DavidZornig
DavidZornig on August 26, 2019 at 7:53 pm

Facebook link with the Palace at the head end of the video.

https://www.facebook.com/businessmediaarchives/videos/1992114674408313/UzpfSTExOTA3NTM0NzE6MTAxNTY3MzY5NDU1Mjk0ODI/?comment_id=10156736844169482&reply_comment_id=10156736986789482&notif_id=1566845379062179&notif_t=group_comment

DavidZornig
DavidZornig on August 26, 2017 at 1:18 am

Facebook link to a 1943 photo.

https://www.facebook.com/businessmediaarchives/photos/a.1666016470351470.1073741828.1665444937075290/1730242387262211/?type=3&theater

wolfgirl500
wolfgirl500 on March 14, 2015 at 2:10 am

The mezzanine of the Palace was a $100,000 art gallery right up to the last day of the auction before the building was demolished.

wolfgirl500
wolfgirl500 on February 9, 2015 at 5:12 pm

In the period between 1912 and 1918 there was another unrelated Palace Theater that was located at 11 East Federal Street that I will be posting and in order to prevent confusion between the two,I will be calling it “The First Palace”.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on August 4, 2014 at 6:08 pm

Thomas Lamb was the architect of the Youngstown Palace.

Burkesniece
Burkesniece on August 4, 2014 at 5:22 am

wolfgirl500 – I finished the book on my aunts. If you would like to see it go to www.blurb.com and search for Burke Sisters. It is open so you can see each page.

wolfgirl500
wolfgirl500 on August 3, 2014 at 11:43 pm

Thanks for your post and bringing the organ back to the valley. Feel free to add some photos of the organ here.

Victorgan
Victorgan on August 3, 2014 at 12:17 pm

The Palace Theatre did indeed have a Pipe Organ, and as posted, it was a Wurlitzer Style H Special. A Style H meant that it contained 10 ranks of Pipes. However, the Palace had 11 ranks, thus the “special” designation. The 11th rank was an additional Vox Humana set of pipes that were installed next to the projection booth in its own chamber. When the organ was removed in 1964, I don’t believe that this 1 rank Echo Division was removed.

The organ was scattered across the country. I spent nearly 10 years re-assembling it with either the original components or identical from other Wurlitzer organs.

The organ is installed at C&C Ribbon Company, 8204 South Avenue in Boardman. It is installed and plays daily, either by hand or via a MIDI computer system. For the past 5 years, C&C has an annual Christmas Open House Thanksgiving weekend, usually with a silent movie on Saturday night and 5 mini concerts on Sunday, running from 12-5. Artists have included many national and international performers as well as local organists.

Of course,in the theatre, the instrument was installed on either side of the prosidium arch in 2 chambers with grillwork across the front. In the store, the organ is installed in a single chamber. The facade on the organ is a solid mahogany case featuring a hand carved floral motif and dummy facade pipes. It was carved by 3 French Canadians (their signitures are inside the case). This case was originally built for the 1904 St. Louis Worlds Fair for the Los Angeles Art Organ Company. It was intended for a self-playing residence instrument whose sale never materialized. At the fair, the facade was sold to the Wirsching Organ Company of Alliance, Ohio. Wirsching used the facade for a new instrument they built for the original Grace Lutheran Church, whose original building still stands (2014) on West Rayen Avenue. I purchased the Wirsching instrument, mainly for the facade for use on the Wurlitzer.

If you get a chance, stop in at C&C and hear the organ. It will take you back in time. If you have any additional questions, about this or any other Youngstown Pipe Organ, feel free to email me!

Vic

wolfgirl500
wolfgirl500 on August 14, 2013 at 4:58 pm

The grand opening of the Keith-Albee/Palace Theater was a big deal for Youngstowners that would only be matched with the grand opening of the Warner Theater. While there was an afternoon performance that day, the big event took place at the evening performance when a sell out crowd dressed in their finest, filled the theater,.

But lets just leave it at that and read the Vindicator report of the event:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=D1FfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=g1cNAAAAIBAJ&pg=2216%2C1058482

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=D1FfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=g1cNAAAAIBAJ&pg=6779%2C1107600

stedwick
stedwick on August 10, 2012 at 7:36 pm

I remember seeing many great movies and “stage shows” at the Palace, back in the 1940’s & 1950’s. That was the big-band era, and many of them played the Palace, where I seen many of them. Count Basie, Duke Ellington, the Dorsey Brothers, Charley Spevak, etc., etc. And in later years, about 1958 to early 1960’s there was a group of us who hung-out at Rodney-Ann’s, sandwich & coffee shop. We, for the most part, attended the local college (YU/YSU)and some of us had night classes. Rodney Ann’s had great sandwiches, coffee, and ice-cream. Rodney-Ann’s was located to the left of the Palace Theatre (as you entered the theatre), and there were the large glass doors where you could exit from the Palace into Rodney-Ann’s, but not the reverse. The Palace was a very beautifull theatre, with a majestic lobby, and a series of really fine balaconies on the upper levels. To most locals, at that time, they mourned it’s destruction. And it appears that the downtown Youngstown never did recover. And so it was!!

Burkesniece
Burkesniece on March 6, 2012 at 6:45 pm

I followed your steps and still did not work – think it has more to do with my keyboard possibly. Not a problem tho. I save the page under favorites and then send to hubby!

wolfgirl500
wolfgirl500 on March 2, 2012 at 1:07 am

The way I do it is when there is something I want to save at GoogleNews, I get it as large as I can, then click on print screen, then open up Paint click on Edit and then paste. The whole screen shows, and I save the file to a folder with an unique file name. I then go to my photo editor to crop out what I need, enlarge it and save the final product. It really doesn’t take very long to do … a couple of minutes at best.

Burkesniece
Burkesniece on March 2, 2012 at 12:25 am

Thanks! For some reason the print screen on my dumb keyboard does not do anything – can’t even do what you do. I will find them on google (although it drives me crazy) and send link to husband at work.

wolfgirl500
wolfgirl500 on March 2, 2012 at 12:15 am

I’ve posted another cropped ad that might be better for your purpose.

wolfgirl500
wolfgirl500 on March 1, 2012 at 11:47 pm

I tried to blow the ads up to a larger size but unfortunately they became unreadable. The process I use is to get what I want as large as possable on the screen and then print screen, copying it to Paint to save, and then edit it with a photo editor, Google News doesn’t permit saving so I have to use this roundabout method. The ads appeared in the March 22, and 24 edition of the Youngstown Vindicator on the theater page.

Burkesniece
Burkesniece on March 1, 2012 at 10:21 pm

wolfgirl500 ~ WOW you are awesome, can’t thank you enough for these! (Could you post the first one a bit bigger? Hope it is okay to ask that!) Any idea of how I can get an ad for the week before when they were at the Orpheum in Akron? I am creating a scrapbook for all of the Great Grandchildren. Thanks again!

wolfgirl500
wolfgirl500 on February 29, 2012 at 9:28 pm

Here are two ads for the Ina Ray Hutton show. It got rave reviews here in Youngstown. SEE THEM IN THE PHOTOS SECTION.

Burkesniece
Burkesniece on February 29, 2012 at 6:03 pm

wolfgirl500 – Forgot to mention, my aunts also played there in March of 1936 with Ina Ray Hutton.

Burkesniece
Burkesniece on February 29, 2012 at 3:57 pm

wolfgirl500 – Thanks so much for the links! For some reason I never got a notice that you posted anything. I logged in today to get general info on theaters that they played at. THANKS!!!!

wolfgirl500
wolfgirl500 on November 16, 2011 at 5:27 pm

Barry Manalow played here recently using members of the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra as backup and commented that the sold out audience was fantastic and that he’d come back any time.

We’ve become so accustom to having top shelf performers come here that we’ve been spoiled silly.

I’ve been to movies that got rave reviews at the local first run houses here that were total flops attendence wise and to others where the SRO sign was set up by the box office that got poor reviews so go figure.

JTHlumyk
JTHlumyk on November 16, 2011 at 4:41 pm

@ wolfgirl, It was funny to read your comments about Youngstown audiences being a tough crowd, because I have said the same thing for years. My band started playing at the Cedars Lounge, on North Hazel St. in 1983 when I was still in high school. We played for years there to develop a following. We really had to work at it. The first time we headlined a show at a club in New York City, we were an immediate smash hit and nobody there really even knew us. I remember thinking, “Gee, that was easy, not like playing Youngstown.”

wolfgirl500
wolfgirl500 on November 12, 2011 at 11:25 pm

I’ve added a photo of the lobby that shows the doors that I was talking about. Does that ring a bell?

wolfgirl500
wolfgirl500 on November 12, 2011 at 11:04 pm

I do recall doors leading to Rodney-Ann’s. If I’m not mistaken it was on the right hand side of the lobby, but I could be wrong and hopefully someone might know for sure.

When Mother and I would attend a movie at the Palace we would go there after the show for something to eat.

mcdonaldgirl
mcdonaldgirl on November 12, 2011 at 10:22 pm

Hi, My mother talked about the Palace Theater many times. When she moved to Youngstown from Coraopolis, Pa in the late 40’s, she and a friend worked next door at Friedmans. It was a deli/lunch counter and also a candy shop. Mom said they would sneek into see shows because there was a side door that was always unlocked. She talked about all the big shows and big bands that they got to watch. I wish she was alive so I could show her the wonderful pictures of the theater. I almost thought that was her in the one picture standing alone and the movie banner reads The More the Merrier. But that was made before she moved to Youngstown. Is it possible that Friedmans is to the right of the marque? Thank you for all your hard work with this website.

wolfgirl500
wolfgirl500 on October 28, 2011 at 6:01 pm

Wayne, in regards to your comment on Youngstown audiences, they were sticklers for perfection and would not settle for second best, and over the years many performers were booed off the stage.

There is a report that in the dressing room of a Broadway theater someone wrote: “If you think you’re good, try playing Youngstown, Ohio.”

I’ve tried to search out the authenticity of this story and which New York theater this was at, but couldn’t verify it, but hopefully someone can verify it.