930 Market St. | map |
Opened: September 2, 1939. It was the first in a chain that
eventually had 13 newsreel houses around the country. The theatre was a
conversion of a building that had been a billiards hall. Thanks to Bob Ristelhueber for locating the photo in Boxoffice for a post on the BAHT Facebook page. He comments: "The photo was in the November 11 issue, so it was literally taken just a few weeks after the opening. The war in Europe broke out on September 1, the day before the theater opened!"
The theatre had a preview on September 1. This item appeared in that day's Examiner.
An article about the opening appearing in the September 2 Examiner.
The opening ad from the September 2, 1939 Examiner. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for combing the archives to locate these three items.
Seating: 399
"Free admission with every 6 inch hunting knife!" It's a January 1943 postcard.
The back of the 1943 card. Thanks to Glenn Koch for spotting this on eBay.
The theatre had a fire in March 1943. Thanks to Art Siegel for locating this April 1 Chronicle article about the reopening. See several exterior shots of the fire lower on the page.
An April 3, 1943 article in the Chronicle. Thanks for locating it, Art!
Status: The theatre closed in August 1967 and was demolished by the summer of 1968. Its neighbor the Esquire ran until 1972. The Esquire and Telenews sites are now part of Hallidie Plaza and the Powell St. BART station.
Interior views:
A lobby view from the Jack Tillmany collection.
A 1952 lobby shot from a trade magazine. Thanks to Dallas Movie Theaters for locating it for a post on Cinema Treasures.
An auditorium photo from the Jack Tillmany collection.
Exterior views:
The building that was remodeled in 1939 to become the Telenews is seen with a "Billiards" vertical in the center of this June 1921 photo. On the ground floor was The Wonder, a millinery shop, as well as several other retailers. Toward the left it's the Frolic, a theatre that would later become the Esquire. The photo appears courtesy of a private
collector on the Open SF History Project website. Also see a 1917 photo with the future Telenews building on the extreme left.
The marquee beyond that car on the right at 920 Market, here for a business called
"Stevie's Bar," was later Tait's Restaurant (1930-32), a barbershop
(1933), Ye Old College Inn (1934-5), a liquor store (1936-37), Ye Old
College Den (1938-40) and Howard's, a clothing store (1941 onward).
Thanks to Art Siegel for the research on 920.
A
photo of the 1939 Labor Day parade with Harry Bridges of the
Longshoremen's union in the foreground. The Davies Theatre vertical can
be seen on the left. Just beyond, the brand new Telenews had just opened
on September 1. Thanks to John A. Harris for locating the photo. The theatre was renamed the Esquire in 1940.
A c.1943 view by Meith Hagel for Life magazine. Thanks to Bob Ristelhueber for posting the photo on the BAHT Facebook page. This photo, and other 40s views that Mr. Hagel took in San Francisco, are on the site Vintage Everyday.
An early 40s view west toward the Telenews and Esquire. It's a photo by Meith Hagel for Life. It's on the site Vintage Everyday. Thanks to Ernie Manzo Jr. for spotting it.
A March 19, 1943 photo from the Jack Tillmany collection. He comments: "A fire broke out in the projection room of the Telenews. As a result of the damage, it was closed for ten days. These photos have had a lot of circulation in various forms. Here's the entire newspaper version of the entire street, pointing out the 2 firemen on the roof."
An early 40s view west toward the Telenews and Esquire. It's a photo by Meith Hagel for Life. It's on the site Vintage Everyday. Thanks to Ernie Manzo Jr. for spotting it.
A March 19, 1943 photo from the Jack Tillmany collection. He comments: "A fire broke out in the projection room of the Telenews. As a result of the damage, it was closed for ten days. These photos have had a lot of circulation in various forms. Here's the entire newspaper version of the entire street, pointing out the 2 firemen on the roof."
Another newspaper photo taken during the March 1943 Telenews booth
fire. The copy originally printed with the photo, more or less: "Smoke
from film and equipment blazing from a projection booth fire darkens the
front of the Telenews Theater in Market-st. where trolley cars and
automobiles were tied up in long lines and thousands watched the ??? One
man was hurt, 30 safely filed out of the theater." It's in the San Francisco Public Library collection.
A detail from the previous photo. The roof of the Telenews had been retouched with some added smoke. Another newspaper view from March 19, 1943. Here the roof of the Telenews was retouched with some extra smoke.
Another March 1943 fire view. The Battle of Buna was fought between November 1942 and January 1942. Thanks to Bill Gabel for locating this one for a post on Cinema Treasures.
A c.1943 look at the "War-O-Graph." It's a photo from the Jack Tillmany collection.
A July 1944 shot by an unknown photographer that appears on the Open SF History Project courtesy of a private collector. The damaged fighter plane was parked there to stimulate War Bond sales.
A 1945 photo by Waters with the Telenews showing footage of the "Battle of Manila," fought from February 3 until March 3. Thanks to Bennett Hall for sharing the photo on Flickr. He also has another version of it in a separate post. It also makes an appearance in the Market St. section of the blog San Francisco Pictures.
"Crowds on Market Street watch a movie marquee announce Germany’s surrender, May 1945." The photo taken by George De Carvahlo for the Chronicle appeared with a 2015 Peter Hartlaub story titled "San Francisco during World War II: A city that sacrificed." He noted that while people were jubilant, things didn't get out of hand like they did during the August VJ Day celebrations.
Jack Tillmany comments: "'Nazis Quit' was a RED HEADLINE in the Call Bulletin newspaper that today we would say "went viral" but was really somewhat of a false alarm that it was the end of WWII. The Japanese did not surrender until August 1945, which marked the official end of the war."
An August 15, 1945 V-J Day photo from the Jack Tillmany collection. The Esquire opened "Uncle Harry" and "The Woman in Green" that day. Jack comments:
"15 August was declared Victory Over Japan (V-J) Day, so that's the date of this photo. Hence the crowds but not much commotion. Lots of reports about unpleasant incidents and problems that were not made public at the time became newsworthy in later years, but the situation on Market Street seems under control at the time of these photos, despite the abundance of happy people." Art
Siegel adds: "According to Wikipedia, the treaty wasn't signed until
September, but the emperor announced the surrender on August 15th."
Officially, September 2 is now celebrated as V-J Day, the day of the
formal signing of the Instrument of Surrender aboard the USS Missouri in
Tokyo Bay.
An August 15, 1945 V-J Day photo from the Jack Tillmany collection. The Esquire opened "Uncle Harry" and "The Woman in Green" that day. Jack comments:
"15 August was declared Victory Over Japan (V-J) Day, so that's the date of this photo. Hence the crowds but not much commotion. Lots of reports about unpleasant incidents and problems that were not made public at the time became newsworthy in later years, but the situation on Market Street seems under control at the time of these photos, despite the abundance of happy people."
A look east from under the Telenews marquee on VJ Day. Cochran & Palm Billiards, the sign beyond, was at 924 Market. Thanks to Rich Mintz for the photo, one he says came from his pal Blaine of Blaine's father, recently back from combat. It'd one of four 1945 shots Rich added as comments to a post about the Golden Gate Theatre on the BAHT Facebook page.
A 1945 view after wartime lighting restrictions had been lifted. The photo appears on Flickr from ArchiTexty.
A
detail from the previous photo. On the Telenews marquee: "Allies Sweep
Into Reich - Chinese Battles Rage - That Men May Live." The dark Esquire
marquee is advertising Leo Gorcey in the November 1944 release "Bowery
Chumps" along with (presumably) the February 1945 release "Sing Me a
Song of Texas." The wall of the Warfield was promoting "A Tree Grows in
Brooklyn," a March 1945 release. Note the clock on the right saying it
was 9:35.
A July 17, 1947 photo from the Jack Tillmany collection. He comments: "Note the 'Welcome Stranger' flag. That's to promote the opening of the
Bing Crosby film of that title which opened that week at the St. Francis
across the street."
A March 18, 1948 shot by Marshall Moxom that's in the SFMTA Photo Archive.
They note that it was taken from the Kress Building, a structure that
had housed the Pantages Theatre until 1926. Thanks to Art Siegel for
locating it. It was Mark Hellinger's "The Naked City" with Barry
Fitzgerald playing at the Esquire and a program called "The Cold War" at the Telenews. Track
work was underway to go from four tracks to two. Step one was laying new
rails for the two tracks in the center.
A detail that Jack Tillmany extracted from the March 18 photo.
A
March 29, 1948 look down on the Esquire and the Telenews. The Pix is
there too (this side of the Esquire) but hard to see in this shot. It's another by
Marshall Moxom in the SFMTA Photo Archive.
A July 28, 1949 view of the Pix, Esquire and Telenews from the Jack Tillmany collection.
A January 1950 view by an unknown photographer. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for spotting the photo on the Open SF History Project website. The Esquire Theatre has "Lost Boundaries" and "Not Wanted" while the Telenews is showing "Nanook of the North."
A 1951 photo from the Vintage Kodachrome Slides Facebook page. The Pix (with signage saying "News") is running "The Secret of Convict Lake," an August release with Glenn Ford. At the Esquire it's Howard Hughes "Outlaw" with Jane Russell along with Ingrid Bergman in "Stromboli."
Pretty exciting -- it's the first west coast showing of "Eskimo Sea
Hunters" in 1952 -- along with a whole slew of other treats promised inside.
Thanks to Jack Tillmany
for the photo. It appears on
page 41 of his Arcadia Publishing book "Theatres of San Francisco." The page is included in the
preview on Google Books.
A
1952 view of the theatre running Nixon's Checkers speech -- and a
fight. The Cardinal Fotos shot is from the Tom B'hend - Preston Kaufmann
Collection, part of the Margaret Herrick Digital Library of the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences. Thanks to Bob Ristelhueber for finding the photo in the collection.
"Alive in the Deep" was at the Telenews and a
"Daring 4 Unit Show" was playing the Esquire at the time of the 1952
Thanksgiving Parade. The Chronicle photo appears with the 2020 SF Gate
article "San Francisco's forgotten Thanksgiving Day Balloon Parade."
This November 1955 News Call Bulletin photo looking east at the Pix, the Esquire and Telenews is in the collection of the San Francisco Public Library.
The copy printed with the photo: "EARLY END OF THIS PROMISED--Work such
as this, blocking the crosswalk at Market and Mason streets, will be
all cleaned up by Dec. 1, the city's Public Works Department has
promised, at least in the downtown shopping area. This utilities company
job is just one of several now under way."
A 1956 photo by street photographer Joseph Selle with the Telenews running Disney's "Sardinia." Thanks to Jack Tillmany for sending it along. For more about the strange career of this photographer and his business Fox Movie Flash, see the page on the website of Andrew Eskind about the collection of his photos. There's also an April 2017 Chronicle article about Selle.
A 1958 view west on Market from the Jack Tillmany collection. He comments: "This one's been around quite a bit -- it's one of my favorites. One of the rewards of getting old is being able to remember when Market Street looked like this!" Thanks to Matt Spero for some color correction.
Jack adds: "The
film playing at the Telenews is 'This is Russia,' which opened there in
mid-March 1958, which locks in the date of the photo. The theatre
verticals visible on the left side of the photo are the St. Francis,
United Artists and Embassy, and on the right
side, the Telenews, Esquire, Warfield, Paramount, Orpheum, and, in the
far distance, the Fox. Kress Department Store (on the left side) had
been the Pantages (1911-1926) before it moved up the street and became
the Orpheum in 1929. On the right side, LOCKERS, between the Paramount
and Orpheum, was just that, a lockers facility for visiting service
personnel."
A 1958 view from the SFMTA collection appearing on Flickr. Just beyond the Telenews we get a bit of the Esquire. And that Garfield Building that we see the east side of was the location of the Pix Theatre.
A detail extracted by Jack Tillmany from the 1958 SFMTA photo. Across the street the St. Francis was running "From the Earth to the Moon."
A 1959 view celebrating the theatre's 20th anniversary. It's a Stan Creighton photo for the Chronicle. The photo appeared with a 2011 Peter Hartlaub SF Gate piece "What Happened To S.F. Theaters."
A photo from the Jack Tillmany collection taken during the last week of August 1960.
A 1962 view with what looks like Burt Lancaster in "Birdman of Alcatraz" at the Esquire. TJ Fisher notes it played five there weeks beginning September 19. The Warfield and
Paramount are down the street and we get a bit of the Golden Gate's dome
peeking up. MUNI Car # 1 notes that it's "Going Nowhere In Particular."
On the right we have signage for George Christopher's unsuccessful
campaign for Lieutenant Governor. Nixon was running for Governor in that
election. Thanks to Sean Ault for sharing this photo from his
collection.
An image from a slide taken by Jack Tillmany in January 1963. It makes an appearance on the San Francisco Public Library website.
The main attraction at the Telenews was "Killers of Kwajalein" in this early 1967 photo. The Esquire running "First To Fight," a World War II drama with Chad Everett and Marilyn Devin that was out in January. The co-feature, "Battle of the Bulge" had initially played a 14 week reserved seat engagement in 70mm on the big Cinerama screen at the Golden Gate beginning December 22, 1965. Down the street the Crest and Warfield are visible. Thanks to Sean Ault for sharing the photo from his collection.
A January 1964 photo by John Harder appearing on the Open SF History Project website.
A
May 1964 look at the two theatres by Alan J. Canterbury. At
Blumenfeld's Esquire it's Fellini's "8 1/2" plus "Divorce Italian
Style." The Telenews had "The Land of the Long Day." The photo is in the San Francisco Public Library collection.
"A land of savagery & beauty - Africa raw - Serengeti - in vivid color." This look west at the Telenews, Esquire and Pix is from "San Francisco Market Street 1960s," three minutes of footage on YouTube from San Francisco Neon that was taken during the last week of December 1966. A watermarked version is on the Getty Images site. Thanks to Bob Ristelhueber for getting the screenshot and locating this for a post on the BAHT Facebook page.
The main attraction at the Telenews was "Killers of Kwajalein" in this early 1967 photo. The Esquire running "First To Fight," a World War II drama with Chad Everett and Marilyn Devin that was out in January. The co-feature, "Battle of the Bulge" had initially played a 14 week reserved seat engagement in 70mm on the big Cinerama screen at the Golden Gate beginning December 22, 1965. Down the street the Crest and Warfield are visible. Thanks to Sean Ault for sharing the photo from his collection.
A Summer 1967 shot of the theatre taken by Tterrace during a protest march. The photo appears on Shorpy. Thanks!
A detail from Tterrace's photo. Jack Tillmany comments: "Not sure just exactly what the Market Street March was all about, they were almost a weekly event by that time. But I like the juxtaposition of the name of the movie on the marquee."
An August 1967 photo with the Telenews playing their final bill: "Weird Wicked World," here with the added attraction
"High Arctic." The Esquire was running "Hurry Sundown" and
"Alfie." On the marquee they were also advertising their next attraction, a
first-run engagement of "Hell's Angels on Wheels." Down at the Warfield, in the center of the image, they
have "Fathom" with Raquel Welch. Many thanks to Sean Ault for sharing
this photo from his collection.
A view east with the final bill at the Telenews on the marquee. It's another photo from the Sean Ault collection. Thanks, Sean!
"No More Telenews," a great August 14, 1967 Chronicle article announcing the closing the following day. With the Telenews gone, there were then only two newsreel theatres left in the United States, both in New York. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for locating the article. The full page can be viewed on Newsbank.
KTVU covers the closing in August 1967. Thanks to Bob Ristelhueber for posting the screenshot on the BAHT Facebook page. The clip can be seen on the website of the Bay Area Television Archive.
An August 21, 1967 photo of the Pix, Esquire and Telenews taken by Jack Tillmany. Aren't you sorry you missed "Hell's Angels on Wheels"?
Comments from Jack in August 2017: "You'll have to excuse me for waxing nostalgic! FIFTY YEARS AGO, 21 August 1967, the 30 year old manager of the Piedmont Cinema took his little camera over to SF to record in color the recently-closed, about-to-be-demolished Telenews Theatre, along with its next door neighbors, the Esquire & Pix. The long-run mega-hit of the season was the definitive surfing semi-documentary, 'Endless Summer,' which had opened at the Vogue and did such sensational business they kept holding it over, but had to give it up due to prior commitments. The Larkin picked it up for an extended exclusive run, which went on and on also, month after month. So on the evening in question, I chose to finally knock it off, on one my typical 'busman's holiday' nights off. Great flick! Saw it again recently on TCM. Still great! Now a classic!"
A June 1968 view taken after demolition of the Telenews. The Esquire continued to run until July 1972. Beyond is the Pix in the Garfield Building. Its space is now used for retail. It's a Jack Tillmany collection photo. Thanks, Jack!
Comments from Jack in August 2017: "You'll have to excuse me for waxing nostalgic! FIFTY YEARS AGO, 21 August 1967, the 30 year old manager of the Piedmont Cinema took his little camera over to SF to record in color the recently-closed, about-to-be-demolished Telenews Theatre, along with its next door neighbors, the Esquire & Pix. The long-run mega-hit of the season was the definitive surfing semi-documentary, 'Endless Summer,' which had opened at the Vogue and did such sensational business they kept holding it over, but had to give it up due to prior commitments. The Larkin picked it up for an extended exclusive run, which went on and on also, month after month. So on the evening in question, I chose to finally knock it off, on one my typical 'busman's holiday' nights off. Great flick! Saw it again recently on TCM. Still great! Now a classic!"
A closer look at the closed theatre. It's a photo taken by Jack Tillmany on August 21, 1967. Thanks to Matt Spero for work on the color.
Demolition underway on the buildings east of the Telenews in November 1967. BART construction had begun. It's a photo by James A. Martin that appears on the SF Memory website courtesy of Donnie Weaver. Thanks to Art Siegel for locating it in the collection. Also see another take, from a bit farther up Powell.
Working in front of the doomed theatre in November 1967. It's a photo by James A. Martin that appears on the SF Memory website courtesy of Donnie Weaver. Thanks to Art Siegel for locating it in the collection.
A
November 1967 photo taken by Tom Gray that's in the Jack Tillmany
collection. Note the Cleveland Wrecking
signage on the Telenews marquee.
A facade detail taken by Clay Geerdes in late 1967 or early 1968. Thanks to David Miller for sharing the photo on the San Francisco Remembered Facebook page.
A December 1967 or January 1968 view from the Sean Ault collection. Just out of the frame to the left, that lower readerboard at the Esquire (readable on another shot taken at the same time) said "Doctor Doolittle - United Artists - January 24."
Looking west toward the Telenews and Esquire in March 1968. It's another photo by James A. Martin that appears on the SF Memory website courtesy of Donnie Weaver. Thanks to Art Siegel for locating it.
The vertical sign had been removed from the Telenews. It's a detail from an April 1968 photo by Tom Gray that's in the Jack Tillmany collection. The full photo can be seen on the Open SF History Project website, where they date it as 1965.
A June 1968 view taken after demolition of the Telenews. The Esquire continued to run until July 1972. Beyond is the Pix in the Garfield Building. Its space is now used for retail. It's a Jack Tillmany collection photo. Thanks, Jack!
More Information: Jack Tillmany's Arcadia Publishing book "Theatres of San Francisco" can be previewed on Google Books. It's available from Amazon or your local bookseller. the Telenews is discussed on page 41.
Cinema Treasures has a page on the Telenews. San Francisco Bay Area Television Archive has a clip about the closing of the theatre.
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