The Covina Theatre opened December 19, 1921 with “Bits of Life.” In January of 1948, Western Amusement Circuit took on the theatre on April 23,1947 giving it a new look including its new triangular marquee and entirely new look interior. In 1955, the theatre got another interior redesign and was showing widescreen films.
General Cinema took on the venue changing its name to the Covina Cinema which it held for most of its next 25 years under GCC, Century Cinema Circuit and for much of its independent operation. The Covina Cinema was a main reason cited for a local X-rated ordinance passed in 1978 trying to zone the playing of adult films. The location played the Rocky Horror Picture Show at midnight in the 1980s and briefly returned to the name Covina Theatre. It changed back to the Covina Cinema and appears as though its cinematic days ended in the summer of 1992 when ads dare discontinued. In 1994, the venue was refreshed and continued with live presentations as the Covina Valley Playhouse. It was razed in 2005 after more than 80 years of vibrant entertainment to the community.
The Center Theatre closed on February 9, 1963 as the city began an urban renewal program. The marquee was removed just days later with the theatre dismantled. The auditorium floor was leveled becoming a clothing store.
Bijou operator Edward C. Curdits and Robert Wilson opened the New Liberty Theatre for African American audiences in 1919 along with the neighboring Peoples Drug Store, also for African American consumers. There was a former Liberty Theatre that had opened in 1918 and business must have been good enough to find a better spot. An early film was Oscar Micheaux’s “The Homesteader.” Live events including community meetings, boxing matches and concerts – one featuring Ethel Waters – graced the LIberty Stage.
The Washington Heights neighborhood Liberty Theatre closed briefly in 1958 and put up for sale. It reopened only to close again twice more with the final time being on February 28, 1960. That left only the Harlem Theater at 200 S. Hudson in Greenville, SC for African American audiences as well as the 176-seat balcony of the Center Theater on North Main Street. The Liberty joined the parking lot brigade becoming a parking facility in the 1970s.
A news story says that this theatre burned down on October 23, 1952 that took 15 out of 17 buildings in an African American district of Leland. The same location had been destroyed once before in a fire in 1912 before it was rebuilt. This theatre may have been rebuilt or salvaged continuing its service.
The Lincoln Theatre was an African American theater when it opened in 1939 with the film, “Pennies from Heaven.” It operated until 1965. It then reopened in December of 1974 again serving a predominately African American clientele before closing.
Reopens as the 16-screen Marcus Country Club Hills Cinema on October 13, 2016 with “The Accountant” and “Kevin Hart’s What Now?” The theatre was equipped with Dream Lounger seating and Dolby Atmos audio. Two auditoriums were designated as the Marcus SuperScreen DLX with another the Marcus UltraScree DLX.
Nothing new, but to sum up the timeline, this is the Landmark Olde Town Stadium 14.
•In 1995, it was announced as an $8.5 million project called Mann’s Olde Town Cinema launching in 1996 and winning the Best New Cinema in Westword’s Best of Denver: 1997.
•In 1999, it was sold to Colorado Cinema Holdings' Cinema Saver becoming Olde Town 14 Cinema.
•In 2007, it became Kerasotes Theatres property when the circuit bought the, then, 125-screen Colorado Cinema circuit in March of 2007. It goes to stadium seating in a remodel as the Olde Town Stadium 14.
•In 2010, it then became an AMC theatre when Kerasotes was purchased by AMC in March of 2010 for $275 million.
•Also in 2010 and within two months in May of 2010, it was ordered divested by U.S. Department of Justice as one of nine theatres that would be force sold.
•October 15, 2010, it officially becomes the Landmark Olde Town Stadium 14 as the circuit acquired and formally began operating the former Mann, Colorado Cinema, Kerasotes, AMC cinema.
On September 14, 2016, the Dallas City Council voted to designate the Lakewood Theater a Dallas landmark. This would help protect the building’s exterior from potential removal. In August 2015, much of the interior was removed both to remove asbestos and in hopes of finding up to three retail tenants to occupy the facility.
The operator of the Illinois and Royal theaters purchased the Lamoine Theatre roughly two blocks from the Royal in 1936. They would use the Lamoine (later Lark) to replace the undersized Royal Theatre which they closed in 1936.
Technically, it should be the Lark Theatre. It did open as the Lamoine Theatre in 1935 but was taken over by the Illinois and Royal Theatres. The operator purchased the Lamoine to replace the undersized Royal Theatre roughly two blocks away on the Macomb Square which is closed in 1936.
In 1954, a naming contest is held and changes to the Lark Theatre. It remains the Lark for 33 years until closure in July of 1987. For Hollywood’s Golden Age and downturn from 1936 to 1970, the Lark and Illinois were the town’s stalwart and only indoor theaters. Big hits in the latter stages included “E.T.” and “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” With competition from the Cinema 1 & 2 and home video, the Lark flirted with running as a discount house to stay competitive. It closed on July 16, 1987 with “Beverly Hills Cop 2”.
Address was 281 Main with an entry leading to the auditorium at the rear with neighboring businesses of Cloverdale Store – a full-service grocery store – a barber shop, and Greenwood Hardware.
The original movie theatre in Tilton was the Lyric Theatre that was opened by the Stevens Brothers in October of 1909 and lasted just one month as the local college banned students from going while some churches directed their congregation to avoid the venue. C.H. Bean improved the exterior appearance renaming it the Pastime Theatre which opened opened November 25, 1909 likely on a 5-year lease.
In August of 1910, he sold it to Herbert Mann who sold in 1911 to Charles and Nellie Riva. The Rivas gained support from the college and most of the area churches and had success. The original Pastime with its flat floor closed on November 30, 1914 to move to its new location. The “new” Pastime Theatre launched December 2, 1914. The previous Pastime became a meat market. The Rivas said the best nights were Saturdays where $30 could be had and Mondays brought just $2.75.
Nellie Riva ran the theatre as a silent operation to early 1930 selling out to William E. Reeves. Reeves installs sound equipment changing the name to the Tilton Theatre in March of 1930. That iteration of the theater lasts more than 30 years.
Ted S. Soczewinski was the final owner as the Tilton Theater continued into the 1960s. When it closed, Tilton became a movie theater-less community for decades until the dine-in concept circuit Smitty’s opened Smitty’s Cinema Pub in Tilton.
Fred C. Smith began showing moving pictures in Paola at the Mallory Opera House. That was going so well that Smith had a retail space converted for $10,000 creating the Empress Theatre. With tiled lobby, deluxe upholstered seating, and brass trim everywhere, the Empress opened in late summer 1915 exclusively for movies. The Mallory continued service as venue for live shows including traveling vaudeville shows by Smith. The Reverend O.B. Thurston took over the Empress on Sundays for sermons. Thursday was considered “big movie night” at the Empress.
The papers say that Rialto Theatre in Bushnell was built in February into the early summer in 1925 and opened July 15, 1925. C.M. Albright of Bushnell’s Cozy Theatre helmed both for S.E. Pirtle’s Circuit with the Cozy bowing out first. In 1947, the Rialto is supposed to be replaced with a new-build theater which is never constructed. But in 1955, Bushnell’s Rialto goes widescreen to accommodate CinemaScope films.
Mentions about the Lincoln Theatre end in 1957. In 1958, the Kenyon-Barr Urban Renewal project targets the West End African American business district for urban renewal to build Interstate 75. In 1960, bulldozers are said to have cleared Fifth Street and Sixth at John Street likely doing in the Lincoln Theatre, Cordelia Hotel, Sky Pharmacy, and many other African American mainstays. If you follow the line from John Street at Third Street today to what just yards east of Interstate 75, you’ll have the spot of the former Lincoln.
This entry began as the Auditorium Theatre which was in Brillion at least since 1914. In 1929, manager Joe J. Ecker converted the Auditorium to sound movies choosing Movietone over Vitaphone. In 1933, Raymond Pfeiffer purchased the Auditorium but the State of Wisconsin closes it very briefly 1935 with Pfeiffer still in charge.
In 1939, Pfeiiffer does an extensive remodeling of the theatre with all new signage renaming it the Brillion Theatre. Likely on a 20-year lease, the Brillion ceases operation in December of 1959 after numerous ownership changing.. It’s offered for sale and was eventually repurposed for other retail operations.
Fred and Zell Jaynes announced the $250,000 Joy Theatre in 1948. After the War, West Memphis was a major sin city destination selling liquor on Sundays and inviting adult entertainment. At the Joy, it was racy acts that couldn’t find work in neighboring Memphis and at the Crittenden and Harlem, it was playing films banned by the censor board there and African American films.
Jaynes' Joy Theatre launched as a burlesque house and advertised regularly in Billboard magazine hoping to find controversial acts when it opened in 1949. It was the first live house in West Memphis since the Strand – known more for vaudeville – burned down in 1935. The Joy had a main floor with nearly 1,000 seats for White customers and a balcony for African American patrons. Jaynes' burly house was too successful and finally on February 8, 1951, West Memphis Mayor P.M. Dacus shut it down as indecent.
Jaynes decided to sell the Joy to film interests who would convert the theatre to the Avon Theatre opening in 1952 to replace the undersized Crittenden Theatre. The Avon famously played the films banned by the notorious censor board across the river in Memphis. But when the MPAA created its ratings system in 1968, the marketplace for banned films was all but over in West Memphis. The Avon would get one more shot returning as a live acts venue.
The Crittenden Theatre opened with a preview screening on September 13, 1937 which was the first theater since the airdrome in the silent era. It was targeted for $40,000 but costing $75,000 operated by J. Jackson Rhodes and managed by Norval E. Packwood for Crittenden Amusement Co.
The Crittenden Theatre grabbed national headlines for being a main outlet for films rejected by infamous censor Lloyd T. Binford, the Memphis censor who would censor films which had persons of color in the same scenes as white performers. Rhodes and Packwood booked virtually all mainstream films that Binford censored. Rhodes would then create the Harlem Theatre in 1945 as an African American theatre to play films that Binford would have rejected.
“Duel in the Sun” was “unquestionably the dirtiest movie I’ve ever seen,” said Binford which caused a huge crowd to come to the Crittenden (see image in photos). Lack of segregation of band members for “A Song is Born” led to it being banned on the Memphis side and over the the Crittenden in West Memphis. Trade newspaper “Variety” wrote the headline, “Memphis Bans ‘em; West Memphis OK’s ‘em” to describe the situation.
When the 1,000+ seat burlesque house, the Joy Theatre opened by Fred and Zell Jaynes in 1949, it was shuttered just two years later by then Mayor P.M. Dachas. The Joy returned under new owners as the movie house now known as the Avon Theatre. The Avon would replace the overrun Crittenden and West Memphis would get the Sunset Drive-In continuing to play Binford’s rejected films into the 1950s until his retirement in 1955 when he famously banned “Rebel Without a Cause.”
With Binford gone, West Memphis still played censored films but lost its marketing advantage when the MPAA instituted a self-regulatory ratings system in the 1960s. The town would eventually be theaterless as leases reached their termination..
West Memphis had no movie theater other than a short-lived airdrome in the early sound era until the Crittenden Theatre opened in 1937 by J. Jackson Rhodes and Crittenden Amusement Co. The Crittenden Theatre grabbed national headlines for being a main outlet for films rejected by infamous censor Lloyd T. Binford, the Memphis censor who would censor films which had persons of color in the same scenes as white performers.
Rhodes realized he’d hit pay dirt as people ventured across the bridge from Memphis, TN to West Memphis, AR. With a censor banning African American films, Rhodes would then create the Harlem Theatre in 1945 as Binfordized films would be of interest to the African American community. With workers helping in WW2-related factories, Rhodes got the approval to build the theater despite war shortages. He ended up months behind because there simply were no available theatre seats.
Sadly, the movie marketplace would never be the same in West Memphis post-Binford the Crittenden, Avon, Sunset Drive-In and the Harlem would all close.
As of 2015, you can add “demolished”
The Covina Theatre opened December 19, 1921 with “Bits of Life.” In January of 1948, Western Amusement Circuit took on the theatre on April 23,1947 giving it a new look including its new triangular marquee and entirely new look interior. In 1955, the theatre got another interior redesign and was showing widescreen films.
General Cinema took on the venue changing its name to the Covina Cinema which it held for most of its next 25 years under GCC, Century Cinema Circuit and for much of its independent operation. The Covina Cinema was a main reason cited for a local X-rated ordinance passed in 1978 trying to zone the playing of adult films. The location played the Rocky Horror Picture Show at midnight in the 1980s and briefly returned to the name Covina Theatre. It changed back to the Covina Cinema and appears as though its cinematic days ended in the summer of 1992 when ads dare discontinued. In 1994, the venue was refreshed and continued with live presentations as the Covina Valley Playhouse. It was razed in 2005 after more than 80 years of vibrant entertainment to the community.
The Center Theatre closed on February 9, 1963 as the city began an urban renewal program. The marquee was removed just days later with the theatre dismantled. The auditorium floor was leveled becoming a clothing store.
Bijou operator Edward C. Curdits and Robert Wilson opened the New Liberty Theatre for African American audiences in 1919 along with the neighboring Peoples Drug Store, also for African American consumers. There was a former Liberty Theatre that had opened in 1918 and business must have been good enough to find a better spot. An early film was Oscar Micheaux’s “The Homesteader.” Live events including community meetings, boxing matches and concerts – one featuring Ethel Waters – graced the LIberty Stage.
The Washington Heights neighborhood Liberty Theatre closed briefly in 1958 and put up for sale. It reopened only to close again twice more with the final time being on February 28, 1960. That left only the Harlem Theater at 200 S. Hudson in Greenville, SC for African American audiences as well as the 176-seat balcony of the Center Theater on North Main Street. The Liberty joined the parking lot brigade becoming a parking facility in the 1970s.
A news story says that this theatre burned down on October 23, 1952 that took 15 out of 17 buildings in an African American district of Leland. The same location had been destroyed once before in a fire in 1912 before it was rebuilt. This theatre may have been rebuilt or salvaged continuing its service.
The Lincoln Theatre was an African American theater when it opened in 1939 with the film, “Pennies from Heaven.” It operated until 1965. It then reopened in December of 1974 again serving a predominately African American clientele before closing.
It’s a used book store with a variety of businesses prior so there are no remnants of its theatrical past.
Reopens as the 16-screen Marcus Country Club Hills Cinema on October 13, 2016 with “The Accountant” and “Kevin Hart’s What Now?” The theatre was equipped with Dream Lounger seating and Dolby Atmos audio. Two auditoriums were designated as the Marcus SuperScreen DLX with another the Marcus UltraScree DLX.
Nothing new, but to sum up the timeline, this is the Landmark Olde Town Stadium 14.
•In 1995, it was announced as an $8.5 million project called Mann’s Olde Town Cinema launching in 1996 and winning the Best New Cinema in Westword’s Best of Denver: 1997.
•In 1999, it was sold to Colorado Cinema Holdings' Cinema Saver becoming Olde Town 14 Cinema.
•In 2007, it became Kerasotes Theatres property when the circuit bought the, then, 125-screen Colorado Cinema circuit in March of 2007. It goes to stadium seating in a remodel as the Olde Town Stadium 14.
•In 2010, it then became an AMC theatre when Kerasotes was purchased by AMC in March of 2010 for $275 million.
•Also in 2010 and within two months in May of 2010, it was ordered divested by U.S. Department of Justice as one of nine theatres that would be force sold.
•October 15, 2010, it officially becomes the Landmark Olde Town Stadium 14 as the circuit acquired and formally began operating the former Mann, Colorado Cinema, Kerasotes, AMC cinema.
Technically, it’s run by Kerasotes ShowPlace Icon Theatres formerly operated by Kerasotes Theatres
Technically, it’s run by Kerasotes ShowPlace Icon Theatres formerly operated by Kerasotes Theatres
Technically, it’s run by Kerasotes ShowPlace Icon Theatres formerly operated by Kerasotes Theatres
On September 14, 2016, the Dallas City Council voted to designate the Lakewood Theater a Dallas landmark. This would help protect the building’s exterior from potential removal. In August 2015, much of the interior was removed both to remove asbestos and in hopes of finding up to three retail tenants to occupy the facility.
The operator of the Illinois and Royal theaters purchased the Lamoine Theatre roughly two blocks from the Royal in 1936. They would use the Lamoine (later Lark) to replace the undersized Royal Theatre which they closed in 1936.
Technically, it should be the Lark Theatre. It did open as the Lamoine Theatre in 1935 but was taken over by the Illinois and Royal Theatres. The operator purchased the Lamoine to replace the undersized Royal Theatre roughly two blocks away on the Macomb Square which is closed in 1936.
In 1954, a naming contest is held and changes to the Lark Theatre. It remains the Lark for 33 years until closure in July of 1987. For Hollywood’s Golden Age and downturn from 1936 to 1970, the Lark and Illinois were the town’s stalwart and only indoor theaters. Big hits in the latter stages included “E.T.” and “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” With competition from the Cinema 1 & 2 and home video, the Lark flirted with running as a discount house to stay competitive. It closed on July 16, 1987 with “Beverly Hills Cop 2”.
Address was 281 Main with an entry leading to the auditorium at the rear with neighboring businesses of Cloverdale Store – a full-service grocery store – a barber shop, and Greenwood Hardware.
The original movie theatre in Tilton was the Lyric Theatre that was opened by the Stevens Brothers in October of 1909 and lasted just one month as the local college banned students from going while some churches directed their congregation to avoid the venue. C.H. Bean improved the exterior appearance renaming it the Pastime Theatre which opened opened November 25, 1909 likely on a 5-year lease.
In August of 1910, he sold it to Herbert Mann who sold in 1911 to Charles and Nellie Riva. The Rivas gained support from the college and most of the area churches and had success. The original Pastime with its flat floor closed on November 30, 1914 to move to its new location. The “new” Pastime Theatre launched December 2, 1914. The previous Pastime became a meat market. The Rivas said the best nights were Saturdays where $30 could be had and Mondays brought just $2.75.
Nellie Riva ran the theatre as a silent operation to early 1930 selling out to William E. Reeves. Reeves installs sound equipment changing the name to the Tilton Theatre in March of 1930. That iteration of the theater lasts more than 30 years.
Ted S. Soczewinski was the final owner as the Tilton Theater continued into the 1960s. When it closed, Tilton became a movie theater-less community for decades until the dine-in concept circuit Smitty’s opened Smitty’s Cinema Pub in Tilton.
Fred C. Smith began showing moving pictures in Paola at the Mallory Opera House. That was going so well that Smith had a retail space converted for $10,000 creating the Empress Theatre. With tiled lobby, deluxe upholstered seating, and brass trim everywhere, the Empress opened in late summer 1915 exclusively for movies. The Mallory continued service as venue for live shows including traveling vaudeville shows by Smith. The Reverend O.B. Thurston took over the Empress on Sundays for sermons. Thursday was considered “big movie night” at the Empress.
The papers say that Rialto Theatre in Bushnell was built in February into the early summer in 1925 and opened July 15, 1925. C.M. Albright of Bushnell’s Cozy Theatre helmed both for S.E. Pirtle’s Circuit with the Cozy bowing out first. In 1947, the Rialto is supposed to be replaced with a new-build theater which is never constructed. But in 1955, Bushnell’s Rialto goes widescreen to accommodate CinemaScope films.
Mentions about the Lincoln Theatre end in 1957. In 1958, the Kenyon-Barr Urban Renewal project targets the West End African American business district for urban renewal to build Interstate 75. In 1960, bulldozers are said to have cleared Fifth Street and Sixth at John Street likely doing in the Lincoln Theatre, Cordelia Hotel, Sky Pharmacy, and many other African American mainstays. If you follow the line from John Street at Third Street today to what just yards east of Interstate 75, you’ll have the spot of the former Lincoln.
This entry began as the Auditorium Theatre which was in Brillion at least since 1914. In 1929, manager Joe J. Ecker converted the Auditorium to sound movies choosing Movietone over Vitaphone. In 1933, Raymond Pfeiffer purchased the Auditorium but the State of Wisconsin closes it very briefly 1935 with Pfeiffer still in charge.
In 1939, Pfeiiffer does an extensive remodeling of the theatre with all new signage renaming it the Brillion Theatre. Likely on a 20-year lease, the Brillion ceases operation in December of 1959 after numerous ownership changing.. It’s offered for sale and was eventually repurposed for other retail operations.
Fred and Zell Jaynes announced the $250,000 Joy Theatre in 1948. After the War, West Memphis was a major sin city destination selling liquor on Sundays and inviting adult entertainment. At the Joy, it was racy acts that couldn’t find work in neighboring Memphis and at the Crittenden and Harlem, it was playing films banned by the censor board there and African American films.
Jaynes' Joy Theatre launched as a burlesque house and advertised regularly in Billboard magazine hoping to find controversial acts when it opened in 1949. It was the first live house in West Memphis since the Strand – known more for vaudeville – burned down in 1935. The Joy had a main floor with nearly 1,000 seats for White customers and a balcony for African American patrons. Jaynes' burly house was too successful and finally on February 8, 1951, West Memphis Mayor P.M. Dacus shut it down as indecent.
Jaynes decided to sell the Joy to film interests who would convert the theatre to the Avon Theatre opening in 1952 to replace the undersized Crittenden Theatre. The Avon famously played the films banned by the notorious censor board across the river in Memphis. But when the MPAA created its ratings system in 1968, the marketplace for banned films was all but over in West Memphis. The Avon would get one more shot returning as a live acts venue.
The Crittenden Theatre opened with a preview screening on September 13, 1937 which was the first theater since the airdrome in the silent era. It was targeted for $40,000 but costing $75,000 operated by J. Jackson Rhodes and managed by Norval E. Packwood for Crittenden Amusement Co.
The Crittenden Theatre grabbed national headlines for being a main outlet for films rejected by infamous censor Lloyd T. Binford, the Memphis censor who would censor films which had persons of color in the same scenes as white performers. Rhodes and Packwood booked virtually all mainstream films that Binford censored. Rhodes would then create the Harlem Theatre in 1945 as an African American theatre to play films that Binford would have rejected.
“Duel in the Sun” was “unquestionably the dirtiest movie I’ve ever seen,” said Binford which caused a huge crowd to come to the Crittenden (see image in photos). Lack of segregation of band members for “A Song is Born” led to it being banned on the Memphis side and over the the Crittenden in West Memphis. Trade newspaper “Variety” wrote the headline, “Memphis Bans ‘em; West Memphis OK’s ‘em” to describe the situation.
When the 1,000+ seat burlesque house, the Joy Theatre opened by Fred and Zell Jaynes in 1949, it was shuttered just two years later by then Mayor P.M. Dachas. The Joy returned under new owners as the movie house now known as the Avon Theatre. The Avon would replace the overrun Crittenden and West Memphis would get the Sunset Drive-In continuing to play Binford’s rejected films into the 1950s until his retirement in 1955 when he famously banned “Rebel Without a Cause.”
With Binford gone, West Memphis still played censored films but lost its marketing advantage when the MPAA instituted a self-regulatory ratings system in the 1960s. The town would eventually be theaterless as leases reached their termination..
Estes W. Mann of Memphis was the architect in 1947 with sketch in photos.
West Memphis had no movie theater other than a short-lived airdrome in the early sound era until the Crittenden Theatre opened in 1937 by J. Jackson Rhodes and Crittenden Amusement Co. The Crittenden Theatre grabbed national headlines for being a main outlet for films rejected by infamous censor Lloyd T. Binford, the Memphis censor who would censor films which had persons of color in the same scenes as white performers.
Rhodes realized he’d hit pay dirt as people ventured across the bridge from Memphis, TN to West Memphis, AR. With a censor banning African American films, Rhodes would then create the Harlem Theatre in 1945 as Binfordized films would be of interest to the African American community. With workers helping in WW2-related factories, Rhodes got the approval to build the theater despite war shortages. He ended up months behind because there simply were no available theatre seats.
Sadly, the movie marketplace would never be the same in West Memphis post-Binford the Crittenden, Avon, Sunset Drive-In and the Harlem would all close.