Historic theaters and movie houses of the region that captured pop culture of generations past and created memories of a bygone era
It was May 16, 1929, and Hollywood was hosting the first Academy Awards. Founded by Louis B. Mayer to honor the advancement and improvement of the film industry, this event was quite a leap for an industry that was just 30 years old. Two years earlier, The Jazz Singer, with synchronized recorded music, had heralded the end of silent film when the lead actor, Al Jolson, stunned the audience with his voice. “Wait a minute, wait a minute, you ain’t heard nothing yet.” This was the first voice heard by a theater audience. A new era of talkies was beginning.
The Jazz Singer could not compete in the Awards ceremony of 1929. It was considered unfair competition to silent film; it did, however, receive a special ancillary award. The Best Picture award went to the $2 million production of Wings, a movie about two World War I pilots who fell in love with the same girl. Janet Gaynor, the only female award winner, received nominations for three different films and won them all.
The movies were all about story telling as had been the role of theater stage performances for centuries. Perhaps the greatest of this emerging format was the three-hour silent film Birth of a Nation in 1915; controversial because its story focused on “the Lost Cause.” The film nevertheless launched the creative use of the camera, which affected every movie filmed after it; the techniques are still studied today.
The invention of the camera in the 1800s opened new doors for entertainment, providing access to the story telling of stage shows to the masses. Nickelodeons, one-minute showings, appeared in store fronts at the turn of the 20th century. So called because one nickel bought you the short show.
In quick time, directors and producers recognized the impact of film entertaining the masses and formed film companies world-wide. Warner Brothers, MGM, Paramount, RKO, Loews, and Fox competed for the actors, actresses, and stories. Within a decade, Nickelodeons were gone. By 1913, movie houses and movie palaces as destinations for entertainment were being built to cater to growing audiences. More affordable than opera or the vaudeville stage, the storytelling and adventures dreamed up in movies would energize a new and enthusiastic public. Never had an industry sprouted and grown so fast.
Our state capital, Annapolis, opened its first theater in 1920. Maryland Governor Albert Ritchie cut the ribbon on The Circle Theater, a vaudeville playhouse with red curtains, balcony, orchestra pit, dressing rooms, and 1,800 seats; 2,800 people attended the opening. Later, when it was renovated under Durkee—Baltimore’s largest movie circuit management company—the seats were reduced to 894 until it closed in 1979 when economic hard times fell. The cinema glory years of the ’30s, ’40s, and ’50s was over.
In the 1980s, State Delegate Michael Busch, myself, and a handful of others hoped to have the Circle Theater designated an American Historical Theater and a performing arts theater. Senator Roy Staten proposed the Circle Theater for state pageants and historical storytelling at the site. Theater producer Martha Wright organized the Tom Thumb Players for children’s theater. But with no substantial support from historic preservationists or Ward 1 residents, the once-upon-a-time magical theater with the best acoustics was changed into offices for lobbyists. The orchestra pit and dressing rooms still exist under the new floor.
The Republic Theater (later renamed the Playhouse) on Main Street suffered a similar fate, as did The Capital Theatre on West Street, which was built in 1946 and designed by John Jacob Zink, an architectural innovator in movie house design.
Perhaps the theater that most likely could have been a historical saved gem but wasn’t, was The Star Theater. It was purchased as a theater in 1926 by Sam Eisenstein, a man who loved music and entertainment, according to his daughter, Annapolitan Anna Greenberg. The theater was located on Calvert Street where an empty parking lot used by Anne Arundel County exists near Rowe Boulevard. A mural produced by local artist Jeff Huntington and students from the Stanton Center marks the site, adjacent to St. Anne’s Cemetery. The Star only had 350 seats, but it had a candy bar and featured Saturday western films featuring Hopalong Cassidy and Roy Rogers. Thursday nights were “Bank Night” when ticket numbers were drawn, and winners received $5.00 or more. Greenberg, whose family lived above the movie house for seven years, celebrated her third birthday in the lobby of The Star.
What set The Star Theater apart from The Circle, The Republic/Playhouse, and The Capital is that it was a theater for African Americans, one of a handful in Anne Arundel County, until it was torn down in 1965. Similarly, the Turk Lounge at the Dixie Hotel on Clay Street offered live entertainment by New York/Harlem celebrities, such as Pearl Bailey, Billie Holiday, and Cab Calloway, who also visited The Star.
Yet, at a time when the City of Annapolis was priding itself on historic preservation, it let at least two theaters, The Circle and The Star, get away from it.
Baltimore fared a bit better. The city saved The Charles, on Charles Street, which began its operations within a building built in 1892 to house trolley cars. It opened in 1939 as the first all newsreel movie house, in time to showcase the stories from World War II.
The Senator Theatre on York Road is owned by the City of Baltimore. It, too, opened in 1939, a banner year for movies that saw the production of Gone with the Wind, The wizard of Oz, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Stagecoach, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, and other movie classics. The Senator Theatre opened with the movie Stanley and Livingston, starring Spencer Tracey and Nancy Kelly.
Designed by Zink, The Senator Theatre was designated a U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1989, the year of its 50th anniversary. It was described as the first art deco movie theater, is still in use in Baltimore, and considered most intact example of its kind.
Celebrities John Travolta, Joaquin Phoenix, Matt Damon, Salma Hayek, Matthew McConaughey, and many others have attended East Coast premieres of movies at The Senator Theatre, which have included Ladder 49, Runaway Bride, The Accidental Tourist, and many of Baltimore directors John Waters and Barry Levinson’s films. In 2003, USA Today declared “The Senator is one of best places to see classic cinema.” In 2005, it was selected by Entertainment Weekly as 1 of 10 movie theaters that make watching films a dream. In 2014, it was named as one of top movie houses in the world. The Senator Theatre is a local cinematic historic preservation accomplishment. It is a Baltimore landmark that has brought the city world-wide recognition.
Annapolis theaters, on the other hand—The Circle that once featured Otis Skinner on stage; The Republic/Playhouse, once considered a premier site for live theater; The Capital with its famous architect; and The Star that entertained African American children every Saturday morning and occasionally hosted Harlem greats—are all but entirely erased from the city landscape. Several of the sites exist only as renovated spaces (office or otherwise) with little hint of their entertainment history or cultural legacy. Silent and seldom remembered as the best entertainment venues in town.
The City of Annapolis was once called the “Athens of America” as the cultural center of the colonies, and the first city to have a permanent theater stage site way back in the 1700s. Annapolis has always been a performing arts town. But for a brief moment in time, nearly 50 years ago, it overlooked golden preservation opportunities.
