The Forum came in as a low-cost grind house of second-run features. It would evolve or devolve into one of Ohio’s greatest grind houses. By the 1960s, the low-cost theatre posted no start times and often had imaginative thematic triple features. However, it was drawing sketchy crowds and a well-covered altercation in late 1967 didn’t help the theater’s reputation.
The Forum’s last showing was January 28, 1968 with a triple feature of “Deadly Bees,” “Vulture,” and “St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.” At the end of its 30-year lease, it celebrated the end of its triple feature with the dreaded “all fixtures, seats and equipment” sale just hours after the last showing. Few theaters in the history of non-porn houses could top of the sheer volume of prints that were shown in a thirty year period than the Forum.
Three different owners had three different concepts for restoring the Forum arose in 1971, 1973 and 1985. The most ambitious of those was the latter which, ironically, led to an extensive analysis of the theater’s condition and why the long boarded-up theatre would get razed late that year becoming a vacant lot.
The Princeton Playhouse opened in 1937 (images in photos) as part of a $6 million project that included a square of businesses around the Nassau Inn. It ran for more than 40 years and was demolished on December 27, 1980. Princeton University brought the repertory cinema to its end in 1980 and sold the property for $17 million.
The Louvee Theatre was built in 1937 and launched in 1938. It operated until 2003 after being twinned. In a restoration project, it was restored to single screen status but had not reopened as of 2016.
Correction: The Park Theatre closed on November 25, 1967 showings of “The Cool Ones” and “Up the Down Staircase.” The December 1, 1967 ad said “closed due to storm” and did not re-open until becoming a church the following spring of 1968.
Grunkmeyer & Sullivan architected the second Emery Theatre launching in 1938 which had operated since at least 1922.. Last ad for the new Emery was on January 14, 1962 lists “Ma and Pa Kettle in the Ozarks,” “Explosive Generation,” and “Tammy Tell Me True” likely spelling the end of the Emery.
Spahr Swift opened the Colonial late in 1913 which initially competes well against the Lyric, Pastime, and Lincoln theaters. Swift adds electric fans in 1914 to resolve ventilation complaints as the theater is reportedly full quite often. But the 250-seat theatre is soon dwarfed by new competition including the Strand. Swift closes the Colonial in 1916.
The theatre is reopened in 1917 by Colonial Amusement Circuit only to close it within months and the venue is set to be retrofitted for other purposes. A new operator takes a lease in 1918 to reopen it as a theatre and it’s sold within months to a new operator. Finding success with showmanship, the Colonial is remodeled and fitted for sound. It closes during the Depression in 1933. But a new operator takes on the theatre in 1934 operating only Saturdays and Sundays and – with its long-running manager reinstalled – has a nice run as a second run house until its closure in the 1940s.
The (New) New Globe Theatre was the fourth and final Globe location in Savannah and launched in November of 1946. The (New) New Globe was necessitated after the original New Globe Theatre burned down during World War II in 1943. War material shortages forced owner M.B. “Doc” Presley to use a converted church as the temporary replacement for his New Globe.
Once the war ended, the new theatre was built in 1946 becoming the longest running of the four Globe locations.
Fred Hartley opened the original Globe Theatre on April 20, 1914. The small town got a second theatre from Clarence E. Cook and V.O. Moore who announce the Tivoli Theatre in 1936 which opened in the Fall of 1937. The town struggled to keep both operations going so Presley purchased the Tivoli Theatre from Cook & Moore. A week later, the Tivoli became the New Globe Theatre ending the short run of the Tivoli. From there it was fire gutting the theatre, moving to a church, and on to this fourth and final Globe location.
Fred Hartley opened the original Globe Theatre on April 20, 1914. M.B. “Doc” Presley takes on the original Globe Theatre. The small town gets a second theatre from Clarence E. Cook and V.O. Moore who announce the Tivoli Theatre in 1936 which opens in the Fall of 1937. With dollars stretched thin with two theatres, in 1938, Presley purchased the Tivoli Theatre. A week later it’s called the New Globe Theatre ending the brief run of the Tivoli. Jerome Crowley of Kansas City is credited as the architect on the project. And it is also the end of the original Globe Theatre closing March 19, 1938.
In 1943 and during World War II, it burns down. War shortages didn’t allow for a new structure. This forced Presley to create the “Not-So-New” Globe Theatre in a converted church. With war shortages, the project replacing the New Globe Theatre was finally built in 1946 becoming the (New) New Globe Theatre and launching in November of 1946.
The town of Jeanerette’s first venue for films was under the canvas of its Airdome launching in 1908. A success, four years later, the Bijou Theatre is under construction to give the city a more permanent structure that would combine film and vaudeville.
The Bijou makes the transition to talkies with Western Electric sound and drops live shows. In 1932, the Bijou suffers a fire all but gutting the facility. Seymour Construction from Texas redesigns and rebuilds the theatre within the same walls with an expanded mezzanine to increase seat count. The theatre is renamed the Avalon Theatre. It receives a sleek new front that gives the exterior a brand new deco-era look.
As the Avalon, the theatre installs widescreen to show CinemaScope films in 1953. In 1963, under its final owners Walter Hebert and William Conrad, the theatre received its final major interior updating and renovation which it had until its closure. Stripped of its sign tower, the building was repurposed.
The Jewel Theatre was in business for less than a half year before the mayor came after its operators as a numbers front and charged with other illegal gaming activities. That’s old school Brooklyn!
Frank E. Wetherell and Roland Harrison or Wetherell & Harrison created the Zephyr Theatre opening in 1940 out of an old garage for the Central States Theatre Circuit of Des Moines. The 576 seat theatre was a streamline moderne house named after the famous streamline moderne train service of the day, the Burlington Zephyr. Kucharo Construction did the project which included load transfer after the removal of an arch girder that would have blocked the projector’s throw. The theatre fulfilled a 15-year lease closing in 1955.
Frank C. Martin opened the Princess Theatre in 1912 in Clifton, Arizona. But in 1940 he decided the theatre couldn’t be updated anymore so built this venue, the Martin, right next door. Opening in 1940, the 500 seat facility built for $35,000 replaced the Princess (see photos). The Princess Theatre building was converted to O'Connell’s Men’s Shop opening in 1941.
In 1937, Alfred Heffernan started his first theatre after the Owl Theatre in Grand Rapids located in his parent’s house lasting seven years. Graduating from Junior College, Heffernan started the Lynx Theatre in Coopersville, a 150 seater, in 1937 (see photos). It was a success and Heffernan decided to build a larger, 348-seat facility.
The Century Theatre was architected by the firm, Robinson, Campau and Crowe of Grand Rapids and built for $20,000 opening in the Fall of 1940.
Princess Theatre #2 in downtown Colchester opened where the original had burned down. The 500-seat theater was a marked upgrade from its 250-seat predecessor and was a theatre that would have been befitting of a town four times larger than Colchester. Launching in April of 1926 with a Wurlitzer pipe organ, the Princess operated seven days a week and thrived until the TV era.
The Princess hung on just long enough to celebrate its 25th anniversary closing in the TV era. Used unceremoniously as storage for decades with its attraction sign used to advertise Shelor Mobile Homes, the long dormant theater would finally be demolished.
Prior to opening in December of 1927, the Avalon was one of three theatre in Detroit bombed which pushed the opening to 1928. The Tivoli in Highland Park and the Lansing Theatre were also bombed with the Tivoli suffering more than $100,000 in damage.
Became the Victoria Theatre on August 20, 1917 under Harry L. Newman who played most films at ten cents but 15 cents for pictures worthy of patrons' extra nickels.
Fred Powell launched the Chester in 1941 very briefly as part of his Cherokee Theatre Circuit. It then became part of his Powell and Everett Circuit that then became the Stewart and Powell Circuit post-Fred Powell. Pictures at opening in photos section.
The Regent Theatre opened January 18, 1915 with “Officer 666.” The New Regent Theatre updating was architected by Clayton J. Lappley and Ritchie Lawrie of Lawrie & Lappley. Both launch ads in photos.
The Strand Theatre opened in 1922 with “Blood and Sand”. The 300-seat theatre added sound April 11, 1929 with Vitaphone showing “The Barker.” One of the biggest hits for the Strand was “The Sound of Music.” And the most controversial moment occurred toward the end of the porno chic era with a twin bill of X-rated films in 1975 that drew protests from the Unification Church.
In January of 1980, three new owners tripled down on the protest renaming the Strand the Pioneer Theatre which became Iowa’s only XXX cinema. The Pioneer switched to mainstream fare and struggled in the digital era closing a couple of times. It reopened in August of 2016 having secured new digital projection to play contemporary second-run Hollywood content.
Gosh, thanks. And if you care to re-read my message and there’s really no point in doing so, the Grand Opera House did not exist in the database. So I posted the image in question before “Predator” (sorry) and three others to the neighboring Wisconsin/Badger Theaters. And I requested that this theater exist in the database doing research on this facility.
When the Grand was created, I moved the images from the Wisconsin/Badger to the Grand. Simple. And the color reproduction on the first one posted (mine) is a bit better than the later one, IMHO. But I appreciate the work of Ken R., Predator and all others who are trying to make this a better site. It gets better every day.
The Forum came in as a low-cost grind house of second-run features. It would evolve or devolve into one of Ohio’s greatest grind houses. By the 1960s, the low-cost theatre posted no start times and often had imaginative thematic triple features. However, it was drawing sketchy crowds and a well-covered altercation in late 1967 didn’t help the theater’s reputation.
The Forum’s last showing was January 28, 1968 with a triple feature of “Deadly Bees,” “Vulture,” and “St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.” At the end of its 30-year lease, it celebrated the end of its triple feature with the dreaded “all fixtures, seats and equipment” sale just hours after the last showing. Few theaters in the history of non-porn houses could top of the sheer volume of prints that were shown in a thirty year period than the Forum.
Three different owners had three different concepts for restoring the Forum arose in 1971, 1973 and 1985. The most ambitious of those was the latter which, ironically, led to an extensive analysis of the theater’s condition and why the long boarded-up theatre would get razed late that year becoming a vacant lot.
The Princeton Playhouse opened in 1937 (images in photos) as part of a $6 million project that included a square of businesses around the Nassau Inn. It ran for more than 40 years and was demolished on December 27, 1980. Princeton University brought the repertory cinema to its end in 1980 and sold the property for $17 million.
The Louvee Theatre was built in 1937 and launched in 1938. It operated until 2003 after being twinned. In a restoration project, it was restored to single screen status but had not reopened as of 2016.
Correction: The Park Theatre closed on November 25, 1967 showings of “The Cool Ones” and “Up the Down Staircase.” The December 1, 1967 ad said “closed due to storm” and did not re-open until becoming a church the following spring of 1968.
Grunkmeyer & Sullivan architected the second Emery Theatre launching in 1938 which had operated since at least 1922.. Last ad for the new Emery was on January 14, 1962 lists “Ma and Pa Kettle in the Ozarks,” “Explosive Generation,” and “Tammy Tell Me True” likely spelling the end of the Emery.
Spahr Swift opened the Colonial late in 1913 which initially competes well against the Lyric, Pastime, and Lincoln theaters. Swift adds electric fans in 1914 to resolve ventilation complaints as the theater is reportedly full quite often. But the 250-seat theatre is soon dwarfed by new competition including the Strand. Swift closes the Colonial in 1916.
The theatre is reopened in 1917 by Colonial Amusement Circuit only to close it within months and the venue is set to be retrofitted for other purposes. A new operator takes a lease in 1918 to reopen it as a theatre and it’s sold within months to a new operator. Finding success with showmanship, the Colonial is remodeled and fitted for sound. It closes during the Depression in 1933. But a new operator takes on the theatre in 1934 operating only Saturdays and Sundays and – with its long-running manager reinstalled – has a nice run as a second run house until its closure in the 1940s.
The (New) New Globe Theatre was the fourth and final Globe location in Savannah and launched in November of 1946. The (New) New Globe was necessitated after the original New Globe Theatre burned down during World War II in 1943. War material shortages forced owner M.B. “Doc” Presley to use a converted church as the temporary replacement for his New Globe.
Once the war ended, the new theatre was built in 1946 becoming the longest running of the four Globe locations.
Fred Hartley opened the original Globe Theatre on April 20, 1914. The small town got a second theatre from Clarence E. Cook and V.O. Moore who announce the Tivoli Theatre in 1936 which opened in the Fall of 1937. The town struggled to keep both operations going so Presley purchased the Tivoli Theatre from Cook & Moore. A week later, the Tivoli became the New Globe Theatre ending the short run of the Tivoli. From there it was fire gutting the theatre, moving to a church, and on to this fourth and final Globe location.
Fred Hartley opened the original Globe Theatre on April 20, 1914. M.B. “Doc” Presley takes on the original Globe Theatre. The small town gets a second theatre from Clarence E. Cook and V.O. Moore who announce the Tivoli Theatre in 1936 which opens in the Fall of 1937. With dollars stretched thin with two theatres, in 1938, Presley purchased the Tivoli Theatre. A week later it’s called the New Globe Theatre ending the brief run of the Tivoli. Jerome Crowley of Kansas City is credited as the architect on the project. And it is also the end of the original Globe Theatre closing March 19, 1938.
In 1943 and during World War II, it burns down. War shortages didn’t allow for a new structure. This forced Presley to create the “Not-So-New” Globe Theatre in a converted church. With war shortages, the project replacing the New Globe Theatre was finally built in 1946 becoming the (New) New Globe Theatre and launching in November of 1946.
The town of Jeanerette’s first venue for films was under the canvas of its Airdome launching in 1908. A success, four years later, the Bijou Theatre is under construction to give the city a more permanent structure that would combine film and vaudeville.
The Bijou makes the transition to talkies with Western Electric sound and drops live shows. In 1932, the Bijou suffers a fire all but gutting the facility. Seymour Construction from Texas redesigns and rebuilds the theatre within the same walls with an expanded mezzanine to increase seat count. The theatre is renamed the Avalon Theatre. It receives a sleek new front that gives the exterior a brand new deco-era look.
As the Avalon, the theatre installs widescreen to show CinemaScope films in 1953. In 1963, under its final owners Walter Hebert and William Conrad, the theatre received its final major interior updating and renovation which it had until its closure. Stripped of its sign tower, the building was repurposed.
The Jewel Theatre was in business for less than a half year before the mayor came after its operators as a numbers front and charged with other illegal gaming activities. That’s old school Brooklyn!
Ben Schlanger’s architectural sketches from the 1940 makeover in photos.
Frank E. Wetherell and Roland Harrison or Wetherell & Harrison created the Zephyr Theatre opening in 1940 out of an old garage for the Central States Theatre Circuit of Des Moines. The 576 seat theatre was a streamline moderne house named after the famous streamline moderne train service of the day, the Burlington Zephyr. Kucharo Construction did the project which included load transfer after the removal of an arch girder that would have blocked the projector’s throw. The theatre fulfilled a 15-year lease closing in 1955.
F&Y Services architectural firm 1939 makeover shots in photos.
Architect Carl T. Meyer updated the Senate in 1939 for Kerasotes Circuit. Before and after shots in photos
Architects Bennett & Straight remodeled the East Side Theatre in 1937. Images in photos.
Frank C. Martin opened the Princess Theatre in 1912 in Clifton, Arizona. But in 1940 he decided the theatre couldn’t be updated anymore so built this venue, the Martin, right next door. Opening in 1940, the 500 seat facility built for $35,000 replaced the Princess (see photos). The Princess Theatre building was converted to O'Connell’s Men’s Shop opening in 1941.
In 1937, Alfred Heffernan started his first theatre after the Owl Theatre in Grand Rapids located in his parent’s house lasting seven years. Graduating from Junior College, Heffernan started the Lynx Theatre in Coopersville, a 150 seater, in 1937 (see photos). It was a success and Heffernan decided to build a larger, 348-seat facility.
The Century Theatre was architected by the firm, Robinson, Campau and Crowe of Grand Rapids and built for $20,000 opening in the Fall of 1940.
Albert Heffernan
Princess Theatre #2 in downtown Colchester opened where the original had burned down. The 500-seat theater was a marked upgrade from its 250-seat predecessor and was a theatre that would have been befitting of a town four times larger than Colchester. Launching in April of 1926 with a Wurlitzer pipe organ, the Princess operated seven days a week and thrived until the TV era.
The Princess hung on just long enough to celebrate its 25th anniversary closing in the TV era. Used unceremoniously as storage for decades with its attraction sign used to advertise Shelor Mobile Homes, the long dormant theater would finally be demolished.
Prior to opening in December of 1927, the Avalon was one of three theatre in Detroit bombed which pushed the opening to 1928. The Tivoli in Highland Park and the Lansing Theatre were also bombed with the Tivoli suffering more than $100,000 in damage.
Became the Victoria Theatre on August 20, 1917 under Harry L. Newman who played most films at ten cents but 15 cents for pictures worthy of patrons' extra nickels.
Fred Powell launched the Chester in 1941 very briefly as part of his Cherokee Theatre Circuit. It then became part of his Powell and Everett Circuit that then became the Stewart and Powell Circuit post-Fred Powell. Pictures at opening in photos section.
The Regent Theatre opened January 18, 1915 with “Officer 666.” The New Regent Theatre updating was architected by Clayton J. Lappley and Ritchie Lawrie of Lawrie & Lappley. Both launch ads in photos.
The Strand Theatre opened in 1922 with “Blood and Sand”. The 300-seat theatre added sound April 11, 1929 with Vitaphone showing “The Barker.” One of the biggest hits for the Strand was “The Sound of Music.” And the most controversial moment occurred toward the end of the porno chic era with a twin bill of X-rated films in 1975 that drew protests from the Unification Church.
In January of 1980, three new owners tripled down on the protest renaming the Strand the Pioneer Theatre which became Iowa’s only XXX cinema. The Pioneer switched to mainstream fare and struggled in the digital era closing a couple of times. It reopened in August of 2016 having secured new digital projection to play contemporary second-run Hollywood content.
Status: Open
Gosh, thanks. And if you care to re-read my message and there’s really no point in doing so, the Grand Opera House did not exist in the database. So I posted the image in question before “Predator” (sorry) and three others to the neighboring Wisconsin/Badger Theaters. And I requested that this theater exist in the database doing research on this facility.
When the Grand was created, I moved the images from the Wisconsin/Badger to the Grand. Simple. And the color reproduction on the first one posted (mine) is a bit better than the later one, IMHO. But I appreciate the work of Ken R., Predator and all others who are trying to make this a better site. It gets better every day.