This week we're going to briefly look at the theater's history and one of its managers who contributed so much to its early history.
The theater was built in 1925 by J. Cleve Scott and was called Scott's Theatre. It featured vaudeville performers and the latest silent movies.
For the first four years the films were silent, until 1929 when a newly installed RCA sound projector and speakers were added.
During the 1930s, the show house acquired two additional names: the Robbins Theatre and the Roxie Theatre.
The Huntington Beach Theatre Corp. on April 27, 1941, purchased the Roxie for $25,000 from J.F. Burke, a former publisher of the Santa Ana Register, and from Loyal King.
The corporation consisted of Joseph Hamann, Daryll Johnson and Victor Walker, all Santa Ana residents.
Walker owned a theater in Santa Ana called the Walker Theatre. Johnson had worked there since 1933 and Hamann was associated with the theater since 1936.
Hamann was placed in charge of the Roxie and Charles Carrillo became his assistant.
One of Joe's first actions was to send its cashier, Polly Wardlow, to Walker's theater in Santa Ana for two weeks of training. During this two-week period, Margaret Millings would take her place as cashier in her absence.
Hamann was just what the theater needed to make it a successful business, as he was an experienced showman who worked his way up in the movie theater business and knew all the ins-and-outs of the industry.
Joseph E. Hamann was a native Californian, born in Orange on July 22, 1911.
He was one of 11 children and spent his early years working on the family's 10-acre orange grove ranch.
Joe attended St. Joseph's Parochial School, St. Anthony's Seminary and the Orange Union High School.
After high school, Hamann tried several jobs before finally landing a job as usher in Walker's theater.
