demolished

Boyd Theatre – Bethlehem, PA

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This was originally posted on After the Final Curtain’s Patreon in November 2022. For expanded early posts, as well as video walkthroughs and other exclusive content, you can become a patron at: https://www.patreon.com/afterthefinalcurtain

Balcony, Boyd Theatre - Bethlehem, PA

View of the auditorium from the center of the balcony.

Built at a cost of $250,000 ($4.1 million when adjusted for inflation) The Boyd Theatre in Bethlehem, PA originally opened on September 1, 1921 as the Kurtz Theatre. It was designed by E. C Horn Sons of New York City for Charles and John Kurtz, in the streamline moderne architectural style. The 1,626 seat theater originally featured vaudeville and silent films as part of the Shubert Advance Vaudeville circuit.

Lobby, Boyd Theatre Bethlehem, PA

The original lobby was destroyed by a fire in December 1966.

Opening night featured a performance from a seven-piece orchestra, a minstrel show, two vaudeville acts, the silent film “The Great Moment” starring Gloria Swanson, and the theater organist playing the Estey pipe organ. Less than two months after opening, on October 24, 1921, the theater discontinued vaudeville, and began only showing silent films. The first film shown after this change was “Way Down East” starring Lillian Gish. In October 1922, the Broadway Players, a comedic opera company, began holding performances at the theater. In 1924, E.C. Horn Sons sued the Kurtz Brothers for non-payment of fees for their part in constructing the theater. They were awarded $21,000, or $364,000 with inflation, later that year.

Facade, Boyd Theatre Bethlehem, PA

The exterior of the theater was replaced after the fire in 1966.

The Kurtz closed in July 1924 and the following month the building was purchased by the Wilmer & Vincent theater circuit and reopened as the Colonial Theatre. It was named after the Colonial Theatre in Allentown, PA, which they also owned. In 1925, the interior of the theater was remodeled to the plans of William H. Lee, who also designed the Boyd Theatre in Philadelphia, PA and the Drake Theatre in Oil City, PA.

In 1934, the building was purchased by A.R. Boyd Enterprises of Philadelphia, and renamed the Boyd Theatre. A.R. Boyd Enterprises also operated the Boyd Theaters in Philadelphia, Allentown and Easton, PA. On December 27, 1966, a fire broke out at the theater. The fire destroyed much of the Boyd’s lobby and some of the retail spaces in the front of the building. Bethlehem’s building inspector condemned the remains of the lobby, and it had to be completely rebuilt, which kept the theater from reopening until early 1968.

View of the auditorium from the side of the balcony.

The Boyd was sold to a local family in 1970, and they continued to operate it as a single screen theater. However, the balcony was closed more often than not. A new Dolby Digital Surround sound system was installed in 1999 and was used for the first time during a showing of “Star Wars Episode I – The Phantom Menace.”

Looking back from the stage at the Boyd Theatre in Bethlehem, PA

View of the auditorium from the stage.

The Boyd was damaged by heavy rainstorms in May 2011, and the owners announced it would be closed for the rest of the year while repairs were made. Unfortunately, the theater continued to deteriorate, never reopened, and was eventually sold. In February 2019, it was announced that the Boyd would be demolished and replaced by a 13 story apartment building. The theater was sold again in early 2021 to DLP Real Estate Capital and Monocacy General Contracting, and the replacement building was changed to six stories at a cost of $50 million.

Demolition began in February 2022, and was completed by early May. The “Boyd Theatre” sign was removed prior to the demolition and is planned to be incorporated into one of the new buildings’ courtyards. The new building is scheduled to be completed by 2023.

Documenting the End of a Theater – Capitol Theatre, Racine, WI

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This post was originally posted on After the Final Curtain’s Patreon in Feb 2021. You can become a patron at: https://www.patreon.com/afterthefinalcurtain

The auditorium was used for storage after the theater closed.

In late December 2020, a representative of the Wisconsin Historical Society contacted me. They asked me if I was familiar with what was happening at the Capitol Theatre (Park) in Racine, Wisconsin. I had heard of it, but I didn’t know anything about its current state. 

The Capitol opened on May 30, 1928. It was a typical Vaudeville theater that eventually became a cinema. Les Paul, the famous musician, performed on the stage at the Capitol when he was 14. The theater was twinned in 1976 by splitting the auditorium in two. This change did not touch the front of the auditorium and the stage was closed. 

In the photo above, you can see the auditorium dome through the drop ceiling.

It was renamed Park 1 & 2 in August 1981 and closed on September 1, 1987. The theater was bought by John Apple, who used it as a storage and repair facility for antiques (e.g. cash registers and barber chairs). Over time, the building began to fall into disrepair, and Apple fell a decade behind on his property taxes. 

Many things were left behind before the theater was demolished.

However, the demolition order stood. The City Council of Racine voted to change the Historic Landmark Designation process so that they cannot be nominated while under a raze order. 

One of the antique cash registers that remained prior to demolition.

Despite the efforts of the Friends of the Capitol Theatre, Racine, WI, who raised enough money to purchase and stabilize the building, demolition began on the morning of February 23, 2021. The walls were destabilized and pushed down into the auditorium. The rubble was removed and dirt was hauled in to fill the space.

The projection room was used as a makeshift apartment.

I was hoping that the effort to save the building would succeed but I’m glad that I could document it before it was lost. I know that not every that theater I photograph can or will be saved, but this one came close.

Happy Holidays!

/ Matt / 4 Comments
The Boyd Theatre opened on Christmas Day in 1928.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone! I hope you all are staying safe and healthy during this awful year.

Thank you for following my work!

The Keith-Albee or RKO Keith’s Theatre in Queens, NY opened on Christmas Day in 1928.

Digital Theater Reconstructions

/ Matt / 14 Comments

Mark Jabara, an artist from Australia, has been taking some of my theater images and restoring them in Photoshop. The Boyd Theatre, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania’s only art deco movie palace, opened on Christmas day in 1928.  It closed in 2002, and the auditorium was demolished in the spring of 2015.

Auditorium of the Boyd Theatre in Philadelphia, PA

Digital Restoration of the Boyd with original colors.

The Madison in Peoria, IL was originally designed in the Adamesque style and was remodeled in 1936 in the simpler art deco style to ease the maintenance of the building. Mark restored some of the lost adamesque details near the stage.

Auditorium, Madison Theatre – Peoria, IL

A digital restoration of the madison theater in Peoria IL

Digital Restoration of the Madison Theatre with some original details restored.

The United Artists Theatre in Detroit, Michigan opened on February 3, 1928 and closed in August 1972. It’s one of the most dangerous and deteriorated theaters I’ve ever photographed.

Decaying auditorium of the United Artists Theatre in Detroit

Auditorium, United Artists Theatre – Detroit, MI

Digital Restoration of the United Artists Theatre with original colors.

The Boyd Theatre is featured in my first book, After the Final Curtain: The Fall of the American Movie Theater. The Madison and United Artists are featured in my latest book, After the Final Curtain: America’s Abandoned Theaters. Both are available on my site, Bookshop.org, and bookstores everywhere.

American Shakespeare Theater – Stratford, CT

/ Matt / 6 Comments
This theater is a bit different from every other one I’ve posted on AFtC as it was never a movie theater. However,  I believe that it is still historically significant due to the people who performed in it. I planned on posting a completely different theater today, but since this one was destroyed last weekend I felt it needed to be bumped up.
View of the auditorium from the balcony.

The American Shakespeare Theatre opened on July 12, 1955 in Stratford, CT. Construction of the building began in 1954, and cost $1 million or $9.3 million when adjusted for inflation. It was commissioned by the American Shakespeare Festival Theatre and Academy (ASFTA), which was formed by Lawrence Langner, a co-founder of The Theatre Guild.  Langner formed the ASFTA to create American interpretations of William Shakespeare’s plays in Connecticut.

On the bat’s back I do fly
After summer merrily.
Merrily, merrily, shall I live now
Under the blossom that hangs on the bough. (Ariel, Act 5 Scene 1)

“Julius Caesar” was the opening production and the theater company included Raymond Massey, Christopher Plummer, Roddy McDowall, Jack Palance, and Jerry Stiller. Over the years many famous actors were involved in productions at the theater including: Katharine Hepburn, Fred Gwynne, Margaret Hamilton, James Earl Jones, Lillian Gish, Christopher Walken and Ed Asner. In 1966, T.S. Eliot’s “Murder in the Cathedral,” becomes the first non-Shakespeare play performed at the theater.

The theater’s ticket booth inside the lobby.

The final full season was in 1982, with performances of “King Henry IV,” “Twelfth Night,” and “Hamlet.”  In 1983, the theater was bought by the state of Connecticut for $1 million due to the threat of foreclosure. The American Shakespeare Theatre Corp. was given a 20 year, $1 a year lease but financial issues continued and the summer productions were canceled in 1986.

In 1989 the theater was closed. The final production was one-person show of the Tempest. Connecticut turned the property over to the town of Stratford in 2005 after a few failed attempts to develop the property. On January 13, 2019, a fire destroyed the theater. The cause is currently unknown.

  • View of the auditorium from the main level.

Paris Cinema (Capitol Theatre) Worcester, MA

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View from the side of the balcony.

The Paris Cinema in Worcester, Massachusetts originally opened as the Capitol Theatre on December 11, 1926. It was designed by architect Roger Garland for the Worcester Capitol Company. An atmospheric theater, the 2,500 seat Capitol was designed with a blue dome ceiling and side walls that looked like a Spanish villa. Clouds were projected across the ceiling to complete the illusion that the audience was sitting under the night’s sky. Lou Zoeller, a songwriter, and Janet “the World’s Smallest Prima Donna” Bodwell, two vaudeville performers, played at the theater during the opening week.

A Wurlitzer Opus #1492 organ was installed in the theater when it opened. It is now located in the Rochester Museum and Science Center in Rochester, NY.

On Dec. 13, 1966, the Capitol closed for renovations, and reopened as the Paris Cinema on March 4, 1967. The Paris was divided in two the following year by separating the balcony from the orchestra level. It was billed as “Worcester’s first theater within a theater” when it opened on April 10, 1968. “Bonnie and Clyde” starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway was the first film shown in the former balcony, now known as the Paris Cinema 2, and “Planet of the Apes” starring Charlton Heston was shown at the Paris Cinema 1. During the 70’s the Paris showed exploitation films downstairs, and adult films in the former balcony, now called the “Adult Penthouse” after another name change.

View from the side of the balcony.

On June 29, 1974, Francis W. Sargent, the Governor of Massachusetts at the time, signed a obscenity legislation into law, which forced the Paris to stop showing adult films. This lead to the theater closing once again in 1977.  Cinema 320, a group of cinephiles, rented the theater in the fall of 1980 to show films that weren’t normally shown at larger theater chains. This lasted until April 1, 1982, when the theater’s owner informed the group that he had found a new tenant that was willing to pay more and they had a month to vacate. The final film shown at the Paris by Cinema 320 was “Casablanca.” The Paris reopened as an adult theater in June of 1982.

The Paris closed for a short time in July 2001 after one of the walls in the upper theaters collapsed.

During the early 2000’s the Paris closed and reopened a few times. Worcester police began to raid the theater due to allegations that sex acts were taking place during the films. The Paris closed for good in January 2006 after 29 people were arrested during one weekend raid. Robert J. Hurwitz, the owner of the Paris Cinema, sold the building in July 2006 to the Mayo Group for $1.15 million. Mayo had begun converting the buildings around the theater into a student village under the name Worcester Commons, LLC, but did not have any immediate plans for the Paris.

The Paris Cinema sign was donated to Preservation Worcester in 2012, and sold at a fundraising event that fall.

In 2016, the Mayo Group sought a waiver to the city’s one year demolition delay ordinance for historic buildings from the Worcester Historical Commission. According to the Mayo Group, it would cost at least $21 million to stabilize the building and bring it up to code, but only $500,000 to completely demolish it. They argued that keeping the building standing another year would pose an economic hardship for them. The Historical Commission voted 4-1 to grant the waiver. Demolition began in the summer of 2017, and they plan on turning the space into a beer garden with an outdoor performance area.

 

Snapshot: Hollywood Theatre

/ Matt / 13 Comments

Post 4 in the Snapshot Series  – Occasionally in my travels I come across a theater that I can’t find a lot of information on, or that I only have a chance to photograph for an hour or two. They’re still beautiful and fascinating, so they definitely have a place on After the Final Curtain.

 

View of the auditorium from the divided balcony.

View of the auditorium from the divided balcony.

Originally billed as the “Pride of the East Side,” the Hollywood Theatre, located in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, opened on March, 11 1926. It was operated by the Mayer and Schneider (M&S) Circuit, and designed by architect Harrison G. Wiseman, who is also known for the nearby Village East Cinemas. According to an account in the Motion Picture News, the crowd on opening night was so large that the police had to cordon the entrance prevent them from storming the theater. The opening was attended by a number of that era’s stars of stage and screen including; George Walsh, Wally Van, Julia Faye, and Edna Purviance.

The balcony level was used as storage after the orchestra level was converted to retail space.

The balcony level was used as storage after the orchestra level was converted to retail space.

The 1,303 seat theater was later managed by RKO and Loew’s Inc. before closing in 1959. After the theater closed, the orchestra level of the auditorium and the lobby were converted into separate retail spaces. The former orchestra level became a series of grocery stores, beginning with a Pioneer Supermarket in 1960. In early 2012, it was announced that the East Farms Supermarket, the latest tenant to occupy the space, would close and the building would be demolished to make way for an eight-story condo building with retail space on the main floor. Demolition began in 2014, and the new building is scheduled to open in the winter of 2016.

A Kimball organ was installed in the theater when it opened, and was removed after it closed.

A Kimball organ was installed in the theater when it opened in 1926, and was removed after it closed.

Hollywood_Theatre_04

Theater Updates

/ Matt / 8 Comments

In light of the recent demolition of the Boyd Theatre in Philadelphia, I thought I’d post an update for some of the theaters I’ve visited over the years.

 

View from the balcony of the Loew's Kings Theatre during renovation.

View from the balcony of the Loew’s Kings Theatre during renovation.

The Loew’s Kings Theatre in Brooklyn has undergone a $94 million restoration, and will reopen as a performing arts center in late 2014/early 2015.

The large mirrors in the Boyd's lobby are some of the art deco features that will be preserved.

The large mirrors in the Boyd’s lobby are some of the art deco features that will be preserved.

The Boyd Theatre was demolished in the spring of 2014, despite the efforts of the Friends of the Boyd. This demolition means that Philadelphia is one of the only large cities in America without at least one restored downtown movie palace. Fortunately, the Friends of the Boyd were able to come to an agreement with the owners to preserve some of the art deco features of the theater.

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