Seneca Queen Theatre

Information about the Seneca as of 1940 goes as follows: The front of the theater featured a gray stone trimmed with a Macotta base in black. On either side of the front of the theater are designs in stone depicting the meeting of the chiefs of the Five Nations. The original marquee is in a design of a streamlined war bonnet illuminated by incandescent and neon lighting. The original lobby has a casted plaster from natural birch bark and is surmounted by a then-modernistic mural painted by one of Canada’s foremost theatrical decorators led by Emmanuel Briffa, and the mural is illuminated by concealed neon tubing. The box office in front of the theater is treated in blue mirror topped with silver plaque and the mirror glass is etched in Indian designs.

There are floor mats by employing the Seneca “Hospitality Belt of Welcome” in a pattern. Shown at the left are the designs depicting the “Calling Of The Tribe”, the “Treaty Belt”, and the “Hospitality” belt, which are combined in the floor covering design. The lobby floor is covered in Roman Travertine Marble. Entering the theater auditorium featured a surprising feature where the patron first sees the beautiful Indian fireplace which rises to the ceiling. It is decorated with mirrors skillfully illuminated by concealed lights and flanked by carved feathers, tomahawks, and other Indian designs in plaster. Extending from either side of the fireplace are standee rails of plate glass which act as a break against draughts and outside sound. The air-conditioning system features a complete change of air every 90 seconds with 60,000 cubic feet of fresh water-washed and filtered air being constantly forced through many outlets into the theater.

The Seneca Theatre is the first movie house in Canada to have blacklights. The side wall lighting consists of 18 plaques designed in the shape of Seneca masks. These are circled by ultra-violent ray tubing giving the plaques a glowing fluorescent light. The ceiling is indirectly lighted by fixtures which are built into the ceiling itself and both fluorescent and incandescent lighting are employed. The front row is very unusual with the arranged seating known as the “front row vision”. This means that every patron will have an unobstructed view of the entire screen at all times no matter where you are seating. This was accomplished by grading the floor to a fixed position of the screen there by giving each person clear light over the person directly in front of him. The result is the semi-reserved of the floor slope toward the stage and a minimum angle from seats closer to the screen. The carpeting of the theater was also very dazzling with a copy of the “To-Ta-Da-Ho Belt” leading a colorful and attractive touch to the decorative scheme of the theater.

Inside the auditorium featured are rows of green restful streamlined 42-springed seats. The exit doors featured two large replicas of the “Door Keeper’s or Medicine Man’s Masks” of the Seneca Indians. These masks are 9x5ft wide and especially illuminated. The wall plaques alternate in two designs, one of which are exact duplicate of the “Door Keeper’s or Medicine Man’s Masks” and the other is the Charm or “Gah-Gonh-Sah Mask”. A dazzling curtain design was made of green velour fringed with rawhide thong with two Seneca symbols reproduced at the base. The first is a copy of the “Hiawatha Belt” worked in gold (which was the Great Council Belt of the Five Nations commemorating the founding of the League of the Iroquois). Each square represents a nation and the heart of the center of the Onondaga. Beneath this also has a running full-width of the curtain which is the “George Washington Covenant Belt” (the symbolic of the peace treaty between both the Indians and the United States during Washington’s presidency).

On opening night, then-Mayor George R. Inglis (along with his wife), Famous Players president Mr. L. Nathanson, delivered a special announcement before the cutting of the ribbon featuring a pair of silver scissors handed by Dorothy Hawkins. Other speakers also include W.L. Houck and Dr. A.B. Whytock. The Seneca was first managed by Jack V. Ward.

Opened on September 20th, 1940 by Famous Players, taken over by Canadian Theatres on May 26th, 1972 and reopened as a twin cinema on October 7th, 1976.

Seneca Theatre opening 20 Sep 1940, Fri Niagara Falls Review (Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada) Newspapers.com

The most recent tenant, the Lyndesfame Theatre Projects, has moved out of this theatre.

Yo, Dave. The Tivoli in Hamilton had a great neon maple leaf logo. It was removed in the early l980’s and replaced with an “EVE” sign, when the Tivoli started showing “adult” films. There is also a leaf shaped sign on the Lincoln in St. Catharines, but this is probably a later back-lit style. On the two link photos of the Seneca, there is a sign on the lower front of the box office stating “A Famous Players Theatre” and the FP/leaf logo.

The theatre location on the google street map is wrong. It locates the theatre at Queen and St. Clair Streets. The correct location is at Queen and St. Lawrence Streets. The Seneca can be seen on the google satellite shot: it is the second building from the corner of Lawrence St., with the white roof. The front and the rear of the building can be seen on the google street view. The address is 4624 Queen Street. The box office phone number is 905-356-2300 (web site info).

The Seneca Theatre has been used a nightclub, for many years.

This theatre reopened as the Seneca Queen Theatre with live productions in 2009, but closed down again in 2010.

Here is a 1965 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/7jv9fv

There was a Seneca Theatre located on Queen St. in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. I watched many a movie there in my youth. There were two features I recall most: the walls were decorated with oversized native american-styled masks that cast eery shadows in the light of the screen, and the balcony. I am sad it is closed, but glad to see that it hasn’t been demolished. Unfortunately it is located in the old downtown district of the city and unless they have made some effort to re-energize that area, it is likely to go the way of many wonderful buildings.

The Film Daily Yearbook;1941 edition lists the Seneca Theatre, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada without a seaing capacity (usually meaning it has just opened and details are not known when going to print). The 1943 edition of F.D.Y. lists the Seneca Theatre in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada with a seating capacity of 911.

There is no Seneca Theatre listed in the Niagara Falls, NY, USA section in any edition of F.D.Y.