The Sunset was operational as early as 1954 but it could be opened a few years prior than that. A 1958 aerial view shows the drive-in with a new screen, meaning that there’s probably an incident with its older screen.
The Sunset closed in the mid-1980s. It appears operational between 1982 and 1983, but a 1987 aerial view shows some of its traces being occupied by a newly-made road and a small parking lot.
Twinned in February 1973, tripled on Christmas Day 1980.
The Bridgehead 1-2-3 Drive-In closed for the final time on November 1, 1992. All three screens were removed the following year according to a 1993 aerial view.
It appears that the Stamm Theatre was once closed on March 27, 1994, and sat abandoned for a little more than two years.
The Stamm Theatre briefly reopened back as a first-run movie house on August 30, 1996 under the name “Stamm Spotlight Theatre”, but only lasted four days of operation.
It ended its life as a first-run movie house though, but the Stamm Theatre did had a brief return as a live house several months later. Then it turned into a church after the Stamm family sold the theater to a church group.
The Princess Theatre opened its doors on March 8, 1911 with a live presentation of “Cleopatra”. It was originally scheduled to open four days prior but was delayed due to not enough chairs being installed. It was first managed by Mr. Blumenfeld.
The Princess closed on November 11, 1973 with “Enter The Dragon” due to lack of business, and was last operated by H.D. Bowers (who operated all of Mayfield’s theaters since 1956).
The Mayfield Twin Cinema opened its doors on September 29, 1972 with “Mary Queen of Scots” at Screen 1 and Walt Disney’s “Pinocchio” at Screen 2. It was first owned and managed by Doral W. Jones and originally housed 500 seats (with 250 seats in each auditorium).
The Mayfield Twin Cinema did receive some trouble during the late-1980s and early-1990s due to multiple police reports of underaged arrests, including alcoholic-related charges. After closing in 1992, the theater sat abandoned for five years.
As the Cardinal Drive-In remains as the only movie theater in Mayfield for a time, 58-year-old Bill Yancey of Arlington (who once operated the Arly Theatre in Arlington) knew that the only indoor cinema in Mayfield closed for a few years. After renovation led by him, the twin-screen theater reopened as the Mayfair Plaza Cinema on November 21, 1997 with “Anastasia” and “Alien 4 (The Resurrection)” with a total capacity of 480 seats (with 240 seats in each auditorium).
After closing in 2002, the Mayfield Plaza Cinema sat abandoned again until it reopened as the Princess Theater on November 18, 2005.
The Legion Theatre opened its doors on November 21, 1931 with “Extravagance” along with a short comedy “Aunts In Pants” and an unnamed cartoon. It was first managed by Ned Greene.
The Legion closed as a movie house in December 1957 but retained as a special events theater until 1959, and the marquee was removed in November 1961.
This started life as the 45 Drive-In and opened its gates on May 5, 1949. It was renamed the Cardinal Drive-In in 1953.
In its later heyday, Donal Jones was the operator of the Cardinal who also operates the other remaining theaters in Mayfield. On August 15, 1992, Doral made his only television appearance on Kentucky Educational Television’s “From Dusk ‘Til Dawn: Kentucky’s Rural Drive-In Theaters”, which featured the Cardinal and the other remaining drive-ins in Kentucky.
The Frankfort Opera House originally housed 950 seats and an estimate $20,000 on construction, which began in March 1883. It was renamed the Capitol Theatre in the 1900s.
The 814-seat Capitol Theatre closed for the final time on October 20, 1977 with “The Bad News Bears In Breaking Training”.
Actually, here’s a little story just before the theater opened its doors. Shortly before grand opening, the twin-screen theater was originally planned to open as a Jerry Lewis Cinema although it had the “Jerry Lewis Twin Cinema” name on articles of upcoming structures from pages of the State Journal of Frankfort, but it appears that the Jerry Lewis name was dropped one month before grand opening.
Instead, United Cinema Incorporated took the dough and opened the Franklin Square Twin Cinema on June 15, 1973 with “Charlotte’s Web” at Screen 1 and “Man Of La Mancha” at Screen 2. As a twin-screener, the theater originally housed 350 seats (with 175 seats in each auditorium).
The Norka Theatre opened its doors on November 23, 1940 with a Saturday matinee of “Grand Ole Opry” and “Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum” with no extra short subjects.
The Norka’s first normal attraction was the following day with Gloria Jean in “A Little Bit Of Heaven” with no extras.
The Rialto opened its doors on December 27, 1929 with “Dynamite” (unclear if any short subjects were added).
On opening night despite the three performances by the Villisca band conducted by J.H. Todd followed by Attorney R.J. Swanson delivering opening remarks, owner Frank B. Pennington announced to the entire crowd that every seat in the building was occupied and that those waiting could not be accommodated until the second showing the picture. About a total of 150 people waited in the Rialto building for hours while some others left until the time comes.
The 540-seat Iowana Theatre opened its doors on November 22, 1923 with Jackie Coogan in “Long Live The King” and Larry Simon in “Lightning Love” along with a newsreel. It was first managed by Ted Samuelson with music conducted by Julia Roemer. The original projectionist of the theater is Russell Hawkins.
Some information about the Iowana features two grace doors on each side of the ticket window leading to the foyer, golden lighting effects for entertaining purposes, and an estimate $45,000 in equipment and construction. Talkies were installed on May 9, 1929 (with “Syncopation”).
Shortly after the Grand Theatre installed CinemaScope in July 1954, the Iowana did its own CinemaScope installation in September 1954.
The Iowana closed for the final time in December 1962.
The Grand Theatre was a replacement of another Grand Theatre (former the Beardsley Theatre) that was completely destroyed in a massive fire on April 12, 1932. It’ll have its own Cinema Treasures page soon.
The second Grand Theatre opened its doors on September 22, 1932 with the Marx Brothers in “Horsefeathers” (unknown if any short subjects were added), and was first managed by Carl Johnson. The theater originally housed 350 seats and featured sound installations of RCA Photophone. Carl was the one who chose the RCA section for sound as a “great deal” as he replied.
CinemaScope was installed on July 30, 1954 (with “The Robe”). The Grand Theatre was once operated by Fridley Theatres in the 1970s and 1980s, but later taken over by Associated Theatres in 1982, and went back to Fridley in December 1994.
The Red Oak Drive-In opened its gates on June 3, 1949 with Ray Milland in “California” (unclear if any short subjects were added). It was first operated by Alfred “Ed” Haal of Aubudon, Iowa, and the original screen tower measures 50x50ft while the screen plate measures 32x44ft.
It was originally scheduled to open its doors the previous night but was postponed due to both severe weather and a tornado outbreak which spawned multiple tornadoes in Southwest Iowa. The theater did not receive any damage.
On the evening of May 8, 1950, the entire drive-in theater and the nearby Skyway Inn both escaped damage from a tornado that severely damaged the Red Oak airport as well as 12 to 14 planes (only two managed to escape). Despite the $28,000 in damages, nobody was injured or killed. Since 8:20 PM that evening, the entire town of Red Oak was left without power until the following afternoon. In other portions of the town’s damage includes a large tree being toppled from 60 MPH wind gusts nearby on power lines, and a fire broke out at someone’s house caused by a lightning strike that struck the switchboard.
The Red Oak Drive-In became the last operating drive-in theater in Southwest Iowa until closing for the final time in mid-July 1987 due to property issues.
The actual opening date is July 20, 1949 with Abbott and Costello in “Ride ‘Em Cowboy” along with an unnamed Tom And Jerry cartoon, with an original capacity of 430 cars and installations of 430 Century speakers, Altec’s “Voice of the Theater” sound system (that was also used at the nearby Webster Theatre), and then-latest Century projection (which operates on 75 amperes of electrical current to throw the beam 242ft to the screen).
The original bricked concession stand measures 30x30ft, and featured a unique Sportservice stand. The size of the entire screen including its 70-foot poles that were buried 10ft in the ground measures 2,160 square feet, while the silver transite screen-plate only measures unknown. Behind the screen and between the six supports featured rooms that were built with a width of 12ft featuring switchboards for distributing power throughout the theater, as well as storage.
On March 1, 1964, Art Downard came to Webster City to operate the two remaining theaters, the Webster Theatre and the Corral Drive-In. He was the one that last owned the Corral Drive-In who closed it after the 1986 season.
The Granada Theatre was renamed the Webster Theatre on February 19, 1939 after a five-week closure due to remodeling, reopening with Henry Fonda in “Jesse James” along with Paramount Pictorial and Paramount News.
The Pioneer Theaters chain operated the theater throughout the entirety of the golden age of films. Pioneer operated the theater from 1930 until Fridley Theatres took over the Webster from Pioneer in July 1988.
The Sunset was operational as early as 1954 but it could be opened a few years prior than that. A 1958 aerial view shows the drive-in with a new screen, meaning that there’s probably an incident with its older screen.
The Sunset closed in the mid-1980s. It appears operational between 1982 and 1983, but a 1987 aerial view shows some of its traces being occupied by a newly-made road and a small parking lot.
Twinned in February 1973, tripled on Christmas Day 1980.
The Bridgehead 1-2-3 Drive-In closed for the final time on November 1, 1992. All three screens were removed the following year according to a 1993 aerial view.
It appears that the Stamm Theatre was once closed on March 27, 1994, and sat abandoned for a little more than two years.
The Stamm Theatre briefly reopened back as a first-run movie house on August 30, 1996 under the name “Stamm Spotlight Theatre”, but only lasted four days of operation.
It ended its life as a first-run movie house though, but the Stamm Theatre did had a brief return as a live house several months later. Then it turned into a church after the Stamm family sold the theater to a church group.
The Princess Theatre opened its doors on March 8, 1911 with a live presentation of “Cleopatra”. It was originally scheduled to open four days prior but was delayed due to not enough chairs being installed. It was first managed by Mr. Blumenfeld.
The Princess closed on November 11, 1973 with “Enter The Dragon” due to lack of business, and was last operated by H.D. Bowers (who operated all of Mayfield’s theaters since 1956).
The Mayfield Twin Cinema opened its doors on September 29, 1972 with “Mary Queen of Scots” at Screen 1 and Walt Disney’s “Pinocchio” at Screen 2. It was first owned and managed by Doral W. Jones and originally housed 500 seats (with 250 seats in each auditorium).
The Mayfield Twin Cinema did receive some trouble during the late-1980s and early-1990s due to multiple police reports of underaged arrests, including alcoholic-related charges. After closing in 1992, the theater sat abandoned for five years.
As the Cardinal Drive-In remains as the only movie theater in Mayfield for a time, 58-year-old Bill Yancey of Arlington (who once operated the Arly Theatre in Arlington) knew that the only indoor cinema in Mayfield closed for a few years. After renovation led by him, the twin-screen theater reopened as the Mayfair Plaza Cinema on November 21, 1997 with “Anastasia” and “Alien 4 (The Resurrection)” with a total capacity of 480 seats (with 240 seats in each auditorium).
After closing in 2002, the Mayfield Plaza Cinema sat abandoned again until it reopened as the Princess Theater on November 18, 2005.
First known as “Central Cinemas 1 & 2”.
The Legion Theatre opened its doors on November 21, 1931 with “Extravagance” along with a short comedy “Aunts In Pants” and an unnamed cartoon. It was first managed by Ned Greene.
The Legion closed as a movie house in December 1957 but retained as a special events theater until 1959, and the marquee was removed in November 1961.
This started life as the 45 Drive-In and opened its gates on May 5, 1949. It was renamed the Cardinal Drive-In in 1953.
In its later heyday, Donal Jones was the operator of the Cardinal who also operates the other remaining theaters in Mayfield. On August 15, 1992, Doral made his only television appearance on Kentucky Educational Television’s “From Dusk ‘Til Dawn: Kentucky’s Rural Drive-In Theaters”, which featured the Cardinal and the other remaining drive-ins in Kentucky.
Closed on February 6, 1986 with “Power”.
Closed on September 3, 1991 with “Pure Luck” and “Double Impact”.
The Frankfort Opera House originally housed 950 seats and an estimate $20,000 on construction, which began in March 1883. It was renamed the Capitol Theatre in the 1900s.
The 814-seat Capitol Theatre closed for the final time on October 20, 1977 with “The Bad News Bears In Breaking Training”.
Actually, here’s a little story just before the theater opened its doors. Shortly before grand opening, the twin-screen theater was originally planned to open as a Jerry Lewis Cinema although it had the “Jerry Lewis Twin Cinema” name on articles of upcoming structures from pages of the State Journal of Frankfort, but it appears that the Jerry Lewis name was dropped one month before grand opening.
Instead, United Cinema Incorporated took the dough and opened the Franklin Square Twin Cinema on June 15, 1973 with “Charlotte’s Web” at Screen 1 and “Man Of La Mancha” at Screen 2. As a twin-screener, the theater originally housed 350 seats (with 175 seats in each auditorium).
The actual opening date is November 18, 1977, and yes it opened with “Oh God” at Screen 1 and “You Light Up My Life” at Screen 2.
This replaced an earlier theater known as the Empress Theatre (and yes, the Empress was once known as the Norka Theatre).
The Norka Theatre opened its doors on November 23, 1940 with a Saturday matinee of “Grand Ole Opry” and “Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum” with no extra short subjects.
The Norka closed in late-1975.
The Rialto opened its doors on December 27, 1929 with “Dynamite” (unclear if any short subjects were added).
The 540-seat Iowana Theatre opened its doors on November 22, 1923 with Jackie Coogan in “Long Live The King” and Larry Simon in “Lightning Love” along with a newsreel. It was first managed by Ted Samuelson with music conducted by Julia Roemer. The original projectionist of the theater is Russell Hawkins.
Some information about the Iowana features two grace doors on each side of the ticket window leading to the foyer, golden lighting effects for entertaining purposes, and an estimate $45,000 in equipment and construction. Talkies were installed on May 9, 1929 (with “Syncopation”).
Shortly after the Grand Theatre installed CinemaScope in July 1954, the Iowana did its own CinemaScope installation in September 1954.
The Iowana closed for the final time in December 1962.
The Grand Theatre was a replacement of another Grand Theatre (former the Beardsley Theatre) that was completely destroyed in a massive fire on April 12, 1932. It’ll have its own Cinema Treasures page soon.
The second Grand Theatre opened its doors on September 22, 1932 with the Marx Brothers in “Horsefeathers” (unknown if any short subjects were added), and was first managed by Carl Johnson. The theater originally housed 350 seats and featured sound installations of RCA Photophone. Carl was the one who chose the RCA section for sound as a “great deal” as he replied.
CinemaScope was installed on July 30, 1954 (with “The Robe”). The Grand Theatre was once operated by Fridley Theatres in the 1970s and 1980s, but later taken over by Associated Theatres in 1982, and went back to Fridley in December 1994.
The Red Oak Drive-In opened its gates on June 3, 1949 with Ray Milland in “California” (unclear if any short subjects were added). It was first operated by Alfred “Ed” Haal of Aubudon, Iowa, and the original screen tower measures 50x50ft while the screen plate measures 32x44ft.
On the evening of May 8, 1950, the entire drive-in theater and the nearby Skyway Inn both escaped damage from a tornado that severely damaged the Red Oak airport as well as 12 to 14 planes (only two managed to escape). Despite the $28,000 in damages, nobody was injured or killed. Since 8:20 PM that evening, the entire town of Red Oak was left without power until the following afternoon. In other portions of the town’s damage includes a large tree being toppled from 60 MPH wind gusts nearby on power lines, and a fire broke out at someone’s house caused by a lightning strike that struck the switchboard.
The Red Oak Drive-In became the last operating drive-in theater in Southwest Iowa until closing for the final time in mid-July 1987 due to property issues.
The actual opening date is July 20, 1949 with Abbott and Costello in “Ride ‘Em Cowboy” along with an unnamed Tom And Jerry cartoon, with an original capacity of 430 cars and installations of 430 Century speakers, Altec’s “Voice of the Theater” sound system (that was also used at the nearby Webster Theatre), and then-latest Century projection (which operates on 75 amperes of electrical current to throw the beam 242ft to the screen).
The original bricked concession stand measures 30x30ft, and featured a unique Sportservice stand. The size of the entire screen including its 70-foot poles that were buried 10ft in the ground measures 2,160 square feet, while the silver transite screen-plate only measures unknown. Behind the screen and between the six supports featured rooms that were built with a width of 12ft featuring switchboards for distributing power throughout the theater, as well as storage.
On March 1, 1964, Art Downard came to Webster City to operate the two remaining theaters, the Webster Theatre and the Corral Drive-In. He was the one that last owned the Corral Drive-In who closed it after the 1986 season.
The Granada Theatre was renamed the Webster Theatre on February 19, 1939 after a five-week closure due to remodeling, reopening with Henry Fonda in “Jesse James” along with Paramount Pictorial and Paramount News.
The Pioneer Theaters chain operated the theater throughout the entirety of the golden age of films. Pioneer operated the theater from 1930 until Fridley Theatres took over the Webster from Pioneer in July 1988.
George Lehmann opened the Lyric Theatre in January 1912, and closed in 1916.
The Chris-Town is also the Phoenix area’s first THX-certified theater.
The Har-Mar is also the Twin Cities' first THX-certified theater.
I’m strongly sure that this started life as the Grand Opera House, but I know it was known as Capitol Theatre since as early as 1927.
The Capitol Theatre closed for the final time on January 17, 1980 with Robert F. Logan in “Mountain Family Robinson”.