In the case of Grandview, the Drexel operators had a dispute with the landlord and chose to leave the operation; a former employee decided to make a new deal with the owner of the building and renovate/reopen the theatre.
In the case of the Arena Grand and the Gateway, Jeff Frank was hired by the developers of those commercial districts to design the theatres, as well as book, staff, and run them. After a few years, I can only fathom that the developers thought they could find people to do the job better than Jeff, and dispensed with his services. Granted, I am prejudiced because I had a long and happy relationship working for him, but I have always felt it was rather rude and unceremonious of these consortiums to cut him out after he contributed so much time and energy in launching their theatres.
The Drexel Theatre facade also provides the base for the cover painting of the Mark Knopfler compilation album of movie score music “Screenplaying,” though specific details that would i.d. the theatre have been altered. When I worked there, I was flattered that somebody at the record label was a fan of the theatre, but annoyed that they never credited us as the source of the image.
Perhaps the motel operators had some sort of legal claim on their spelling of “carrousel,” and the theatre operators wanted to still try to piggyback on the perceived popularity of the motel, so they went to the single-r spelling.
Granted, because of its new name perhaps don’t recognize it as the Place or The Movies, but I’m surprised that years after my submission, no one has any comments about this longtime Cincinnati favorite.
Got it from the horse’s mouth – yes, sadly it’s true. A major retailer made an offer for the entire space, and the mall accepted. Their last night of operation will be Thursday, June 3rd. Better catch up on all those movies you missed in the next four days, because once this place is gone, finding anything resembling second-run in Los Angeles is going to get even harder. :(
For some reason, the server at the L.A. Times would not allow me to post this comment there, so I’ll do it here:
There’s one problem with your proposal for large-scale theatrical revival: the creative community doesn’t want it. When WB reissued THE EXORCIST on over 2000 screens, albeit the newly cut “The Version You’ve Never Seen,” it not only opened at #1, it outgrossed the previous six new films that WB released. The producers of those films were humiliated to see their new movies being beaten by something older, and made it clear to WB in no uncertain terms they would not stand for this in the future. So to protect those ongoing talent relationships, an already-planned reissue of the extended director’s cut of SUPERMAN was reduced to one screen in San Antonio, Texas, and no further simultaneous national reissues were done by any studio since. More recently, WB was enjoying solid revival business on the Final Cut of BLADE RUNNER, but producer Jerry Perenchio, who has never liked the film, has withdrawn his permission to screen it and so no more bookings can be taken on it.
The bottom line is that producers, talent agencies, venture capitalists – they make their money by making new product, no matter how crappy it is. And the studios would rather stay in business with them than alienate them by doing a large-scale revival of a bonafide classic, no matter how much in pure profit that, by the way, does not have to be shared with those parties, it could generate. The best we can hope for is the continued revival work of dedicated parties such as the New Beverly, CineFamily, and the American Cinematheque, and the occasional big event like the TCM festival.
That may be due to the fact that, as I understand, Rave bills itself as a “digital presentation” only chain, and when they acquire theatres that are not 100% digitally equipped, i.e. show actual film (!), they operate those theatres under a different name than Rave. For example, Rave picked up the Beverly Center 13 from Mann Theatres, but they are not advertised as Rave. I noticed some of the Cincinnati locations they picked up are still not on the Rave site, but are on the Showcase site.
So that’s what happened to the old AMC house that Laemmle pulled out of. Makes sense. Of course, right now is not the time I would open an ultra-pricey cinema lounge, but that’s just me.
I took a closer look at those two night photos of the Times – is that a female mannequin in the box office? One of those slow nights when they were selling tickets inside and needed a creative way to tell people to come in?
Last I heard, they were ceasing regular operation though there may be the occasional special event or premiere there. Apparently parent company Regent Entertainment is not doing well. The marquee was stripped of its Regent and Here!Network panels, but I understand all the seats and equipment are still intact.
In the 1977 sketch comedy film CAN I DO IT…‘TILL I NEED GLASSES, a theatre marquee is advertising the producers’ previous film IF YOU DON’T STOP IT, YOU’LL GO BLIND. The marquee says, “The American Theatre.” The movie was definitely shot in Los Angeles. Could this be the same place? Was this still standing and/or operating in the ‘70’s?
The Graceland started out as a Jerry Lewis cinema in the ‘70’s; the chain had another location in Columbus, a single screen called the York Plaza. When the Lewis chain went under they were picked up by Nicholas Circone and Marvin Goldfarb, who also dabbled in hotel/motel movie distribution, the ancestry to the “Spectravision” services that are common today. It was widely held that since Graceland had the longest continuous run of ROCKY HORROR since the film’s opening, it would stand to reason that it opened at Graceland during their stewardship.
Bob and Belinda Judson took over both theatres in the '80’s, along with the Grandview theatre, and operated them as second run houses. When they had a dispute with the property owners of Graceland Shopping Center, they closed the theatre and briefly attempted to set up ROCKY HORROR at the York Plaza, but that folded after a couple weeks. The Judsons eventually left theatre operation, and Belinda is now an Executive Director of the Mid-States branch of National American Theater Operators.
Glenn Ackerman, creator of the Raintree Cinemas and later the Flickers cinema/restaurant chain, took over operation of the Graceland Twin and returned ROCKY HORROR to regular play. Eventually, however, Ackerman would close all of his locations and the Graceland went dark for good in the late '90’s.
Mt. Healthy is really just a suburb of Cincinnati, not a city. As such, the location listing should be changed to Cincinnati, OH.
I drove past that location dozens of times, I never knew there was a theatre there. I wonder if the shops expanded into the theatre space or if it’s just being used as a warehouse. Any idea on the capacity?
So conflicted – I used to love Tuesday night 15 cent wings at BW3 in college, but the thought of them now occupying where I went to so many movies my freshman year…
It’s bitterly amusing that the last sentence reads “Updates regarding the threat will be on here.” Obviously, the intended word is “theatre,” but greedy sharks like Max Netty are a threat to our Cinema Treasures.
I don’t think there was any plan to twin the auditorium itself. It’s more likely that the Franks were hoping to purchase the other storefronts, nay the entire land parcel, from its current owner, and convert those into small screening rooms.
A sad day. I was working for the Franks when they first acquired the theatre, and saw all the beautiful renovation they did to the place, and worked many long, proud hours at the theatre when it reopened. I may be hundreds of miles away now, but I’m going to miss it all the same.
The theatre is still operating (as of this date, they are running WHEN DID YOU LAST SEE YOUR FATHER with Colin Firth, but the building is for lease – Regent may indeed want out of this location.
In the case of Grandview, the Drexel operators had a dispute with the landlord and chose to leave the operation; a former employee decided to make a new deal with the owner of the building and renovate/reopen the theatre.
In the case of the Arena Grand and the Gateway, Jeff Frank was hired by the developers of those commercial districts to design the theatres, as well as book, staff, and run them. After a few years, I can only fathom that the developers thought they could find people to do the job better than Jeff, and dispensed with his services. Granted, I am prejudiced because I had a long and happy relationship working for him, but I have always felt it was rather rude and unceremonious of these consortiums to cut him out after he contributed so much time and energy in launching their theatres.
The Drexel Theatre facade also provides the base for the cover painting of the Mark Knopfler compilation album of movie score music “Screenplaying,” though specific details that would i.d. the theatre have been altered. When I worked there, I was flattered that somebody at the record label was a fan of the theatre, but annoyed that they never credited us as the source of the image.
Perhaps the motel operators had some sort of legal claim on their spelling of “carrousel,” and the theatre operators wanted to still try to piggyback on the perceived popularity of the motel, so they went to the single-r spelling.
Granted, because of its new name perhaps don’t recognize it as the Place or The Movies, but I’m surprised that years after my submission, no one has any comments about this longtime Cincinnati favorite.
Duh, I’m an idiot; I wrote that listing!
/theaters/9122/
Not sure if these two should be merged, since the land is the same but the styles are different.
This was built on the site of what had been the Twin Drive-In – don’t recall if that had a listing here.
Got it from the horse’s mouth – yes, sadly it’s true. A major retailer made an offer for the entire space, and the mall accepted. Their last night of operation will be Thursday, June 3rd. Better catch up on all those movies you missed in the next four days, because once this place is gone, finding anything resembling second-run in Los Angeles is going to get even harder. :(
For some reason, the server at the L.A. Times would not allow me to post this comment there, so I’ll do it here:
There’s one problem with your proposal for large-scale theatrical revival: the creative community doesn’t want it. When WB reissued THE EXORCIST on over 2000 screens, albeit the newly cut “The Version You’ve Never Seen,” it not only opened at #1, it outgrossed the previous six new films that WB released. The producers of those films were humiliated to see their new movies being beaten by something older, and made it clear to WB in no uncertain terms they would not stand for this in the future. So to protect those ongoing talent relationships, an already-planned reissue of the extended director’s cut of SUPERMAN was reduced to one screen in San Antonio, Texas, and no further simultaneous national reissues were done by any studio since. More recently, WB was enjoying solid revival business on the Final Cut of BLADE RUNNER, but producer Jerry Perenchio, who has never liked the film, has withdrawn his permission to screen it and so no more bookings can be taken on it.
The bottom line is that producers, talent agencies, venture capitalists – they make their money by making new product, no matter how crappy it is. And the studios would rather stay in business with them than alienate them by doing a large-scale revival of a bonafide classic, no matter how much in pure profit that, by the way, does not have to be shared with those parties, it could generate. The best we can hope for is the continued revival work of dedicated parties such as the New Beverly, CineFamily, and the American Cinematheque, and the occasional big event like the TCM festival.
That may be due to the fact that, as I understand, Rave bills itself as a “digital presentation” only chain, and when they acquire theatres that are not 100% digitally equipped, i.e. show actual film (!), they operate those theatres under a different name than Rave. For example, Rave picked up the Beverly Center 13 from Mann Theatres, but they are not advertised as Rave. I noticed some of the Cincinnati locations they picked up are still not on the Rave site, but are on the Showcase site.
There is no “h” in Cecci Gori (though it is pronounced with one) – the spelling should be corrected.
They’re still trying to reopen:
View link
So that’s what happened to the old AMC house that Laemmle pulled out of. Makes sense. Of course, right now is not the time I would open an ultra-pricey cinema lounge, but that’s just me.
I took a closer look at those two night photos of the Times – is that a female mannequin in the box office? One of those slow nights when they were selling tickets inside and needed a creative way to tell people to come in?
This is the same theatre listed under it’s final name, the Alpha Fine Arts. These entries should be merged:
/theaters/23904/
Last I heard, they were ceasing regular operation though there may be the occasional special event or premiere there. Apparently parent company Regent Entertainment is not doing well. The marquee was stripped of its Regent and Here!Network panels, but I understand all the seats and equipment are still intact.
In the 1977 sketch comedy film CAN I DO IT…‘TILL I NEED GLASSES, a theatre marquee is advertising the producers’ previous film IF YOU DON’T STOP IT, YOU’LL GO BLIND. The marquee says, “The American Theatre.” The movie was definitely shot in Los Angeles. Could this be the same place? Was this still standing and/or operating in the ‘70’s?
The Graceland started out as a Jerry Lewis cinema in the ‘70’s; the chain had another location in Columbus, a single screen called the York Plaza. When the Lewis chain went under they were picked up by Nicholas Circone and Marvin Goldfarb, who also dabbled in hotel/motel movie distribution, the ancestry to the “Spectravision” services that are common today. It was widely held that since Graceland had the longest continuous run of ROCKY HORROR since the film’s opening, it would stand to reason that it opened at Graceland during their stewardship.
Bob and Belinda Judson took over both theatres in the '80’s, along with the Grandview theatre, and operated them as second run houses. When they had a dispute with the property owners of Graceland Shopping Center, they closed the theatre and briefly attempted to set up ROCKY HORROR at the York Plaza, but that folded after a couple weeks. The Judsons eventually left theatre operation, and Belinda is now an Executive Director of the Mid-States branch of National American Theater Operators.
Glenn Ackerman, creator of the Raintree Cinemas and later the Flickers cinema/restaurant chain, took over operation of the Graceland Twin and returned ROCKY HORROR to regular play. Eventually, however, Ackerman would close all of his locations and the Graceland went dark for good in the late '90’s.
Mt. Healthy is really just a suburb of Cincinnati, not a city. As such, the location listing should be changed to Cincinnati, OH.
I drove past that location dozens of times, I never knew there was a theatre there. I wonder if the shops expanded into the theatre space or if it’s just being used as a warehouse. Any idea on the capacity?
Whoa – BW3 moved into the space?
So conflicted – I used to love Tuesday night 15 cent wings at BW3 in college, but the thought of them now occupying where I went to so many movies my freshman year…
I guess you really can’t go home again.
This is an image from the Arthur Penn movie NIGHT MOVES. Is this the same Magnolia?
View link
It’s bitterly amusing that the last sentence reads “Updates regarding the threat will be on here.” Obviously, the intended word is “theatre,” but greedy sharks like Max Netty are a threat to our Cinema Treasures.
I don’t think there was any plan to twin the auditorium itself. It’s more likely that the Franks were hoping to purchase the other storefronts, nay the entire land parcel, from its current owner, and convert those into small screening rooms.
A sad day. I was working for the Franks when they first acquired the theatre, and saw all the beautiful renovation they did to the place, and worked many long, proud hours at the theatre when it reopened. I may be hundreds of miles away now, but I’m going to miss it all the same.
The theatre is still operating (as of this date, they are running WHEN DID YOU LAST SEE YOUR FATHER with Colin Firth, but the building is for lease – Regent may indeed want out of this location.
Movietickets.com lists a full set of showtimes for the theatre as of today – looks like they’re open and eager for customers.
According to the book STEPPING OUT IN CINCINNATI, the theatre was demolished in 1965.