Kenmore Theatre

rivest266 on May 29, 2022 at 4:49 pm

Grand opening ad posted.

Joe Vogel on December 6, 2014 at 12:12 pm

Buffalo architects Edwin P. Bacon and William C. Lurkey established their partnership in 1922.

The May 2, 1925, issue of The Moving Picture World said that the contract for the construction of the Kenmore Theatre had been let:

“A contract has been let to the Rowland Corporation of Kenmore, N. Y., for the erection of a theatre and business building in Delaware avenue between Chapel and Landers roads. Work will begin immediately and the house is expected to open in the fall. It will seat 1800. There will also be a public hall seating 900, bowling alleys and sixteen stores. The cost will be $300,000. The stock in the building corporation is being taken mostly by Kenmore people, the plan being to make it a community theatre.”

In 1936, the Kenmore Theatre became part of the Shea circuit, as was noted in the September 3 issue of The Film Daily:

“The Kenmore Theater, sole film house in Kenmore, 20,000 population suburb just north of Buffalo, was taken over this week for operation by Buffalo Theaters, the Shea organization. Negotiations for the lease covered several months. Mitchell Fitzer of Syracuse has held it for more than five years, with Ephraim Bettigole as resident manager. Carl Rindcen, now at Shea’s Kensington, will assume management of the Kenmore on Saturday. Bettigole is expected to join the Fitzer organization in Syracuse.”

The only photo of the Kenmore Theatre I’ve been able to find is on this page of the Ken-Ton Bee web site, where it is partly seen in the background, obscured by a parade float.

hanksykes on October 25, 2006 at 4:54 pm

Organ pipes from the Kenmore ,some of the pipes anyway, were bought and added to the Wurlitzer organ used at the Emery Theater in Cincinnati,Ohio in the 20 years that atos ran movies there in the 1980 and 1990’s.