| SOME OF HILO'S OTHER THEATRES |
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| The second EMPIRE (shown at left in a 1936 newspaper photo) opened in 1922 (or 21?). This building still stands across Haili street from the Palace Theatre. It closed as a theatre in 1940, was converted to a bowling alley, and later housed a variety of businesses. The former lobby area is now the Empire Cafe. What is left of the auditorium is now Island Dance Academy. Photo from the collection of Bob Alder |
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| At right: Genie Farias plays the Robert-Morton photoplayer organ at the Empire in 1934. This self-contained small pipe organ appears to be the one that was originally installed in Honolulu's LIBERTY THEATRE. It was apparantly moved to the Empire in 1927. After the Empire closed in 1940 the organ moved further up Haili Street to St. Joseph's Catholic Church where it stayed until the 1970s. Photo from the collection of John De Mello courtesy of Roger Angell and Lyman Museum. Thanks to Kent Warshauer for additional information about this organ. |
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| Above: The ultra modern HILO THEATRE opened on the shores of Hilo Bay in 1940. Photo from the collection of John De Mello courtesy of Roger Angell and Lyman Museum. |
| A History of Hilo's Theatres by Lorna Arlen from the opening program for the HILO THEATRE, April 25, 1940 furnished by Miye Watanabe When a boy made a date with a girl in Hilo half a century ago, he might have said, “Let’s go and see the lan-tern slides.” For that was the entertainment equivalent of what is offered the modern boy and girl, who can see the latest motion pictures in luxurious surroundings and utter comfort. The lantern slides, first enter-tainment in a “theater” in Hilo, were shown in a hardware store at night. At first, the patrons had to stand during the entire show, and later when seats were installed, they were hard folding chairs or long benches without a back rest. A sensation was created in Hilo when a lantern slide lecture on the Russo-Japanese war of 1904 came to town. Another form of projected slide entertainment were the religious slides presented by John Kai, Sr. in churches at Kalapana, Puna. This was the port of call for ships in those days of the Hawaiian monarchy and royalty frequently attended these showings. The only form of commercial entertainment available to Hilo residents previous to the Kai projections were traveling shows presented at Billie Born’s Planing Mill, then situated on the present site of the Hilo armory. Adam Baker, veteran Hilo showman and theater owner, recalls these traveling shows which he attended as a very young boy. They were received with great enthusiasm by Hilo residents, he says. Kai began showing lantern slides as early as the year 1885. Two years later, the first legitimate plays in Hilo were presented in Spreckel’s Hall, on the present site of the Hilo Drug Co. This was a makeshift theater, with a capacity of about 250 when jammed, in the absence of fire laws. To this little entertainment hall came the Frawley show, Magician Zambuck and other troupes. Legitimate shows were, of course, few and far between and their infrequent appearances threw the town into a holiday mood. A few tent shows came to thrill the townsfolk of Hilo, the first one of any magnitude arriving in 1900. This show under the Big Top made its appearance in a lot where the American Factors’ lumber yard is now located. It was called the Great Worth Circus and made a vivid impression on the local populace. The first movie house in Hilo was established about the year 1903—the old Gaiety theater. It was operated in turn by George Vickers, E. K. Fernandez and John Kai, Jr. In 1911, Adam Baker took over the operation of the Gaiety theater and a few years later remodeled it, with a balcony addition which brought the capacity up to 1,000. In those early days a program consisted of a two reeler as the feature, and a travelogue and comedy as the supplementary program. A large blackboard in the lobby of the theater announced the present and coming attractions. Later on the features became longer, from two reels to three, then to four and eventually to the standard five reel film. Anything over five reels was considered a super-epic, of which “The Birth of a Nation” was the pioneer. The old Empire theater, which was opened about two years later, in 1905, presented the first serial drama which was “The Million Dollar Mystery.” Pearl White, Helen Holmes and Helen Gibson were the tremen-dously popular heroines of the first chapter dramas. There was only one projector in a theater, as equipment for the new kind of entertainment was very expensive. As a result, the audience had to wait while the operator changed reels. The machine was operated by hand and frequently the show lasted throughout the night. Power for the projection equipment In those days was generated from an old automobile. Pianolas were installed in the foyer or lobby of the movie houses and they ground out tin pan music to attract patrons to the theater. Inside, the pianist was provided with a cue sheet by the movie studio, so that he could help the audience achieve the proper emotional reaction to the performances of the silent stars. A year after the opening of the Empire theater the first Japanese movie house was established. It was the Yamatoza theater and was built on what is now Mamo street. The original site of the Empire theater is where the D. Y. Lau Dry Goods Co. now is located. In 1920 work on the new Empire theater was begun and the following year the new building was opened. Stanley T. Miyamoto, present manager of the Liberty theater in Honolulu, assumed control and operated it until 1933, when it was sold to the Consolidated Amusement Co. This purchase of the Empire theater was the second made by Consolidated in Hilo, for in 1931 Consolidated Amusement Co. had purchased the Palace theater on Haili street from Adam Baker. The Palace had been built by Baker in 1925, after he had closed the old Gaiety theater. Former theaters that played a prominent part in the history of entertainment in Hilo are the Mooheau, built in 1918 on the present site of the Qwonq Sing market, and the Waiakea. The Waiakea theater was built about the year 1915 and was taken over by the Empire theater owners five years later. It was closed in 1929 and remained dark until 1936 when it was remodeled and re-opened. The Royal theater was built in 1919, operated in turn by Adam Baker and Stanley Miyamoto, and bought by the Consolidated Amusement Co. in 1934. The present Mamo theater was built in 1921 under the name of Yura-Kwan, remodeled and re-named in 1937. After the establishment of movie theaters is Hilo, stage troupes continued to visit the city from time to time. One of the first stage shows presented in a Hilo motion picture house was that by a Liliputian troupe, which came from the Liberty theater in Honolulu. In 1915, the Bevani Opera Co. was presented at the Gaiety theater by Adam Baker. At about this time the De Fulco Opera Co. landed in Hilo after a long sea voyage, then proceeded to Honolulu where they gave performances at the old Hawaiian Opera House. |
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| Left: In 1979 the dilapidated MAMO THEATRE was still in operation two blocks from the Palace. The Mamo would continue to show movies until 1984. The interior had been updated in 1937 with a somewhat streamline-moderne style executed in canek wall and ceiling paneling and Buck Rogers style lighting fixtures. |
| EMPIRE THEATRE |
| MAMO THEATRE |
| HILO THEATRE |
| GAIETY THEATRE |
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| Right: The distinctive arched entry of the GAIETY THEATRE. The Gaiety was on Front Street (now Kamehameha Avenue) approximately where the Salvation Army store is now located. (See story above) This photo is from a glass plate negative in the HARRY A. WESSEL collection at Lyman Museum. CLICK HERE for the complete fascinating saga of the GAIETY by historian KENT WARSHAUER. We are looking for any other photos of the Gaiety, as well as other theatres such as the original EMPIRE, the WAIAKEA, the ROYAL, the YAMATOZA, and the MO'OHEAU. Please contact the WEBMASTER if you have or know of any other photos of Big Island theatres. |
| WAIAKEA THEATRE |
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| Photo by ROGER CORYELL, from the Archives of BISHOP MUSEUM. Thanks to DESOTO BROWN, of Bishop Museum, for his assistance in locating this photo. On November 4, 1952, water from a tsunami can be seen advancing up Kamehameha Avenue near the Waiakea Theatre. The Waiakea, along with most of the surrounding business and residential area, would be destroyed in 1960 by the major tsunami that also wrecked the Hilo Theatre. |