Tivoli Theatre

Remodeled and reopened as a first-run cinema by Famous Players on March 17th, 1978. Another ad posted.

Right at the start of the CinemaScope boom comes a miracle. Both the Tivoli Theatre in Hamilton and the Seneca Theatre in Niagara Falls were tied for being the fourth movie house in Ontario to have their CinemaScopes installed, and both theaters ran their first CinemaScope feature on Christmas Day 1953, which is “The Robe”.

The Tivoli originally housed an Ornate Italian Renaissance Scheme before its August 20, 1954 remodel/reopening which turned into a lavish production/tradition. The Tivoli reopened with Dean Martin’s “Living It Up” with no extra short subjects.

Some information about its 1954 remodel features updated traveling lights direct patrons to the focal point of the box office which is an open visual typed face of Swedish pearl granite. The office is lined with maroon vitrolite and stainless steel. The upper structure is armor plate glass with a special glass roof, and the shadow boxes on either side in the outer lobby are trimmed in shaped natural white oak with indirect lighting, stainless steel, and glass facings, and were also conspicuous by mirror-flector down lighting effects. The vestibule floor is in terrazzo with a modern design in red, black, and beige, the walls being real-wood oak Formica, and the front doors are transom are in polished aluminum and plate glass with imported Swedish shepherd’s crook door pulls and pushes. The ceiling is illuminated by a recessed lighting trough with Luminaire fluorescent units combined with circular pot lights. The outer lobby’s color scheme combinations are turquoise and mushroom. In the inner lobby features the attractive schemes of a turquoise ceiling and old rose walls relieved by ivory trim. The ceiling fixtures are in specially cast white plastic and provide indirect lighting as well. This leads through a shaped plaster arch to a large and elaborate lounge area which features a novel real-wood oak Formica with natural oak Formica trim refreshment center. This is accentuated by a floating canopy light fixture over the candy counter, and it is embellished with a background setting in which residents there will see a number of photographic murals of scenic attractions.

A stainless steel railing leads into the main auditorium. With a surprising note, the lounge ceiling was retained in its original green and ivory intrinsic Italian renaissance scheme from its 1924 opening as the Tivoli, along with some wall plaques and cherubic figures. The amphitheater received a major update though but there was a slight change in the color scheme, as its paneled ceiling previously was in a cream and gold color, but in the 1954 remodel it resembles a squared design emphasizing turquoise and highlighted in off-white and gold. Approaching the auditorium are short stairs with a stainless steel railing and at the right is a plant box of gold-flecked black marble. The steps have white rubber nosing which were first developed in Canada and have since became standard equipment in Famous Players theaters at the time. In its original decor, the Tivoli has galleries on either side of busts of the classical poets and playwrights including Shakespeare, Byron, Keats, Shelley, and others. Sadly all of these were no longer seen in the 1954 remodel, but however they are hidden inside the theater somewhere. Each of these artistic alcoves have been faced with specially designed panels of tapestry cloth in a swag design. At intermission, it will be notice that the draw curtains was much different in figured old gold. Then, it will be seen the grandiose candelabra in cast plaster overhead and the complementary white wall brackets. The seats at the time in the auditorium are Kroehler push-back seats.

There are easy elbow-room as you approach the rail of attractive real-wood natural oak Formica facing and mahogany trim. The rail is offset with concealed lighting. The aisle carpeting is a special design in a luminous chevron which averts stumbling by patrons on the way to their seats. The bathrooms are also updated, which off the entrance of the second lobby is mirrors along two walls and it is finished in dusty rose. The cosmetic bar itself featured mirrors on all sides and a padded leatherette for the apron of the bar. Lastly, there used to have a confectionery store in the corner of the theater but that since was gone in the 1954 remodel.

The building was built in 1875 and originally housed a carriage factory before becoming a movie house.

Famous Players closed the Tivoli for the final time on September 28, 1989 with “Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade” in connection of the screen-expansion of the nearby Jackson Square Cinemas.

Reopened as Colonial on July 30th, 1908. Another ad posted.

This venue’s 70mm presentations history is included in the recently-published article “70mm Presentations in Hamilton: A Chronology of 70mm Large Format Exhibition, 1969-Present”.

The Tivoli Theatre is certainly not open! It was last used in the spring of 2004, as a live performance venue. Since then, other then brief opportunities to tour the building, the public has had no access to it.

2014 related article.

https://www.thespec.com/opinion-story/4755201-tivoli-condo-project-a-monstrosity-/?fbclid=iwar1acndzja6ougympevwlfq1oeuz2frpwqowrgp-otpxjdngp9rudw35su0#.U-tAdcMgD0o.facebook

Saw so many great movies at the Tivoli during the 80s — Raiders (6 times during the summer of ‘81), Star Wars/Empire double bill in early '83, Jedi a few months later, Never Cry Wolf, Aliens…too many to list. Loved the huge screen and great surround sound. I did see the last movie ever shown there (Last Crusade) sometime before the theater closed in Sept of '89. Great memories, like the Century and Avon, but the Tivoli was my favourite.

The auditorium still stands and is being restored for use by the Canadian Ballet Youth Ensemble.

http://www.mississauga.com/news-story/4572107-developer-hopes-to-take-tivoli-to-new-heights/

BrockKing13: The Colonial/Wonderland/Princess has a its own page at Cinema Treasures.

I was employed as ass’t mgr and did some maintenance at the Tivoli in the early 70’s. I amazes me the historical misinformation that exists about this place. The theatre was built in 1908 and went by several names (Wonderland, Colonial etc.) It was a vaudville theatre until the 1920’s. During these years many of the biggest stars of the day performed here. Many went on to great sucess in Hollywood. In 1925 Famous Players built the large auditorium on the back, and the front of the theatre became the long lobby.The entire theatre was done in Italian Renaissance style with frescos,tapestries and roman statues in the auditorium wall recesses. A massive pipe organ was installed with pipe lofts inthe front recesses on either side.In 1954 the theatre was remodelled again and many of the 1925 fixtures were either removed or hidden behind walls and curtains. Her heydays were over by the early 1970’s and she was reduced to soft core sex movies until Famous Players let her go. Most of my information comes from old files, photos and first hand accounts by those who worked here during the golden years of this fine old lady. One of the biggest movies ever to show here was Gone With The Wind in 1939. According to receipt books I found, the show sold out every performance from 9am till late night every day for weeks. The adult admission price was 35 cents.

If you are interested in other comments about the Tivoli Theatre project, see the “Skyscraper” forum. There are comments as current as early February 2013. (A direct address to the forum would not work for me.) Do a Google search for “Tivoli Theatre Hamilton”/go to page 2 of “web results”/and select “Tivoli Theatre [Archive]-Skyscraper Page Forum…”. It is the 8th item on the list on page 2. There are many comments, including some from somebody who made an offer to develop the property/project.

Finally, some action at the Tivoli. The Hamilton Spectator reported (Wednesday, December 26) that a buyer is interested in developing the vacant portion of the Tivoli property. The end of January is the target for the finalization of the deal. You can see the article at thespec.com: Tivoli shall rise again, Ballet pledges.