Moving Picture World (Jan-Feb 1925)

January 3, 1925 MOVING PICTURE WORLD 27 Chicago's New Orpheum to Cost About $2,000,000; Now Leased Orpheum Circuit Secures Potential House for 25 Years at Annual Rental of $200,000 Other Theatre News The new Orpheum Theatre to be erected on Randolph street, between La Salle and Wells streets, in the Eitel block, Chicago, will be one of the most elaborate vaudeville and moving picture theatres in the country. It will extend the film rialto two blocks west of its present bounds. The 2,750seat house will cost $1,500,000 for the building alone, and 'the Orpheum is expected to spend at least $350,000 to $400,000 in decorations and furnishings. The theatre will be of French renais sance design under plans by C. W. Rapp and G. L. Rapp, with a main floor, mezzanine and balcony. The stage will be 120 feet wide and 35 feet deep, equalling those in the Auditorium and Chicago theatres. The lobby and foyer will be unusual in architectural treatment in bronze and marble and will have a width of 50 feet, running from Randolph street to the alley in the rear. There will be bronze columnades and marble columns three stories in height. Three large elevators will run to the balcony. There will be a complete refrigerating and ventilating system. The new theatre has been leased to the Orpheum circuit for 25 years at a term rental of $5,000,000 or $200,000 a year, through Ross & Co., and there is an option to extend the lease for an additional term. The lease arrangements are so intricate that, it is said, they have taken two years to be worked out, and provide for undisturbed possession by the lessee. The Orpheum circuit has paid $800,000 cash as a security on the lease, which is to be paid back at the end of five years. The 175xl24-foot site of the Beacon Theatre, Chicago, on Cottage Grove avenue, 60 feet south of Seventy-sixth street east front, has been transferred from M. Hoffman to Leo M. Churan for an indicated $40,000 and retransferred to the Beacon Theatres Corporation for an indicated $175,365. The Palace Theatre at Rockford, Iowa, has been taken over by the Iowa Theatres Company of Mason City. This will give the latter four houses in their circuit. Stewart F. Reid has sold the Princess Theatre at Galva, 111., to George Mitchell. He was formerly in business at Plano, 111., and will make some improvements in the house. John Lincoln has been granted a building permit to convert a storeroom at 557 Broadway, Gary, Ind., into a photoplay theatre at a cost of $6,000. R. A. Healy and Sam Rabinovitz have sold the Garfield Theatre at 5531 South Halsted street, Chicago, to the Schoenstadt circuit of theatres, which controls several theatres in that part of the city. Rabinovitz will rest up for a few weeks at Hot Springs and Healy will devote his entire time to the management of the Home Theatre on the south side. He is using better pictures in the house and by bringing in the personal appearance of some of the stars of the local radio broadcasting stations he has increased business at the Home Theatre, he reports, despite the holiday season. The Kozy Theatre at Chatsworth, 111., under the Hueffner management, has been sold to other interests and it is planned to make some improvements in the house. The Grand, Amusu and Palace theatres at Muscatine have been taken over by the Capital Enterprise circuit and it is planned to make some changes in the picture policies of the various houses, it is learned. Lloyd Bassett has opened the Indiana Theatre at Ashley, 111., and the Bassett Theatre at Wolcotville, 111., and will show pictures exclusively. The Gregory Theatres Corporation will open its new LaGrange Theatre on January 15 with first-run pictures and stage presentations. S. J. Gregory, president, and Ted Schlanger, booker, have returned from a four weeks’ trip through the East, picking up new ideas for the LaGrange house. The Gregory company, upon completion of the LaGrange Theatre, will announce two more theatres of 2,500 seats each to be built in Illinois. The LaGrange house makes fifteen in the Gregory circuit. Mrs. Dellora Angell Norris, who inherited the millions of John W. Gates, and her artist husband, Lester J. Norris, are building at St. Charles, 111., a $150,000 theatre intended to be a show place for the city. It is to be in the nature of a community theatre, with provision made for musical and legitimate productions as well as motion pictures. The new Mishawaka Theatre at Mishawaka, which is being erected by the Mishawaka Theatre Corporation, is scheduled to open in February. The house will have 1,500 seats, a full sized stage, an orchestra pit and organ. Officers of the Mishawaka Theatre Corporation are W. A. Mclnerny, president; O. J. Lambiotte, secretary and manager; Duncan J. Campbell, Henry Buckel and J. Walter Mclnerny, directors. 600 Projectionists Seek Pay Boost Six hundred motion picture projectionists met this week in the Capitol Building on North State street, Chicago, and voted to demand a pay boost when their agreement expires with theatre owners on January 10, 1925. The wage scale committee will handle the negotiations. The operators now get from $55 a week to $87, and many of them receive as high as $125 a week. They work in shifts of four, five and six hours. The preliminary conference will be held on December 26. Jewish Quild to Dine The Jewish Theatrical Guild of America, comprising the leading members of the entertainment and kindred fields, of both sexes, will hold its first annual dinner at the Hotel Commodore, on Sunday evening, February 1. The organization was recently formed to do as much for members of its faith as the Catholic Actors Guild and Protestants do for theirs, but is non-sectarian in its charitable aims, having for its byword “We take from our own to serve Humanity.” The officers of the Guild are William Morris, president ; Eddie Cantor, first vice-president ; Sam Bernard, second vice-president ; Sime Silverman, third vice-president; Dr. Hugo Reisenfeld, treasurer ; Harry Cooper, corresponding secretary; Fred Block, financial secretary, and Loney Haskell, recording secretary. CHICAGO EXHIBITOR ASSOCIATION USING INDUSTRIAL SUBJECTS The Exhibitors Association of Chicago is trying out a plan of exhibiting films on industrial and educational subjects that do not exceed one thousand feet In length. Jack Miller, president and manager of the organization, says that the charge to the exhibitor is $3.50 per day for such films. No straight advertising film can be shown. The films can be shown in about 160 theatres of the membership and the rental goes to the association for use by the organization in conducting its activities. PARIS, KY., IS IN THROES OF “BLUES” At Paris, Ky., a hot argument is on regarding .Sunday picture shows, a large number of residents having argued for their opening, and the Opera House announced prior to December 14 that it would open on Sunday. However, there were some objections raised and the management called off the opening of Sunday shows. Those favoring the picture shows on Sunday are now claiming that they will enforce the blue laws to the closing of everything in town other than restaurants and hotels. Ralph Obenchain, attorney and theatre owner, has taken over the Elite Theatre at South Whitely, Ind., from G. M. Rogers and will make some improvements in the house. Mr. Rogers has taken over the Lincoln Theatre at Ft. Wayne from Frank Anderson and will operate the house in the future.