This house opened on September 23, 1929, as the Ohio Theatre. An article in the August 29, 1970, issue of The Piqua Daily Call features an article about John Hixson, who says that he was one of the projectionists when the house opened.
The May 22, 1931, issue of the Call says that Schine’s Piqua Theatre, formerly the Ohio Theatre, would have its formal opening that night.
An item in the July 16, 1910, issue of The American Contractor attributes the design of this theater to the firm of Taylor & DeCamp. The partnership of Charles C. Taylor and Benjamin C. DeCamp was formed in 1909 and dissolved in 1912.
Louis A. Livaudais died in 1932, so I don’t know if he had anything to do with designing this 1933 project, but apparently the firm’s name remained unchanged. Much earlier in their careers, Favrot & Livaudais had designed the Rapides Opera House in Alexandria, Louisiana, which house was later renamed the Paramount Theatre. Charles Allen Favrot’s son, Henri Mortimer Favrot, later became a partner in the firm of Favrot & Reed, who designed at least three theaters.
Although it mistakenly calls the street Forest Boulevard, this item from the “New Theatre Projects” section of the September 23, 1933, issue of Motion Picture Herald is clearly about the White Theatre:
“DALLAS— M. S. White, 508 Largent.
Will erect on Forest Boulevard theatre to cost, $40,000. Architect, W. Scott Dunne, Melba Building.”
This house was open before 1933, the year in which it was remodeled, according to this item form Motion Picture Herald of September 23:
“BEAUMONT— Rio Moving Picture Company. Contractor, Charles F. Law, Perlstein Building, Beaumont. Remodeling to cost $6,500. Architects, Babin & Neff, Perlstein Building.”
As the item doesn’t give the name of the theater itself, but only that of the company having it remodeled, it’s possible that it had previously operated under a different name.
The building at this address was to be remodeled, according to this item in the September 23, 1933, issue of Motion Picture Herald. It sounds as though there was already a theater in it at that time, but if so the magazine didn’t give its name:
“Catherine O'Reilly of Great Neck, to alter building and motion picture theatre at 1164 Third Avenue, New York City. Cost $4,000. Architect, Eugene De Rosa, Inc., 105 West 40tb Street.”
The Hollywood Theatre in Gretna was completely rebuilt in 1933 after the original house was destroyed by a fire. New Orleans architects Favrot & Livaudais designed the new theater, according to the September 23, 1933, issue of Motion Picture Herald.
Some of the news media reporting on the collapse of the Benton Theatre building earlier today might be checking Cinema Treasures for information, as a couple are using the 1931 opening date we give. It’s wrong, though. An advertisement by the Kansas City Real Estate Board in the August 22, 1926, issue of the Kansas City Star touted real property in the city as an investment, and said:
“[t]he Benton Theater building at Benton and Independence Boulevards was built in 1911 by C. O. Jones. Since then it has paid for itself twice over in rental revenue and was sold this year for three times the original cost.”
David and Noelle’s list of known Boller Brothers theater designs does list the Benton Theatre as a 1931 project for the firm, but that had to have been a remodeling job. The house was mentioned several times in the trade publications during the 1910s and 1920s. I haven’t been able to discover the original architect of the Benton Theatre. Noelle Soren’s research was sufficiently thorough that, had the 1911 Benton been designed by Carl Boller, it’s very likely that she would have discovered the fact.
I don’t know when the Benton Theatre became a church, but it will be a church no longer after today. According to this post at northeastnews.net, the building partly collapsed this morning, and what is left will probably be demolished soon. A vacation bible school was in session at the time of the collapse, but all 44 children and 20 staff members escaped the disaster.
A city official said that the structure was not on the city’s dangerous buildings list, as Kansas City lacks the staff for random building inspections, and only investigates the condition of structures if and when complaints are filed.
An illustrated Two page article about the D&R Theatre in Aberdeen appeared in the June 29, 1935, issue of Motion Picture Herald. Plans for the recent remodeling were by architect Bjarne Moe.
The Janes Theatre was designed by its original owner, Fred H. Witters, with some critical structural elements planned by the Saginaw architectural firm of Cowles & Mutscheller. A three-page article about the project, with several photos, appears in the June 29, 1935, issue of Motion Picture Herald.
Chris: the earlier Adelphi Theatre is listed here as the Clark Theater.
An ad for Pittco Store Fronts (a division of Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co.) in the June 29, 1935, issue of Motion Picture Herald featured photos of the Adelphi’s entrance before and after the remodeling designed by Mark D. Kalischer.
After acquiring the house from Smalley’s Theatres in 1934, the Schine circuit had this theater completely remodeled and renamed it the State Theatre. Two photos of the State illustrate this article in the June 1, 1935, issue of Motion Picture Herald. The plans for the project were by architect Peter M. Hulsken.
A three-page article about Detroit’s Tower Theatre appeared in the June 1, 1935, issue of Motion Picture Herald. A scan is available from The Internet Archive.
A photo of the lobby of the Grand Theatre in Terre Haute appears on this page of the May 4, 1935, issue of Motion Picture Herald. The lobby had recently been redesigned in a modern style featuring Carrera Glass, Pittsburgh Glass Company’s competitor to the better-known Vitrolite brand of glass tiles.
The Banner Theatre originally opened around 1910. In 1934 the house was bought by Abe Gumbiner who had it remodeled in a Streamline Modern style, with plans by architect Mark D. Kalischer. Two pages about the project, with before and after photos, appeared in the May 4, 1935, issue of Motion Picture Herald.
The Alhambra Theatre had been converted into a fruit store before it was reopened as the Harris Family Theatre in the 1930s. The Alhambra is on the left side of Penn Avenue in this 1928 photo. If the building still exists it must be the one occupied by the Rent-A-Center midway between Centre and Sheridan Avenues.
The May 4, 1935, issue of Motion Picture Herald featured this full page of before and after photos of the Harris Family Theatre. The Art Deco-style renovation was designed for the Harris Amusement Company by architect Victor A. Rigaumont.
The Alhambra Theatre was in operation by 1915, when it was mentioned in the August 4 issue of The Moving Picture World.
The Buflo Theatre was still in operation at least as late as October 8, 1959, when it was showing Face of a Fugitive starring Fred MacMurray and Dorothy Green.
The October 8, 1940, issue of Motion Picture Daily has an item that must be about the Pix Theatre:
“A new 350-seat house is being built at Buffalo, Mo., by Shields Wilson, operator of the Camden at Camdenton, Mo. Buffalo also has the Nu Buflo, operated by C. C. Rhodes of Warsaw, Mo.”
The 1915 ad linked by kencmcintyre says that the Marlowe Hippodrome Theatre was at 63rd Street and Stewart Avenue. The Hippodrome at 63rd and Ashland (or Marshfield) was a different house. I found a 1915 reference to a business at 1621 63rd in the Hippodrome Building, which would put it pretty close to the corner of Marshfield.
The West Englewood/Ogden must have been the proposed theater in this item from The American Contractor of October 4, 1919:
“ $600,000. Marshfield av., S., 6301-11. Brk. Theater: Owners Ascher Bros., Consumers bldg. Mas. Reidenour & Erickson, 535 E. 47th. Archt. H. L. Newhouse.”
6301-11 Marshfield would be at the southeast corner of Marshfield and 63rd. Items in the same journal later that year indicate that contracts had been let and construction was underway before the end of 1919. An item in the August 28, 1920, issue of the Forest Park Review said that Ascher Bros. new Englewood Theatre at 63rd and Marshfield was expected to open by January 1, so by that time the project would have taken more than a year to complete.
I’m not sure if the old Hippodrome was just extensively rebuilt or was demolished for Ascher Bros. West Englewood Theatre. One possibility would be that Ascher Bros. acquired several lots along Marshfield Avenue behind the Hippodrome and built an entirely new auditorium there, cutting a new lobby through the existing building to 63rd Street.
Ascher Bros. had opened the Columbus Theatre on Ashland just off 63rd in 1915, but it was only half the size of the Ogden. Most likely they found business too brisk for the smaller house and built this theater to replace it. The Columbus was closed in 1926.
In 1927, the West Englewood Theatre was one of three south side houses that Ascher Bros. sold to the National Theatres Corporation, according to an item in the March 1 issue of Suburbanite Economist. The others were the Colony, at 50th and Kedzie, and the Highland, at 70th and Ashland.
A biographical sketch of George J. Schade says that “[a]fter leaving the coal business in 1914, Schade opened and managed the Schade Theater, located on West Market St. in Sandusky.” The house most likely opened before the end of 1915. The July 24, 1915, issue of The American Contractor ran this item:
“Sandusky, O.—Motion Picture Theater & Commercial Bldg.: 2 sty. & bas. 44x188. $30M. Archt. H. C. Hunt, 411 Columbus av. Owner Geo. J. Schade, 922 Tiffin st. Gen. contr. let to Geo. Feick & Co., 420 Decatur st.”
Schade operated the theater until 1930, when it was leased to Warner Bros. The site at 207 W. Market Street is now part of a parking lot.
This house opened on September 23, 1929, as the Ohio Theatre. An article in the August 29, 1970, issue of The Piqua Daily Call features an article about John Hixson, who says that he was one of the projectionists when the house opened.
The May 22, 1931, issue of the Call says that Schine’s Piqua Theatre, formerly the Ohio Theatre, would have its formal opening that night.
An item in the July 16, 1910, issue of The American Contractor attributes the design of this theater to the firm of Taylor & DeCamp. The partnership of Charles C. Taylor and Benjamin C. DeCamp was formed in 1909 and dissolved in 1912.
Louis A. Livaudais died in 1932, so I don’t know if he had anything to do with designing this 1933 project, but apparently the firm’s name remained unchanged. Much earlier in their careers, Favrot & Livaudais had designed the Rapides Opera House in Alexandria, Louisiana, which house was later renamed the Paramount Theatre. Charles Allen Favrot’s son, Henri Mortimer Favrot, later became a partner in the firm of Favrot & Reed, who designed at least three theaters.
Although it mistakenly calls the street Forest Boulevard, this item from the “New Theatre Projects” section of the September 23, 1933, issue of Motion Picture Herald is clearly about the White Theatre:
This house was open before 1933, the year in which it was remodeled, according to this item form Motion Picture Herald of September 23:
As the item doesn’t give the name of the theater itself, but only that of the company having it remodeled, it’s possible that it had previously operated under a different name.The “New Theatre Projects” section of the September 23, 1933, issue of Motion Picture Herald included this item datelined Cleveland:
The building at this address was to be remodeled, according to this item in the September 23, 1933, issue of Motion Picture Herald. It sounds as though there was already a theater in it at that time, but if so the magazine didn’t give its name:
The Hollywood Theatre in Gretna was completely rebuilt in 1933 after the original house was destroyed by a fire. New Orleans architects Favrot & Livaudais designed the new theater, according to the September 23, 1933, issue of Motion Picture Herald.
Some of the news media reporting on the collapse of the Benton Theatre building earlier today might be checking Cinema Treasures for information, as a couple are using the 1931 opening date we give. It’s wrong, though. An advertisement by the Kansas City Real Estate Board in the August 22, 1926, issue of the Kansas City Star touted real property in the city as an investment, and said:
David and Noelle’s list of known Boller Brothers theater designs does list the Benton Theatre as a 1931 project for the firm, but that had to have been a remodeling job. The house was mentioned several times in the trade publications during the 1910s and 1920s. I haven’t been able to discover the original architect of the Benton Theatre. Noelle Soren’s research was sufficiently thorough that, had the 1911 Benton been designed by Carl Boller, it’s very likely that she would have discovered the fact.I don’t know when the Benton Theatre became a church, but it will be a church no longer after today. According to this post at northeastnews.net, the building partly collapsed this morning, and what is left will probably be demolished soon. A vacation bible school was in session at the time of the collapse, but all 44 children and 20 staff members escaped the disaster.
A city official said that the structure was not on the city’s dangerous buildings list, as Kansas City lacks the staff for random building inspections, and only investigates the condition of structures if and when complaints are filed.
An illustrated Two page article about the D&R Theatre in Aberdeen appeared in the June 29, 1935, issue of Motion Picture Herald. Plans for the recent remodeling were by architect Bjarne Moe.
The Janes Theatre was designed by its original owner, Fred H. Witters, with some critical structural elements planned by the Saginaw architectural firm of Cowles & Mutscheller. A three-page article about the project, with several photos, appears in the June 29, 1935, issue of Motion Picture Herald.
Chris: the earlier Adelphi Theatre is listed here as the Clark Theater.
An ad for Pittco Store Fronts (a division of Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co.) in the June 29, 1935, issue of Motion Picture Herald featured photos of the Adelphi’s entrance before and after the remodeling designed by Mark D. Kalischer.
After acquiring the house from Smalley’s Theatres in 1934, the Schine circuit had this theater completely remodeled and renamed it the State Theatre. Two photos of the State illustrate this article in the June 1, 1935, issue of Motion Picture Herald. The plans for the project were by architect Peter M. Hulsken.
Three photos of the Trans-Lux Theatre illustrate this article in the June 1, 1935, issue of Motion Picture Herald.
A three-page article about Detroit’s Tower Theatre appeared in the June 1, 1935, issue of Motion Picture Herald. A scan is available from The Internet Archive.
A photo of the lobby of the Grand Theatre in Terre Haute appears on this page of the May 4, 1935, issue of Motion Picture Herald. The lobby had recently been redesigned in a modern style featuring Carrera Glass, Pittsburgh Glass Company’s competitor to the better-known Vitrolite brand of glass tiles.
The Banner Theatre originally opened around 1910. In 1934 the house was bought by Abe Gumbiner who had it remodeled in a Streamline Modern style, with plans by architect Mark D. Kalischer. Two pages about the project, with before and after photos, appeared in the May 4, 1935, issue of Motion Picture Herald.
The Alhambra Theatre had been converted into a fruit store before it was reopened as the Harris Family Theatre in the 1930s. The Alhambra is on the left side of Penn Avenue in this 1928 photo. If the building still exists it must be the one occupied by the Rent-A-Center midway between Centre and Sheridan Avenues.
The May 4, 1935, issue of Motion Picture Herald featured this full page of before and after photos of the Harris Family Theatre. The Art Deco-style renovation was designed for the Harris Amusement Company by architect Victor A. Rigaumont.
The Alhambra Theatre was in operation by 1915, when it was mentioned in the August 4 issue of The Moving Picture World.
The Buflo Theatre was still in operation at least as late as October 8, 1959, when it was showing Face of a Fugitive starring Fred MacMurray and Dorothy Green.
The October 8, 1940, issue of Motion Picture Daily has an item that must be about the Pix Theatre:
Internet says the County Courier News is at 206 W. Main Street.
The 1915 ad linked by kencmcintyre says that the Marlowe Hippodrome Theatre was at 63rd Street and Stewart Avenue. The Hippodrome at 63rd and Ashland (or Marshfield) was a different house. I found a 1915 reference to a business at 1621 63rd in the Hippodrome Building, which would put it pretty close to the corner of Marshfield.
The West Englewood/Ogden must have been the proposed theater in this item from The American Contractor of October 4, 1919:
6301-11 Marshfield would be at the southeast corner of Marshfield and 63rd. Items in the same journal later that year indicate that contracts had been let and construction was underway before the end of 1919. An item in the August 28, 1920, issue of the Forest Park Review said that Ascher Bros. new Englewood Theatre at 63rd and Marshfield was expected to open by January 1, so by that time the project would have taken more than a year to complete.I’m not sure if the old Hippodrome was just extensively rebuilt or was demolished for Ascher Bros. West Englewood Theatre. One possibility would be that Ascher Bros. acquired several lots along Marshfield Avenue behind the Hippodrome and built an entirely new auditorium there, cutting a new lobby through the existing building to 63rd Street.
Ascher Bros. had opened the Columbus Theatre on Ashland just off 63rd in 1915, but it was only half the size of the Ogden. Most likely they found business too brisk for the smaller house and built this theater to replace it. The Columbus was closed in 1926.
In 1927, the West Englewood Theatre was one of three south side houses that Ascher Bros. sold to the National Theatres Corporation, according to an item in the March 1 issue of Suburbanite Economist. The others were the Colony, at 50th and Kedzie, and the Highland, at 70th and Ashland.
Thomas Lamb was the architect of the Youngstown Palace.
A biographical sketch of George J. Schade says that “[a]fter leaving the coal business in 1914, Schade opened and managed the Schade Theater, located on West Market St. in Sandusky.” The house most likely opened before the end of 1915. The July 24, 1915, issue of The American Contractor ran this item:
Schade operated the theater until 1930, when it was leased to Warner Bros. The site at 207 W. Market Street is now part of a parking lot.