Movie palace

A movie palace (or picture palace in the United Kingdom) is a large, elaborately decorated movie theater built from the 1910s to the 1940s. The late 1920s saw the peak of the movie palace, with hundreds opening every year between 1925 and 1930. With the advent of television, movie attendance dropped, while the rising popularity of large multiplex chains in the 1980s and 1990s signaled the obsolescence of single-screen theaters. Many movie palaces were razed or converted into multiple-screen venues or performing arts centers, though some have undergone restoration and reopened to the public as historic buildings.

There are three architectural design types of movie palaces: the classical-style movie palace, with opulent, luxurious architecture; the atmospheric theatre, which has an auditorium ceiling that resembles an open sky as a defining feature; and the Art Deco theaters that became popular in the 1930s.

Background

Paid exhibition of motion pictures began on April 14, 1894, at Andrew M. Holland's phonograph store, located at 1155 Broadway in New York City, with the Kinetoscope. Dropping a nickel in a machine allowed a viewer to see a short motion picture, devoid of plot. The machines were installed in Kinetoscope parlors, hotels, department stores, bars and drugstores in large American cities. The machines were popular from 1894 to 1896, but by the turn of the century had almost disappeared as Americans rejected the solitary viewing experience and boring entertainment.

Around 1900, motion pictures became a small part of vaudeville theatres. The competitive vaudeville theatre market caused owners to constantly look for new entertainment, and the motion picture helped create demand, although the new form of entertainment was not the main draw for patrons. It was often used as a "chaser"—shown as the end of the performance to chase the audience from the theatre. These theatres were designed much like legitimate theatres. The Beaux-Arts architecture of these theatres was formal and ornate. They were not designed for motion pictures, but rather live stage performances.

In 1902, the storefront theatre was born at Thomas Lincoln Tally's Electric Theatre in Los Angeles. These soon spread throughout the country as empty storefronts were equipped with chairs, a Vitascope projector, a muslin sheet on which the motion picture was exhibited, darkened windows, and a box by the door to service as a ticket office (literally, the "box office".) Storefront theatres, supplied with motion pictures made in Chicago and New York, spread throughout America. These theatres exhibited a motion picture at a specific time during the day.

Air domes also became popular in warm climates and in the summertime in northern climates. With no roof and only side walls or fences, the air domes allowed patrons to view motion pictures in a venue that was cooler than the stifling atmosphere of the storefront theatre.

In 1905, the nickelodeon was born. Rather than exhibiting one program a night, the nickelodeon offered continuous motion picture entertainment for five cents. They were widely popular. By 1910, nickelodeons grossed $91 million in the United States. The nickelodeons were like simple storefront theatres, but differed in the continuous showings and the marketing to women and families.

The movie house, in a building designed specifically for motion picture exhibition, was the last step before the movie palace. Comfort was paramount, with upholstered seating and climate controls. One of the first movie houses was Tally's Broadway Theater in Los Angeles.

History

The movie palace was developed as the step beyond the small theaters of the 1900s and 1910s. As motion pictures developed as an art form, theatre infrastructure needed to change. Storefront theatres and nickelodeons catered to the busy work lives and limited budgets of the lower and middle classes. Motion pictures were generally only thought to be for the lower classes at that time as they were simple, short, and cost only five cents to attend. While the middle class regularly began to attend the nickelodeons by the early 1910s the upperclass continued to attend stage theater performances such as opera and big-time vaudeville. However, as more sophisticated, complex, and longer films featuring prominent stage actors were developed, the upperclass desires to attend the movies began to increase and a demand for higher class theaters began to develop. Nickelodeons could not meet this demand as the upperclass feared the moral repercussions of intermingling between women and children with immigrants. There were also real concerns over the physical safety of the nickelodeon theaters themselves as they were often cramped with little ventilation and the nitrate film stock used at the time was extremely flammable.

The demand for an upscale film theater, suitable to exhibit films to the upperclass, was first met when the Regent Theater, designed by Thomas Lamb, was opened in February 1913, becoming the first ever movie palace. However the theater's location in Harlem prompted many to suggest that the theater be moved to Broadway alongside the stage theaters. These desires were satisfied when Lamb built the Strand Theatre on Broadway, which was opened in 1914 by Mitchel H. Mark at the cost of one million dollars. This opening was the first example of a success in drawing the upper middle class to the movies and it spurred others to follow suit. As their name implies movie palaces were advertised to, "make the average citizen feel like royalty." To accomplish this these theaters were outfitted with a plethora amenities such as larger sitting areas, air conditioning, and even childcare services.

Between 1914 and 1922 over 4,000 movie palaces were opened. Notable pioneers of movies palaces include the Chicago firm of Rapp and Rapp, which designed the Chicago, Uptown, and Oriental Theatres. S.L. "Roxy" Rothafel, originated the deluxe presentation of films with themed stage shows. Sid Grauman, built the first movie palace on the West Coast, Los Angeles' Million Dollar Theater, in 1918.

Decline

Following World War II movie ticket sales began to rapidly decline due to the widespread adoption of television and mass migration of the population from the cities, where all the movie palaces had been built, into the suburbs. The closing of most movie palaces occurred after United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc. in 1948, which ordered all of the major film studios to sell their theaters. Most of the newly independent theaters could not continue to operate on the low admissions sales of the time without the financial support of the major studios and were forced to close. Many were able to stay in business by converting to operate as race or pornography theaters.

The death knell for single-screen movie theaters (including movie palaces) arrived with the development of the multiplex in the 1980s and the megaplex in the 1990s. Some movie palaces were able to stay in business only by getting out of the way, at least with respect to the highest-grossing first-run films for which they were no longer viable exhibition venues. They became second-run theaters or specialized in showing art house films.

By 2004, only about a quarter of U.S. movie theaters still had only one screen, and the average number of screens per theater was 6.1.

Design

Eberson specialized in the subgenre of "atmospheric" theatres. His first, of the 500 in his career, was the 1923 Majestic in Houston, Texas. The atmospherics usually conveyed the impression of sitting in an outdoor courtyard, surrounded by highly ornamented asymmetrical facades and exotic flora and fauna, underneath a dark blue canopy; when the lights went out, a specially designed projector, the Brenograph, was used to project clouds, and special celestial effects on the ceiling.

Lamb's style was initially based on the more traditional, "hardtop" form patterned on opera houses, but was no less ornate. His theaters evolved from relatively restrained neo-classic designs in the 1910s to those with elaborate baroque and Asian motifs in the late 1920s.

The movie palace's signature look was one of extravagant ornamentation. The theaters were often designed with an eclectic exoticism where a variety of referenced visual styles collided wildly with one another. French Baroque, High Gothic, Moroccan, Mediterranean, Spanish Gothic, Hindu, Babylonian, Aztec, Mayan, Orientalist, Italian Renaissance, and (after the discovery of King Tut's tomb in 1922) Egyptian Revival were all variously mixed and matched. This wealth of ornament was not merely for aesthetic effect. It was meant to create a fantasy environment to attract moviegoers and involved a type of social engineering, distraction, and traffic management, meant to work on human bodies and minds in a specific way. Today, most of the surviving movie palaces operate as regular theaters, showcasing concerts, plays and operas.

List of movie palaces

This is a list of selected movie palaces, with location and year of construction.

• Akron Civic Theatre (formerly Loew's (Akron) Theatre), Akron, Ohio, 1929
• Alabama Theatre, Birmingham, Alabama, 1927
• Alameda Theatre, Alameda, California, 1932
• Albee Theater, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1927
• Alex Theatre, Glendale, California, 1925
• Arcada Theater, St. Charles, Illinois, 1926
• Arlington Theater, Santa Barbara, California, 1931
• Arvest Midland Theatre Kansas City, Missouri, 1927
• Avalon Regal Theater, Chicago, Illinois, 1927
• Aztec Theatre, San Antonio, Texas, 1926
• Bama Theatre, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 1938
• Biograph Theater, Chicago, 1914
• Boyd Theatre, Philadelphia, 1928
• Brauntex Theatre, New Braunfels, Texas 1942
• Broadway Theatre, Mount Pleasant, Michigan, 1920
• Byrd Theatre, Richmond, Virginia, 1928
• California Theatre, San Jose, California, 1927
• The Capitol, Melbourne, Australia, 1924
• Capitol Cinema, Ottawa, Ontario, 1920
• Capitol Theatre, Rome, New York, 1928
• Capitol Theatre Port Chester, New York, 1926
• Capitol Theatre, Vancouver, British Columbia, 1921
• Carlton Cinema, London, UK, 1930
• Carolina Theatre, Durham, North Carolina, 1926
• Carpenter Theater, Richmond, Virginia, 1928
• Castro Theatre, San Francisco, California, 1922
• Carthay Circle Theatre, Los Angeles, California, 1926, demolished 1969
• Commodore Picture House, Liverpool, UK, 1930
• Chicago Theatre, Chicago, Illinois, 1921
• Circle Theatre, Indianapolis, Indiana, 1916
• Congress Theater, Chicago, Illinois, 1926
• Coolidge Corner Theatre, Brookline, Massachusetts, 1933
• Coronado Theatre, Rockford, Illinois, 1927
• Crest Theatre, Sacramento, California, 1912
• Del Mar Theatre, Santa Cruz, California
• Dominion Cinema, Edinburgh, UK, 1938
• Duke of York's Picture House, Brighton, UK, 1910
• Egyptian Theatre, Boise, Idaho, 1927
• Egyptian Theatre, DeKalb, Illinois, 1929
• El Capitan Theatre, Los Angeles, California, 1926
• The Electric Cinema, London, UK, 1910
• Elgin and Winter Garden Theatres, Toronto, Ontario, 1913
• Embassy Theatre (Fort Wayne), Fort Wayne, Indiana, 1928
• Empire Theater, Sellersburg, Indiana
• Everyman Cinema, Muswell Hill, London, UK, 1935
• Englert Theatre, Iowa City, Iowa 1912
• Fargo Theatre, Fargo, North Dakota 1926
• Florida Theatre, Jacksonville, Florida, 1927
• Fourth Avenue Theatre (Anchorage, Alaska), Anchorage, Alaska, 1947
• Fox Theatre, Atlanta, Georgia, 1929, the only surviving movie palace in Atlanta
• Fox Theatre, Bakersfield, 1930
• Fox Theatre, Detroit, 1928
• Fox Theatre, Salinas, California
• Fox Theatre, San Diego, California, 1929, now Copley Symphony Hall
• Fox Theatre, San Francisco, California, 1929
• Fox Theater, Spokane, Washington, 1931
• Fox Theatre, St. Louis, Missouri, 1929
• Tooting Granada, London, UK, 1931
• Garde Arts Center, New London, Connecticut, 1926
• Garneau Theatre, Edmonton, Alberta, 1940
• Gateway Theatre, Chicago, 1930
• Gaumont State, London, UK, 1937
• Golden State Theatre, Monterey, California, 1926
• Granada Theatre, Sherbrooke, Quebec, 1929
• Grand Lake Theater, Oakland, California, 1926
• Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Los Angeles, 1927
• Grauman's Egyptian Theatre, Los Angeles 1922
• Hammersmith Apollo, London, UK, 1932
• Hawaii Theatre, Honolulu, 1922
• Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace, Sydney, Australia, 1935
• Indiana Theatre (Indianapolis), 1933
• Indiana Theatre (Terre Haute, Indiana), 1922
• Ironwood Theatre, Ironwood, Michigan, 1928
• Jefferson Theatre, Beaumont, Texas 1927
• Jefferson Theater, Charlottesville, Virginia, 1912
• The Kensington Cinema (now Odeon), London, UK, 1926
• Kentucky Theater, Lexington, Kentucky, 1922
• Lafayette Theatre, Suffern, New York, 1924
• Landmark Theatre, Richmond, Virginia, 1926
• Landmark Theatre, 1928 (formerly Loew's State Theatre), Syracuse, New York
• Lensic Theater, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1931
• Loew's 175th Street Theater, New York City, 1930
• Loew's Grand Theatre, Atlanta, Georgia, 1920s
• Loew's Jersey Theatre, Jersey City, New Jersey, 1929
• Loew's Kings Theatre, Brooklyn, New York, 1929
• Loew's Paradise Theatre, The Bronx, New York, 1929
• Loew's Penn Theatre, (now Heinz Hall), Pittsburgh, 1927
• Loew's State Palace Theatre, New Orleans, 1926
• Loew's State Theatre, (now Providence Performing Arts Center), Providence, Rhode Island, 1928
• Loew's State Theatre, now TCC Jeanne & George Roper Performing Arts Center, Norfolk, Virginia, 1929
• Loew's Tara Cinema, Atlanta, Ga., 1968, now a multiplex; renamed the Lefont Tara years later, and now the Regal Tara
• Loew's Valencia Theatre, Queens, New York, 1929
• Los Angeles Theatre, Los Angeles
• Lorenzo Theatre, San Lorenzo, California, currently in restoration by the Lorenzo Theatre Foundation.
• Lucas Theatre, Savannah, Georgia, 1921
• The Madison Theatre, Peoria, Illinois, 1920, currently in restoration by The Madison Preservation Association.
• Mainstreet Theater, Kansas City, Missouri, 1921 (formerly the Empire and the RKO Missouri)
• Majestic Theatre, Dallas, Texas 1921
• Majestic Theatre, San Antonio, TX 1929
• Manchester Apollo, Manchester, UK, 1938
• Mark Strand Theatre, New York City, 1914
• Martin's Cinerama, Atlanta, Georgia, 1962 (formerly the Tower Theatre, later renamed the Atlanta Theatre and later still, the Columbia Theatre; from 1962 onward, however, no matter what the name, it always retained its ultra-curved screen. Later stopped its movie operations and became the new home of the Academy Theatre, the oldest live professional theatre company in Georgia.)
• Michigan Theater, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1928
• Michigan Theatre, Detroit, 1926
• Michigan (now Frauenthal) Theater, Muskegon, Michigan, 1929
• Million Dollar Theater, Los Angeles, 1918
• Norwalk Theatre, Norwalk, Ohio, 1941
• North Park Theatre, Buffalo, New York, 1920
• Odeon Leicester Square, London, UK, 1937
• Odeon Cinema, Manchester, UK, 1930
• Odeon North End Cinema, Portsmouth, UK, 1936
• Ohio Theatre, Columbus, Ohio, 1928
• Ohio Theatre, Cleveland, 1921
• Olympia Theatre, Miami, 1926
• Oriental Theatre, Chicago, 1926
• Oriental Theatre, Milwaukee, 1927
• Orpheum Theatre, Sioux City, Iowa, 1927
• Orpheum Theatre, Memphis, Tennessee, 1928
• Orpheum Theatre, Vancouver, British Columbia, 1927
• Orpheum Theatre, Wichita, Kansas, 1922
• Ouimetoscope, Montreal, 1906
• Oxford Picture Hall, Whitstable, Kent, UK, 1912
• Palace Theatre Syracuse, NY 1924
• Palace Theatre, Albany, New York, 1931
• Palace Theatre (Marion, Ohio), 1928
• Palace Theatre, Cleveland, 1922
• Palace Theatre (Canton, Ohio), 1926
• Palace Theatre, Lorain, Ohio 1928
• Palace Theatre, Louisville, Kentucky, 1928
• Palace Theatre, Columbus, Ohio, 1927
• Pantages Theatre (Los Angeles), Los Angeles, 1930
• Pantages Theatre (Salt Lake City), Salt Lake City, 1918
• Paramount Theatre, Abilene, Texas, 1930
• Paramount Theatre, Aurora, Illinois, 1931
• Paramount Theatre, Austin, Minnesota, 1929
• Paramount Theatre, Austin, Texas, 1915
• Paramount Theatre, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 1928
• Paramount Theater, Denver, Colorado, 1930
• Paramount Theatre, Oakland, California, 1931
• Paramount Theatre, Portland, Oregon, 1928, (now the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall)
• Paramount Theatre, Seattle 1927
• Paramount Theater, Springfield, Massachusetts, 1926, (formerly known as Julia Sanderson Theater and The Hippodrome)
• Peery's Egyptian Theatre, Ogden, Utah, 1924
• Pickwick Theatre, Park Ridge, Illinois, 1928
• Phoenix Cinema, East Finchley, UK, 1912
• Plaza Cinema, Port Talbot, UK, 1940
• Plaza Theatre, El Paso, Texas, 1930
• Polk Theatre, Lakeland, Florida, 1928
• Pomona Fox Theater, Pomona, California, 1931
• Princess Theatre, Edmonton, Alberta, 1915
• Quo Vadis Entertainment Center, Westland, Michigan, 1966
• Radio City Music Hall, New York City, 1932
• Rahway Theatre, Rahway, New Jersey, 1926 (now a performing arts center)
• Redford Theatre, Detroit, Michigan, 1928
• Regent Theatre, Mudgee (New South Wales), Australia, 1935
• The Rex, Berkhamsted, England, UK, 1938
• Rialto Theatre, Montreal, 1924
• Rialto Square Theatre, Joliet, Illinois, 1926
• Ritz Theatre, Tiffin, Ohio, 1928
• Riviera Theater, Chicago, 1918
• Riviera Theatre, North Tonawanda, New York, 1926
• Rockingham Theatre, Reidsville, North Carolina, 1929
• Roxie Theater, San Francisco, 1909
• Roxy Theatre, New York City, 1927
• Roxy Theatre, Atlanta, Georgia, built 1926, renamed the Roxy in 1938
• Roxy Theatre, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, 1930
• Saenger Theatre, Mobile, Alabama, 1927
• Saenger Theatre, New Orleans, 1927
• Saenger Theatre, Pensacola, Florida, 1925
• Saenger Theatre, Hattiesburg, Mississippi, 1929
• Senator Theatre, Baltimore, 1939
• Shea's Performing Arts Center, Buffalo, New York, 1926
• Snowdon Theatre, Montreal, 1937
• Stanford Theatre, Palo Alto, California, 1925, restored 1989
• Stanley Theater (now an Assembly Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses), Jersey City, New Jersey, 1928
• Stanley Theater, (now Benedum Center), Pittsburgh, 1928
• Stanley Theatre, Utica, New York, 1928
• Stanley Theatre (now Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage), Vancouver, British Columbia, 1930
• State Cinema (now Focal Point Cinema & Cafe), Hastings, New Zealand, 1933
• State Theater, Cleveland, 1921
• State Theatre, Kalamazoo, Michigan, 1927
• State Theatre, Woodland, California
• State Theatre Center for the Arts, Uniontown, Pennsylvania 1922
• The Strand Theatre, Marietta, Georgia 1935
• St. George Theatre, Staten Island, New York, 1929
• Suffolk Theater, Riverhead, New York 1933
• Sun Theatre, Melbourne (Victoria), Australia, 1938
• Sunnyvale Theater, Sunnyvale, California, 1926; formerly the New Strand Theater
• Tampa Theatre, Tampa, Florida, 1926
• Tennessee Theatre, Knoxville, Tennessee, 1928
• Tower Theatre, Sacramento, California, 1938
• Troxy Cinema, London, UK, 1933
• United Artists Theatre, Los Angeles, 1927; reopened in 2014 as part of the Ace Hotel
• Uptown Theater, Washington, D.C., 1933
• Uptown Theatre, Chicago, 1925
• Uptown Theater, Minneapolis, 1913
• Uptown Theatre, Toronto, 1920
• Uptown Theatre, Utica, New York, 1927
• Varsity Theatre, Palo Alto, California, 1927
• Victory Theatre, Evansville, Indiana, 1921; formerly the Loew's Victory
• Virginia Theatre, Champaign, Illinois, 1921
• Warner Grand Theatre, San Pedro, Los Angeles, California, 1931
• Warner Theater, Powers Auditorium, Youngstown, Ohio, 1930
• Warner Theatre, Erie, Pennsylvania, 1931
• Warner Theatre (now Powers Auditorium), Youngstown, Ohio, 1931
• Warnors Theatre, Fresno, California, 1928
• Warren Theatres, Wichita, Kansas, 1996
• Washoe Theater, Anaconda, Montana, 1931
• Weinberg Center, Frederick, Maryland, 1926 (formerly the Tivoli Theatre)
• Wilshire Theater, Beverly Hills, California, 1930
• Wiltern Theatre, Los Angeles, 1930

See also

• Timothy L. Pflueger
• A. J. Balaban
• John Eberson

Notes

Citations

References

• Valentine, Maggie. The Show Starts on the Sidewalk: An Architectural History of the Movie Theatre, Starring S. Charles Lee. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 1994.

External links

• Cinema Treasures
• Theatre Historical Society of America
• Historic Theaters
• Sellersburg, Indiana 115 S New Albany Street photograph 1973

1. Palace
2. United Palace
3. Movie theater
4. Kings Theatre (Brooklyn)
5. Blenheim Palace
6. Broadway (Los Angeles)
7. Million Dollar Theater
8. Palace Theatre (New York City)
9. Mayan Theater
10. Palace Theater (Gary, Indiana)
11. Broadway Theater District (Los Angeles)
12. Fox Bruin Theater
13. Taj Mahal Palace Hotel
14. Samuel Roxy Rothafel
15. Grauman's Chinese Theatre
16. Paramount Theatre (Manhattan)
17. Connor Palace
18. El Capitan Theatre
19. Palladium (New York City)
20. Paradise Theater (Bronx)