Final screening was October 31, 1954 when the Comerford Amusement Circuit decided not to renew its lease because the theatre couldn’t be upgraded to CinemaScope and other widescreen formats of the era. A good fifty year run.
The Brownie Theatre address was 1918 Cumberland Avenue in Middlesboro launching on November 25, 1916. It replaced the Amuzu Theatre that had a five-year lease in another location from 1911 through November 9, 1916. (The Amuzu was refitted as a restaurant.)
Launched May 23, 1908 as the Lyceum Theatre. On September 24, 1919, the theatre was given a facelift a new name: the Strand Theatre showing D.W. Griffith’s “Hearts of the World.”
The Arcade Theatre was located at 22 South Main Street and opened December 12, 1907 with movies and some live acts by Emerson & Son. In 1915, John Amick took over for Emerson & Son installing a pipe organ and relaunching the new Arcade Theatre on November 17, 1915. Phil Myers followed by Dick V. Baasen then took on the theatre running both it and Minot’s Strand Theatre. Baasen apparently decided to close the theatre at the end of twenty years of leasing as the Arcade appears to have not made the transition to sound.
The Roman Theatre opened for business as a movie theatre on February 23, 1914 with 700 seats. The theater closed for about a month in October of 1918 to expand to 1,000 seats re-launching on November 9, 1918
The precursor to the Luzerne Theatre was The Splendora Theatre opening on September 21, 1914 in Luzerne. It likely had a ten year lease and replaced by the Luzerne Theatre.
Opened as The Music Hall by John Howell and C.K. Campbell in 1874. Retrofitted and rebranded as the Lyric Theatre on January 5, 1903 to show photoplays. Closed briefly at the end of 1905 for refurbishing, it re-opened as the Family Theatre on September 17, 1906 and was a site for live plays, minstrel shows and boxing matches. It likely has a ten-year lease ceasing operations in June of 1916. A classified ad sells all contents of the theater in 1917 including seats and scenery with the theatre dismantled.
This theater was conceptualized as the Royal Theatre next door to the Commercial Hotel as early as 1913. When L.R. Taylor finally built the 465-seat facility, it opened March 1, 1916 as the Linwood Theatre. Earle S. Nesbitt took over the Linwood using big-city showman techniques in this small town. A subsequent operator, C.E. Munn, took over the theater and equipped it for sound.
L.C. Hensley bought the Linwood from Munn in 1930. He equipped the theatre with improved Photophone (sound on film) technology changed the theater’s name to the Tarkio Theatre also in 1930. The Tarkio was remodeled in 1944 by Western Theatre giving it a total new streamline moderne exterior with glass blocks that it retained until fire/demolition. Its interior was also changed during the 1944 remodel and at least one more time later for its final period of operation.
The Empire Theatre launched June 28, 1919 with “The Little Rowdy.” It closed for a month in January of 1929 to install a Vitaphone sound system re-opening Feb. 21, 1929 though sound films were still a month away.
The Brownie Theatre was located at 203 North Broadway in Minden in the silent era and became the Rex Theatre. The Rex Theatre existed in two different locations –
Opened as Brownie’s Arcadia Theatre on December 7, 1922 with “Silver Wings” and was part of the fledgling Brownie Theatre Circuit which operated in Missouri, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Texas.
This theatre was originally home to Hiawatha’s first post office and retail store at 524-8 Oregon Street. It then became the Electric Theatre. George Moore closed the competing Wonderland in 1910 purchasing the Electric Theatre and refurbishing it bringing the seating count to 350. During World War I, the theatre was sold becoming the Brownie Theatre, likely a part of the fledgling Brownie Theatre Circuit (though may have simply been named after Brown County that houses Hiawatha). In 1918, E.A. Van Doran took on the theatre remodeling it and renaming it as the Victoria Theatre with 400 seats – see photo in Photos section. There was an unrelated Royal Theatre that became a 5-and-dime store in Hiawatha. It’s likely that when the sound era came, the 524-526-528 Oregon Street building was gutted to create the larger talking picture theatre using the Royal nameplate before becoming the Chief.
This was very likely the Victory Theatre/Brownie Theatre/New Victory Theatre which began during World War I and running through the silent era (see ads in photos). It likely was fitted with sound and became the New Cabool Theatre in 1929. The Cabool theater was purchased by O.L. Gentry who operated the nearby Lyric Theatre in Houston in 1929. Gentry renamed the Lyric to the Melba in Houston. He’s likely the one who rebranded the New Cabool as the Cozy Theatre although two other operators who follow him during the 1930s — Charles M. Cain and Richard “J.H.” Fisher — could be responsible for the name change. The theater’s trajectory would appear to time out with 30 years of leasing which conclude in 1948 with the theatre replaced by the State.
Originally built as the Pines Theatre for the tiny Kemp-Hughes Theatre Circuit, the first ten years of the theatre found it as a Rustic Atmospheric architectural style honoring the pine trees indigenous to the Waldron area and portraying the Pilot Mountain and its peak just north of the town. The side walls featured pine country in floor to ceiling murals including a mountain stream. In photos, see the original proscenium complete with mountaineer’s home. Hollowed logs and wood paneling gave off ember lighting effect as if in a fireplace. And rock elements jutting here and there provided a campfire effect. The projection booth was the watchtower for the theater which opened in October of 1930. John Hughes Forrester ran the operation and had concepts including an “Amusement Meal Ticket” to encourage more frequent or multiple ticket buyers and a student discount card to stimulate younger people coming to the Pines.
After its ten-year lease expired, Forrester moved on and K. Lee Williams Circuit took over the theatre under Gerry Doig’s management. Renamed the Scott Theatre, it received a major interior redesign in 1940 losing most of the original rustic elements. Even more original elements were going again in a 1950s redesign brought widescreen presentations. On January 24, 1960, a major fire gutted the interior though leaving the exterior virtually unchanged but the interior would be completely changed. Fortunately, the fire took place during church services so volunteer firefighters were nearby and did a good job of preventing further loss.
The theatre closed in 2014 but then under new operators got a nice redesign for its 85th anniversary reopening in October of 2015. Though the theatre looks markedly different from its original design, it is now complete with digital presentation and remains a cinema treasure for the area.
United Artists purchased land in southern Grand Prairie in Westchester Parkway just off of Interstate 20 on the south to launch a theater that opened August 24, 1995 called the UA Grand Prairie. While much of the attention was going to 16-24 screen megaplexes of the era — especially the AMC Grand and Cinemark 17 which had launched just months earlier in Dallas — UA was more conservative building 9-11 screen complexes. UA built its Lakepointe 10 theater in Lewisville opening in December 1994 and would build this very similar facility in Grand Prarie along with two Fort Worth complexes opening in 1997 with the Fossil Creek 11 and the nearby Eastchase 9 with all stadium seating.
Much like it would in 1995 with its then-forthcoming UA Galaxy, the circuit was going after a contemporary Cinemark multiplex in the Cinemark Movies 16 within eyeball’s distance across the street to the west. With screen count already in favor of the established Cinemark property, UA spent its money on the presentation creating two 490-seat auditoriums with THX certification and all 10 screens having DTS multichannel audio. 2,550 seats were found in the entire complex.
The UA G-P 10 theater opened with a soft launch with the films, “Desperado,” “Lord of Illusions,” “The Amazing Panda Adventure,” and “The Show” and then went for a slate of full shows the next day on August 25, 1995.
But United Artists, itself, fell on hard times and the circuit dropped theater after theater in the area and around the country. UA which once had theaters all over Dallas-Fort Worth would be taken over by Regal and would have only a handful of theaters leaving behind theaters including the Plaza, the MacArthur Marketplace in Irving, the Eastchase, the UA Hulen, the UA Bedford, the UA Bowen in Arlington, UA Las Vegas Trail in White Settlement, the Keystone which it had acquired from AMC, the UA North Star in Garland.
Regal didn’t do justice to the UA Grand Prairie at the outset as THX designation went away With many competing theaters opening to the east in South Arlington, the UA G-P stayed pretty much unchanged. Even the aging neighbor, the Cinemark 16, would upgrade to recliner seating hoping to stay current. Regal kept fighting film clearance battles with Cinemark as it reached its twentieth year of operation in August of 2015. But a month earlier, the end was near for the UA G-P as United Development purchased the three of the final four DFW-area UA theatres.
Under the United Development deal, the UA Galaxy and UA Fossil Creek would continue as luxury cinemas but that the UA Grand Prairie at the the end of 2015. (UA’s other property, the Regal Macarthur Marketplace was note listed in the deal.) In a typical low-key Regal/UA closing, the UA G-P was shuttered after the Sunday night December 13, 2015 showings. But at least the UA G-P had made it to its 20th anniversary. The plan was to convert the theatre to retail uses or, failing that, to find a church to take advantage of tax breaks to locate within the former facility.
The fire that destroyed the Grove Theatre in Honey Grove started in the projection booth on May 29, 1959 destroying the theater. That makes May 28, 1959 the last day of operation. Joe Jones moved from Honey Grove to manage what would become the Preston Royal Theatre later that year.
Launched as the Lyric Theatre in 1909. The Rawl Brothers' Pastime Vaudeville Theater from 1438 Main Street took over the location in 1915 and was renamed. The Rawl Brothers then took on the Columbia in 1918 which is likely about the time that the Pastime became the Imperial Theatre. Finally, it was renamed as the Palmetto Theatre.
A 1940 shot of the Carrollton Theater in New Orleans showing “Edison, the Man”
Had one final run as the Paris Theatre for the Art Theatre Guild Circuit in 1962.
Final screening was October 31, 1954 when the Comerford Amusement Circuit decided not to renew its lease because the theatre couldn’t be upgraded to CinemaScope and other widescreen formats of the era. A good fifty year run.
The Brownie Theatre address was 1918 Cumberland Avenue in Middlesboro launching on November 25, 1916. It replaced the Amuzu Theatre that had a five-year lease in another location from 1911 through November 9, 1916. (The Amuzu was refitted as a restaurant.)
Launched May 23, 1908 as the Lyceum Theatre. On September 24, 1919, the theatre was given a facelift a new name: the Strand Theatre showing D.W. Griffith’s “Hearts of the World.”
The Arcade Theatre was located at 22 South Main Street and opened December 12, 1907 with movies and some live acts by Emerson & Son. In 1915, John Amick took over for Emerson & Son installing a pipe organ and relaunching the new Arcade Theatre on November 17, 1915. Phil Myers followed by Dick V. Baasen then took on the theatre running both it and Minot’s Strand Theatre. Baasen apparently decided to close the theatre at the end of twenty years of leasing as the Arcade appears to have not made the transition to sound.
The Roman Theatre opened for business as a movie theatre on February 23, 1914 with 700 seats. The theater closed for about a month in October of 1918 to expand to 1,000 seats re-launching on November 9, 1918
The precursor to the Luzerne Theatre was The Splendora Theatre opening on September 21, 1914 in Luzerne. It likely had a ten year lease and replaced by the Luzerne Theatre.
Opened as The Music Hall by John Howell and C.K. Campbell in 1874. Retrofitted and rebranded as the Lyric Theatre on January 5, 1903 to show photoplays. Closed briefly at the end of 1905 for refurbishing, it re-opened as the Family Theatre on September 17, 1906 and was a site for live plays, minstrel shows and boxing matches. It likely has a ten-year lease ceasing operations in June of 1916. A classified ad sells all contents of the theater in 1917 including seats and scenery with the theatre dismantled.
The theatre did close in 1953 after years of operating just twice a week.
W.T. Grant (typo above)
1920 shot of the Liberty Theatre at grand opening in photos.
This theater was conceptualized as the Royal Theatre next door to the Commercial Hotel as early as 1913. When L.R. Taylor finally built the 465-seat facility, it opened March 1, 1916 as the Linwood Theatre. Earle S. Nesbitt took over the Linwood using big-city showman techniques in this small town. A subsequent operator, C.E. Munn, took over the theater and equipped it for sound.
L.C. Hensley bought the Linwood from Munn in 1930. He equipped the theatre with improved Photophone (sound on film) technology changed the theater’s name to the Tarkio Theatre also in 1930. The Tarkio was remodeled in 1944 by Western Theatre giving it a total new streamline moderne exterior with glass blocks that it retained until fire/demolition. Its interior was also changed during the 1944 remodel and at least one more time later for its final period of operation.
The Empire Theatre launched June 28, 1919 with “The Little Rowdy.” It closed for a month in January of 1929 to install a Vitaphone sound system re-opening Feb. 21, 1929 though sound films were still a month away.
Opened November 8, 1927 with Helen Miller at the Barton Organ followed by WLS' organist Al Malgard.
The Brownie Theatre was located at 203 North Broadway in Minden in the silent era and became the Rex Theatre. The Rex Theatre existed in two different locations –
Opened as Brownie’s Arcadia Theatre on December 7, 1922 with “Silver Wings” and was part of the fledgling Brownie Theatre Circuit which operated in Missouri, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Texas.
This theatre was originally home to Hiawatha’s first post office and retail store at 524-8 Oregon Street. It then became the Electric Theatre. George Moore closed the competing Wonderland in 1910 purchasing the Electric Theatre and refurbishing it bringing the seating count to 350. During World War I, the theatre was sold becoming the Brownie Theatre, likely a part of the fledgling Brownie Theatre Circuit (though may have simply been named after Brown County that houses Hiawatha). In 1918, E.A. Van Doran took on the theatre remodeling it and renaming it as the Victoria Theatre with 400 seats – see photo in Photos section. There was an unrelated Royal Theatre that became a 5-and-dime store in Hiawatha. It’s likely that when the sound era came, the 524-526-528 Oregon Street building was gutted to create the larger talking picture theatre using the Royal nameplate before becoming the Chief.
This was very likely the Victory Theatre/Brownie Theatre/New Victory Theatre which began during World War I and running through the silent era (see ads in photos). It likely was fitted with sound and became the New Cabool Theatre in 1929. The Cabool theater was purchased by O.L. Gentry who operated the nearby Lyric Theatre in Houston in 1929. Gentry renamed the Lyric to the Melba in Houston. He’s likely the one who rebranded the New Cabool as the Cozy Theatre although two other operators who follow him during the 1930s — Charles M. Cain and Richard “J.H.” Fisher — could be responsible for the name change. The theater’s trajectory would appear to time out with 30 years of leasing which conclude in 1948 with the theatre replaced by the State.
Originally built as the Pines Theatre for the tiny Kemp-Hughes Theatre Circuit, the first ten years of the theatre found it as a Rustic Atmospheric architectural style honoring the pine trees indigenous to the Waldron area and portraying the Pilot Mountain and its peak just north of the town. The side walls featured pine country in floor to ceiling murals including a mountain stream. In photos, see the original proscenium complete with mountaineer’s home. Hollowed logs and wood paneling gave off ember lighting effect as if in a fireplace. And rock elements jutting here and there provided a campfire effect. The projection booth was the watchtower for the theater which opened in October of 1930. John Hughes Forrester ran the operation and had concepts including an “Amusement Meal Ticket” to encourage more frequent or multiple ticket buyers and a student discount card to stimulate younger people coming to the Pines.
After its ten-year lease expired, Forrester moved on and K. Lee Williams Circuit took over the theatre under Gerry Doig’s management. Renamed the Scott Theatre, it received a major interior redesign in 1940 losing most of the original rustic elements. Even more original elements were going again in a 1950s redesign brought widescreen presentations. On January 24, 1960, a major fire gutted the interior though leaving the exterior virtually unchanged but the interior would be completely changed. Fortunately, the fire took place during church services so volunteer firefighters were nearby and did a good job of preventing further loss.
The theatre closed in 2014 but then under new operators got a nice redesign for its 85th anniversary reopening in October of 2015. Though the theatre looks markedly different from its original design, it is now complete with digital presentation and remains a cinema treasure for the area.
United Artists purchased land in southern Grand Prairie in Westchester Parkway just off of Interstate 20 on the south to launch a theater that opened August 24, 1995 called the UA Grand Prairie. While much of the attention was going to 16-24 screen megaplexes of the era — especially the AMC Grand and Cinemark 17 which had launched just months earlier in Dallas — UA was more conservative building 9-11 screen complexes. UA built its Lakepointe 10 theater in Lewisville opening in December 1994 and would build this very similar facility in Grand Prarie along with two Fort Worth complexes opening in 1997 with the Fossil Creek 11 and the nearby Eastchase 9 with all stadium seating.
Much like it would in 1995 with its then-forthcoming UA Galaxy, the circuit was going after a contemporary Cinemark multiplex in the Cinemark Movies 16 within eyeball’s distance across the street to the west. With screen count already in favor of the established Cinemark property, UA spent its money on the presentation creating two 490-seat auditoriums with THX certification and all 10 screens having DTS multichannel audio. 2,550 seats were found in the entire complex.
The UA G-P 10 theater opened with a soft launch with the films, “Desperado,” “Lord of Illusions,” “The Amazing Panda Adventure,” and “The Show” and then went for a slate of full shows the next day on August 25, 1995.
But United Artists, itself, fell on hard times and the circuit dropped theater after theater in the area and around the country. UA which once had theaters all over Dallas-Fort Worth would be taken over by Regal and would have only a handful of theaters leaving behind theaters including the Plaza, the MacArthur Marketplace in Irving, the Eastchase, the UA Hulen, the UA Bedford, the UA Bowen in Arlington, UA Las Vegas Trail in White Settlement, the Keystone which it had acquired from AMC, the UA North Star in Garland.
Regal didn’t do justice to the UA Grand Prairie at the outset as THX designation went away With many competing theaters opening to the east in South Arlington, the UA G-P stayed pretty much unchanged. Even the aging neighbor, the Cinemark 16, would upgrade to recliner seating hoping to stay current. Regal kept fighting film clearance battles with Cinemark as it reached its twentieth year of operation in August of 2015. But a month earlier, the end was near for the UA G-P as United Development purchased the three of the final four DFW-area UA theatres.
Under the United Development deal, the UA Galaxy and UA Fossil Creek would continue as luxury cinemas but that the UA Grand Prairie at the the end of 2015. (UA’s other property, the Regal Macarthur Marketplace was note listed in the deal.) In a typical low-key Regal/UA closing, the UA G-P was shuttered after the Sunday night December 13, 2015 showings. But at least the UA G-P had made it to its 20th anniversary. The plan was to convert the theatre to retail uses or, failing that, to find a church to take advantage of tax breaks to locate within the former facility.
The Bon Ton Theatre advertised in the local paper from 1912 to 1917. That could be the lifecycle of the theater, as well.
The fire that destroyed the Grove Theatre in Honey Grove started in the projection booth on May 29, 1959 destroying the theater. That makes May 28, 1959 the last day of operation. Joe Jones moved from Honey Grove to manage what would become the Preston Royal Theatre later that year.
Launched as the Lyric Theatre in 1909. The Rawl Brothers' Pastime Vaudeville Theater from 1438 Main Street took over the location in 1915 and was renamed. The Rawl Brothers then took on the Columbia in 1918 which is likely about the time that the Pastime became the Imperial Theatre. Finally, it was renamed as the Palmetto Theatre.
AKA the Rialto Theatre in the 1920s. Was sued for copyright when it didn’t have rights for a tune emanating from its player piano in 1927.