Karen Bachmann is the director/curator of the Timmins Museum and a writer of local history. The building was sold and remodeled as a shopping complex. While there was an attempt to try to save the old theatre, it was not to be. ![]() The Palace ended its run as a theatre in the 1980s. Proceeds from the grand opening night were donated to the Children’s Aid Society, St, Mary’s Hospital and the Timmins branch of the Royal Canadian Legion. The evening’s program included news reels, a sports feature, a “Popeye” cartoon and the featured presentation “Strike Me Pink” starring Eddie Cantor. Bartleman said a few words and cut the ribbon, officially declaring the theatre open for business. The evening itself included speeches from the president of the local board of trade, telegrams from Hollywood studios, floral tributes and the like. The opening of the Palace Theatre took up much of the eight-page newspaper that day. “Supported by two immense pillars, the arch over the top of the stage is surmounted by the Coat of Arms of Canada, true in proportion, colour and relief.”Īn orchestra pit was installed below the stage a 13-piece orchestra led by Gordon Archibald played on opening night. The Goldfields, located at the corner of Third Avenue and Balsam Street (and it is still there today) was one of the finest in the North and combined a full stage and movie screen. Blahey joined forces to start the Timmins Theatre Company.īy 1925, Timmins needed yet another movie house, so the Goldfields Theatre came to be. Motion pictures were gaining in popularity, and live acts were still a big draw – one theatre could not cope with the growth, so, Leo Mascioli, Pete Bardessono, Charles Pierce, Frank Bych and N. With a seating capacity of 650, it was up-to-date, modern and a credit to the community. The new place could accommodate 450 people and met all the new regulations for theatres and movie houses – but again, the town would outgrow the theatre, so the little theatre was replaced with the New Empire Theatre in 1916. Unwind and catch up with friends as you get ready to be transported to another. While tickets are from 3, the price includes tea, coffee, and biscuits, served before the film. Article contentīy 1914, the boys had outgrown their little theatre, so the Empire Theatre was built on Third Avenue. Join us at ODEON Silver s, our special screenings during quieter times of the day, where we show a selection of new, talk-of-the-town releases and timeless classics. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Considering that the industry was very, very new (the first screening in Canada happened in Montreal in 1896, the first Canadian film was made in 1897), they were certainly on the ground floor of a booming new industry. Probably in no other line has his work been more noteworthy than in the providing of facilities for entertainment and amusement of the people of this part of the North.”įor the Porcupine, it all started in 1913 when Leo, along with his business partners Pete Bardessono, Bill Novarre and a man named Watson, opened a small 150-seat theatre in Timmins in order to provide entertainment for the new residents of the gold mining town. 10th, 1936, “Leo Mascioli has been a genuine pioneer of the North in many lines and many ways. Locally, the Porcupine enjoyed a number of movie houses that offered that silver screen experience – and many of those theatres owed their existence to Leo Mascioli.Īccording to an article in the Porcupine Advance, written on the occasion of the grand opening of the Palace Theatre, Feb. Elaborate theatres helped permeate that illusion. We are still a triplex second run theater offering $2.00 matinee and $3.00 shows.Bringing Hollywood glamour north of the border was definitely “a thing” during the depression years. My wife has been the manager ,off and on, of the theater sence 1986. A year later we were offered the ownership of the theater to the third owners us and we changed the name back to The Silver Screen Theater. In 2000 he sold the Hollywood Theater to the second owner. At or around 1997 the original owner changed the name to the Hollywood Theater. ![]() In 1991 it was rebuilt and continued operating as the Silver Screen. Around 1990-91 the Silver Screen caught fire and mostly burned down. In 1989 the owner changed the name to the Silver Screen. ![]() ![]() The theater opened in 1983 under the name of the Cinema Tavern it was a beer house theater that showed second run movies for a dollar. We are the third owners of this wonderful movie theater. Thank you for reviewing the Silver Screen.
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