Ad for East is West, starring Constance Talmadge, from the Whiteside Theatre's first month of operations.
The Whiteside Theatre, located on the northeast corner of 4th Street and SW Madison Avenue in Corvallis, Oregon, was opened to the public on November 10, 1922.[2] The theater's opening featured a special program and a showing of the film The Old Homestead,[2] a Paramount film which starred Theodore Roberts, T. Roy Barns, Fritzi Ridgeway, and George Fawcett.[3]
The opening was deemed a "great success" in front-page coverage in the local press the following Monday:
The new Whiteside Theatre was taxed to capacity Friday night, when throngs of people, in spite of the rain, came out to witness the opening of this magnificent new picture palace. The crowd was so great that in spite of quick work by ticket seller and ushers, the program could not begin until after 7 o'clock. From organ railing to the last row of seats in the gallery, the house was filled, and hundreds stood outside or went away without getting into the first show.[4]
The theater featured a Wurlitzer organ touted as "unsurpassed in tone and quality by any organ in the state" and was decorated with luxurious draperies and attractive murals, as well as floral decorations.[4] The organ was of particular importance in this era of silent film, with a Seattle movie theater owner named Winstock observing to the crowd on opening night that "pictures can not be produced without fitting music" and noting that film companies took great care in providing "suitable music for picture plays."[4] The new Whiteside Theatre provided "the best of facilities for enjoying such music," Winstock declared.[4]
Construction of the theater on behalf of the Whiteside brothers, Sam and George, who did business as the Corvallis Amusement Company, was said to have cost $120,000.[4]
The Whitesides were natives of Iowa who had spent a quarter century in Corvallis prior to the opening of their namesake theater.[4] The pair had been active in the movie business in Corvallis since about 1910 as owners and operators of the Crystal Theatre, the town's first venue for motion pictures.[4] A year after the opening of the Crystal, the Whitesides constructed a second theater in Corvallis, the Majestic Theatre, a building which was itself surpassed in size and quality with the launch of the Whiteside.[4] The Crystal Theater was closed during the summer of 1922.[4]
1927 fire
In October 1927 the Whiteside was badly damaged by a fire which was determined to have started in a paint room at the back of the stage.[5] The theater's prized Wurlitzer organ, valued at $16,000, was a total loss in the blaze, and new draperies and chairs were required.[6] The theater remained closed for repairs and remodeling for the rest of the year.
The refurbished theatre reopened on January 2, 1928, to a capacity crowd, which saw the Pacific Northwest debut of the film Hero for a Night.[7] During a short program which preceded the film, the crowd was entertained by a local resident playing a set of popular tunes on the theatre's new organ.[7]
Talking pictures
Matinee pass for the "Fox Whiteside Theatre," 1932.
On December 26, 1928, the Whiteside Theatre showed the first "talking picture" in Corvallis.[8] Some $35,000 had been invested by the Whitesides in new Vitaphone equipment developed by Warner Brothers, the installation of which took about six weeks.[8]
The Vitaphone system made use of a turntable adjacent to the movie projector, both of which were driven by the same motor, which kept the speed constant.[8] An electric pick-up and amplifier located in the projection room transmitted the sound to multiple horns spread out throughout the theater.[8] A new set of rates accompanied the costly upgrade, with the Whiteside initially charging 50 cents for adult admission and 15 cents for children, with loge seats selling for 75 cents — although midweek and afternoon matinees were offered with reduced entrance fees.[8]The Jazz Singer, a 1927 film starring Al Jolson, was slated to debut in Corvallis at the Whiteside on New Year's Day of 1929, with a steady stream of "talkies" booked for subsequent weeks.[8]
Other uses
In addition to providing a spacious venue for the viewing of films, the stage of the Whiteside Theatre also served as a public auditorium for community events, including a patriotic Memorial Day program in May 1928 under the auspices of the local post of the American Legion.[9]
In April 1929 the Whiteside was the site of the first citywide beauty contest in Corvallis, with the winner outfitted by local merchants and sent on an all expenses paid trip to the 10th annual International Pageant of Pulchritude (today's "Miss Universe" pageant) in Galveston, Texas as the representative of Oregon.[10]
Later years
The Whiteside Theatre remained in constant operation throughout the 20th century. In the 1990s it was purchased by the Knoxville, Tennessee-based Regal Cinemas, which operated the facility until its closure in January 2002.[11] The final movie shown in the theater during its initial commercial incarnation was the Peter Jackson epic The Fellowship of the Ring.[11] Failed sewer lines necessitating a costly remodel and lack of profitability of the giant 800 seat movie palace in an era of multiplex theaters were cited as reasons for the closure by the national theater chain.[11]
Regal chose not to gut the facility at the time of the theater's shuttering, thereby making future restoration feasible.
Restoration efforts
In 2006 Corvallis residents organized to raise public support and funds for restoration of the Whiteside Theatre.[12] Over the next ten years many tens of thousands of dollars were raised and restoration has taken place; classic films are frequently shown and public events are once again being held on stage at the facility.
The Tennessee Theatre is a movie palace in downtown Knoxville, Tennessee. The theater was built in 1928 in the 1908 Burwell Building, considered Knoxville's first skyscraper. The theater and Burwell Building were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982, and the theater was extensively restored in the early 2000s. The Tennessee Theatre currently focuses on hosting performing arts events and classic films, and is home to the Knoxville Opera and the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra. The theater is managed by AC Entertainment.
A movie palace is any of the large, elaborately decorated movie theaters built between the 1910s and the 1940s. The late 1920s saw the peak of the movie palace, with hundreds opened every year between 1925 and 1930. With the advent of television, movie attendance dropped and many movie palaces were razed or converted into multiple screen venues or performing arts centers.
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The Chicago Theatre, originally known as the Balaban and Katz Chicago Theatre, is a landmark theater located on North State Street in the Loop area of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Built in 1921, the Chicago Theatre was the flagship for the Balaban and Katz (B&K) group of theaters run by A. J. Balaban, his brother Barney Balaban and partner Sam Katz. Along with the other B&K theaters, from 1925 to 1945 the Chicago Theatre was a dominant movie theater enterprise. Currently, Madison Square Garden, Inc. owns and operates the Chicago Theatre as a performing arts venue for stage plays, magic shows, comedy, speeches, sporting events and popular music concerts.
The American Airlines Theatre, originally the Selwyn Theatre, is a historic Italian Renaissance style Broadway theatre in New York City built in 1918. It was designed by George Keister and built by the Selwyn brothers. Used for musicals and other dramatic performances it was eventually converted for film. It was used briefly as a visitor's center but stood vacant for years until a 1997 renovation and restoration. It is located at 227 West 42nd Street.
The Paramount Theatre is a 2,807-seat performing arts venue located at 9th Avenue and Pine Street in Seattle, Washington, United States. The theater originally opened on March 1, 1928 as the Seattle Theatre, with 3,000 seats. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 9, 1974, and has also been designated a City of Seattle landmark.
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Keith-Albee Theatre is a performing arts center located along Fourth Avenue in downtown Huntington, West Virginia in the United States of America. The Keith-Albee was named after the Keith-Albee-Orpheum Corporation, one of the leading vaudeville performance chains at that time, to convince the directors of Keith-Albee-Orpheum to make the Keith-Albee a regular stop. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Downtown Huntington Historic District, and is currently being restored as a performing arts center.
The Colonial Theatre is located in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, at 227 Bridge Street. Built in 1903, the "Colonial Opera House" became a preeminent venue for movies, traveling shows and live entertainment throughout the 20th century. The three-screen venue consists of the original 658-seat ‘vaudeville house’ and two newer additional theatres in the adjacent National Bank of Phoenixville building (c.1925).
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