Fountain Theater

Why was my previous comments deleted?

The Fountain Theater was open in the late 70s (not early 70s as stated) and was run by my father. It was renamed The 1863 Cinema. It held 200 seats and closed in 1979.

First movie: Walking Tall - Final Chapter

Last move: A Little Romance

I think I had a comment on this page, too, and it's gone. It looks as though the comments on the page all got lost in some sort of digital disaster. Blasted computers.

Anyway.

The January 2, 1978, issue of Boxoffice mentions the 1863 Cinema at Smithers, West Virginia, operated by James Kilburn.

It appears that Bill and Al Thalhimer's Logan Theatres operated the Fountain Theatre for a while in the late 1940s-early 1950s, according to a couple of mentions in Boxoffice. I've been unable to find any connection between Logan Theatres and the Fountain in later issues of Boxoffice.

In fact I've not found the Fountain mentioned in Boxoffice later than 1955, but it's mentioned in the May 19, 1931, issue of Exhibitor's Forum as one of several houses that had recently installed Photophone (or Phototone) sound equipment.

Wow, do you still happen to have that issue of Boxoffice (or a scan)? I'd love to see it.

Unfortunately, there are very few pictures we took while operating the theater. I was able to visit it in 2000 and would you believe that all of the graffiti we wrote on the projection booth walls was still there? Every movie shown, we wrote on the walls.

I have hardcopy pics in storage and will scan them someday.

Boxoffice has uploaded its archive to issuu.com. The 1978 mention of the 1863 Cinema is brief, and is the only one I've found in the magazine. It is simply listed among a number of theaters for which Mid America Theatre Service was doing booking and buying.

The scan is here. The mention is in the "Cincinnati" column.

Thanks, Joe.