New Merry Widow Theatre

St. Louis, MO

1739 Chouteau Avenue

, St. Louis, MO 63104 United States

(map)

Status:	Closed
Screens:	Single Screen
Style:	Art Deco

Function:	Unknown
Seats:	920
Chain:	Unknown

Architect:	Jack Shawcross
Firm:	Unknown

Another single floor theatre operated by the Komm Theatres, seated 711, It opened in 1937 as the Merry Widow but due to a fire in 1947 the theatre was gutted, rebuilt and reopened as the New Merry Widow with a seating capacity of 920.

The Merry Widow had a nice lobby with terazzo floors and a small concession stand in the southeast corner of the lobby. Three aisles into the auditorium one along each wall and one down the middle. Two small chandeliers in the auditorium. Draped walls lined the auditorium and covered the screen.

The Merry Widow was not one of the busiest theatres for the Komm Circuit as it was right on the outskirts of downtown and a lot of industrial was around the theatre. It had to rely on the housing developemnts just to the south of the theatre.

The Merry Widow closed as a movie theatre in 1955 and a year later became a auto repair shop.

Contributed by Charles Van Bibber

YOUR COMMENTS

Merry widow did not close in 1955. I ushered there until I left in March of 1956. The concession stand was also accesible from the inside of the theatre. The manager at that time was Bob Lawson. The candy girl was Pat Patterson. There were also balconies on each side of the projection booth, but there never used to my knowledge.

posted by cummins1937 on Jun 25, 2005 at 4:06pm

I'm wondering why you left in March of 1956, and if you stayed in the theater business, or went onto other things. It's interesting that you remember even to the month, after nearly 50 years.
I'd guess that you've got a lot of theater history to tell us about.

posted by dwodeyla on Jun 25, 2005 at 5:26pm

I'm wondering if the original owner named this theatre after Lubitsch's The Merry Widow of 1934 with Jeanette MacDonald or perhaps because he just liked the Franz Lehár operetta. (The name Komm sounds German.) I'm trying to compile a list of movie theatres that were actually named after real movies. So far I have a "Ben-Hur Drive-In," in Indiana, "Accattone" in Paris after the Pasolini film, a "Cinema Paradiso" in Florida.

posted by Gerald A. DeLuca on Jun 26, 2005 at 12:07am

"Smultronstället" (Wild Strawberries) in Stockholm and "Grand Illusion Cinema" in Seattle were also named after movies.

posted by Gerald A. DeLuca on Jun 26, 2005 at 12:18am

In january of 56, I graduated from high school and in March of 56, I joined the USAF. Never went back.

posted by cummins1937 on Jun 26, 2005 at 4:51am

Theatre closed in May, 1956. Structure opened for business in March, 1942 and was called the New Merry Widow as it replaced the (Old) Merry Widow in the 1400-block of Chouteau.

Address of New Merry Widow was 1739 Chouteau. The architect was Jack Shawcross.

In newspaper ads it was called the New Merry Widow until 1951 when the "New" was dropped.

posted by JAlex on Nov 7, 2005 at 4:36am

The building is still standing. Here is a recent photo.

posted by Lost Memory on Jul 28, 2008 at 9:39am

Another photo is here.

posted by Lost Memory on May 8, 2009 at 5:14pm

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