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If this guy would like to look at the Keith-Albee in Huntington, Wv. I'd be happy to give him a tour. The theatre is open daily for movies and still does about 10 live shows each year. You can see pictures of the Keith at www.ourshowtimes.com.

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Last week the Theatre Historical Society of America visted all 5 of the Wonder Theatres as part of its NYC conclave tour.

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Got into the long-closed Liberty, the first theater to show "Birth of A Nation". Scores of theaters; highlights were bumping every pot in the Loew's Jersey booth with the tweaker, & cracking walnuts under the bell hammer in the clock on the facade. While the locals were trying to chase us guys off the roof, a bunch of the ladies TP'd the big Pearlman chandelier in the lobby. Great time.

Another one of the Loew's Theatres that is worth a mention is the Loews Paradise in the Bronx, Just off Fordham Road on the Concourse. This theatre was converted to a Quad in the Seventies but they were careful to protect the the work of John Eberson. The Theatre has been closed for several years. I believe that the site has been designated a Landmark.

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The other 4 Loew's Wonder Theatres were: the Loew's Kings in Brooklyn (sitting abandoned), the Loew's Valencia (now a church); the Lowe's Victoria (about to be renovated as part of the Harlem/Apollo Theatre project) and the Lowe's 175th Street (also a church).

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I think the Paradise, not the Victoria, was the 5th Wonder Theatre; one way to remember is that the 5 Wonder theatres built by Loew's had contracts out at the same time to the Robert Morton company for special theatre organs, & the 5 organs from the Jersey/Valencia/Paradise/Kings/175th are the unique Wonder Mortons. Only the 175th still has its Wonder Morton, the others were all taken out, fortunately the Wonder Morton from the Paradise came back to the Jersey. The Jersey's Wonder Morton went out to California someplace.

The Victoria was sort of in informally-considered-later Loew's Wonder theatre. They wouldn't let us take pictures in the Victoria, & I wanted to *so* bad. It was a classic big house lowball carve-up into a multi, with the classic partitions straight down the floor so that the side seats were at an angle to the screen, out-of-the-yellow-pages lumber & construction work on the partitions & new stairs, nothing but the void of limitless black space at the sides of the risers, 8 billion gallons of the same color blue latex paint all over everything. They're pulling it all out, they'll never take any pictures, & no one will ever truly be able to know what one of these was like. It had been closed for a while, & going in was a time warp. The Victoria will be made into a media & studio-integrated performing arts space, & likely with all the new stuff will be greatly changed from the original. I sure wanted pictures of it, it was a textbook example.

Built in 1917, closed in 1958 in opposition to the war tax put on cinemas and reopened in 1992 beautifully restored with federal, state and local funds as it's considered an historic landmark...one of the few surviving nickleodeons in the country. Beautiful seating, plush curtains and a rolldrop act curtain. My only complaint is the top/bottom masking. But the sound is beautiful in there. Owned and operated by Rocky Friedman...the best darn guy in the world! They just need to get some pictures of the interior up on their site.

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I nominate the award-winning, top-grossing Muvico Paradise 24 in Davie, Florida. This complex is beautifully rendered as an ancient-Egyptian palace.

http://www.icsc.org/srch/sct/current/sct0700/02.html

A quick Google search informs me that the designers of this project won an award in 2000:

http://www.segd.org/awards/2000.html

While there, watch/listen out for the special "Egypt" logo trailer that Dolby made specially for Muvico's Egyptian theatres.

http://www.dolby.com/press/mp_pr_0205_muviotrailer.html

Note: There is another Muvico with an Egyptian theme in Maryland but I haven't actually visited or even seen photos of that one.

Yes Brad, the Texas Theatre is in Oak Cliff on Jefferson Blvd near the intersection of Zang. It was part of the Rowley theater chain that I guess became part of UA. I used to go there as a kid, before it became famous. Unfortunately, and I knew it at the time, they remodeled it right after Oswald was captured there. It had a beautiful Spanish/Mediterranean architecture. I understand that is being recovered under the existing walls.

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Yes, I prefer a snortin' Morton to a syrupy Wurlitzer, almost any day.

That's 3 Wonder Mortons, the 175th/Paradise/Kings, & isn't the one from the Jersey privately owned & in storage?

On a cross-country tour of historic theaters still showing films, you'd need to include the Ohio Theatre in Columbus, operated by CAPA. They often show silents there, too, accompanied of course on the Ohio's excellent Robert Morton theatre organ. http://www.capa.com/movies/schedule.html

CAPA is now operating the Chicago, so it may be that since they're accustomed to generating revenue with film series, they may get the booth back together at the Chicago.

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