Jay and Jules Allen


Jay Allen and Jules Allen were pioneering film exhibitors in Canada. They were born in Bradford, Pennsylvania, and they both died in Toronto, Ontario.

Career

Allen Theatres

The American-born Allen brothers, Jay and Jules, along with their father Berney, opened their first "Theatorium" in 1906 in Brantford, Ontario. They held the Canadian franchise for Paramount feature films from 1914 to 1919. With the strength of that arrangement, they forged a chain of almost 100 theatres, with movie palaces in every major Canadian city between 1917 and 1921, with plans to expand into the United States and Britain.
When their imminent success became apparent, Paramount’s Adolph Zukor tried to buy them out. When they refused, Zukor withdrew the Pickford films, and the brothers were eventually driven out of business. By 1923, the Allen Theatres chain was gone, leaving a near monopoly in Canada in the hands of Paramount and Famous Players Canadian Corporation.
Allen's Danforth Theatre in Toronto managed to survive as an independent cinema, and it is now a music venue known as the Danforth Music Hall. Allen's Bloor Theatre in Toronto is currently a concert hall known as Lee's Palace.

Premier Theatres

Following the bankruptcy of the Allen Theatres chain, the brothers returned to film exhibition with the Ontario-based Premier Theatres, which is now a chain of drive-in cinemas.