The Franklin Theatre’s actual opening date is November 5, 1936. Opening with Shirley Temple in “Poor Little Rich Girl” and W. C. Fields in “Poppy”, along with an unnamed cartoon and a newsreel.
The projection booth is once damaged by a fire on November 30, 1943, caused by a projector with a patched film that was jammed that caught itself on fire just as the machines were starting its last run of Eddie Quillan and Joan Woodbury in “Here Comes Kelly”, along with a “This Is America” travelogue in “Boom Town D.C.”, and a newsreel. The projector caught itself on fire and burned 2½ reels of “Here Comes Kelly” and “Boom Town D.C.”, which is a total of 8,000 feet of film. Luckily enough, only 4 out of the 400 capacity persons were in the house as they left the theater quickly enough. The theater later reopened 6 days later on December 5, 1943 with Fred Astaire in “The Sky’s The Limit” along with a special short entitled “Women At War”.
The fire caused a cancellation to the following runs: Don Barry in “West Side Kid” along with a short entitled “Girl From Monterey”; and a double feature: Charles Colburn in “My Kingdom For A Cook” and Charles Surrett in “Hail To Rangers” (unknown if subjects were included).
Opened On November 2, 1966 With “Fantastic Voyage”. A Second Screen Was Added On November 26, 1969, Reopening As A Twin With “Alice’s Restaurant” At Screen 1 And “Krakatoa East Of Java” At Screen 2.
The original Simplex projector that was used since its 1942 opening only operated for 3 years due to a fire incident inside the projection booth. On April 7, 1945, the Belle Theatre was gutted by a fire caused by a broken belt inside the projector causing a fire inside the projection booth. The fire occurred during a showing of a double feature: Bob Crosby in “The Singing Sheriff” and Joe E. Brown in “Casanova In Burlesque” along with an unnamed serial and an unnamed comedy, which was only shown for one day. Luckily enough, the audience, mostly children, had all escaped safely. The theater reopened the following day in the afternoon with Gerr Garson and Walter Pidgeon in “Mrs. Parkington” (along with a few unnamed short subjects) after a new projector was installed. The estimated loss is between $300 and $400.
The Capri also installed Cinerama later that year in 1961, reopening on November 8 of that year with their test film “This Is Cinerama” as the “Capri Cinerama”.
The actual opening date is November 5, 1938 with a double feature: Deanna Durbin in “That Certain Age” and Joe Penner in “Mr. Doodle Kicks Off”, along with the latest reel of March Of Time.
Closed On August 24, 1984 With “The Last Starfighter” And “Hard To Hold” As Its Last Films, Since Both Films Played As A Double Feature Before Its Closure. I Can’t Find Anything Else After Those Showings. It Is Now A Marathon (Former BP) Gas Station.
The Wood River Theatre Opened Its Doors On September 29, 1927 With Richard Dix In “Shanghai Bound”, Along With 5 Acts Of Vaudeville And A Performance By Professor Herzuwarm With His Gratian Organ.
The Butte Theatre Opened Its Doors On June 18, 1938 With Deanna Durbin In “Mad About Music” Along With An Unknown Amount Of Short Subjects, With The Building Being An Estimated Cost Of $75,000.
The Riverside Theatre opened its doors on July 27, 1967 with John Wayne in “El Dorado”.
This theater is a rocking chair theater with ultra-vision and 6-channel surround stereophonic sound system, including free parking at front door parking. The Riverside Theatre’s screen is 50x20ft, with a 12ft mammoth curvature which is designed to eliminate distortion and present a perfect picture. It also includes an electronic air conditioner system that can provide 25% more output. This system works with all 4 seasons as the temperature is automatically regulated with a direct relationship to the outdoor temperature. The projection is on a direct line to the screen providing a sharpness in distortion-free viewing. The wall-to-wall screen represents a combination of correlated elements, scientifically designed for the particular auditorium-taking into consideration on both sizes and curvature, property related to the height and width of the auditorium and to the width and length of the screen. The screen also reflects light evenly and efficiently over the entire area, providing a concept in depth of large-screen presentations. A full-range stereophonic sound system was installed as well. The theater contains the auditorium draped in material of rich blues, greens, and golds to completely harmonize with a huge amount of deep-piled green, from the carpet to the upholstered rocking chair seats to the large lobby and covered canopy entrance.
Paul Jones was the original manager, who has been apart of the business since being an usher in Greensboro, North Carolina at the National Theatre since 1925 while he was in high school. He explains on how his theater business was, but it was a very long story. He faced on with many popular silent films such as “Big Parade”, the original 1925 version of “Ben Hur”, and “Hell’s Angels”, including the first sound film for the National Theatre, “The Lights Of New York” as an usher. A short time after graduating high school in 1928, he left for High Point to work as a doorman. He thought that running both of those was tough and was not enough to support his family including his new wife Stella in 1930. Despite at that time being the highest paid job for $55 per week for being either a doorman or an usher was too much, but however, they used to refer themselves as the “privileged few”. Flash-forward more than a decade ago and right when World War II started to faded away in 1945, theatre managers became fallen for short supply. He was called to return to the office in a managerial capacity, but only until war concluded its stunt. By the time the war completely died, he found himself in the peculiar position of being more variable to his company in the front office than a projectionist. There were many men who took up a trade of projectionist while being apart of the military service. So he continued to stay year after year wanting to get back into technical field. He finally returned back to the theatre business in 1950. He operated a few theaters and drive-ins until 1957 when he worked as a sales representative for sometime between a year. For 6 months beginning in October or November 1957, his former home bases such as the Center Theatre in High Point, North Carolina, but he moved to Virginia in Danville later on and worked at Danville’s Rialto Theatre after the original manager, Al Barber, became ill, and started to fill his appointment on April 9, 1958. He was transferred to Charlottesville, Virginia in 1959 to be apart of Danville Enterprises. He thought that it was a big job but the position he told had been previously pleasant by such men as Charlie Abererombie, Charlie Lewis, and John Knight. He felt very happy to become the manager of the Riverside Theatre to fit his journey again. He would also later become the president and manager of the Riverside Merchant Association. Danvillians were starting to die down by 1977 possibly due to most Danvillians taken a huge vacation population. Paul noticed that helping throughout the years and into the nearby future “definitely really helps a whole lot, because there’s a whole lot of money put into their hands, so they come out here and spend their perfect time and money, and they enjoyed it”.
The Dale Theatre is part of the People Theatres of Alabama chain which operated by the one and only Fred T. McLendon (who would later be the president of the popular McLendon Theatres chain a couple of years later). With the theater being opened on October 19, 1937 with Spencer Tracy in “Big City”, the Dale Theatre was built on an old Dowerly property which became secured and was planned by the foremost architect of the territory named Mr. H. L. Holman. Jr. The Dale Theatre was converted from a building originally being built in 1892. The Dale Theatre would later become part of the Brackin Theatres chain right after the Brackin Theatre nearby opened its doors on October 26, 1945.
And yes, Walter T. Brackin is the one who owned the theater. He has been associated with Fred T. McLendon (of the popular McLendon Theatres chain) in Union Springs back in 1934, who had a partnership of an experience many years of a variety operations of theaters.
According To Sapulpa’s Daily Herald, The Criterion Is Remodeled Once Again In March 1955, Possibly Due To CinemaScope Installation, Later Reopening It On The 27th.
It Became The Indiana Theatre On August 18, 1935 With Pat O'Brien’s “In Caliente”, Along With A Disney Cartoon: Mickey Mouse In “The Band Concert”, And A Performance By The De-Marcos.
Remodeled On August 20, 1936, reopening with “High Tension” along with a comedy entitled “Wife Of A Party”, and a Fox Movietone newsreel.
The Franklin Theatre’s actual opening date is November 5, 1936. Opening with Shirley Temple in “Poor Little Rich Girl” and W. C. Fields in “Poppy”, along with an unnamed cartoon and a newsreel.
1,600 Seats In Total.
Opened as a special events/live-venue theater as early as October 1938, and became a movie house in early 1940.
The projection booth is once damaged by a fire on November 30, 1943, caused by a projector with a patched film that was jammed that caught itself on fire just as the machines were starting its last run of Eddie Quillan and Joan Woodbury in “Here Comes Kelly”, along with a “This Is America” travelogue in “Boom Town D.C.”, and a newsreel. The projector caught itself on fire and burned 2½ reels of “Here Comes Kelly” and “Boom Town D.C.”, which is a total of 8,000 feet of film. Luckily enough, only 4 out of the 400 capacity persons were in the house as they left the theater quickly enough. The theater later reopened 6 days later on December 5, 1943 with Fred Astaire in “The Sky’s The Limit” along with a special short entitled “Women At War”.
The fire caused a cancellation to the following runs: Don Barry in “West Side Kid” along with a short entitled “Girl From Monterey”; and a double feature: Charles Colburn in “My Kingdom For A Cook” and Charles Surrett in “Hail To Rangers” (unknown if subjects were included).
Opened With “The Big Cat” Along With An Unnamed Cartoon And A Film Entitled “Red Angels And His Natural Seven”.
Opened On November 2, 1966 With “Fantastic Voyage”. A Second Screen Was Added On November 26, 1969, Reopening As A Twin With “Alice’s Restaurant” At Screen 1 And “Krakatoa East Of Java” At Screen 2.
Opened on October 21, 1966 with “The Idol” and “Boy Did I Get A Wrong Number”.
Opened With Doris Day and Gordon MacRae in “On Moonlight Bay”, along with a Tom and Jerry cartoon, a Pete Smith speciality, and a newsreel.
The original Simplex projector that was used since its 1942 opening only operated for 3 years due to a fire incident inside the projection booth. On April 7, 1945, the Belle Theatre was gutted by a fire caused by a broken belt inside the projector causing a fire inside the projection booth. The fire occurred during a showing of a double feature: Bob Crosby in “The Singing Sheriff” and Joe E. Brown in “Casanova In Burlesque” along with an unnamed serial and an unnamed comedy, which was only shown for one day. Luckily enough, the audience, mostly children, had all escaped safely. The theater reopened the following day in the afternoon with Gerr Garson and Walter Pidgeon in “Mrs. Parkington” (along with a few unnamed short subjects) after a new projector was installed. The estimated loss is between $300 and $400.
The Capri also installed Cinerama later that year in 1961, reopening on November 8 of that year with their test film “This Is Cinerama” as the “Capri Cinerama”.
The theater opened with a double feature: Don Ameche in “You Can’t Have Everything”, and Russell Gleason in “The Higgins Family”.
CinemaScope was later installed. Still in operation since 1960.
The actual opening date is November 5, 1938 with a double feature: Deanna Durbin in “That Certain Age” and Joe Penner in “Mr. Doodle Kicks Off”, along with the latest reel of March Of Time.
It became the Cinema III on August 1, 1973, not around 1959. The Palace Theater name continued to last throughout the 1960’s and early 1970’s.
The Palace Theater was built and opened in 1918 by a husband-and-wife team of Lou and Elizabeth Galster of Petoskey.
On March 5, 1945, the Palace Theater was completely destroyed by a fire. It was later rebuilt and reopened later that year.
The Palace Theater name continued to last until August 1, 1973 when it reopened as the Cinema III with “Hell Upside Down” as its first film.
Closed On August 24, 1984 With “The Last Starfighter” And “Hard To Hold” As Its Last Films, Since Both Films Played As A Double Feature Before Its Closure. I Can’t Find Anything Else After Those Showings. It Is Now A Marathon (Former BP) Gas Station.
Found It, Opened On August 8, 1927 With Karl Dane In “Rockies”, Along With A Newsreel And An Unknown Comedy.
Opened in 1928, Closed on May 25, 1955 due to an expiration of lease, demolished in 1960.
The Wood River Theatre Opened Its Doors On September 29, 1927 With Richard Dix In “Shanghai Bound”, Along With 5 Acts Of Vaudeville And A Performance By Professor Herzuwarm With His Gratian Organ.
The Butte Theatre Opened Its Doors On June 18, 1938 With Deanna Durbin In “Mad About Music” Along With An Unknown Amount Of Short Subjects, With The Building Being An Estimated Cost Of $75,000.
The Riverside Theatre opened its doors on July 27, 1967 with John Wayne in “El Dorado”.
This theater is a rocking chair theater with ultra-vision and 6-channel surround stereophonic sound system, including free parking at front door parking. The Riverside Theatre’s screen is 50x20ft, with a 12ft mammoth curvature which is designed to eliminate distortion and present a perfect picture. It also includes an electronic air conditioner system that can provide 25% more output. This system works with all 4 seasons as the temperature is automatically regulated with a direct relationship to the outdoor temperature. The projection is on a direct line to the screen providing a sharpness in distortion-free viewing. The wall-to-wall screen represents a combination of correlated elements, scientifically designed for the particular auditorium-taking into consideration on both sizes and curvature, property related to the height and width of the auditorium and to the width and length of the screen. The screen also reflects light evenly and efficiently over the entire area, providing a concept in depth of large-screen presentations. A full-range stereophonic sound system was installed as well. The theater contains the auditorium draped in material of rich blues, greens, and golds to completely harmonize with a huge amount of deep-piled green, from the carpet to the upholstered rocking chair seats to the large lobby and covered canopy entrance.
Paul Jones was the original manager, who has been apart of the business since being an usher in Greensboro, North Carolina at the National Theatre since 1925 while he was in high school. He explains on how his theater business was, but it was a very long story. He faced on with many popular silent films such as “Big Parade”, the original 1925 version of “Ben Hur”, and “Hell’s Angels”, including the first sound film for the National Theatre, “The Lights Of New York” as an usher. A short time after graduating high school in 1928, he left for High Point to work as a doorman. He thought that running both of those was tough and was not enough to support his family including his new wife Stella in 1930. Despite at that time being the highest paid job for $55 per week for being either a doorman or an usher was too much, but however, they used to refer themselves as the “privileged few”. Flash-forward more than a decade ago and right when World War II started to faded away in 1945, theatre managers became fallen for short supply. He was called to return to the office in a managerial capacity, but only until war concluded its stunt. By the time the war completely died, he found himself in the peculiar position of being more variable to his company in the front office than a projectionist. There were many men who took up a trade of projectionist while being apart of the military service. So he continued to stay year after year wanting to get back into technical field. He finally returned back to the theatre business in 1950. He operated a few theaters and drive-ins until 1957 when he worked as a sales representative for sometime between a year. For 6 months beginning in October or November 1957, his former home bases such as the Center Theatre in High Point, North Carolina, but he moved to Virginia in Danville later on and worked at Danville’s Rialto Theatre after the original manager, Al Barber, became ill, and started to fill his appointment on April 9, 1958. He was transferred to Charlottesville, Virginia in 1959 to be apart of Danville Enterprises. He thought that it was a big job but the position he told had been previously pleasant by such men as Charlie Abererombie, Charlie Lewis, and John Knight. He felt very happy to become the manager of the Riverside Theatre to fit his journey again. He would also later become the president and manager of the Riverside Merchant Association. Danvillians were starting to die down by 1977 possibly due to most Danvillians taken a huge vacation population. Paul noticed that helping throughout the years and into the nearby future “definitely really helps a whole lot, because there’s a whole lot of money put into their hands, so they come out here and spend their perfect time and money, and they enjoyed it”.
The Dale Theatre is part of the People Theatres of Alabama chain which operated by the one and only Fred T. McLendon (who would later be the president of the popular McLendon Theatres chain a couple of years later). With the theater being opened on October 19, 1937 with Spencer Tracy in “Big City”, the Dale Theatre was built on an old Dowerly property which became secured and was planned by the foremost architect of the territory named Mr. H. L. Holman. Jr. The Dale Theatre was converted from a building originally being built in 1892. The Dale Theatre would later become part of the Brackin Theatres chain right after the Brackin Theatre nearby opened its doors on October 26, 1945.
And yes, Walter T. Brackin is the one who owned the theater. He has been associated with Fred T. McLendon (of the popular McLendon Theatres chain) in Union Springs back in 1934, who had a partnership of an experience many years of a variety operations of theaters.
According To Sapulpa’s Daily Herald, The Criterion Is Remodeled Once Again In March 1955, Possibly Due To CinemaScope Installation, Later Reopening It On The 27th.
It Became The Indiana Theatre On August 18, 1935 With Pat O'Brien’s “In Caliente”, Along With A Disney Cartoon: Mickey Mouse In “The Band Concert”, And A Performance By The De-Marcos.