Sydney, William and Julius Volk arrived in Minneapolis by way of Lithuania at the dawn of the Jazz Age. When the Great Depression hit they took out loans, pooled their savings and went into the movie theater business. During the 1930’s, old silent movies houses were retrofitted for sound and new theaters opened all over the Twin Cities. The Volks business model relied acquiring popular neighborhood venues. By 1938, their Minnehaha Theatres chain consisted of five movie houses. On the North side of Minneapolis they had the Camden and the Robin. On the city’s south side the Volks owned the Nile and the Falls. Over in St. Paul the brothers operated the New Ray Theater.The Volks opened the Riverview in 1949 and worked with the architectural firm of Liebenberg & Kaplan to build their flagship Terrace Theatre in 1951.
Originally opened in as the Miles Standish Theater 1926, the old Nile Theatre could seat just under 300. It was purchased by the Volk Brothers in 1932. Two years later, it was destroyed in a blaze. In 1936 the Volks razed the old Nile at 23rd Avenue South and 38th and spent $100,000 erecting a new 1,000 seat movie house on the same site. Designer Perry E. Crowler fronted the Nile with pink Kasota stone interspersed with Cold Spring black granite.
An elaborate Egyptian motif was employed both in exterior construction and interior decorations. Model drawings for the wall paintings were done by Glen Mitchell at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. The auditorium contained eight enormous wall panels depicting scenes taken from actual Egyptian temples and tombs. The building was topped with an obelisk shaped, neon illuminated pillar. Beyond the Nile’s black granite box office, the lobby was done up in black and red vitrolite. A lounge that ran the length of the basement contained a variety of Egyptian style furnishings. The Nile was the first Volk venue to feature soundproof rooms where children could watch the show without disturbing others. Built into the wall, next to the projection room, the children’s section could accommodate about 25. Sound was provided through a loudspeaker system. A clear view of the screen was afforded by a 12 foot window.Construction was completed by the M.E. Greenberg Company. The new Nile Theatre opened on Friday July 31st, 1936 with a showing of Small Town Girl starring Robert Taylor and Janet Gaynor. A lot just north of the building could accommodate over 500 cars. Perry Crosier, went on to design the Hopkins Theatre and the Avalon on Lake Street.
In 1962, William left the theater business to open a pancake house. Sidney Volk hired Liebenberg and Kaplan to remodel the Nile Theater in South Minneapolis. A sound-proof party room replaced the old “crying room” at the rear of the auditorium. The party room could be reserved for free. They were usually used for children’s birthdays, but groups of adults occasionally reserved one to yak and munch together during the show. Seats in the New Nile were bigger, softer and more widely space.The basement lounge had a remodeled snack bar with black vinyl bar stools and chrome based swiveling chairs. A large 23 inch black and white TV built into the wall above bright red, yellow, orange, and avocado seat cushions. There was an elaborate Italian and German lighting fixture were installed and a large ceramic mural executed by a couple Florida artists extended through two stories through the upper and lower lobbies. A small addition was built to the north side of the main level, that contained the manager’s office and a stairway to the basement lounge and the exit doors. Sidney rebranded and advertised the Terrace, Nile, Riverview and Camden as the Volk Luxury Theatres.The Nile Theatre was included in a 1963 article in Life magazine on movie houses.
In 1980, Volk sold the Terrace to the Plitt Theater chain in 1979. He put the Nile Theatre up for sale the following year, but continued to run the Camden and Riverview theaters. The Camden was doing relatively well and the Riverview still drew a crowd on weekends. In 1981, Sidney Volk passed away at the age of 74. A couple years later the Nile Theatre was demolished to make way for a nursing home. The last two day the Nile was open they ran a special showing of the 1938 classic, “Showboat”. The Volk’s estate continued to operate the Camden and the Riverview for a few years. The Camden was bought by a church before it was demolished in the middle of the 1980’s. The Riverview just keeps chugging along and it is still one of America’s finest theatres.
