Montreal Cinema History 1884-1929

Montreal Movie Theatre History 1884-1929

1884
Theatre Français opens on St. Catherine east of St. Lawrence
Timeline:
(Odeon) 1905 name changes to Billy Moore's Lyceum
* 1905 Sharh Bernhardt performs there.
* 1920 The Loew's chain in New York (Now Loew's Cineplex) renovates and renames it Loew's Court
* 1924 it is rename back to Français
* 1960 policy changes to French movies
* 1970 name changes to Eros, shows pornos
* 1981 Closes.
* 1986 Reopens as Club Metropolis (a nightclub)

June 27,1896
Motion Pictures are first shown in Canada for the first time at the Palace Theatre at 972 St. Lawrence at Viger.

November 7, 1898
Her Majesty's (His Majesty's) opens on Guy St. above St. Catherine
Timeline:
* 1932 Consolidated takes over
* 1963 Closes, it is now a parking lot.

August 1907
North America's first luxury cinema opens the Ouimetoscope on St. Catherine east at Montcolm.
Timeline:
* 1930 Renamed the Canadien
* 1980 Renamed back to Ouimetoscope and split into two cinemas
* 1989 A third screen is added
* 1992 Closes.

September 1907
Bennett's Theatre opened at 525 St. Catherine west,
Timeline:
* 1910 Renamed the Orpheum
* 1919 Shows "Birth of a Nation."
* 1930 Became part of the Consolidated chain
* 1963 Demolished to make way for an office building

1908
Fairyland opens on Notre-Dame and Inspector it closes in 1955

1909
The Gaiety opens at 539 St. Catherine west,
Timeline:
* 1912 Renamed as London.
* 1917 Renamed as Holman.
* 1921 Renamed as System.

* 1974 Renamed as Cine 539 and started porno movies.
* 1992 The front facade of 1917 is restored and the theatre is made into a video store and movie store. The Cine 539 is a small mini-cinema in the back.
* Late April 2000, The Cine 539, the last downtown porno theatre closes down, it is now a store.

1912
The Corona opens on Notre-Dame in St. Henri.
It stopped showing movies in 1958, later used as a warehouse until 1998. It is now a theatre for plays, The facade has been restored in 1999
It was part of Confederation Amusements chain.

The Midway opens on St. Lawrence below St. Catherine, It later became the Eve in
1971 and burned in 1994.

The Colonial opens on St. Catherine west next to the Place.
Timeline:
* 1915 renamed Connaught.
* 1920 renamed Regal.
* 1932 renamed Cinema de Paris. (Not to be confused with Cinema de Paris at the corner of Mansfield.
* 1941 renamed Newsreel.
* 1943 renamed Victory.
* 1945 renamed back to Cinema de Paris.
* 1960 closes as a cinema. It is now Club Supersexe

Confederation Amusements opens the Laurier Palace at Ste. Catherine east at Prefonaine.
It burned in 1927 killing 77 mostly kids. For the next 40 years kids less than 16 were not allowed in cinemas in Quebec.

Dec. 7 1912
The Strand opens at 912 St. Catherine west.
Timeline
* 1968 renamed as Pigalle and with the Midi-Minuit became the first porno theatres in Canada.
* 1973 Demolished by Famous Players to make way for an office complex called Centre Capitol.

1913
The Dominion theatre opens on the west side of Papineau north of Mount Royal.
* 1960 The Dominion Stopped showing movies. And is rented out to the Jehovah's Witnesses.
* 1967 The comedian Gilles Latulippe buys it and renamed the Théâtre des Variétés.
* 2000 May the Théâtre de Variétés will close.

April 1913
The Imperial Theatre opens on Bleury St. north of St. Catherine.
Timeline:
* 1934 The Imperial was rented to Leo Ernest Ouimet.
* 1936 RKO Radio Pictures sells it to Consolidated Theatres.
* 1950 The Imperial was renovated.
* 1954 The Imperial was renovated for Cinerama.
* 1970 It is sold to Cinema International Ltee.
* 1974 renamed as Cine Centre
* 1975 Split into two cinemas.
* 1976 Renamed Imperial.
* 1980 United Theatres (Part of Famous Players) buys it back.
* 1981 The Imperial is restored and reopens with "Raiders of the Lost Ark"
* 1986 The Imperial became the first cinema in Quebec to receive THX certification.
* 1995 Famous Players donated it to the Montreal film festival.

October 1914
The Globe opens on St. Lawrence south of Duluth.
Timeline:
* 1927 renamed as Hollywood.
* 1965 renamed as Cinema D' Orsay
* 1969 renamed as Pussycat and show pornos.
* 1981 renamed as L'Armour.

March 4, 1916
The Regent opens at 5117 Park Av.
Timeline:
* 1973 It is taken over by a group led by R. Smith and it is renamed Le Beaver
* 1986 Renamed Le Laurier.
* January 1988 Demolished by Baron Byng Construction Inc.

March 4 1916
The St. Denis is opened just north of St. Catherine east.
Timeline:
* 1972 two small cinemas, Pierrot and Chevalier are added next to St. Denis.
* 1979 Stopped showing movies
* 1997 Cineplex Odeon opens the Quartier Latin 17 next to the St. Denis
The St. Denis has been with France-Film.

1917
The Princess opens at 476 St. Catherine West
* 1963 renamed Le Parisien and the upper balcony is closed off.
* 1974 Le Parisien is closed for renovations and gutted.
* 1975 Le Parisien reopens with five cinemas.
* 1977 The First International Film Festival is held here.
* 1989 Two more screens are added
It is now part of the Famous Players chain.

November 19, 1917
Montreal's Grandest movie palace opens as a vaudeville house at 952 St. Catherine west.
Timeline.
* Feb. 1940 Vaudeville policy ends with "Gone With the Wind"
* 1975 Closes after the last showing of "Jaws"
* December 1976 Reopens with five screens with cinema one in the orchestra, cinema three in the balcony, cinema two over the orchestra, cinema four and five in the backstage area. The Opening Movie is "King Kong" in all five cinemas, French in Cinema 1 and Italian in Screen 3.
* Oct 1999 Closed and sold to Club Med.
It is part of the Famous Players chain.

September 1918
The Westmount Theatre is opened at Sherbrooke and Grey.
* 1923 The Westmount Theatre is one of the 35 Allen Theatre bought cheap by Famous Players.
* 1973 the name changed to Claremount to avoid confusion with the Cinema at Westmount Square.
* 1984 Gutted for a drugstore.

November 20 1920
The Belmont opens at the Southeast corner of Mt Royal and Clark. It is closed and demolished in 1959

April 2, 1921
The Capitol Opens at 890 St. Catherine West at Mc Gill College. The opening program is "Forbidden Fruit."
Timeline
* 1950 Air Conditioning is installed.
* December 1956 The Ten Commandants opens.
* October 1973 Closed and with the Pigalle they are demolished by Famous Players for a office tower.

April 16, 1921
The Papineau Theatre is opened at the corner of Mount Royal.
Timeline:
* about 1940 a new marquee is installed
* 1977 The Papineau is twinned and started a porno policy.
* 1982 Brief name change to Cinema X
* 1987 The Papineau is bought by Germain Cadieux and reopens as a repertory cinema.
* 1988 Closed.

May 20, 1921
The Allen opens at 698 St. Catherine west
Timeline:
* Spring 1922 the Allen is bought by Famous Players for $19,000 and renames it the Palace.
* Sept 1 1928 The first Talking picture opens at the Palace.
* 1935 Renovated.
* October 1953 The Palace shows the first wide-screen movie "The Robe" in CinemaScope
Prices were $.75 in the mornings, $1 for matinees and $1.50 evenings, the ad reads
"CinemaScope the modern miracle you see without glasses"
* July 1980 Closed and gutted.
* 1981 Reopens with six modern cinemas.
* 1995 The Palace becomes a discount house.
* Oct 1999 Notice at the entrance asking for approval for conversion into a parking Garage
* Jan 2000 Closes.
HAVE A LOOK AT THE PALACE GALLERY.

1922
Timeline:
The Plaza is opened at 6505 St. Hubert near Beaubien.
* 1970 Michael Costom buys it and splits it into two cinemas.
* 1977 The Plaza is closed.

1923
The Rex opens in St Anne de Bellevue
Timeline:
* 1968 becomes the Film Box.
* 1984 Closes
* 1999 Reopen as the rex, closes in 2000

Dec 27 1924
The Rialto opens on the east of Park Avenue north of Bernard.
Timeline:
* mid 1960's Sold by United Theatres.
* 1987 Stopped showing Greek movies.
* 1990 reopens
* 1994 closed.
* 1998 Renovented into a club without a permit

June 1 1926
The Amherst opens on Ste. Catherine east.
Timeline:
*1968 Renamed Arleqluin
*1979 Closed.
It has been with the Premier Theatres of Toronto.

December 18, 1926
* The Rivoli opens on St-Denis at Belanger.
Timeline:
* 1974 Split into two screens
* 1982 Closed and gutted.
It has been with the United Theatre chain.

January 5, 1927
The Rosemont opens on Masson and 11th Av.
* March 11,1966 The Building is bought by Odeon and renames it the Montcolm
* 1980 closed and converted into a drugstore and medical building.
It was with United Theatres from 1927-1966, then with Odeon 1966-1980

Late 1927

The Empress Theatre Opens at 5560 Sherbrooke west at Old Orchard.
Timeline:
* May 19 1928 Official opening.
* 1959 Confederated Amusement is bought out by United Theatres.
* 1962 Stopped showing movies and it became the Cabaret called the Royal Follies
* 1968 Plained down and divided along the balcony and became the Cinema V
* 1974 Briefly changes it name to The Home of Blue Movies.
* 1975 Policy changes to repertory and became the Montreal home of the cult classic "The Rocky Horror Picture Show".
* 1988 Famous Players buys it.
* 1992 Fire closes it down, never to reopen.

Sept 1 1928
The Palace shows the first Theatre in Canada to show talking pictures, "The Street Angel"

1929
Confederated Amusements Opens the Cartier on Notre Dame west in St Henri.
Timeline:
* 1930 Switched to French double bills.
* Mid 1950's Stopped showing movies.
* 1960 Alberto Teodori buys it and reopens it as first a teen dance hall then a nightclub called Cartier Dome
* 1970 Teodori rents it out to Dawson College for their drama department.

March 22 1929
The Seville Opens on Ste. Catherine west near the Forum.
Timeline:
* 1950 Renovated.
* April 1965 "The Sound of Music" plays for 2 years.
* 1975 Sold by United Theatres
* 1984 Shut down by 139387 Canada Inc. and left to crumble.

October 1929
Confederated Amusements Opens the Outremount.
Timeline:
* 1971 The Outremount starts an Repertory policy
* 1987 The Outremount is mothballed.
* 2002 Reopened as a performing arts centre, some movies are still shown.

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