Majestic Theatre
62 N. Main Street,
Canton,
IL
61520
62 N. Main Street,
Canton,
IL
61520
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New photographs have been added of the marquee of the Majestic Theatre which was installed in August 2018.
I see that although the Garden is closed it still has a page on the Reynolds Theatres web site. The Palace in Elmwood is still operating. The Town Theatre in Chillicothe is still open, but is no longer operated by Reynolds Theatres. The Optimist Club in Chillicothe bought the Town and reopened it with digital equipment. Perhaps the Optimists or some other service club(s) in Canton could take a leaf from the Chillicothe Optimists and do the same thing with the Garden Theatre.
Obviously the Garden did not make the conversion to digital prior to closing this year, as implied by this report. It is for sale, and one could likely get a really good deal on it. I saw a film there last year, and the audio was awful. I don’t quite understand how Fulton County and its largest town cannot support a quality moviehouse.
Unfortunately, the Garden has just closed, due to lack of 35mm prints:
Venerable Canton theater shuttered
By Steve Tarter OF THE JOURNAL STAR
Posted Jan. 25, 2015
CANTON — The Garden Theatre, 62 Main St., has closed. Owner Vern Reynolds said attendance suffered since the theater was unable to get new releases in 35 mm, the film format that Hollywood had used for more than 100 years. Reynolds added the Canton movie house to his regional chain in 1999, but the Garden has operated as a theater for more than 60 years in downtown Canton, he said. “I used to have 22 screens, but now I’m down to one,” said Reynolds, referring to the Palace Theatre in Elmwood, where a digital projector was installed last year. “I’ll keep Elmwood going for a couple of more years and then sell the theater,” he said. Reynolds, who turns 68 this year, said he was planning to retire. Theaters that didn’t acquire digital projectors have seen the number of films available in the 35 mm format dwindle to a trickle, said Reynolds. “Some studios continue to make 35 mm copies on some films, but in one case made only three prints for the entire state of Illinois,” he said. Reynolds said nondigital theaters are a dying breed. “There are only a few hundred theaters across the country still operating with 35 mm. I know several hundred have closed,” he said. Reynolds said the Canton theater is for sale and hopes that a new operator can give it “new life.”
Read more: http://www.pjstar.com/article/20150125/News/150129404#ixzz3PwLOF2Xg
The Illinois section of the January 1, 1916, issue of the trade journal Motography had this item about the Garden Theatre: