Variety Playhouse

The Euclid Theatre was one of my favorite Atlanta neighborhood theaters in the 1950's. My dad took me there often in those years. We saw a lot of westerns and action picures there, such as John Wayne movies like HONDO and BLOOD ALLEY. The theatre continued to be known as the Euclid Theatre until the last time I attended it in 1961. Unfortunately, I can't remember exactly when it closed. According to my best recollection, it was not renamed until some years later. A search of the Atlanta Telephone Directories and the microfilm files of the Atlanta Journal and at the Atlanta Public Library would probably clarify matters.

Interesting that you would mention George Ellis. He always seemed like a nice man. He was memorable for playing "Bestoink Dooley," the host of Channel 5, WAGA-TV's Friday night Big Movie Shocker in the early 1960's. For all his clowning as the host, he was probably responsible for seeing that the Universal horror movies originally distributed to television in the "Shock Theater" packages were treated with some respect. WAGA-TV broadcast each of the Universal series' in chronological order of release and without cutting the running time.

Personally, I have very warm memories of going to the Euclid Theatre as a kid. The air conditioning was great there on hot summer days!

Here is another recent photo of the Variety Theater.

Here is a photo of George Ellis as Bestoink Dooley.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24391992@N00/525463508/

This is a recent close-up view of the Variety Theater/Playhouse.

The theater was renamed the Ellis theater in the mid eighties or earlier. I encountered the theater in the summer of 86 and it was well established as an indie theater. (it was running 28-Up)

I don't think at this point it was run by Mr. Ellis. IIRC it was run by a couple who had made a bit of money as the husband was an early employee of Hayes (the modem company) and took on the theater as a labor of love.

L5P was a magical place at the time (especially for a college sophomore) it was gentrified just enough not to be too dangerous a place, yet not so yuppified that all of the quirky flavor was driven out by high rents and excessive enforcement.

It went out of business in the late eighties/early nineties and was reborn as the variety playhouse.

The current name of this theater is the Variety Playhouse.

The marquee of the Variety Playhouse is featured in the Turner Classic Movie network's promos for "TCM Classic Movie News". It is a slow pan with the above on the marquee. The illuminated underside is also visible.

Given Ted Turner's association with Atlanta, it's understandable why the Variety was the easy choice to shoot at. However given the Golden Age of Hollywood theme of "TCM Classic Movie News" & TCM in general, I think an actual Hollywood era theatre would have been more approriate. It's not like they couldn't afford it.

If any large Hollywood theatre wouldn't change their marquee for a one day shoot, certainly old footage could have been altered to reflect the TCM show's name. Even black & white footage would have been more fitting. With maybe only TCM's title in color. It could have morphed from a premiere going crowd into an also fitting news-reel look. After tilting to the marquee. Maybe the Crest of Mann's?
Hey Ted, need any production help out there?

I meant Majestic Crest OR Mann's(Graumann's Chinese Theatre). Guess I shouldn't have cut typing class.

Since I live in Atlanta and therefore have access to archives of the Atlanta Journal & Constitution in my public library, I decided to do a little research on the history of this theater. I've written up the results in somewhat gory detail as an article for Wikipedia. See the results here:

Wikipedia: Variety Playhouse

Some highlights include: It was actually opened in October 1940 and operated as the Euclid Theatre until July 1962. It was the Ellis Cinema from October 1984 to August 1988. It became the Variety in June 1989 and has operated under that name ever since.

1983 photo of th Euclid Theatre.
http://americanclassicimages.com/Default.aspx?tabid=141&txtSearch=CATAdvancedSearch1%2c10%2c3%2c174&ProductID=25688

The Wikipedia article jogged my memory. When The Euclid Theatre closed in 1962, there were no public announcements in the local newspapers or broadcasting outlets. It slipped quietly into oblivion. The last movie that I saw there was the Hammer horror film, THE CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF in 1961, which was on a wide first run. The Euclid Theatre died not with a bang, but a whimper.

I have seen many rock concerts at the Variety Playhouse over the years, especially Patti Smith, one of my all time favorites. At her show in July, 2000, on her "Gung Ho Tour", I spotted a guy standing near me at the foot of the stage. I told my brother, who was with me, that the guy looked like Michael Stipe from R.E.M. My brother didn't believe me until Patti invited the guy on stage to sing a duet with her. THEN, my brother believed me!