Park 70 Theatre
16 N. Washington Avenue,
Mason City,
IA
50401
16 N. Washington Avenue,
Mason City,
IA
50401
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One of the few nice buildings to escape demolition for the stupid mall that ate half of downtown, and they still couldn’t keep it standing. Now a really ugly bank building. I’ve added a Sanborn view to show how the theater fit into the hotel.
Three vintage images and three demolition images added via Casey Piper and Neal Brennan. Also via Neal Brennan:
Originally the Wilson Hotel and theater, built in the late 1800s, Then the Cecil Theater and the Eadmar Hotel (named after the owners daughters Edith and Margaret Rule).
This opened as Park 70 on October 27th, 1966. The Globe Gazette of November 7th, 1968 reports that an 500-seat cinema was to be added to the Park 70 as an new Cecil cinema to be built at the Mason Shopping Center.
To answer Ret. AKC (NAC) CCC Bob Jensen’s question from January 20, 2007, about which theater held the world premiere of “The Music Man”…. the answer is: the Palace.
The June 19th, 1962, one-off event was actually a world premiere and press preview. The film didn’t actually open an engagement in Mason City until a month later on July 18th where it played day-and-date at the Palace and the Lake in nearby Clear Lake.
An article in the June 12, 1953, issue of The Mason City Globe-Gazette said that the Cecil Theatre opened on June 3, 1912.
Liebenberg & Kaplan were the architects for the 1936 remodeling of the Cecil Theatre that kencmcintyre referred to in his comment on March 11, 2009.
Another major remodeling took place in 1953, when the open windows between the foyer and the auditorium were closed in, and the lobby, foyer, stairs, lounges, rest rooms, and office were all given a modern makeover. According to articles in the Mason City Globe-Gazette, the auditorium had been restored and repainted, but that in style and configuration it was still substantially as it had been when the house opened in 1912. Even the boxes were still intact.
The 1953 renovations coincided with Mason City’s centennial, and with the fiftieth anniversary of manager Thomas Arthur’s arrival in town to take over management of the Cecil’s predecessor, the Wilson Theatre.
The Cecil Theatre is listed in the 1913-1914 Cahn guide with 595 seats on the main floor, 410 in the balcony, 360 in the gallery, and 36 in the boxes. It was slightly larger than the Wilson Theatre had been.
Beautiful old hotel and theatre in the post card picture. Must have been Mason City finest.
I worked at the Cecil Theater from 1957 to 1959 as a ticket taker, floor mopper, supervisor of the theater for inappropriate behavior (wielding my trusty flashlight), and updater of movie posters and the front marquee. My uniform was a maroon jacket, white shirt, bow tie and black slacks.
It was an interesting place to work. Ben Hur was the last stage production and the set was still backstage behind the movie screen, including the treadmill the horses ran on. The old dressing rooms with the star on the door were also there. There were box seats which were no longer used, and three balconies (the top one closed for safety).
I don’t remember the manager’s name (Harvey, I think), but he lived on my old paper route, I believe on 3rd St. S.W. Mrs. Arthur took over as owner after her husband passed away in 1955. I remember her as a grouchy, finicky old lady who lived upstairs and was a Hollywood celebrity wanna-be type. There were many times when she would dress to the 9’s, complete with diamond jewelry and mink stole for the local upper-crust festivities. On such occasions, she would often have me drive her brand new white Cadillac from its parking spot behind the theater around to the front. Her final directive was always “And don’t hit the curb with my white sidewalls!” I only did once that I can remember.
I seem to remember starting at 35 cents an hour and worked my way all the way up to 45 cents by the time I left for a better job at the Piggly Wiggly grocery store on 12th street. They paid 75 cents an hour.
Direct link to the issue of Life rivest266 cites. Thank goodness Mason City was protected from porn! (Or not.)
28 Aug 1970 page 22 of LIFE has a 4-page article about this theatre.
The April 16, 1955, issue of Boxoffice Magazine published the obituary of Tom Arthur. Mr. Arthur arrived in Mason City in 1904 and took over management oft he Wilson Theatre. After the house burned in 1911 and the Cecil was built on its site, he continued to manage the new theater until his death.
The September 26, 1966, issue of Boxoffice Magazine said that the Cecil Theatre was being remodeled by Vince Jorgensen, and would be renamed the Park 70 Theatre.
Here is part of a June 6, 1936 article in the Mason City Globe-Gazette:
Between $35,000 and $38,000 will be spent in the Cecil Theater remodeling program which is to include the installation of a complete air conditioning system, new seats, new carpets and other equipment. With the theater closing Friday night, workmen who had started the improvement project began a general renovation of the building.
Here to go over plans with Tom Arthur, manager, was M. N. Blank of the Central States Theaters, Inc. Regarded as the most important of the new equipment, which is to make the Cecil theater as modern as any showhouse in the state, is the installation of the cooling system under the direction of Bert Natkin of Natkin and company, Des Moines, Iowa representative for Westinghouse Air Conditioning.
Other improvements include gold, black and green terra cotta front, new carpets throughout the building and additional lounge rooms. A new terrazzo floor will be laid in the lobby. A new type of large and more comfortable seats will be installed.
This postcard shows the Cecil Hotel and Theater, but in the early 1900s. Perhaps there was a predecessor:
http://tinyurl.com/36jxqj
Meredith Willson who wrote the musical plays and movies The Music Man and The Unsinkable Molly Brown was a native of Mason City. When the movie The Music Man, with Robert Preston, Shirley Jones and eight year old Ron (Ronnie) Howard had it’s world premier on June 19, 1962, it was in Mason City. Anyone know what theatre held the world premier?
According to the Mason City Globe-Gazette, the Cecil opened on June 3, 1912, replacing the Wilson Theater, which was in the same location but had burned to the ground.