I think most would agree that the Academy Theater on SE Stark is one of Montavilla’s most outstanding historical buildings. When it opened in 1948, it could claim to be the most modern building on Montavilla’s main street. How it came to be and how it survived is a story with many twists and turns.
It began as the dreamchild of Fred Teeny (1914-1979) and his wife Lillian Mary Shaheen Teeney (1920-2009). Fred came from an entrepreneurial family—his father and brothers owned numerous businesses in Portland. This business orientation goes back to Fred’s father, Joseph Abraham Teeny (1885-1952), who had emigrated to the U.S. from Lebanon in 1906. Joseph soon opened a dry goods store on Foster Road, and his son Fred opened his own dry goods store in the 1930s at the southwest corner of Stark and SE 80th—now the location of the 2005 building where Tinker Tavern is today.
By the mid-1940s, Fred and Lillian started thinking about building a movie theater. They decided the opposite end of the block, where their dry goods store was located, would be a good location.
The timing must have seemed right. By this time, World War II had ended. Restrictions on non-war-related construction had been lifted. Movie theater attendance was rising, hitting a new box-office high in 1946. While Montavilla already had a movie theater—the Granada—but there wasn’t one on SE Stark, Montavilla’s main street.
Presumably, the Teenys wanted a modern building, not something with the old-fashioned exotic details of the Granada. But something with a little flash, something different from the early 20th-century buildings that dominated Stark Street. So, they hired Portland James William De Young (1885-1965), an architect known for keeping up with the new architectural trends. De Young had been in business in Portland for over 30 years, and he had designed several movie theaters. The Teenys must have liked De Young’s Gresham Theater–its striking winged cylinder above the marquee would reappear in the Academy design.
For the Teenys, De Young designed not just a theater but a building complex. On either side of the theater, he planned spaces for stores, including one for a Fred Tenny shoe store.
De Young’s plans were ready by September 1946, but construction was delayed until Fred Teeny could get a permit. His first permit was denied because the post-war U.S. government was prioritizing residential construction, but a few months later, Teeny got a permit, and his contractors, Knott, Rogers, and Dunbar, began construction.
When the theater was finished, it featured a single auditorium with a sloping floor and seats for six hundred. It also had air conditioning, a stylish lobby, and even a nursery for childcare. Behind the theater, there was a large parking lot.
The Teenys decided to name the Academy, so it would appear first in theater listings.
The grand opening took place on April 30, 1948.
Initially, the Teenys did not manage the theater. They leased it to Al Myers (1909-1979), owner of Montavilla’s Granada Theatre. Al and his wife, Polly (1920-1996), managed both theaters until the late 1950s.
Like many neighborhood theaters, the Academy featured second-run movies. For opening night, it was the 1947 box-office hit, “Tycoon,” starring John Wayne, Anthony Quinn, and Loraine Day.
Something special happened at the Academy in 1949. The May 28 edition of the Oregon Journal reported that movie star Janet Gaynor and her husband, fashion designer Gilbert Adrian, would be at the Academy for a screening of the 1937 movie “A Star is Born.” Gaynor starred in that movie and was nominated for an Academy Award. She did not win, but she had won the Academy’s best actress award for multiple movies in 1929.
In 1958, Fred and Lillian Teeny took over the management of the Academy. At this time, they updated the theater by adding stereophonic sound and a wide, curved screen. They continued to manage the theater with help from their children, Sharon (1940-2014) and Jim (born 1945), until 1965.
In 1965, big-band leader Van Armitage (1917-1994) leased and managed the Academy for a brief time. But the theater did not do well, and Jim Teeny and his mother took over.
In 1966, a new problem arose. Montavilla’s first theater complex, Eastgate Cinema, opened just a few blocks away. Could the Academy survive?
To be continued in The Academy Theater Part 2.
Title image: Academy Theater marquee in its renovated state Photo by Jacob Loeb, digitally edited to remove power-line
This is part of Montavilla History Questions Answered, a series of history related articles. If you have questions about Montavilla’s past that you’d like answered, local historian Patricia Sanders will investigate your question. Please email your questions to history@montavilla.net and we may feature it alongside Patricia Sanders’ research in a future.