A Peterborough Movie-Going History

A list of Peterborough movie theatres, 1897 to present.

A profile of the economic, cultural, and social makeup of Peterborough around 1907, when the very first local motion picture theatres were launched. The city in those days was a flourishing and prosperous place: a newly industrialized, middle-sized commercial and agricultural centre, thoroughly white and homogeneous, not completely welcoming to “foreigners” – and with a mixed and complicated relationship to the territory’s original inhabitants.

Peterborough’s first major showplace, Bradburn’s Opera House, was a community gathering hub and hotpoint for famous visitors and events for almost thirty years. The building that housed it was demolished, along with others, in the 1970s.

The busy life of Peterborough’s most prestigious theatre, from its beginnings in 1905 to the thriving period of the mid-1920s.

This one is a theatre outdoors, under the pines of Jackson Park: concert band music, the earliest of motion pictures, and throngs of listeners and watchers, with a few of them, sometimes, getting into trouble.

From a penny arcade (November 1906) to a low-cost storefront cinema (January 1907): the advent of the motion picture theatre.

The second of Peterborough’s early storefront motion picture theatres was called Wonderland, and it was said to be a cozy place indeed.

“That the public of Peterborough is generally interested in and amused by motion pictures,” said the Review in September 1909, “is beyond dispute.”

The birth and early years of Peterborough’s first non-storefront theatre — established by the Greek cigar-store merchant Mike Pappas.

How the Princess Theatre, est. 1909, became “the People’s Amusement House” — and eventually the Tiz-It.

The new Empire Theatre, established 1914, the brainchild of a veterinary surgeon and livery business operator, Dr. Fred Robinson.

The Allen Theatre, 344–346 George St. N., part of a national theatre chain, briefly supplanted the Royal.

The “cozy little theatre around the corner” — from Ken Maynard and Tom Mix to Gene Autry and Roy Rogers, from the great silent film Sunrise to countless comedies and romances, and plenty of Foto Nites.

The Capitol Theatre – the closest thing Peterborough ever had to a “movie palace” –would turn out to be one of the city’s longest-running movie theatres – and also the city’s first theatre (but not the last) under foreign control.

The return of the Royal – with Mike Pappas coming and going – and its few precious years of thriving cultural life and all too sudden death.

How the once flourishing Grand Opera House shifted ownership, screened its last movie, went into a long, slow decline – and almost became the Granada.

How the Centre Theatre – in its day, Peterborough’s only independent movie house and a community-oriented family haven – had its time of importance and brilliance on Theatre Row before coming to a dismal end in 1956.

The first of Peterborough’s postwar theatres, the Odeon (opened December 1947) had a British connection (at first), a popular “Kids Club” on Saturday mornings, and the first movie theatre snack bar.

From its gala opening in December 1948 to its abrupt closing in 1986, Famous Players Canada’s Paramount Theatre was Peterborough’s highest-quality movie theatre – the “grand dame of Peterborough cinemas.”

“The girl in the box office” — for decades a welcoming face in the box office of the Centre, Paramount, and Odeon theatres was that of Marg Howe — always ready to sell tickets, and most likely with a smile, she was in the theatres from 1942 to 1977.

The iconic silent film actor Mary Pickford comes to Peterborough for a quick wartime visit, creating quite a stir — after appearing on screen countless times since 1909.

From the beginning, long before there were popcorn machines, there were projectionists. Whether called “operators” or “projectionists,” they’ve been around since the beginning of motion picture exhibition – as necessities, at least until the arrival of the digital era — skilled workers performing countless and mostly uncelebrated tasks. Mostly men, too — but then along came Joy Simmonds.

Introducing a number of prominent Peterborough projectionists: Emile Baumer, Harry Ristow, Ernest Young, and Don Corrin. A “niche trade” with a variety of different cinematic experiences — and, with the advent of the digital age, a dying breed.

In the early years of film exhibition in Peterborough, by far the most long-lasting and colourful local “theatre man” was a Greek cigar store merchant name Mehail Pappakeriazes, better known as Mike Pappas. Just what eventually happened to him remains a bit of a mystery.

Hatching new Ideas, building audience, finding trouble: how an enterprising young theatre man, referred to as a local “moving picture magnate,” swept the town by storm before coming to a tragic end.

A case study of early motion picture publicity and an oddity: the legendary Buffalo Bill comes to town, more than once – first in person and later on screen and in the form of a somewhat inebriated impersonator. But then a Buffalo Bill show performance graduate, Oklahoma Jack, lives in town from 1922 to 1959 – itching to add his voice to the story.

From silent films to the sergeant’s mess and more: making music, teaching music, and influencing generations: the life of Mrs. Eveline Foster

Tracking down the life story of an illusive film-maker — and the man who established the first motion picture theatre in Peterborough.

Walter “Curley” Noyes is one of those people who spent a lifetime working in the downtown theatres.