The Cosy Theater. 1913 -1931 Caledonia's first movie theatre.

      

 

Wed Sept. 3 1913.

 Barney O'Rourke, proprietor to The Exchange Hotel (54 Argyle Street N),  is granted a license to put on a Movie Picture show in the building he had constructed to the left of the Hotel.  Built in 1910 with fire proof cement blocks, the building had space for two businesses, a large basement, and an apartment above.  The Cosy Theatre was to be on the left side, the right side was up for rent.     

   

  

Wed. Sept 17 1913 Grand River Sachem Reports the Grand opening of the Cosy Theatre.  

Grand Opening, Thursday evening at 7 o'clock. General Admission: .10 cents

The grand opening of the new "Cosy Theatre," in this village, will take place on Thursday evening. The theatre is one of the most up-to-date in Ontario, and so arranged that everyone in the building can see the pictures. Everything is new and presents a very striking appearance.

Two large doors are in the front of the building and one at the back, and the theatre being on the ground floor, it could be vacated in a few minutes no matter how many were present. No expense has -been spared in the fitting up of the building both for comfort and appearance. The Caledonia Band will be present on the opening night, when all the new photo-plays and illustrated songs will be shown, The "Cosy" will be open every, night and a" matinee on Saturday afternoons. The general admission will be ten cents, and five cents for children. The proprietor are Messrs. Cairns and O'Rourke, who will do everything in their power to put on nothing but the newest, and best pictures. Call around on the opening night and see what you think of it ..

 The Cosy theatre attracted a full house practically every evening.  Stella Dowdy, Cecilia Neville and Tom O'Rourke provided the music on a player piano.  Grand River Sachem reported they showed a matinee at 3 pm on Christmas and New Years.

Nov 1913 - The Cosy Theatre places it first advertisement in the Grand River Sachem.

They now advertised in every issue of the Sachem. The Cosy wouldn't advertise what was playing, and kept this simple advertisement for 3 years. Occasionally they would include this basic set of rules on the same page.

Jun 01 1914 - The Cosy theatre installs electric fans which will distribute the summer breeze evenly and will lower the temperature on a hot night form 10 - 15 degrees from air outside

Wed. Feb. 10, 1915 - The Grand River Sachem reports a new film is being shown at the Cosy.  

Lucille Love, Girl of Mystery (1914) was the first serial produced by Universal Studios. Directed by Francis Ford ( The older brother of John Ford) and starring Grace Cunard.  It was 15 chapters, two reels per chapter.   The serial is now considered to be lost with only four episodes surviving.  Fragments were accidentally discovered in 1978 in the Klondike Gold Rush town of Dawson City, Yukon, Canada.  A construction excavation uncovered 533 reels of silent era nitrate films that had been buried under an abandoned hockey rink in 1929. 

 

Wed May 12,1915. The Outside of The Cosy is painted white.   

April 04, 1916 -   The Cosy runs Ford sponsored picture shows about Fords assembly line process. 

The Henry Ford You tube channel has a video complication of those films.

Wed May 17 1916.  A 1 cent war tax is added to adult theatre tickets at The Cosy Theatre. 

The Special War Revenue Act, instituted in February 1915, put a tax on most goods and services, including a 1cent tax on letters and postcards. An amusement tax (often 10%) was also levied by some cities and provinces, with a portion of the proceeds in some cases explicitly going to the war effort.

Wed March 08 1916 A lecture on Fighting the German menace by Dr. Joseph T. Mandy. 

  With 8 reels of War moving pictures. Actual war scenes taken from the front.

Wed Oct 25 1916 - The first Mary Pickford and Charlie Chaplin films are shown in Caledonia. 

The Cosy also announce they will be advertising what is playing each week at the theatre. 

 

Wed Nov 08 1916 

Wed Nov 29 1916  The first horror movie plays in Caledonia The Mystery of the Rue Morgue (1914)

         

          

Wed Dec 27 1916 - The Cosy Theatre gets a new Projector and a new advert. 

 

 

July 14 1917  The price of admission is raise to 15 cents.

Wed Oct 03 1917 - The Cosy begins advertising single films. 

 

 

Interestingly, the first 3 are Vitagraph films.
A pioneering film studio from Brooklyn New York 1897, they produced some of the most popular and innovative films of the time; They were the first to use stop motion animation. They were known to be the first studio to have a "stable of Stars," including Florence Turner; The Vitagraph Girl, one of the world's first movie stars. Vitagraph films were acquired by and absorbed into Warner Brothers in 1925.

        

Wed Dec 05 1917. 

The Cosy places a half page advertisement in the Grand River Sachem.   
To accommodate the Orchestra required for the soundtrack, Barney O'Rourke rents a floor in the Opera house for one night to show D.W. Griffiths film Birth of a Nation. The first 12 reel film that wasn't a serial.  It was shown in two parts separated by an intermission, and it was the first American-made film to have a musical score for an orchestra.  It is innovative in style, editing and direction. The film was controversial even before its release and it has remained so since. It was denied release in the state of Ohio and the cities of Chicago, Denver, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and Minneapolis. Griffith's indignation at efforts to censor or ban the film motivated him to produce Intolerance the following year.

   

Make no mistake, this film was always racist. 

It was thought of as racist back then, and so was the book it was based on.  

                                                              

 

Jan 06 1918 The Cosy advertises that Pictures changed 3 times a week.

1918 - The Cosy begins using larger advertisements with images in the Sachem for feature films.

March 27, 1918

May 27 1918

Jun 26, 1918

Wed. July, 10 1918.  The Cohen brothers rent the store beside The Cosy Theatre.  

It will take 200 years before this becomes kinda funny.

Aug 28 1918  The Cosy use this advertisement for the rest of the year.

Wed Feb 12 1919 -  The Cosy's projectionist Lorne Butler gets typhoid fever.

The Sachem reported he "..went to his home in Simcoe a couple of weeks ago, is now laid up with typhid (sic) fevcr and is in a very serious condition.  His sister died from the fever and last week he and his father and brother were taken to the Brantford hospital, all suffering from typhoid." 

Wed Jun 4 1919 The Cosy Theatre shows a Mutt and Jeff animated film.  Mutt and Jeff were one of the first daily comic strips, printed in most major newspapers at time, including the Sachem.  

July 1919 The Cosy was showing films from some of the greatest stars of their time.  

Tom Mix, the first Cowboy superstar. He made 291 movies throughout his career, most of which are considered lost now, including this film.   

He was good friends with Wyatt Earp, and served as Pallbearer at his funeral.

  

 Theda Bara, the silent era sex symbol, was so well known for playing the femme fatale role, she was nicknamed The Vamp. Her most famous film, Cleopatra (1917) is now considered lost. Thought to be lost in the Fox vault fire of 1937 which destroyed most of Fox silent films produced before 1935. 

   
 

Wed Oct 08 1919,  Again, to make room for the Orchestra required for the soundtrack, Barney O'Rourke rents out the Opera house for the D.W Griffith film  "The Great Love"

The film stars George Fawcett and Lillian Gish. Set during World War I, exterior scenes were shot on location in England. The Great Love is now considered to be a lost film.   

Dec 10, 1919 - The Cosy Theatre plays The Clever Mrs. Carfax (1917) directed by Donald Crisp. Starring the legendary drag performer Julien Eltinge.  

  This film is considered lost.  

Jan 07 1920  The Cosy stops showing films on Wednesdays and Thursdays  until further notice.

Jan 14 1920  The Cosy Theatre uses this same advert until March 24 1920 

March 24, 1920 The Cosy plays Micky (1918) starring the legendary Mabel Normand, directed by F. Richard Jones and James Young. According to Mack Sennett's 1954 autobiography, King of Comedy, the film was perceived to be a flop when released in 1918.  It struggled to find an audience during the 1918–1920 flu pandemic.  Mickey was re-released each year into 1921.  During that time, an estimated 41.8 million tickets were sold for the film, making it the most-attended film of the silent era.

     

Dec 1920  The Cosy ends the year with the 15 chapter serial The Lost City (1920) starring Juanita Hansen.  The first film to use wild animals in action sequences.  It was advertised at the time that it was filmed in Africa; in truth, it was actually filmed on a studio lot in California with ex circus animals.  The Cosy Theatre plays this serial for 3 months, through the next year until March 9, 1921.  

Wed April 27 -The Cosy announces it is open 6 nights a week, and will be playing the brand new, 6 reel Charlie Chaplin film "The kid" on select dates in May & June.  
The Kid (1927) written, produced, directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin. Featuring Jackie Coogan. This was Chaplin's first full-length film as a director. It was a the most popular film of 1927.  Now considered one of the greatest films of the silent era.

July 06 1921 The Cosy runs this basic ad. every week until 1924.

April 12 1922   The Cosy announces a new rule in the Grand River Sachem.  

  "Little children will not be admitted to the Cosy Theatre unless accompanied by their       parent or other adult. "

Dec  13 1922  - Young boys making a nuisance. 

1924 The Cosy returned to advertising its feature films in The Sachem, the Sachem would also write mini reviews of the films in Local and Personal. 

    

Dec 25 1924 -  The Cosy Christmas day Feature was the Tom Mix film Heart Buster (1924)  Boxing day feature was the comedy Why Men leave home ( 1924)

Wed Feb. 11 1925 Grand River Sachem prints The Corporation of Caledonia finances,  

revealing The Cosy Theatre pays a license fee of $25.00 a year. 

(Its hilarious that if you missed an exam in high school, they published your name in the newspaper.) 

April  08 1925  Sea Hawk (1925) was the most popular film of 1925.  Director Frank Lloyd recognized that moviegoers of 1924 would be put off by miniature models, and instructed that full-sized ships be created for use in the film at a cost of $200,000.  A movie with the same title (but an entirely different plot) was released in 1940, starring Errol Flynn. The studio used some key scenes from battles in the 1924 film. They spliced the scenes into the 1940 film, thinking they could not have been done better.

May 20 1925  

Sept 09 1925  The Cosy plays D.W. Griffiths Dream Street (1921)  The first American feature film with a talking sequence, six years before The Jazz Singer (1927). In an early experiment with sound, director D.W. Griffith filmed a brief introductory prologue where he was seen (and heard) speaking directly to the audience about the film they were about to see.  In addition to the prologue with Griffith, two sound sequences on a synchronized disc were added for showings in New York City: Ralph Graves singing a love song and a second sequence with crowd noises during a craps game.

Wed Sept, 01 1926 -  The Cosy plays Hands Up (1926)  The biggest comedy of the year. 

Wed Sept 01, 1926  The Cosy announces it will be showing The 10 Commandments.  

Oct 08th - The Cosy shows Irene (1926) starring Colleen Moore, directed by Alfred E. Green and produced by Moore's husband, John McCormick. It includes a significant fashion show sequence filmed in two-color Technicolor.  The fashion show scene near the end of the film required sixty "beautiful" girls who had to be "uniform in height and able to wear gorgeous gowns like a shop window model." Moore recalled that many of the girls were "winners from beauty contests staged in New York and other parts of the country." The outfits that Moore wore in the film were given to her, and since some of them were lined with fur, she removed it, and fashioned coats out of the fur.

Wed Oct 13 1926  The Cosy plays The Phantom of the Opera (1926) starring Lon Chaney 

Oct 27 1926   As part of their long running promotion for their upcoming showing of The 10 Commandments.  The Cosy advertises The 10 commandments to a happy Marriage.

Nov 1926  The Cosy Theatre shows Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments ( 1923) produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille. Written by Jeanie MacPherson. Starring Theodore Robert's, Charles DeRoche, Estelle Taylor and Julia Faye. 

 

Dec 25th  The Christmas feature was Womanpower (1926)  The Boxing day feature was Red Hot Tires (1925)

June 01 1927 - The Cosy did not show any films worth remembering that day; but the page the advert was printed on is unique.  The Sachem printed a special collectors edition.   A Short Historical Sketch of Caledonia written by B.E French. Reeve of Caledonia, was printed on 7 of the 8 pages of the Sachem.  It detailed the history of Caledonia from 1784 -1927 with photos, it was referenced specifically in the Caledonia Tweedsmuir history book. He puts faces to names we've only read or heard of.  Photos of buildings long since gone in some of the massive downtown fires in Caledonia in the 1800's.  Retelling of eye witness accounts of some of Caledonia's legendary moments, like the day the first bridge washed away. It is an incredible oral history of Caledonia, with photos very few have seen.  

It is a tragedy that his archives and library are gone.  His family estate sold at auction in 1989.  Barbara Martindale writes about it in her book Along the Grand.

"..the estate opened the home to the public by selling the family belongings in a public auction. The antique furniture, books and fine china attracted dealers and citizens from miles around. One piece of furniture was identified as to having come from the John Builder Furniture Factory, a business in Caledonia in 1866. Today the home is in private hands, the former belongings and treasures from Caledonia scattered across Ontario and perhaps beyond."

June 15 1927 Ankles preferred. ( 1927)  A girl just wants to be accepted for her brains instead of her beautiful ankles. 

June 1927  Two weeks of a young Joan Crawford.   

Oct 26 1927  Dollar day in Caledonia.  The Cosy, offers to look after your children while you shop.

Nov 1927  A Colleen Moore film, and The Tunney - Dempsey Fight.  

 

Nov 16 1927   

 

Dec 1927  The Cosy only used this basic advert for all of  Dec.

1928 -  1928 is the year of Clara Bow for The Cosy, and the rest of the world.  The year begins with the most popular film of 1927, "It."  The film that made Clara Bow a house hold name.  

Feb 1928  Clara bow in Kid Boots 

Eddie Cantors first film.

March 14  1928  

Evening Clothes (1927)  Louise Brooks first film in Hollywood, where they made her get a perm.  

March 14 1928  Evening Clothes, with Clara Bow, Esther Ralston and Gary Cooper. 

Clara Bow  Get your man.

Wed Oct 31 1928  The Cosy places a Wanted ad. in The Grand River Sachem for a new projectionist. 

November 1928  The Cosy feature film is Ben Hur: The tale of the Christ (1925)

Dec 25 1928  The Christmas day feature was Old San Francisco.( 1927)  One of the first films released with a Vitaphone disk.  On them would be the soundtrack, but also sound effects.  The first steps into sound. 

The boxing day New Years show is The Big Parade (1925) directed by King Vidor, starring John Gilbert, Renée Adorée. The Big Parade is regarded as one of the greatest films made about World War I, because of its realistic portrayal of war. It set the new standard and was highly influential on all future war films like All Quiet on the wester front. ( 1930)

Jan. 1929   The Cosy begins the year with Garbo. 

This film was lost in the 1965 MGM vault fire.

Wednesday, February, 20 1929.   The Grand River Sachem front page announces Bernard "Barney" O'Rourke has passed away on Feb 11 1929 at the age of 67.   Acute indigestion was reported as the cause of his sudden death.  

 He is buried in the Caledonia Cemetery alongside his wife Jean, who joined him in 1974. 

 RIP Barney, thank you for the movies. 

The films showing the week Barney passed away were Don Juan (1926 ) starring John Barrymore and Mary Astor.  &  Laugh Clown, Laugh.  Starring Lon Chaney 

March 27 1929  An advertisement for Laings drug store reveals The Cosy had recently updated their sound system with the  purchase of a Concert type Brunswick Panatrope.  While there is no Concert Type model, the most expensive one at the time was The Cortez.  

" The "Cortez" was the largest and most costly of the Brunswick exponential-horn Panatrope models. The inside-horn is made of thin, molded holly or spruce wood, in a large sweeping design, and is very beautiful. The dimensions of the "Cortez" horn are: height 26 and 1/2 inches and the bell is 17 and 3/4 X 23 and 1/4 inches. The term "exponential" refers to the shape of the large internal horn, found in the acoustic Panatrope models. The larger the horn, the better for the passage of large bass notes, but the shape of the internal horn is not truly logarithmic in design. The "Cortez" model came with a beautifully carved walnut cabinet and the lacquer finish on all the Panatrope models gives them a remarkable luster." - James A. Carino

March,1929  The Cosy plays two films directed by Mervyn LeRoy.   LeRoys 2nd film The Flying Romeos, and his fourth film "Oh, Kay" starring his good friend Colleen Moore.   LeRoy will go on to direct classics like Gold Diggers of 1933, Three on a match, Little Women, The bad seed and Random Harvest. He was also producer on The Wizard of Oz, and is credited for telling a young actress named Judy Turner to change her name to Lana.  

 

 

April  The Cosy plays two Marion Davies films.

May - June 1929   The Cosy does not advertise in the Sachem. 

July 03 1929   The Cosy follows Day light savings time.  

July 17 1929   The Cosy will be playing Wings (1927) Directed by William A. Wellman. Starring Clara Bow and Buddy Rogers.  Wings is one of the greatest films of the silent era, and still very impressive today; with its innovative cinematography and aerial battles. The U.S. military provided thousands of soldiers, millions of dollars worth of equipment, and virtually all of the pursuit planes the army had at the time.  The first time that actors were filmed flying in the air. The first film to win the Oscar for Best Picture. 

There are no Cosy Bulletin adverts in The Sachem for this film or any film in July.  The Cosy appear to be primarily advertising in the Local and Personal column of The Sachem.    

Aug 14 1929  The Cosy Theatre feature film is Abies Irish Rose (1928)  It is one of the first films to have speaking characters.( a partial-talkie ) On the accompanied album, in addition to the synchronized musical score and sound effects, this film also had synchronized dialogue for short portions of the film.

Sept 1929  The Cosy is open every day of the week for the Fair.

Wed Nov 27 1929  The Cosy show Carry On Sergeant (1928)  Directed by Bruce Bairnsfather.  

This is one of the earliest Canadian feature-length motion pictures.  It is not related to the British comedy films. 

The first film they have advertised to have sound and music.  The price of admission is now .47 cents plus .3 cents tax.  .25 cents for children.

   

Dec 1927   The Cosy Theatre didn't advertise in the Sachem all month.  They didn't need to, Caledonia was to have a community Christmas tree that year, and it was right out front of The Cosy.  The Sachem reported  on Saturday Dec 21st.  

" A free show will be put on at The Cosy Theatre at 1:30 for the children.  A Christmas tree will be erected on the street and trimmed with electric lights.  Santa Claus will arrive some time during the afternoon and the candy will be distributed either at the Cosy Theatre or around the tree. " 

Dec 25 1929   There was a week of freezing rain and snow storms that week of Christmas  in Caledonia.  The Sachem reported it had been snowing for 3 days, most of the roads coming into town were closed, and all side streets impassable except with a horse and sleigh. 

Jan 01 1930     Despite the Storm, everyone had fun at The Cosy Theatre on the 21st.  The Sachem reported 

...85 pounds of nuts and candies filled 400 bags which were handed out by Santa to the little folks,  after and enjoyable afternoon spent by them in the Cosy Theatre.  Two comic reels were given for their pleasure, and the kiddies certainly had a good time.  At the conclusion of the show the children were greeted by their good friend Santa Claus.

Wednesday, April 16, 1930   The Sachem thanks John O' Rourke for removing old buildings at the rear of the Exchange hotel and Cosey Theatre property, all of which has greatly improved the general appearance of out town at this spot. 

March 05 1930  Grand River Sachem reports the Capital Theatre in the town of Paris is

closed last Saturday to reopen as a talkie theatre. 

Aug 1930   Grand River Sachem reports The Regah Theatre in Hagersville becomes a talkie theatre.

Aug 13 1930   The Sachem subtly suggest that advertising your movie theatre is a good idea.

Sept 24 1930  The Regah Theatre in Hagersville begins advertising weekly in the Grand River Sachem.  They have installed a Northern Electric Sound System. Boasting:  

You can now hear the Best of Pictures in your district theatre.

 

Their first talkie is Manslaughter (1930) Directed by George Abbot. Starring  Claudette Colbert.  It is a remake of Cecil B. DeMille silent film Manslaughter (1922)

Oct 01 1930  The Cosy Theatre place their first and last advertisement of the year in Local and Personal of The Sachem. 

Announcing they are open every night this week. Starting with California Mail (1929) Directed by Albert S Rogell.  Starring Ken Maynard and Tarzan the horse. The last silent film released from First National without a soundtrack.   The Friday & Saturday night  feature is Lucky Star (1929) Directed by Frank Borzage.  Starring Janet Gaynor  It was a half talkie, with some scenes with synchronized  dialogue. Sound effects were scattered throughout the picture, including a phonograph record and the noise of a train's departure.

Wed Feb 18 1931    The Lions club advertise a free showing of a Travelogue titled 

"Treasures of Britain" with the Cunard steamship company.  

Wed March 04 1931 The Sachem reports over 300 people went to see the travelogue.   It sounds like it was a wonderful experience for everyone who attended.   It was probably the first glimpse of back home most have them have seen since they left decades ago.      

March 25 1931  Mrs. Jean O'Rourke puts The Cosy Theatre up for rent.  

TO RENT - Cosy Theatre,

 suitable for store or offices. 

 Alterations made to suit tenant. 

 Good basement and back entrance. 

 Possession at once. 

 Mr. B O'Rourke, Caledonia.

April 22 1931  The Cosy theatre re opens under new management.

  

Mr. E. Kinrade and son Reg. of Hamilton will be under the new management commencing May 1st.

June 1931  The O'Rourke family sell their home, their farm and move to Toronto.

Oct 21 1931  The Cosy Theatre returns with  The Man Who Laughs. (1928) Directed by Paul Leni. Starring Mary Philbin and Conrad Veidt.  The film is best known for the grotesque grin on the character Gwynplaine's face; who was the inspiration for the Batman villain, The Joker. 

Prices  are now 25 cents for adults, 10 cents for children.  E. Johnson, Proprietor. 

Oct 28 1931  Halloween night, the feature was the western The long, long trail (1929 ) Directed by Arthur Rosson   Starring: Hoot Gibson, Sally Eilers, Kathryn McGuire.  November began with The Battles of Cornel and Falkland Islands directed by Walter Summers.

Wed Nov 04 1931  The Cosy Theatre announces in The Sachem:

Owing to lack of patronage, the Cosy Theatre will operate two nights a week.  

Only Friday and Saturday

The feature that week is Rush Hour (1928) directed by E. Mason Hopper and starring Marie Prevost, Harrison Ford and Seena Owen. 

Saturday, November 14, 1931.   The Cosy Theater plays its final film. Chinese Bungalow

Jan 27 1932  The Sachem reports The Cosy Theatre is closed for good.  The building will now be used as an egg grading station.   John O'Rourke returns to town to help with alterations to the building. 

March 16 1932  The Cosy theatre is gone forever. 

Feb 1933  The Cosy space is taken over by K. R  Burke Flour and Feed. 

Oct 25, 1933  The Woman's institute reopen the Assembly Hall in Edinburgh Square Town Hall.  

They have acquired the Cosy Theatre chairs for their meetings.  

Jan 2026  The building still stands today.  The Cosy space is now The Haldimand Pregnancy care center.  The shop space beside the Cosy has been a favourite spot to almost every generation of Caledonians.  There has been a Chinese food restaurant there over 100 years now.  For my parents, it was The Niagara cafe.  For my generation, it was Xai-Jing, (the best Chinese food ever) Today, its The Ek2.

It was the first, but not the last movie theatre in Caledonia.

Coming up next:

The Andre / Regent Theatre.

Sources:  

The Grand River Sachem.

The Edinburgh Square Heritage & Cultural Centre.

Cayuga Library and Heritage Centre. (Thank you Geneva)

Caledonia Tweedsmuir History book.

Newspapers.com

ebay.ca

IMDB.com

Wikipedia.com

capsnews.com

googlemaps