Connor Palace Theatre

This beautiful theatre should have the great marquee recreated instead of the tacky thing that’s hanging there now. It was the one part of the restoration that was poorly done (IMHO).

A book entitled “Cleveland’s Playhouse Square” by Patricia M. Mote chronicles in words and photographs the Loew’s State & Ohio, RKO Allen & Palace and Hanna theaters from their opening in the 1920s through 2006. It can be found in the Local Interest section of Cleveland area bookstores, and for those not in the area it can be ordered from the publisher at the following website:
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In his posting of June 9, 2007, dave-bronx is correct: it is the State Theatre which has the massive new stage, not the Palace. The Playhouse Square Center published a one-page sheet with a plan of the complex, showing all 4 theatres, and the office buildings, their lobbies and the inside passageways which connect them. It’s possible to walk from the garage on the northwest corner of the complex to any of the theatres, or from one theatre to another, without going outside to Euclid Avenue. The State Theatre is directly behind the Palace. All of the theatres in Playhouse Square are well worth seeing, as is the beautiful Severance Hall, a super-deluxe concert hall in its own park a few miles east of downtown. There are some very interestng buildings downtown, plus a great park on the lakefront near which is the rock ‘n roll museum, a big sports stadium and a trolley car museum.

Ron Salters: The new stage house is on the State, not the Palace. The Palace has no place to expand to, it is bounded on the south by Euclid Ave, on the east by E 17 St, on the north by the State auditorium and on the west by the State lobby. Behind the back wall of the Palace stage is the back wall of the State auditorium.

Chuck 1231: When I worked here as an usher, I’m recalling that there was a fairly large room that we used as an ushers room off of a landing of the stairway going to the top of the balcony on the east side. It had a window with a view of 17th St. Though I don’t recall specifically, I would assume there is another similar room on the west side, since the auditorium is more or less symmetrical. Perhaps one of these rooms was used by Loew’s for their Regional Manager.

During renovations, the original stagehouse was demolished and a new one constructed. When one enters it from the scene dock in the rear stage wall, if the curtain is up and the stage is empty, the effect is like walking into a giant hanger for Goodyear blimps! The Palace’s stage is absolutely mammoth and must rank as one of the largest stages of any theatre in America.

Patsy, when the Palace closed in 1969 the marquee was torn down and the front entrance was boarded up. The theatre has been restored for quite a few years now, and only in the last several years have they finally installed a new marquee. I’ve seen photos of it but can’t seem to locate any right now. It is a half-circle of steel and glass, with no attraction board like a movie theatre would have – basically just a canopy. It is similar to the new marquee of the Allen theatre, just down the block from the Palace. That marquee can be seen at the sign companys website at the following link: http://www.wagnersign.com/allen01.html
I seem to remember seeing a photo of the Palace when it opened in 1922, but I can’t remember what the original marquee looked like.

Courtesy of Cinema Treasures reader ‘Pres’ I have added a photo of the RKO marquee on the Palace in 1954. Same link as above:
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Here are some interior photos from the mid-1970s. In the view looking at the house from the stage you can see the Cinerama projection booth under the balcony. In the view of the stage from the top of the balcony, the curtains on either side of the stage are where the Cinerama screen extended to on each side. That screen required that the opera boxes on each side be ripped out. These have now been restored, and the Cinerama booth removed.
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The opening that connected the Palace dressing rooms with the mezzanine of Loew’s State was added in 1978.
I remember the Cinerama booth on the main floor very well I lived in there for two years 1974-74

I went to the Palace only once, long after its days of glories were behind it. It was two or three summers ago when they were showing Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds” as part of the Cinema on the Square program. The ads claimed it was Ohio’s largest screen. Well, maybe it was at one time, but not when I was there. The screen seemed smaller than the ones at your average multiplex.

The Ohio in Columbus is much more lavish and bigger than the Cleveland Ohio. And the Cleveland Palace is likewise in relation to the Columbus Palace.

I think this was pre-Rabakopf…maybe around 1958-59.