Shubert Theater

I have a couple of interior and exterior shots of the Schubert if you want them. Just e-mail me at Joethemusicguy@aol.com and I'll reply with them.

There is now a 26-story office building on this site.

Joe: If you can post the photos you have and that you sent to me, please do so. Thanks.

*IN 1953, WHEN EVANGELIST EARL IVIE OWNED THE CINN, SHUBERT, ...
MY FATHER (EVANG. BUFORD DOWELL SR AND OUR REVIVAL TEAM OF SINGERS
AND MUSICIANS) CAME TO THE SHUBERT THEATER ..."REVIVAL TEMPLE",
AS HIS CO-EVANGELIST!

THEY WE'RE BOTH PENTECOSTAL-PREACHERS AND GREAT MEN OF FAITH!

MULTITUDES CAME TO CHRIST...DURING THAT GREAT CRUSADE!

THOUSANDS WE'RE MIRACULOUSLY HEALED .. THRU THE PRAYER OF FAITH!

*5 GREAT POWERFUL SERVICES DAILY! *NATIONAL RADIO-DAILY!
*GREATEST GOSPEL MUSIC! *FRI-NIGHT WAS ALL NIGHT "MIRACLE NIGHT!"

DURING HIS OWNERSHIP, REV. IVIE COMPLETE PAINTED THE INSIDE
AND OUTSIDE OF THE SHUBERT...WHITE AND GOLD! IT WAS TRUELY
BEAUTIFUL!

*THERE'S NOTHING LIKE THOSE GREAT OLD THEATER PALACES, FOR A
WONDERFUL "CHURCH AUDITORIUM!"

*ANY MORE PICTURES ANYONE?
(BUFORD DOWELL JR / EITENTS@YAHOO.COM)

Here is a circa 1920s postcard:
http://tinyurl.com/e885c

When the Shubert Theater opened in 1921 it ran competition with B.F.Keiths and the Lyric which both ran vaudeville shows and movies and were nearby on Walnut and Vine Streets respectively.Next door to the Shubert Th. was the Cox Theater also built in 1921 to memorialize the colorful politician George B. Cox who was known as the Boss Of Cincinnati for all the political patronage jobs he arranged for folks who tallied up proper amounts of cash to grace hispolitical war chests. The Cox Theater never ran movies,but it was used in later years to store excess scenery for touring road shows which played the Shubert Theater.

That's interesting. I never knew the Cox Theater was named after Boss Cox. Learn something new every day. I have a picture of the Cox Theater. Just e-mail me at Joethemusicguy@aol.com and I'll reply with it if you want it.

Boss Cox at one time owned ,with the Shubert Brothers ,the largest theater in this country, the Hippodrome Theater in NYC. Boss Cox died in 1916.

Here is a January 1976 article about the demolition of the Shubert:

Old Shubert Theater Torn Down

CINCINNATI (AP) — There has been little applause in the Shubert Theater in recent years and there was little mourning when it was razed by a wrecker's ball along with the Cox Theater next door over the weekend. "I was a stage hand 22 years in there and now I'm tearing it down," said Larry Trumbo, one of the wrecking crew. "I feel bad about it. But what can you do? They didn't bring shows in there anymore ".

The Cincinnati owners of the two downtown theaters said the land will be converted to a parking lot. The Theater Guild-American Theater Society canceled the 1975-76 season at the Shubert when touring companies refused to play Cincinnati because of financial losses in previous years. The 1,000 advance subscribers received refunds. The last two shows at the Shubert, however, were sellouts. Comedian Redd Foxx had two performances May 3, 1975, billed as "a black show for black people ".

The Shubert Co. of New York spent $250,000 refurbishing the Shubert in 1964. The granite building was constructed by the YMCA in 1848 and Shubert converted it to a theater in 1921. Both theaters became vacant in the 1950s when the U.S. Department of Justice ordered them sold in an antitrust action. Shubert was allowed to reopen them in 1954 when no one bought the buildings. But productions there of "Misalliance," "The Moon Is Blue" and "Dial M for Murder" played to almost empty houses.

This is a larger view of the picture at the top of this page.

From Boxoffice magazine, January 1938:

RKO Shubert Theater, Cliff Boyd, manager, has dropped its straight film policy and has extended upon an 18-week program of vaudeville and films. lack of super productions and roadshows, which this house featured, is given as the reason.

According to an Enquirer paper article during the Shuberts times as a vaudeville theater one of the acts made a huge dent on its history. Apparently the Power's Elephant Act fell through to the former YMCA swimming pool as the stage had been built over the original aquadic architectural feature.