Columbia Theatre

Weren't these two separate theatres? According to the 1949 Film Daily Year Book, the Arcade had 700 seats, while the larger Columbia had 1,500. At that time, Paducah also had two other movie theatres, the 1,200-seat Kentucky and the 438-seat Rialto.

According to the info I have they were two seperate theatres and the Arcade later in its life had two seperate auditoriums. The Arcade had a retail arcade connected to the theatre also.

Yes,you are correct these are two seperate theatres. However, for the purpose of the RFP's we want to transfer the property as one unit. The arcade still has a retail arcade connected to the entrance and currently 3 spaces are occupied.The city of Paducah is the current owner and is accepting proposals on this property. Will probably transfer free of charge to the right developer. We are looking for someone to restore them. Carol

The Columbia, built in the years of discrimination, had a separate balcony for blacks when it was built.
They would enter on the left side of the theatre in an alley between buildings with stairs to the balcony.

Does the Columbia Theater have a pipe organ?

No the Columbia Does not has a pipe organ.

Henry: THIS is an interesting question as I've quickly learned in my research of old movie theaters that many of the old movie houses do not have their pipe organs anymore. There is an organ website which you might enjoy as it also shows photos and history of the Carolina Theater in Charlotte NC where the organization is based. Go to http://theatreorgans.com/nc/metrolina/ My husband's hometown theater was also called the Columbia, but it doesn't seem to be included on the Cinema Treasures website. The hometown was Brookville PA.

In the mid 20's there were three theaters in Paducah, KY that are listed as having a theater organ installed. Those theaters are the Arcade theater, the Columbia theater and the Orpheum theater. The organ was a Barton 2/7.

Around 1980, the Columbia was "twinned" by enclosing the balcony (as mentioned before, it dated from the days of segregation). I recall seeing "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn" in the upstairs theater.

This is a 1947 photo of the Columbia Theater.

lostmemory: Great photo, but am sad to read that the theatre was "twinned" in the 80's enclosing the balcony area.

Paducah! This theatre's exterior facade is beautiful and the theatre needs to be restored as so much of it seems to be there though in need of some TLC! Which theatres had a pipe organ?

Here is modern photo of the Columbia Theater.

This is another photo of the Columbia Theater.

Some photos from two weeks ago:

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y164/ChrisBrame/P1030348.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y164/ChrisBrame/P1030348.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y164/ChrisBrame/P1030356.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y164/ChrisBrame/P1030357.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y164/ChrisBrame/P1030358.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y164/ChrisBrame/P1030360.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y164/ChrisBrame/P1030361.jpg

Here is another recent photo of the Columbia Theater.

This theatre has quite an ornate facade.

Under "Related Websites" are some wonderful photos of this theatre in years past along with the beautiful marquee of that era!

http://www.paducahmainstreet.com/theater.htm

If you click on "Current Photos, after looking at the original marquee you will see the present day marquee which just doesn't compare to what was taken down and removed!

Hey, ChrisB.

When posting comments with photos, just like to the images. We don't really support people using image tags in comments... it causes too many problems.

Thanks!

Patrick

This is another recent photo of the Columbia Theater.

Sorry about that. The third link, P1030356, is the separate (segregated) entrance mentioned above. The only movie I saw there while on vacation in Paducah was "A Bridge Too Far".

What is the current restoration status on this theatre?

Currently the theatre is still waiting to be restored. The last time I was in side (5 years ago) it was mostly still intact. there is some water damage to the walls but most of the ornamental plaster i s still intact. The projection equipment had been sold after they closed down. the balcony has been cloed in as a separate screen and all seats and screens remain. The ceiling I am told was once a backlit stained glass. It has been painted over but appears to be intact. It is my dream to restore this treasure to its former glory but coming up with the money to do so is a problem.

cgcolumbia: Thanks for the update on this theatre. To read about a once backlit stained glass was nice until I read that it has been painted over! It always amazes me what some people think is the right thing to do. I wish you the best of luck and perhaps someone on CT can advise you on how to raise cash to restore this theatre to its "former glory".

Patsy: I don't think it would be too hard to remove the paint an luckily all the panes are there. I have the BP and the idea and the city now has control over the building (owners wanted $350,000 back when they owned it) Its a mater of getting the funding. Thanks for your interest.

Here is a recent photo of the Columbia Theater. Some sort of work is being done.

Nice to see work being done - I hope someone can make a go of it. When my parents and I were there last year, they were pleased to see the renovation taking place downtown; however, they also pointed out that here we were on a beautiful Saturday afternoon and there was hardly anyone around except down by the river...

A new roof is being put on.

I am Mike Mount in Martin, Tn. and I bought the 2manual 5 rank Barton theater pipe organ out of the Columbia Theater in 1983. The organ was installed in 1927 according to signatures in the main pipe chamber(Left side of stage). The organ only played for ten years when the flood wiped out the console and by then the sound movies had taken over. The main chamber had three ranks of pipes and the solo chamber(right side of the stage) had two ranks. I have added this organ to a 3/9 rank Barton organ in my home here in Martin. The ceiling is very beautiful from the attic side. There are many light bulbs that were used to light the ceiling. The owner at the time I bought the organ told me the ceiling had been painted around 1950. The stained glass is still there. The Arcade had a very small cabinet organ made by Barton and it was lost in the flood and never replaced either. The Arcade instrument was about the size of a very large upright piano and sat in a small alcove. If anyone would like to contact me about the above, feel free to do so. Mike

Interesting Mike. Was the organ parts that you bought protected from the flood (not sure where they were located in the theatre.

Here is a recent close-up view of the Columbia.

The organ chambers are located and the left and right side of the stage and about twenty feet above the stage. This kept the pipe chambers completely isolated from the water. The only thing lost was the console. The relay was in the left(Main) chamber and the contacts inside the chest looked like they were only five years old. The chest leather is perfect, probably due to being only ten years old when it was played last and the chest had not had any air in them in over fifty years. Dan Barton told me years ago that the leather he used was super high quality and he used egg white whipped up to seal the pores in the leather to make them more air tight--this is something that several companies did during this error. Everything that Barton built was very much oversized. If a 1/2" piece of wood would do, he would use 1 1/4". Dan told me that he only wanted to sell organs that was within a days ride on train from Oskosh but he had got on a boat and was thrown off in Paducah. He said he sure liked to drink and that he sold the two organs here and with the downpayment, had the money to get back home. Must say he was something else! I trained with M. P. Moller and have been a organ builder for thirty eight years. Most of my early work was restoring theater pipe organs in the 70's and wished that I could have got the Columbia's owner to have kept the organ in the theater. He wanted no part of it and more than glad to get rid of it. A couple of weeks after I removed it, the owner called me to say he found the super large bass drum in a dressing room along with the hand painted leather covered tom tom. When I went to get them, he showed me a filling cabinet drawer in his office full of black and white photos of the theater taken during the late 20's and early 30's. Wonder what became of these photos? They showed some very famous people on stage along with the organ console. Thanks for your interest in this organ. I forgot to mention that the other organ in a Paducah theater went to the landfill and I have the rosewood zylophone which is the only part that survived.

This is a more recent photo of the Columbia Theater.

The opening sentence of the introduction doesn't make any sense to me. Could someone please explain the meaning of "The Columbia Theatre stands as a testament to America's love for the 1920's and 1930's?"

Me, too!

That line comes from the Related Websites link above. Since they wrote it, maybe they can explain what it means. Contact Info.

Hey Mike,

What is the best way to get in contact with you in regards to the Columbia's organ and the theatre's history?

Here is a July 2008 photo.

Thanks for your interest in the Barton Pipe Organ.

My email address is: mwmount@citlink.net
Phone # 731-587-6345
Mike W. Mount
117 Gardner Rd.
Martin, Tn. 38237-8220

Here is an undated photo:
http://tinyurl.com/52pcra

DEAD LINK-403 Forbidden

Try this one:
http://tinyurl.com/4e7vvq

That one works. Nice photo.

The date given for this photo from Life Magazine is August 1947. The link is courtesy of CT member "misterboo".

1982 photo of the Columbia Theatre. I wonder if when the restoration is complete if that will include a replica of the original verticle.
http://americanclassicimages.com/Default.aspx?tabid=141&txtSearch=CATAdvancedSearch1%2c17%2c3%2c-1&catpageindex=26&ProductID=27806
1988 photo showing the marquees of both the Columbia and Arcade Theatres.
http://americanclassicimages.com/Default.aspx?tabid=141&txtSearch=CATAdvancedSearch1%2c17%2c3%2c-1&catpageindex=26&ProductID=27808

1940 picture

Another photo of the Columbia is here.

Very sad to see what happens to many old grand theaters

This is a July 2009 photo.

I looked all through the comments and I didn't see this link posted. It is a great August 1947 Life photo of the Columbia Theatre

http://images.google.com/hosted/life/l?imgurl=468825ad78a2ee75&q=Motion%20Picture%20Theaters%20source:life&prev=/images%3Fq%3DMotion%2BPicture%2BTheaters%2Bsource:life%26ndsp%3D20%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26start%3D20

What a handsome-looking theatre! Are there any photos of the theatre's interior available, btw? Again, just curious.

Here is an October 2009 photo.

Thanks for the latest photo, Lost Memory. It's heartrending to see such a handsome theatre shut down like that.

I think the first line of the introductory paragraph for the page is supposed to read "The Columbia Theatre stands as a testament to America's love for the movies and theatre in the 1920's and 1930's." It's part of the text of the PDF Proposal for renovation of the Columbia and Arcade theaters, available at Paducah Main Street. (The PDF is essentially the same content as the web page, but of course you can make the photos a bit bigger.)

I've tried to find the year of the Art Moderne renovation but the closest I can come is an item in the June 21, 1952, issue of Boxoffice that said "The Columbia Amusement Company, Paducah, is doing extensive remodeling at its Columbia Theatre." 1952 seems a bit late for the Skouras-esque swoops and swirls that were apparently appliqued to the original, restrained interior style (which looks Adamesque to my eye.) There might have been an earlier renovation, but if so Boxoffice isn't telling me about it.

What I have found in Boxoffice is a few references to the Keiler family's Columbia Amusement Company operating not only the Columbia, the Arcade, and the Kentucky Theatre, but also a house called the Rialto, currently not listed at Cinema Treasures. There was also one reference to an Orpheum Theatre operated by the Keilers at Paducah, but that might have been an aka for the missing Rialto.

Not sure that the Orpheum and Rialto were the same theatre, found reference to a Rialto in the 400 block of Broadway and the Orpheum in the 600 block of Broadway.