The original Alamo Theatre dated back to 1912 in Jackson, Mississippi. It added sound to remain commercially viable and served as the primary movie house for African American residents. The Alamo had received an upgrade operating as the New Alamo Theatre under operator Arthur Lehman in the 1920s with Lehman adding sound to remain viable.
During the Depression, Lehman built the new Booker-T Theatre in 1937 opening in 1938. During the War, Dentist and civic leader Dr. A.H. McCoy built the first African American owned theater in Jackson opening in 1944 as the Ritz.
After the War, Lehman felt it was time for a new, New Alamo Theatre and it got a new, streamline moderne venue as drawn in 1948 by Jones & Haas Architects with Jack Corgan listed as the Associate Architect (sketch in photos).
The older New Alamo was renamed on January 21, 1949 as the Amite Theatre. The newer New Alamo Theatre launched on January 26, 1949 (ad in photos) with an open house and The Sammy Green Show on Stage as its entertainment. During the TV era, the Ritz closed in 1954, the Booker-T closed in 1956 followed by the Amite Theatre leaving the Alamo as the lone African American movie house. It thrived in the Blaxploitation era but enthusiasm waned in the late 1970s.
The Ritz closed in 1983 and the pink and blue building was boarded up as a target of post-theatrical incidents. That boarding up proved invaluable because its condition was relatively good and it was targeted for restoration in 1992. State funds of $1.5 million later in the 1990s allowed it to fully refresh to its reopening in 1997 as an events center. It continues as a vibrant entertainment hub in the 2020s.
Ed L. Kuykendall opened the original Princess Theatre in downtown Columbus on October 24, 1911 with silent films and live music. In 1923, Kuykendall decided that a new $100,000 brick theatre was needed and Charles G. Davis of New Orleans was the architect. The Princess Theatre had a soft launch in December of 1923 with its formal opening on February 25, 1924. Mississippi Governor Henry Lewis Whitfield gave the opening speech.
Business was so brisk that in late 1924, the venue was renamed as the New Princess Theatre and the former venue was listed as the Princess Theatre (old) and reopened on November 21, 1924 carrying second run westerns on Friday and Saturday operation. The New Princess added sound to remain viable back to its Princess nameplate. The Princess also converted to widescreen projection. Today, it operates as a live venue with reparatory films in the 2020s retaining its 1920s' moniker of the New Princess Theatre.
The Alamo Theatre opened in 1912. It transitioned to sound to remain viable. It received a streamline moderne makeover becoming the New Alamo. A newer post-War New Alamo Theatre was built in 1948 opening in January of 1949. On January 21, 1949, the older New Alamo was renamed as the Amite Theatre. It last just short of ten years. It transitioned to a controversial bar called The Dump. It then transitioned to Bill’s Disco until being destroyed by fire December 16, 1983. The remnants were demolished in 1984.
The War Production Board authorized the plan of civic leader and dentist Dr. A.H. McCoy to build the Ritz Theatre in the existing Bob’s Pastry Bakery in 1943. The Ritz’s architect was E.G. Malvaney.
Upon opening on March 20, 1944 with “Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man.” It was reported that it was one of just six theatres operated and managed by an African American and, like the others, it was operated for African American patrons. The existing Booker T. and the New Alamo on Amite - replaced by the Alamo Theatre opening in 1949 - were the other Jackson theaters with the same policy.
At its ten-year anniversary in March of 1954, The Ritz was equipped with widescreen to present CinemaScope titles. And that didn’t last too long as the theatre was soon closed and offered for sale. It looks like it became a supermarket and was later demolished.
Paramount-Richards ran this venue for the Gulf Shipbuilding Company which supported the cost of building this movie house. Architects were Knight, Barrow, and Lentz
Architect Samuel G. Wiener created the post-War Broadmoor suburban shopping concept with its streamline moderne theaters and matching six streamline retail stores. It opened with Deanna Durbin in “I’ll Be Yours” on May 28th, 1947. The venue switched to widescreen to present CinemaScope titles in 1954.
Gulf States “temporarily” closed the venue following the November 30, 1975 of “Johnny Firecloud.” When asked in 1976 the date of reopening, the circuit said cryptically, “Nevermoor.” After a short period of time as a church and longer as vacant, the venue was demolished in 2001.
Lumberton’s Apex Theatre #2 was a new-build, $40,000 facility to replace the original location. The post-War structure was austere and designed by Hearon and McCleskey Architects. It opened January 23, 1951 by L.J. Brun. 350 seats were on the main floor with a 120-seat balcony for African American patrons. A cry room was furnished. It was in the M.A. Pigford Building - a familiar name as one of the town’s first commercial buildings was the W.W. Pigford Building.
The theatre had two major refreshes: the first brought a new screen in December of 1963 which is assumed to be a widescreen transition for presenting CinemaScope titles. It closed briefly twice - the second time for a major refresh that it re-emerged with on October 16, 1982 with its new look that it carried to closure.
The Madison Theatre launched for Irvin Stein on September 19, 1941 with Mayor M.L. Hoffman delivering the dedication. Sid Fuhrmann took over the theatre not long thereafter.
274 names had poured in in 1913 and Charles Sidney August Fuhrmann and his three person committee were ready to have an opening night to announce the winning name when the theatre chairs were delayed. However, the Illinois Central Railroad came through with those seats allowing for a slightly delayed May 3, 1913 and Mrs. Edmund B. Stern got a free ticket for submitting the winning name of “Parkview.” Fuhrman’s opening speech was published in the newspaper and states, “We also wish to assure the public that smoking in the audiences and spitting on the floors will positively be prohibited - that is, to the best of our ability.”
The Parkview was closed May 5, 1925 with the employees offered new positions at the Majestic Theatre that opened the next day. The building was sold for $2,750 one month later. In 1928, that same building was the subject of a forced sheriff’s sale
Landry & Jacobs launched here April 8, 1917. It likely complete three 20-year leasing terms closing permanently on September 4, 1967 with “Divorce American Style.” It wasted as an art gallery into 1968 and then boarded up.
The Oxford Theatre opened on September 28, 1912 by James and Noble at 2036 Onatario Street. It was short-lived as a twin screen, single auditorium concept running on a continuous show, grind policy. You could get an hour and a half of original programming just by moving a section to your right (or left). America’s first - if not only double-grindhouse theater. James and Noble failed quickly.
The space was offered for lease in January of 1913. The Public Clothes retail store moved into the former theater spot completing a 10-year leasing agreement. However, their final ads said that they were being forced out by the Union Terminal project. The building was indeed demolished in 1925 taking the double-grindhouse’s former location with it.
The Ace Theatre dated back to the silent era of film exhibition as the Othello turned Charleston. The 323 South Rampart location housed a post-Civil War era Livery and Blacksmith in the Central Business District. Shortly after the War, those services weren’t a big need and Frank Rousca - an auctioneer of horses and mules - was trying to figure out how to deal with the livery at Rampart. Liveries were commonly transitioned to theatres and that appears to have happened at 323 Rampart.
In 1920 and 1921, Rousca rebuilt the structure as a theatre likely using the frame of the livery and opened the Othello Theatre on October 23, 1921. This didn’t work out as the first lien was reported within a month. The next item was Mrs. Frank Rousca suing Mr. Rousca followed by an auction of his theatre and his, then current, livery elsewhere in NOLA. So new operators took on the venue (reportedly $6,500 for everything). Under its new operators, it would be one of the original theaters of E.L. Cummings new circuit for African American vaudeville formed in 1922, the fledgling Managers and Owners Co-Operative or M&P Circuit. (In 1921, Cummings’ Southern Consolidated Theater Circuit had fused together with the Theatre Owner Booking Association - TOBA - but Cummings decided competition was a good thing.)
The M&P Othello became the TOBA-booked venue when the two companies came together. The Othello got new operators and was changed to the Charleston Theatre on Valentine’s Day 1926. It reopened with Buffalo Bill Jr. in “On the Go” supported by the Jack White comedy short, “Wide Awake.” The building was sold five months later and would be renamed as the Savoy Theatre & Ballroom. The South Rampart Street African American business and entertainment district in downtown New Orleans was vibrant and adjacent to the city’s historic Tremé neighborhood.
New sublessees Iberville Amusement Circuit created a more traditional sound era for At a modest price point, it became a streamline moderne movie house complete with new neon signage now called the Ace Theatre - “where the ocean breeze blows (likely air conditioned).” The Bijou Entertainment Circuit took on the venue operated though showtimes of April 5, 1939 when fire gutted the building.
The repair bill was $8,000 and included a new interior by architects Weiss, Dreyfus and Seiferth at its relaunch on July 4, 1939 with Bing Crosby in “Sing, you Sinners.” Othello Corporation acquired the building and created on last 15-year subleasing agreement for the theater’s operation. The Ace was discarded on September 1, 1956 with Kent Taylor in ”Secret Venture” and Bill Hickok as the “Two Gun Teacher.” The lease expired in 1957 and Othello Theatre Corporation sold off the property to Parking Services for $40,0000 cash. They demolished the livery turned theatre for a parking lot.
The $125,000 Strand Theatre wapparance as announced in March of 1925 by John E. Panora and was built in the rear of the deposed Winsted Opera House. It reportedly opened August 11,1926. It received sound to remain viable and widescreen to present CinemaScope titles. Danny Kaye made a live appearance in support of “The Man from the Diners Club” in 1963.
It initially cosed under independent ownership as the Strand Cinema on April 30, 1967. It reopened again onJanuary 3, 1968 as the Strand Cinema closing late in 1973.
It reopened under new operators and closed in 1972. It opened a year later on Christmas Day 1973 by Cannavo Enterprises as the Strand Theatre. It operated as the Gilson Cafe & Cinema from 1986 to 2026. It closed on May 24, 2026. As the Winsted Opera House had opened on the lot next door on April 2, 1873, the general Main Street address provided more than 150 years of entertainment. Not bad!
Otho Long opened the Parkway Drive-in on August 1, 1950 with Abbott and Costello in “Lost in Alaska.” It was still cruising toward its 40th Anniversary in 1989.
This and its neighboring building were commercial structures built in 1909 . Braswell & Keaton created the Victoria Theatre here operating as a silent house in 1919. They sold out in 1925 by F.C. “Buck” Buchanan until October of 1928. A New Victoria was under construction which was changed to the Joy Theatre at its launch. This, the former Victoria location, became Buck’s Theatre beginning on October 16, 1928 with “Virgin Lips” with Olive Borden.
Buck’s stopped running films in 1930 when he closed the venue and Fox Film Corp. sued Buchanan for $2,500 for breach of contract. (Fox lost that lawsuit.) The former theatre became a church. But Harry O'Neal took on the venue on a 20-year leasing agreement. He wired the theater with RCA Photophone sound becoming the New Winn Theatre on June 15, 1933 with “So This is Africa.” In 1936, “New” was dropped with the venue simply the Winn Theater. Southern Theatres Circuit took over his lease in 1941. The Winn closed at the end of that lease with Lon McAllen in “Big Cat” supported by the Universal musical short, “Don Carnell Sings (three songs)” on April 30, 1953.
Purportedly, the venue reopened in early 1954 possibly - if not likely - as an African American theater (that would be its only possible run as an African American house) and was shut down by the fire Marshall leading to a lawsuit with building owner Hasson Morris. On November 2, 1955, the venue was brought up to code and relaunched by W. Otho Long as the Princess Theatre. On the widescreen that day, you could see “The Last Command.” The Princess closed with “The Last of the Vikings” deciding to begin and end programming with films with “last” in their titles. That occurred on July 19, 1963. The building stayed in its theater form until the 1970s when it was converted for other retail purposes.
The Venus leaves the constellation of Winnfield “temporarily” on September 29, 1970 with “Kelly’s Heroes.” It is sited as The County Store - a thrift store - in 1973 leaving customers and astronomers, alike, baffled. The Court Street venue was later demolished.
Henry Greenwall was the last of the great theatrical owner-managers in the City of New Orleans. The long-time manager of the Grand Opera House on Canal Street had the Stone Brothers Architects draw up a house that he could be proud to put his name on in 1903. It would open on October 20, 1904 with the play, “The Wife.” Greenwall made it through 1908 with live fare and sublet the place in 1909.
On a subleasing agreement, it was downgraded (somewhat) to a vaudeville house known as the American Music Hall in February of 1909. But it was good vaudeville programmed by none other than the William A. Morris Company as they broke into the NOLA market. Lew Rose also did some of the bookings. For some live events - sports - it was referred to as the Greenwall Theatre. The vaudeville ended after two years February 16, 1911.
With Morris and vaudeville off of its sublease, Greenwall rechristened the venue as the Greenwall Theatre in 1911. But it would slip a peg or two doing a combination of vaudeville and movies. with Arthur Leopold programming. Prices were cheap at a dime and top end pricing at 15 cents down from the quarter and half dollar pricing just days earlier. It was the only “popular price” vaudeville house in the city as motion pictures were the far more profitable play. Greenwall would die in his apartment over the Greenwall Theatre on November 27, 1913. The Greenwall name would play on until the vaudeville ended in January of 1916.
In 1916, Ernest Boehringer, noted NOLA film exhibitor, took the venue on on a one-year leasing agreement as the Triangle Theatre (sometimes the Greenwall Triangle Theatre perhaps due to existing signage) on January 14, 1916. The Triangle played feature films from the Triangle film studio. Boehringber began the Triangle with Normal Talmage in “The Missing Links” supported by “The Submarine Pirates” and “Because He Loved Her.” On June 2, 1917, he purchased the Greenwall Theatre for $100,000 and deemed it “the most extraordinary photoplay theatre in the entire South.” Wow! But on July 15, 1917, Boeringer Amusement would move to larger and newer digs with the new-build Liberty Theatre. In turn, he would sell here to the Eastern Vaudeville Circuit which would reprogram and rename here.
As the Palace Theatre, the vaudeville returned on September 2, 1917 - again with popular price vaudeville. That lasted until 1920 when the Palace returned almost primarily with motion pictures. The theatre was not poised to become a major sound theatre and tried mixing in more live programming by decade’s end before being sold for $311k. The movies were back in the 1930s as the Palace operated as a third-run grindhouse and welcoming of African American audiences. It was converted to widescreen. The Palace made it to its 1962 Twist dance contests and an April 10, 1962 showing of “The Premature Burial” with “The Long Rope.”
A theatre salvage sale took place in April of 1962 hours after the last showing as the venue would be demolished in favor of the Central Parking Garage Lot and that started on April 17, 1962. A block away, the Dauphine Theatre also staged a surplus sale and would also be demolished for a multi-floor parking structure - a plan that was put on hold until 1970.
The original Alamo Theatre dated back to 1912 in Jackson, Mississippi. It added sound to remain commercially viable and served as the primary movie house for African American residents. The Alamo had received an upgrade operating as the New Alamo Theatre under operator Arthur Lehman in the 1920s with Lehman adding sound to remain viable.
During the Depression, Lehman built the new Booker-T Theatre in 1937 opening in 1938. During the War, Dentist and civic leader Dr. A.H. McCoy built the first African American owned theater in Jackson opening in 1944 as the Ritz.
After the War, Lehman felt it was time for a new, New Alamo Theatre and it got a new, streamline moderne venue as drawn in 1948 by Jones & Haas Architects with Jack Corgan listed as the Associate Architect (sketch in photos).
The older New Alamo was renamed on January 21, 1949 as the Amite Theatre. The newer New Alamo Theatre launched on January 26, 1949 (ad in photos) with an open house and The Sammy Green Show on Stage as its entertainment. During the TV era, the Ritz closed in 1954, the Booker-T closed in 1956 followed by the Amite Theatre leaving the Alamo as the lone African American movie house. It thrived in the Blaxploitation era but enthusiasm waned in the late 1970s.
The Ritz closed in 1983 and the pink and blue building was boarded up as a target of post-theatrical incidents. That boarding up proved invaluable because its condition was relatively good and it was targeted for restoration in 1992. State funds of $1.5 million later in the 1990s allowed it to fully refresh to its reopening in 1997 as an events center. It continues as a vibrant entertainment hub in the 2020s.
Ed L. Kuykendall opened the original Princess Theatre in downtown Columbus on October 24, 1911 with silent films and live music. In 1923, Kuykendall decided that a new $100,000 brick theatre was needed and Charles G. Davis of New Orleans was the architect. The Princess Theatre had a soft launch in December of 1923 with its formal opening on February 25, 1924. Mississippi Governor Henry Lewis Whitfield gave the opening speech.
Business was so brisk that in late 1924, the venue was renamed as the New Princess Theatre and the former venue was listed as the Princess Theatre (old) and reopened on November 21, 1924 carrying second run westerns on Friday and Saturday operation. The New Princess added sound to remain viable back to its Princess nameplate. The Princess also converted to widescreen projection. Today, it operates as a live venue with reparatory films in the 2020s retaining its 1920s' moniker of the New Princess Theatre.
The Alamo Theatre opened in 1912. It transitioned to sound to remain viable. It received a streamline moderne makeover becoming the New Alamo. A newer post-War New Alamo Theatre was built in 1948 opening in January of 1949. On January 21, 1949, the older New Alamo was renamed as the Amite Theatre. It last just short of ten years. It transitioned to a controversial bar called The Dump. It then transitioned to Bill’s Disco until being destroyed by fire December 16, 1983. The remnants were demolished in 1984.
The War Production Board authorized the plan of civic leader and dentist Dr. A.H. McCoy to build the Ritz Theatre in the existing Bob’s Pastry Bakery in 1943. The Ritz’s architect was E.G. Malvaney.
Upon opening on March 20, 1944 with “Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man.” It was reported that it was one of just six theatres operated and managed by an African American and, like the others, it was operated for African American patrons. The existing Booker T. and the New Alamo on Amite - replaced by the Alamo Theatre opening in 1949 - were the other Jackson theaters with the same policy.
At its ten-year anniversary in March of 1954, The Ritz was equipped with widescreen to present CinemaScope titles. And that didn’t last too long as the theatre was soon closed and offered for sale. It looks like it became a supermarket and was later demolished.
Paramount-Richards ran this venue for the Gulf Shipbuilding Company which supported the cost of building this movie house. Architects were Knight, Barrow, and Lentz
Architects (1938 remodel as Pix) Knight, Barrow & Lentz.
Architect Samuel G. Wiener created the post-War Broadmoor suburban shopping concept with its streamline moderne theaters and matching six streamline retail stores. It opened with Deanna Durbin in “I’ll Be Yours” on May 28th, 1947. The venue switched to widescreen to present CinemaScope titles in 1954.
Gulf States “temporarily” closed the venue following the November 30, 1975 of “Johnny Firecloud.” When asked in 1976 the date of reopening, the circuit said cryptically, “Nevermoor.” After a short period of time as a church and longer as vacant, the venue was demolished in 2001.
Architectural firm: Diboll-Kessels & Associates
Architect: Max J. Heinberg
Lumberton’s Apex Theatre #2 was a new-build, $40,000 facility to replace the original location. The post-War structure was austere and designed by Hearon and McCleskey Architects. It opened January 23, 1951 by L.J. Brun. 350 seats were on the main floor with a 120-seat balcony for African American patrons. A cry room was furnished. It was in the M.A. Pigford Building - a familiar name as one of the town’s first commercial buildings was the W.W. Pigford Building.
The theatre had two major refreshes: the first brought a new screen in December of 1963 which is assumed to be a widescreen transition for presenting CinemaScope titles. It closed briefly twice - the second time for a major refresh that it re-emerged with on October 16, 1982 with its new look that it carried to closure.
Designed by Bodman, Murrell and Webb Architects of Baton Rouge
George J. Riehl exterior architectural sketch
Architect: George J. Riehl.
Eugene J. Gilbert architectural sketch in photos.
The Madison Theatre launched for Irvin Stein on September 19, 1941 with Mayor M.L. Hoffman delivering the dedication. Sid Fuhrmann took over the theatre not long thereafter.
274 names had poured in in 1913 and Charles Sidney August Fuhrmann and his three person committee were ready to have an opening night to announce the winning name when the theatre chairs were delayed. However, the Illinois Central Railroad came through with those seats allowing for a slightly delayed May 3, 1913 and Mrs. Edmund B. Stern got a free ticket for submitting the winning name of “Parkview.” Fuhrman’s opening speech was published in the newspaper and states, “We also wish to assure the public that smoking in the audiences and spitting on the floors will positively be prohibited - that is, to the best of our ability.”
The Parkview was closed May 5, 1925 with the employees offered new positions at the Majestic Theatre that opened the next day. The building was sold for $2,750 one month later. In 1928, that same building was the subject of a forced sheriff’s sale
Able Demolition demolished the venue in 1959.
Landry & Jacobs launched here April 8, 1917. It likely complete three 20-year leasing terms closing permanently on September 4, 1967 with “Divorce American Style.” It wasted as an art gallery into 1968 and then boarded up.
The Oxford Theatre opened on September 28, 1912 by James and Noble at 2036 Onatario Street. It was short-lived as a twin screen, single auditorium concept running on a continuous show, grind policy. You could get an hour and a half of original programming just by moving a section to your right (or left). America’s first - if not only double-grindhouse theater. James and Noble failed quickly.
The space was offered for lease in January of 1913. The Public Clothes retail store moved into the former theater spot completing a 10-year leasing agreement. However, their final ads said that they were being forced out by the Union Terminal project. The building was indeed demolished in 1925 taking the double-grindhouse’s former location with it.
The Ace Theatre dated back to the silent era of film exhibition as the Othello turned Charleston. The 323 South Rampart location housed a post-Civil War era Livery and Blacksmith in the Central Business District. Shortly after the War, those services weren’t a big need and Frank Rousca - an auctioneer of horses and mules - was trying to figure out how to deal with the livery at Rampart. Liveries were commonly transitioned to theatres and that appears to have happened at 323 Rampart.
In 1920 and 1921, Rousca rebuilt the structure as a theatre likely using the frame of the livery and opened the Othello Theatre on October 23, 1921. This didn’t work out as the first lien was reported within a month. The next item was Mrs. Frank Rousca suing Mr. Rousca followed by an auction of his theatre and his, then current, livery elsewhere in NOLA. So new operators took on the venue (reportedly $6,500 for everything). Under its new operators, it would be one of the original theaters of E.L. Cummings new circuit for African American vaudeville formed in 1922, the fledgling Managers and Owners Co-Operative or M&P Circuit. (In 1921, Cummings’ Southern Consolidated Theater Circuit had fused together with the Theatre Owner Booking Association - TOBA - but Cummings decided competition was a good thing.)
The M&P Othello became the TOBA-booked venue when the two companies came together. The Othello got new operators and was changed to the Charleston Theatre on Valentine’s Day 1926. It reopened with Buffalo Bill Jr. in “On the Go” supported by the Jack White comedy short, “Wide Awake.” The building was sold five months later and would be renamed as the Savoy Theatre & Ballroom. The South Rampart Street African American business and entertainment district in downtown New Orleans was vibrant and adjacent to the city’s historic Tremé neighborhood.
New sublessees Iberville Amusement Circuit created a more traditional sound era for At a modest price point, it became a streamline moderne movie house complete with new neon signage now called the Ace Theatre - “where the ocean breeze blows (likely air conditioned).” The Bijou Entertainment Circuit took on the venue operated though showtimes of April 5, 1939 when fire gutted the building.
The repair bill was $8,000 and included a new interior by architects Weiss, Dreyfus and Seiferth at its relaunch on July 4, 1939 with Bing Crosby in “Sing, you Sinners.” Othello Corporation acquired the building and created on last 15-year subleasing agreement for the theater’s operation. The Ace was discarded on September 1, 1956 with Kent Taylor in ”Secret Venture” and Bill Hickok as the “Two Gun Teacher.” The lease expired in 1957 and Othello Theatre Corporation sold off the property to Parking Services for $40,0000 cash. They demolished the livery turned theatre for a parking lot.
The $125,000 Strand Theatre wapparance as announced in March of 1925 by John E. Panora and was built in the rear of the deposed Winsted Opera House. It reportedly opened August 11,1926. It received sound to remain viable and widescreen to present CinemaScope titles. Danny Kaye made a live appearance in support of “The Man from the Diners Club” in 1963.
It initially cosed under independent ownership as the Strand Cinema on April 30, 1967. It reopened again onJanuary 3, 1968 as the Strand Cinema closing late in 1973.
It reopened under new operators and closed in 1972. It opened a year later on Christmas Day 1973 by Cannavo Enterprises as the Strand Theatre. It operated as the Gilson Cafe & Cinema from 1986 to 2026. It closed on May 24, 2026. As the Winsted Opera House had opened on the lot next door on April 2, 1873, the general Main Street address provided more than 150 years of entertainment. Not bad!
Otho Long opened the Parkway Drive-in on August 1, 1950 with Abbott and Costello in “Lost in Alaska.” It was still cruising toward its 40th Anniversary in 1989.
This and its neighboring building were commercial structures built in 1909 . Braswell & Keaton created the Victoria Theatre here operating as a silent house in 1919. They sold out in 1925 by F.C. “Buck” Buchanan until October of 1928. A New Victoria was under construction which was changed to the Joy Theatre at its launch. This, the former Victoria location, became Buck’s Theatre beginning on October 16, 1928 with “Virgin Lips” with Olive Borden.
Buck’s stopped running films in 1930 when he closed the venue and Fox Film Corp. sued Buchanan for $2,500 for breach of contract. (Fox lost that lawsuit.) The former theatre became a church. But Harry O'Neal took on the venue on a 20-year leasing agreement. He wired the theater with RCA Photophone sound becoming the New Winn Theatre on June 15, 1933 with “So This is Africa.” In 1936, “New” was dropped with the venue simply the Winn Theater. Southern Theatres Circuit took over his lease in 1941. The Winn closed at the end of that lease with Lon McAllen in “Big Cat” supported by the Universal musical short, “Don Carnell Sings (three songs)” on April 30, 1953.
Purportedly, the venue reopened in early 1954 possibly - if not likely - as an African American theater (that would be its only possible run as an African American house) and was shut down by the fire Marshall leading to a lawsuit with building owner Hasson Morris. On November 2, 1955, the venue was brought up to code and relaunched by W. Otho Long as the Princess Theatre. On the widescreen that day, you could see “The Last Command.” The Princess closed with “The Last of the Vikings” deciding to begin and end programming with films with “last” in their titles. That occurred on July 19, 1963. The building stayed in its theater form until the 1970s when it was converted for other retail purposes.
The Venus leaves the constellation of Winnfield “temporarily” on September 29, 1970 with “Kelly’s Heroes.” It is sited as The County Store - a thrift store - in 1973 leaving customers and astronomers, alike, baffled. The Court Street venue was later demolished.
Henry Greenwall was the last of the great theatrical owner-managers in the City of New Orleans. The long-time manager of the Grand Opera House on Canal Street had the Stone Brothers Architects draw up a house that he could be proud to put his name on in 1903. It would open on October 20, 1904 with the play, “The Wife.” Greenwall made it through 1908 with live fare and sublet the place in 1909.
On a subleasing agreement, it was downgraded (somewhat) to a vaudeville house known as the American Music Hall in February of 1909. But it was good vaudeville programmed by none other than the William A. Morris Company as they broke into the NOLA market. Lew Rose also did some of the bookings. For some live events - sports - it was referred to as the Greenwall Theatre. The vaudeville ended after two years February 16, 1911.
With Morris and vaudeville off of its sublease, Greenwall rechristened the venue as the Greenwall Theatre in 1911. But it would slip a peg or two doing a combination of vaudeville and movies. with Arthur Leopold programming. Prices were cheap at a dime and top end pricing at 15 cents down from the quarter and half dollar pricing just days earlier. It was the only “popular price” vaudeville house in the city as motion pictures were the far more profitable play. Greenwall would die in his apartment over the Greenwall Theatre on November 27, 1913. The Greenwall name would play on until the vaudeville ended in January of 1916.
In 1916, Ernest Boehringer, noted NOLA film exhibitor, took the venue on on a one-year leasing agreement as the Triangle Theatre (sometimes the Greenwall Triangle Theatre perhaps due to existing signage) on January 14, 1916. The Triangle played feature films from the Triangle film studio. Boehringber began the Triangle with Normal Talmage in “The Missing Links” supported by “The Submarine Pirates” and “Because He Loved Her.” On June 2, 1917, he purchased the Greenwall Theatre for $100,000 and deemed it “the most extraordinary photoplay theatre in the entire South.” Wow! But on July 15, 1917, Boeringer Amusement would move to larger and newer digs with the new-build Liberty Theatre. In turn, he would sell here to the Eastern Vaudeville Circuit which would reprogram and rename here.
As the Palace Theatre, the vaudeville returned on September 2, 1917 - again with popular price vaudeville. That lasted until 1920 when the Palace returned almost primarily with motion pictures. The theatre was not poised to become a major sound theatre and tried mixing in more live programming by decade’s end before being sold for $311k. The movies were back in the 1930s as the Palace operated as a third-run grindhouse and welcoming of African American audiences. It was converted to widescreen. The Palace made it to its 1962 Twist dance contests and an April 10, 1962 showing of “The Premature Burial” with “The Long Rope.”
A theatre salvage sale took place in April of 1962 hours after the last showing as the venue would be demolished in favor of the Central Parking Garage Lot and that started on April 17, 1962. A block away, the Dauphine Theatre also staged a surplus sale and would also be demolished for a multi-floor parking structure - a plan that was put on hold until 1970.