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Palace
on Main .
Plaza |
135 N.
Main .
Opened 1907
. Closed c.1914 . 800 Seats |
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This was an earlier Palace Theatre at 135 N. Main which opened
in 1907, long before the Palace on Beale. It was originally owned by Jack Amick
who also owned Amick's Vaudeville Exchange,
headquartered at the same address. This Palace also
featured Vaudeville shows between films. In 1908 Jack
became the first manager of The Lyric Theatre. The Main
Street Palace was listed in the Memphis Directories from 1908
to 1914.
The name changed to
PLAZA
in 1914 for one year. |
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Palace on
Main |
Jack Amick |
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Palace Ad -
Bilboard 1907 |
Bilboard
1908 |
Bilboard
1908 |
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| Jack Amick |
Jack's memo
.... |
1907
Confirms movies |
Billboard 1909 |
Billboard
1908 |
Billboard 1909 |
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Bilboard
1909 |
Billboard
1913 |
Billboard 1908 |
Billboard List 1908 |
Billboard
List 1909 |
Palace
location |
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The letter below*
on Palace Theater letterhead was written
in 1912 by John F. Schurmeyer, who was the proprietor of the Palace
at the time. The manager, Arch Schwalb's name appears on
the letterhead. Both names and titles have been confirmed in
the 1912 Memphis Directory. The letter of recommendation was
written for Jack Leroy, a vaudeville comic who did
dialect and character impersonations. He also produced musical
stock and his company had been successfully appearing at the Palace
for some time. The additional newspaper articles are from
Billboard and the NY Clipper, and discuss when Arch Schwalb
originally leased the Palace and verify that the Palace had
an extensive and successful vaudeville program. The new material (below) verifies that
the Main Street Palace was more important than was
previous believed. |
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| Jack LeRoy's
stock Company -
Billboard 1911 |
Billboard
1911 - Jack LeRoy |
NY Clipper
1913 |
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From Billboard 1907:
"The Palace, a moving
picture and vaudeville theatre, under the management of Jack Amlck,
is drawing crowded houses at every performance. It opened In April
as a moving picture theatre, but later on Mr. Amick
added vaudeville acts with seven performances daily of thirty
minutes each, three of which are given in the afternoon and four in
the evening. This innovation met with immediate success and the
Palace has been drawing an increased attendance every day. The Amick
Vaudeville Exchange has formed a circuit In the South and are now
operating houses outside of Memphis in Meridian,
Hattlesburg and Btloxl, Miss.: Mobile, Ala.; Pensacola. Fla.; New
Orleans, Baton Rouge and Shreveport. La. Work has been started on
houses In Little Rock, Ark., Jackson and Laurel, Miss., and
Montgomery, Ala., which will be added to the circuit. Mr. Amick is
reported to have made $20,000 in the past six months in amusement
enterprises and the performers playing in his houses speak of him as
being one of the best managers in the business. By hard work Mr.
Amick has come fast to the front as an owner and manager, and his
many friends will be more than glad to know that he is making good". |
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Also see
the
Palace
Theatre
at 324
Beale Street ...
Click Here |
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Please visit
the website that sponsors this page |
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Historic Memphis Website |
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Credits |
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The
Historic-Memphis website does not intentionally post copyrighted
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On
occasion a "non-credited" photo might possibly be posted because we
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page. |
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The "Historic-Memphis" website would like to acknowledge and thank the
following for their contributions which helped make this website
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