For reasons I really don’t recall, I didn’t see this on its first time out. I saw the second and third, but not this one. One of the better trilogies, with the last one crossing everyone up and being a Western!
In its April 1, 1990 edition, Boxoffice announced the 1/7/1990 closing of the theatre by Chakeres due to loss of lease. This article incorrectly states that the theatre had 1,600 seats. Former Cinema East manager, John Sittig, states in his post of 9/1/2008 the correct seat count of 998.
If you would read the other thread, you will see from a post from a previous manager that the seating was 1,000. It is in Whitehall, not Columbus. The accurate town name IS important.
In an article from the September 20, 1965 issue of Boxoffice,announcing the opening of the theatre, it clearly states that the seating is 850 main floor and 150 balcony. It also states that the theatre is located in Whitehall.
From Boxoffice issue October 26, 1964, announcing the construction of the theatre, the article states that the theatre was to have 1,000 seats and be located in Whitehall.
In which issue of Boxoffice are you finding a seating capacity of 1,600 and a location of Columbus, not Whitehall?
Correction to above: Cinema East had about 1,000 seats, including the balcony. The balcony area was very, very rarely used, leaving a practical size of 800 seats.
Jaws was the only film that ever gave me nightmares! I kept dreaming about that shark eating the boat.
I saw the film the at Cinema East in Whitehall (Columbus), Ohio. This was a large single screen with about a 40' screen…which seemed pretty large from the 3rd row, where I had to sit due to the crowd!!
The Google map for this location has been corrected.
Rambo, I’m going by the map from the Reynoldsburg webpage listed above. Reynoldsburg is the area in white, and that includes the theatre located next to the fire academy and east of Taylor Road.
It is possible, though, that this is an area that Reynoldsburg that was annexed in the last few years after the theatre was built.
I haven’t gotten to this theatre yet in my Columbus theatre research. I show an opening date for this location as 7/24/1961.
It’s the fourth building to the east of Swan Cleaners. It IS the one that has what looks like a ticket booth in front. The current user is MediaS0urce (www.mediasourceTV.com)
I forgot to note that the “Gayety” name came with the advent of live “sentertainers”. This got a LOT of police action and attention, and I don’t recall it lasting very long.
It was purchased by Leroy Griffith in 1965, so the “porn” days started sometime in that year. I believe at that time it was the Livingston Art Theatre. It became the Gayety in 1967, with the addition of a dressing room and a small stage. The theatre was involved in many censorship-related lawsuits.
By 1972, the theatre was closed and the owner of Livingston Enterprises (next door to the theatre) listed it for sale or rent.
It changed due to a change in the neighborhood, from middle class to low income. Also, people started going to the suburban malls for entertainment, not the local neighborhood theatre.
The theatre opened on Saturday, 8/16/1947. The opening features were LIVING IN A BIG WAY and DARK DELUSION. THey also ran a Popeye short.
The Columbus Dispatch described the theatre as “having a distinctive facade of cut stone and pale green and brown terra cotta. The marquee, resembling the New York World’s Fair perisphere, will have space for 560 lights. The theatre is part of a new $4,000,000 business center.”
“An arcade lobby, with ticket window to the right and display windows to the left, will lead to the main foyer. Over a thousand patrons can be accommodated in the auditorium in which blue, yellow and red are dominant decorative colors. Features for convenience include a crying room for babies and hearing aids for the hard of hearing. Ample parking space has been provided.”
At one time, the theatre name was to be the Driving Park Theatre, named after the early 20th century racetrack located nearby.
This headline speaks the truth! Call it Lie-Max, Imax Light, or, my preferred term, Imax Junior, it is NOT true Imax. Until the digital systems can light a minimum 60' x 90' screen, they are not true Imax.
To follow up on retroguy’s post about a car hitting the Clinton, The Columbus Dispatch reported on 6/2/2010 that the owners of the building had been ordered in April, 2010 to fix the “deteriorating buildings at 3367 – 3383 N. High St.” The owner would face a fine of $250 per day starting on August 1, 2010. This week, the city inspectors ordered the owner to hire an engineer to check structural integrity. The building must also be kept secure. Some preservationists would like to save the Clinton Theater building, but the buildings are graffiti covered and deteriorated.
I don’t think this theatre is going to have a very happy ending.
In February or March 2010, all of the comments disappeared from the Cleve Theatre (Columbus Ohio) page, and I was able to grab them from the Google Cache. Looks like the phantom deleter struck again!! Something very strange going on around here.
Ron, thanks for pulling them out of Cache-land. Very much appreciated.
I haven’t gotten that far in my research yet, but I do have a note that it became the Agora approximately April 1970. It was taken over by Henry & Joe LoConti, who invested $200,000 in the project.
I should have more exact data by the end of the summer.
The Little Theatre did become the Little Art Theatre. The local police tried many times to shut that down. Many films were confiscated and managers arrested. Film censorship was a huge issue well up into the 1970’s. Building was finally condemned and torn down.
You are only talking about a distance here of about 100 yards…unless you really looked at the maps, you wouldn’t know the difference. If you would ask someone to circle an area of a map that would be considered Arlington, they include this shopping center. If I didn’t live here, I certainly wouldn’t have noticed the difference. As I said above, the city boundaries here get very, very confusing.
The WORLD theatre actually opened in 1947 in the building that housed the Olentangy at 2523 North High Street. On 9/14/1949, the WORLD moved to the Alhambra building, and the Olentangy became known as the Little Theatre, playing classic films.
In October, 1956, Charles Sugarman installed a 12' x 24' Cinemascope screen.
At least one room of this complex was THX certified. HOFFA was shown with a 70mm print there.
The device for hearing impaired customers is called an induction loop. That is the term used in the Boxoffice article.
For reasons I really don’t recall, I didn’t see this on its first time out. I saw the second and third, but not this one. One of the better trilogies, with the last one crossing everyone up and being a Western!
In its April 1, 1990 edition, Boxoffice announced the 1/7/1990 closing of the theatre by Chakeres due to loss of lease. This article incorrectly states that the theatre had 1,600 seats. Former Cinema East manager, John Sittig, states in his post of 9/1/2008 the correct seat count of 998.
If you would read the other thread, you will see from a post from a previous manager that the seating was 1,000. It is in Whitehall, not Columbus. The accurate town name IS important.
In an article from the September 20, 1965 issue of Boxoffice,announcing the opening of the theatre, it clearly states that the seating is 850 main floor and 150 balcony. It also states that the theatre is located in Whitehall.
From Boxoffice issue October 26, 1964, announcing the construction of the theatre, the article states that the theatre was to have 1,000 seats and be located in Whitehall.
In which issue of Boxoffice are you finding a seating capacity of 1,600 and a location of Columbus, not Whitehall?
Correction to above: Cinema East had about 1,000 seats, including the balcony. The balcony area was very, very rarely used, leaving a practical size of 800 seats.
This theatre is already listed on Cinema Treasures here:
/theaters/13317/
This theatre had 900 seats, not 1,600. It is in Whitehall, OH, not Columbus. The theatre closed with Harlem Nights on Jan 7, 1990, not 1984.
This entry should be deleted.
Jaws was the only film that ever gave me nightmares! I kept dreaming about that shark eating the boat.
I saw the film the at Cinema East in Whitehall (Columbus), Ohio. This was a large single screen with about a 40' screen…which seemed pretty large from the 3rd row, where I had to sit due to the crowd!!
I don’t have a closing date yet. Should have one soon.
The Google map for this location has been corrected.
Rambo, I’m going by the map from the Reynoldsburg webpage listed above. Reynoldsburg is the area in white, and that includes the theatre located next to the fire academy and east of Taylor Road.
It is possible, though, that this is an area that Reynoldsburg that was annexed in the last few years after the theatre was built.
I haven’t gotten to this theatre yet in my Columbus theatre research. I show an opening date for this location as 7/24/1961.
It’s the fourth building to the east of Swan Cleaners. It IS the one that has what looks like a ticket booth in front. The current user is MediaS0urce (www.mediasourceTV.com)
No.
Don’t forget the Paris Theatre, the former Parsons Theatre that also showed “adult” films.
Sure with this site had an edit function! The above post should, of course, be “Entertainers”.
I forgot to note that the “Gayety” name came with the advent of live “sentertainers”. This got a LOT of police action and attention, and I don’t recall it lasting very long.
It was purchased by Leroy Griffith in 1965, so the “porn” days started sometime in that year. I believe at that time it was the Livingston Art Theatre. It became the Gayety in 1967, with the addition of a dressing room and a small stage. The theatre was involved in many censorship-related lawsuits.
By 1972, the theatre was closed and the owner of Livingston Enterprises (next door to the theatre) listed it for sale or rent.
It changed due to a change in the neighborhood, from middle class to low income. Also, people started going to the suburban malls for entertainment, not the local neighborhood theatre.
The theatre opened on Saturday, 8/16/1947. The opening features were LIVING IN A BIG WAY and DARK DELUSION. THey also ran a Popeye short.
The Columbus Dispatch described the theatre as “having a distinctive facade of cut stone and pale green and brown terra cotta. The marquee, resembling the New York World’s Fair perisphere, will have space for 560 lights. The theatre is part of a new $4,000,000 business center.”
“An arcade lobby, with ticket window to the right and display windows to the left, will lead to the main foyer. Over a thousand patrons can be accommodated in the auditorium in which blue, yellow and red are dominant decorative colors. Features for convenience include a crying room for babies and hearing aids for the hard of hearing. Ample parking space has been provided.”
At one time, the theatre name was to be the Driving Park Theatre, named after the early 20th century racetrack located nearby.
This headline speaks the truth! Call it Lie-Max, Imax Light, or, my preferred term, Imax Junior, it is NOT true Imax. Until the digital systems can light a minimum 60' x 90' screen, they are not true Imax.
No balcony.
To follow up on retroguy’s post about a car hitting the Clinton, The Columbus Dispatch reported on 6/2/2010 that the owners of the building had been ordered in April, 2010 to fix the “deteriorating buildings at 3367 – 3383 N. High St.” The owner would face a fine of $250 per day starting on August 1, 2010. This week, the city inspectors ordered the owner to hire an engineer to check structural integrity. The building must also be kept secure. Some preservationists would like to save the Clinton Theater building, but the buildings are graffiti covered and deteriorated.
I don’t think this theatre is going to have a very happy ending.
In February or March 2010, all of the comments disappeared from the Cleve Theatre (Columbus Ohio) page, and I was able to grab them from the Google Cache. Looks like the phantom deleter struck again!! Something very strange going on around here.
Ron, thanks for pulling them out of Cache-land. Very much appreciated.
I haven’t gotten that far in my research yet, but I do have a note that it became the Agora approximately April 1970. It was taken over by Henry & Joe LoConti, who invested $200,000 in the project.
I should have more exact data by the end of the summer.
The Little Theatre did become the Little Art Theatre. The local police tried many times to shut that down. Many films were confiscated and managers arrested. Film censorship was a huge issue well up into the 1970’s. Building was finally condemned and torn down.
You are only talking about a distance here of about 100 yards…unless you really looked at the maps, you wouldn’t know the difference. If you would ask someone to circle an area of a map that would be considered Arlington, they include this shopping center. If I didn’t live here, I certainly wouldn’t have noticed the difference. As I said above, the city boundaries here get very, very confusing.
Theater opened on 6/6/1972.
The WORLD theatre actually opened in 1947 in the building that housed the Olentangy at 2523 North High Street. On 9/14/1949, the WORLD moved to the Alhambra building, and the Olentangy became known as the Little Theatre, playing classic films.
In October, 1956, Charles Sugarman installed a 12' x 24' Cinemascope screen.