Florida Theatre
710 Franklin Street,
Tampa,
FL
33602
710 Franklin Street,
Tampa,
FL
33602
3 people
favorited this theater
Showing 26 - 47 of 47 comments
Here are some shots of the Florida. Click on photos to enlarge.
Exterior shot dated 2/26/25 when theatre was known as the Franklin:
View link
Interior shot of auditorium dated 2/15/24 when theatre ran silents: View link
Nice Franklin Street shot dated 9/18/53 showing the Florida on the
right and the Tampa on the left:
View link
Chuck, Although I can’t be certain as to the exact year I believe the new facade was placed on the building either just before or right after 1950. I base this on two photos I saw at the library. One
is dated late 1940s and shows the original facade with windows, and the second photo dated 1952
shows the building with the new modern facade along with the new “Florida” vertical signage which
was removed in the early 1960s. I distinctly remember this date. I was riding in my aunt’s car and
as we passed the Florida I recall the movie playing was “Psycho” and the verticle had already been
taken down.
Thanks for the photo ken mc! Yes, this is the Florida. As you can see the building on the right has already been demolished and the Florida was next. So photo must’ve been taken just weeks or days before demolition. Nice angled shot.
This is supposed to be the Florida in 1978. I’m not sure it gibes with the description at the top of the page, however.
http://tinyurl.com/y9aolub
ONE reason 2001 lost out on MAKE UP with the Oscars is the ACADEMY members thought it was real apes. True Story.
Mike: Yep, I saw “Planet of the Apes” here first-run. It was one heck of a popular film too. I remember the newspaper ads: HELD OVER FOR THE 4TH WEEK – TAMPA WON’T LET IT GO!
It was showing at the Florida at the same time “2001: A Space Odyssey” was playing one block away at the Palace in 70MM Cinerama. I remember comparing the ape make-up from the two films. They were both very realistic and well done for their time.
That minor tornado sounds scary enough. Glad it passed over without damaging the Miller!
Nick,did you PLANET OF THE APES at the Flordia? I saw it at the Miller.A minor Tornado came through town and we didn’t even notice it until we got West of Town.It never knocked the power off.I remember my 5th grade teacher telling us about the movie.
NICK, let me know when you get those theatres i sent you on CT. I have been looking.
Mike, They played it up big when “Wait Until Dark” ran at the Florida. Just before the shock scene near the climax, when Audrey Hepburn is smashing all the lightbulbs, all exit sign lights and low-lit lights on the walls were turned completely off leaving a totally dark auditorium except for the dim light coming off the screen…. really sureal! And then came the surprise shock scene that sent most audience members about a foot off their seats screaming! This is one of those films that works best when seen in a theatre – television diminishes the impact.
“The Party” was a fairly big attraction at the Florida. I think it ran for at least 3 weeks if not longer. I thought it was funny as heck! Evidently it performed well enough at the box office in 1968 as it was re-released in the early 1980s. And this time it played at the Hillsboro.
The Tampa Pitcher Show has been in operation for quite a few years. It’s a cinema draft house serving food, wine, and beer. I only saw two films there, “Twilight Zone: The Movie” and “Officer and a Gentlemen”. That should give you an idea of how long it’s been in operation.
For now I’ll probably write about theatres that are no longer with us.
Nick, I saw the TAMPA PITCHER SHOW theatre.Are you going to do anything on it. I don’t think you ever mentioned it ,or are you just staying with closed theatres?
As you see on my COLUMBIA 1 and 2 postings we seem to play at older movies even in the late 70’s. I remember PETER SELLERS in THE PARTY it played at COLUMBIA ONE. I think a week at most. Filler?
You know as i posted onCOLUMBIA SQUARE we played WAIT UNTIL DARK at COLUMBIA TWO. I can’t remember why, unless we were tying it in to some movie or star.
Yes,Nick NATIONAL HILLS got the MGM FAB.Four. It seemed like every fall we would get those four films.Ryan’s Daughter is the only one i never watched. Well, i remember Daniel Village theatre here had just open entrance.Never could figure that out.
Mike, I do seem to remember Hieronymus being rated X. The only thing I can recall about this movie is that it didn’t make one bit of sense at all not to mention it was b-o-r-i-n-g as heck.
2001 did play at the Florida around a year or so following its run at the Palace in 70mm Cinerama. Once you’re seen it in 70mm on a giant curved screen in stereo its just not the same seeing it in 35mm on a much smaller screen. That awesome feeling of grandeur the film possessed seemed to be missing.
2001 was part of M-G-M’s Fabulous Four Series. Remember the four films? Gone with the Wind, 2001, Dr. Zhivago, and Ryans' Daughter. Each film played for one week at selected theatres. The series ran locally at the Florida, Palace, and Hillsboro Theatres.
Yep, it was just a curtain that separated the lobby from the auditorium at the Florida. Of course this was before the long overdue rennovation when doors were finally installed.
Nick, You didn’t write anything on 2oo1. I can’t believe only a curtain separated the theatre from the lobby.That sounds and would look too tacky in a theatre such as the Flordia.
Nick, doesn’t Tampa have over a million folks in it. MY city has about 500.000 and i am getting more feed back? Go figure.
Nick,you have so much to write, aren’t you glad i can do this ! brings me back to my newspaper days.Someone put the DIANE 29 DRIVE IN on the CT. I Wrote about it.I went there with you one time and BILL before they built the shopping center. No one has found the location of where i got my ABC THEATRE jacket dried cleaned.WOW!
Mike! That’s too funny! I would easily and gladly stake my life on this without any hesitation. The films I’ve listed absolutely played first-run at the Florida. No doubt about any of ‘em. And if there’s any dispute then off I go to the library to copy the ad from microfilm.
But I do need to point out that the black exploitation titles I listed above DID NOT play at the Florida, including “Lady Sings the Blues”. I was using them as an example. “Lady Sings the Blues"
opened at the Loew’s Theatre. And it also played at the Tampa Theatre sometime afterwards.
Nick, you better be right about those films! There are guys on here that ssem to know everything about the theatre business except for where i got my theatre jacket dry cleaned. AND According to Rochelle i did not get it cleaned enought!
SOUNDER opened at NATIONAL HILLS . LADY SINGS THE BLUES opened at the MILLER. You know SHAFT was Directed by GORDON PARKS. Wasn’t HIERONYMUS rated X when it was Released. From dealing with the black moviegoer of the early 70’s i know SOUNDER would have died a slow death at the IMPERIAL. I Bet it performed bad at the FLORDIA.
Thanks Mike. There was only a small handfull of black-themed films that didn’t have to rely on cheap exploitation to sell tickets. The two that come to mind are the relatively unknown “Sounder” and the more popular “Lady Sings The Blues”. Both were emotional films that dealt with the human spirit. Films of this calibre are few and far between. It seems the masses were more interested in the gangsta/drug dealing/pimp genre that was so prevalent in the early 1970s: “Shaft” “Slaughter” “Cleopatra Jones” “Superfly” “Black Shampoo” “Foxy Brown” “Mandingo” among many others.
I’ve been racking my brain to come up with some additional films that opened first-run at the Florida so here they are:
“Catch 22” “Rachel Rachel” “I Saw What You Did” “The Party” “Sounder” “Mary Poppins” (was moved over from the Palace where it had played for months to continue its engagement at the Florida) “Sword In The Stone” “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” “The Carpetbaggers” “Georgy Girl” “Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines” The Great Race" “Alice’s Restaurant” “Dr. Goldfoot and The Bikini Machine” “Secret Ceremony” “Thomas Crown Affair” “Can Hieronymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness?” (could be the longest title in movie history!)
NICK… GREAT STORY. I LOVED THE MUMMY WITH CHRISTOPHER LEE. SEEMS ALL DOWNTOWN THEATRES WERE JUST SET TO PLAY COFFY OR BLACULA. THERE WERE A BUNCH OF GREAT BLACK FILMS LIKE TAKE A HARD RIDE A GREAT WESTERN, AND GUESS WHAT THERE WERE ALOT OF BLACK COWBOYS IN THE 1800’S. ILIKED LET’S DO IT AGAIN AND BUCK AND THE PREACHER, BUT MOST THE BLACK MOVIE GOERS THAT IDEALT WITH DID NOT WANT SUCH FARE THEY WANTED SHAFT’S BIG SCORE OR BRUCE LEE. AND THAT IS WHAT THE FLORIDA AND IMPERIAL BOOKED BOTH ABC THEATRES. I WONDER IF THE BOOKED OUT OF THE CAROLINAS LIKE WE DID.