The Lin-Vu Drive-In opened its gates by the B&B chain on June 29, 1952 with an unknown technicolor movie. It was first managed by H.L. Summy, and was owned by both Frank Weary of Richmond and the one-and-only Elmer Bills of Salisbury.
Way before the one-and-only Elmer Bills took the theater over in 1924, the Lyric Theatre was originally owned by a man simply named Mr. Bell but was taken over by a lady simply named Ms. Sproul in September 1915 following a brief renovation closure.
The North Adams Center had two Kmarts throughout its history. The first Kmart there operated from November 22, 1981 until August 27, 1994 when it was relocated, and the second Kmart there operated from August 28, 1994 until June 2, 2002. Shortly after the second one opened in its current site, the first one was demolished to make way for a parking lot.
This theater was actually relocated from another Macon Cinema judging by aerial views and newspaper articles. Unfortunately there is not a lot of information I can find about the current location, but there is some info I can find about the original location.
The original Macon Cinema opened as a single-screener in 1987 as a $1 first-run house. It was first operated by B&B and the theater was owned by the husbands and wives of Mr. and Mrs. Sterling Bagby, Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Bills, and Mr. and Mrs. Robert Bagby. Macon resident Barbara Graham later joined as the manager of the theater in August 1988. The theater’s policy was updated to a $2 house in 1989.
The original Macon Cinema closed in the early-2000s when it was relocated to its current site and the theater in its current building opened its doors as a triplex around the same time.
The drive-in was still open in the 1980s, but was gone in the 1990s. However, despite the screen being removed by the mid-1990s, both the traces and the concession/projection booths were still standing.
As of 2023, the former projection booth is still standing, but many of its traces were gone.
During its final several years in operation, the 65 Drive-In had both a normal policy and an adult policy mixed in one. At first, the 65 Drive-In ran only some X-rated features on most weekdays only (Wednesdays to Saturdays), while first-run features ran on mainly Sundays to Tuesdays. A whole week of first-run features were also presented sometimes as well.
When 1983 rolled along, the management still managed to keep the same exact lineup for only half of the time, but for the other half had shifted days up a bit. When the 1983 season came, they primarily showed X-rated features on Mondays to Thursdays, while normal first-run features (sometimes second-run) were played on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Like I said above, they sometimes shift back-and-forth with both its previous and then-current lineup of movies.
Despite closing with a very short-lived all-X-rated policy lasting for a couple of weeks only, the 65 Drive-In’s last normal first-run feature is “Short Circuit” which ran its final showing on August 30, 1986.
It appears that the Sky-Hi closed in the late-1970s. A 1985 aerial view shows the current Lorax Trucking Services building at the same spot the concession stand/projection booths were, but the former screen next to it was still standing. Unfortunately, the screen was removed by the mid-1990s.
The original Visulite Theatre opened its doors on July 8, 1937 with Ray Milland in “Wings Over Honolulu” with no extra short subjects as a 500-seat single-screener.
Original information about the Visulite goes as follows: The front of the building as of 1937 faced with cream colored brick and decorated in red and dark green conservatively alongside modernistic lines in keeping with the motif of the entire establishment. The original marquee was wedge-shaped standing over the doorway featuring the white plaque background and black lettering beneath the theater name. Chrome and black glass were used in the ticket booth which operated a turn-style look.
Entering the lobby as of 1937 features blue walls which grow lighter by steps until they reach a gray ceiling. Red leather arm chairs with chromium trimming add an arresting touch of its color and harmonize with the red in carpet. The auditorium features 500 seats divided into three sections, which has an off-orchid tint rising from a green base and follows in general several lines of modernistic style. The original floor was covered in red and green carpeting, and the entirety of the projection booth is fireproof featuring Super-Simplex projection machines, Trans-Lux lens, RCA High Fidelity sound, and an AC current to mute the humming vibration. There are also walls that were composed of cinder block, carrying the acoustic properties known only to a few building materials, which mutes the entire surroundings that came from the auditorium. Speakers were placed above and below the screen, with the low frequency output at the bottom and the two high frequency jobs above. Both smoking rooms and lounges featured indirect lighting, dark linoleum floors, red and chrome chairs, and tiled lavatories.
Occupying the northern half of the building front is a store where light refreshments may be obtained. What’s unique is that it was not operated by theater management led by John M. Herndon. The store that was operated by John T. O'Donnell features a maximum of convenience for patrons who desire drinks, tobacco, candy, and similar articles.
Jesse L. Cooper opened the Okla Theatre during the final week of June 1937 featuring installations of RCA High-Fidelity sound. But after just one single week of operation, the newly-established projection booth was partially destroyed by a fire which severely damaged the projection booth. The theater reopened a couple weeks later.
Construction of the 66x145ft building started with a ground-break on April 5, 1947. They are originally planned to construct it earlier but was postponed due to the death of Leo Dwyer.
The Celina Theatre opened its doors with a capacity of 1,000 seats on January 28, 1949 with Walter Pidgeon in “Julia Misbehaves” with no extra short subjects.
It was twinned on December 23, 1982 featuring Dolby Stereo in both screens, and was renamed “Celina Cinemas 1 & 2”. Three more screens were added on November 23, 1988 and became a 5-screen theater known as the “Celina Cinema 5”.
This started life as a triplex known as the “The Movies 1-2-3” and opened on February 18, 1983 featuring Dolby Stereo. Both the Sipp Theater (then-known as the Sipp Cinema) and the Movies 1-2-3 were the remaining movie theaters in Paintsville following the closure of the Sky-Vue Drive-In in February 1984.
The 1-2-3 was renamed “Movies At Mayo Plaza” in 1989. Two more screens were later added around a decade later but was unknown when.
Corrections: The State Theatre opened “mostly” pictureless as it was primarily a special events house at the start. However, in portions of its first 12 months of operation, they did show a minimum amount of movies throughout much of 1936 and portions of 1937, but unfortunately it was never advertised on newspapers at all.
Shortly after the Call Opera House was destroyed in a massive fire, that’s when the State Theatre began showing first-run hits that originally came through the Call Opera House, before Norman Rice changed the State Theatre’s name to the Call Theatre.
It originally opened with 800 seats but was downgraded throughout time to 700.
NOTE: This was the second theater to be named the Call Theatre, so the page should name it “Call Theatre (II)”.
After waiting for months and months after the city has been wanting an opera house for a while, the opera house was officially planned during the week of April 13, 1892. The original construction of the 48x124ft building was erected several days later facing the north on Thorington Street just north of the original First National Bank.
Original information about its planning featured offices on the first and second floors which were 30ft deep. The remaining 94ft will be the hall and auditorium which would occupy both stories with an arched ceiling measuring 24ft high, which gives a room of 90x47x24 in the clear with a gallery supported by iron pillars and otherwise fitted in first class opera house style. The Call name was named after Mr. Ambrose A. Call, who was the first owner of the theater as well as the one who erected the building with an estimate $25,000 in construction.
The Call Opera House then officially opened its doors to the public on February 9, 1893 with a live presentation of “Gloriana” along with musical performances by the Iowa State Band and opening announcements delivered by Lafe Young, a prominent politician at the time. Call formed his own Algona Opera House Company, with Harvey Ingham as president, T.F. Cook as the vice-president, S.S. Sessions as the secretary, and Charles C. St. Clair as the treasurer.
Norman C. Rice began taking over the theater in September 1916, which at the same time on September 23 would began screening silent movies. The Call Theatre would then install sound in 1929. Rice would later become the member of the Tri-State Theaters chain.
On September 1, 1936, the Call Opera House officially became local headlines following a box office sneak involving $70 being robbed led by former Algona boys Kenneth and Dick Neitzel, age 15 and 12, who lived in Fort Dodge at the time of the incident.
The end of its operation marks a devastating disaster as one of the most spectacular fires in the history of the city when the afternoon hours of April 28, 1937 rolled along. The fire was discovered at 2:15 PM CT in the afternoon that day and brought a $60,000-$75,000 loss. After the fire department arrived, they attempted to fight the fires inside but because of the smoke being too dense, they have no choice but to poor water out of their buckets and use their hoses to spray the exterior. The entire downtown was blanked with black smoke in the air and the entirety was watched by many.
Rice promised that a new theater will be built shortly after the fire demolished the former house which will have the same amount of seats as the old house, but that was immediately turned down. Instead, they moved in to the State Theatre which opened the previous year and changed its name to the New Call Theatre (which will have its own page on Cinema Treasures soon).
NOTE: I accidentally added a duplicate page on accident, I hope they can fix it soon.
Paramount-Publix opened the Valley Theatre on December 25, 1930 with Harold Lloyd in “Feet First” (unknown if extras added). The theater closed in 1952.
The Lin-Vu Drive-In opened its gates by the B&B chain on June 29, 1952 with an unknown technicolor movie. It was first managed by H.L. Summy, and was owned by both Frank Weary of Richmond and the one-and-only Elmer Bills of Salisbury.
The theater closed in the late-1980s.
Way before the one-and-only Elmer Bills took the theater over in 1924, the Lyric Theatre was originally owned by a man simply named Mr. Bell but was taken over by a lady simply named Ms. Sproul in September 1915 following a brief renovation closure.
The former Kmart operated from July 23, 1981 until June 14, 1992.
The North Adams Center had two Kmarts throughout its history. The first Kmart there operated from November 22, 1981 until August 27, 1994 when it was relocated, and the second Kmart there operated from August 28, 1994 until June 2, 2002. Shortly after the second one opened in its current site, the first one was demolished to make way for a parking lot.
The Movieplex opened on January 27, 2007.
This theater was actually relocated from another Macon Cinema judging by aerial views and newspaper articles. Unfortunately there is not a lot of information I can find about the current location, but there is some info I can find about the original location.
The original Macon Cinema opened as a single-screener in 1987 as a $1 first-run house. It was first operated by B&B and the theater was owned by the husbands and wives of Mr. and Mrs. Sterling Bagby, Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Bills, and Mr. and Mrs. Robert Bagby. Macon resident Barbara Graham later joined as the manager of the theater in August 1988. The theater’s policy was updated to a $2 house in 1989.
The original Macon Cinema closed in the early-2000s when it was relocated to its current site and the theater in its current building opened its doors as a triplex around the same time.
Opened on November 11, 1911.
The drive-in was still open in the 1980s, but was gone in the 1990s. However, despite the screen being removed by the mid-1990s, both the traces and the concession/projection booths were still standing.
As of 2023, the former projection booth is still standing, but many of its traces were gone.
The Aurelia Community Theatre opened its doors on March 8, 1929 with Laura La Plante in “The Last Warning” (unknown if extras added).
During its final several years in operation, the 65 Drive-In had both a normal policy and an adult policy mixed in one. At first, the 65 Drive-In ran only some X-rated features on most weekdays only (Wednesdays to Saturdays), while first-run features ran on mainly Sundays to Tuesdays. A whole week of first-run features were also presented sometimes as well.
When 1983 rolled along, the management still managed to keep the same exact lineup for only half of the time, but for the other half had shifted days up a bit. When the 1983 season came, they primarily showed X-rated features on Mondays to Thursdays, while normal first-run features (sometimes second-run) were played on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Like I said above, they sometimes shift back-and-forth with both its previous and then-current lineup of movies.
Despite closing with a very short-lived all-X-rated policy lasting for a couple of weeks only, the 65 Drive-In’s last normal first-run feature is “Short Circuit” which ran its final showing on August 30, 1986.
The Grand Theater closed for the final time on December 1, 1997 with “Men In Black” in Screen 1 and “Most Wanted” in Screen 2.
It appears that the Sky-Hi closed in the late-1970s. A 1985 aerial view shows the current Lorax Trucking Services building at the same spot the concession stand/projection booths were, but the former screen next to it was still standing. Unfortunately, the screen was removed by the mid-1990s.
The original Visulite Theatre opened its doors on July 8, 1937 with Ray Milland in “Wings Over Honolulu” with no extra short subjects as a 500-seat single-screener.
Original information about the Visulite goes as follows: The front of the building as of 1937 faced with cream colored brick and decorated in red and dark green conservatively alongside modernistic lines in keeping with the motif of the entire establishment. The original marquee was wedge-shaped standing over the doorway featuring the white plaque background and black lettering beneath the theater name. Chrome and black glass were used in the ticket booth which operated a turn-style look.
Entering the lobby as of 1937 features blue walls which grow lighter by steps until they reach a gray ceiling. Red leather arm chairs with chromium trimming add an arresting touch of its color and harmonize with the red in carpet. The auditorium features 500 seats divided into three sections, which has an off-orchid tint rising from a green base and follows in general several lines of modernistic style. The original floor was covered in red and green carpeting, and the entirety of the projection booth is fireproof featuring Super-Simplex projection machines, Trans-Lux lens, RCA High Fidelity sound, and an AC current to mute the humming vibration. There are also walls that were composed of cinder block, carrying the acoustic properties known only to a few building materials, which mutes the entire surroundings that came from the auditorium. Speakers were placed above and below the screen, with the low frequency output at the bottom and the two high frequency jobs above. Both smoking rooms and lounges featured indirect lighting, dark linoleum floors, red and chrome chairs, and tiled lavatories.
Occupying the northern half of the building front is a store where light refreshments may be obtained. What’s unique is that it was not operated by theater management led by John M. Herndon. The store that was operated by John T. O'Donnell features a maximum of convenience for patrons who desire drinks, tobacco, candy, and similar articles.
Last operated by B&B.
Correction: This was the Second Premiere of the movie after the Fox Theater in Westwood Village, Los Angeles.
Correction: This was the Second Premiere of the movie after the Fox Theater in Westwood Village, Los Angeles.
Jesse L. Cooper opened the Okla Theatre during the final week of June 1937 featuring installations of RCA High-Fidelity sound. But after just one single week of operation, the newly-established projection booth was partially destroyed by a fire which severely damaged the projection booth. The theater reopened a couple weeks later.
The Okla Theatre closed in the mid-to-late 1950s.
Construction of the 66x145ft building started with a ground-break on April 5, 1947. They are originally planned to construct it earlier but was postponed due to the death of Leo Dwyer.
The Celina Theatre opened its doors with a capacity of 1,000 seats on January 28, 1949 with Walter Pidgeon in “Julia Misbehaves” with no extra short subjects.
It was twinned on December 23, 1982 featuring Dolby Stereo in both screens, and was renamed “Celina Cinemas 1 & 2”. Three more screens were added on November 23, 1988 and became a 5-screen theater known as the “Celina Cinema 5”.
This started life as a triplex known as the “The Movies 1-2-3” and opened on February 18, 1983 featuring Dolby Stereo. Both the Sipp Theater (then-known as the Sipp Cinema) and the Movies 1-2-3 were the remaining movie theaters in Paintsville following the closure of the Sky-Vue Drive-In in February 1984.
The 1-2-3 was renamed “Movies At Mayo Plaza” in 1989. Two more screens were later added around a decade later but was unknown when.
Closed in late-January 1988.
Closed on February 1, 1987 with “Jagged Edge”.
Corrections: The State Theatre opened “mostly” pictureless as it was primarily a special events house at the start. However, in portions of its first 12 months of operation, they did show a minimum amount of movies throughout much of 1936 and portions of 1937, but unfortunately it was never advertised on newspapers at all.
Shortly after the Call Opera House was destroyed in a massive fire, that’s when the State Theatre began showing first-run hits that originally came through the Call Opera House, before Norman Rice changed the State Theatre’s name to the Call Theatre.
It originally opened with 800 seats but was downgraded throughout time to 700.
Opened in August 2005.
After waiting for months and months after the city has been wanting an opera house for a while, the opera house was officially planned during the week of April 13, 1892. The original construction of the 48x124ft building was erected several days later facing the north on Thorington Street just north of the original First National Bank.
Original information about its planning featured offices on the first and second floors which were 30ft deep. The remaining 94ft will be the hall and auditorium which would occupy both stories with an arched ceiling measuring 24ft high, which gives a room of 90x47x24 in the clear with a gallery supported by iron pillars and otherwise fitted in first class opera house style. The Call name was named after Mr. Ambrose A. Call, who was the first owner of the theater as well as the one who erected the building with an estimate $25,000 in construction.
The Call Opera House then officially opened its doors to the public on February 9, 1893 with a live presentation of “Gloriana” along with musical performances by the Iowa State Band and opening announcements delivered by Lafe Young, a prominent politician at the time. Call formed his own Algona Opera House Company, with Harvey Ingham as president, T.F. Cook as the vice-president, S.S. Sessions as the secretary, and Charles C. St. Clair as the treasurer.
Norman C. Rice began taking over the theater in September 1916, which at the same time on September 23 would began screening silent movies. The Call Theatre would then install sound in 1929. Rice would later become the member of the Tri-State Theaters chain.
On September 1, 1936, the Call Opera House officially became local headlines following a box office sneak involving $70 being robbed led by former Algona boys Kenneth and Dick Neitzel, age 15 and 12, who lived in Fort Dodge at the time of the incident.
The end of its operation marks a devastating disaster as one of the most spectacular fires in the history of the city when the afternoon hours of April 28, 1937 rolled along. The fire was discovered at 2:15 PM CT in the afternoon that day and brought a $60,000-$75,000 loss. After the fire department arrived, they attempted to fight the fires inside but because of the smoke being too dense, they have no choice but to poor water out of their buckets and use their hoses to spray the exterior. The entire downtown was blanked with black smoke in the air and the entirety was watched by many.
Rice promised that a new theater will be built shortly after the fire demolished the former house which will have the same amount of seats as the old house, but that was immediately turned down. Instead, they moved in to the State Theatre which opened the previous year and changed its name to the New Call Theatre (which will have its own page on Cinema Treasures soon).
Its current marquee was installed in June 1949.
Paramount-Publix opened the Valley Theatre on December 25, 1930 with Harold Lloyd in “Feet First” (unknown if extras added). The theater closed in 1952.