Coliseum Cinema

Joe Vogel on March 27, 2009 at 5:18 pm

For many years, the Coliseum was operated by a fellow named Dude Smith. That’s how he was styled in many issues of Boxoffice Magazine from the 1930s through the 1950s. Other issues give his formal name of Claude H. Smith, but I prefer Dude.

Dude bought the Coliseum and another Tillamook house, the Castle, in the mid-1930s. In 1952, he opened a drive-in nearby called the Tillavue. At some time he added the Columbia Theatre at St. Helens, Oregon, to his holdings. He operated all these theaters until his death, at which time (according to Boxoffice’s issue of March 4, 1963) they were taken over by the administrator of his estate, a Mr. Gus Elbow Jr.

A small photo of Dude Smith accompanies a thumbnail biography of him, commemorating his twenty years in movie exhibition, published in the March 17, 1945, issue of Boxoffice. The last line of the biography reads “His hobby is exploitation.”

I think Dude deserves a plaque in the Coliseum’s lobby.

lostmemory on January 29, 2008 at 7:43 pm

This is a recent photo of the Coliseum Cinema.

GaryParks on April 15, 2007 at 7:08 pm

I saw and photographed this theatre’s exterior last week. One of the young women who work there apologized that the COLISEUM name was not lit up on one side of the marquee. She said that the firm who built and maintained the present marquee was from Portland and had gone out of business, and the theatre staff had yet to find a new neon contractor to take care of the problem.

We were let into the tiny and plain lobby. There is a photo on the lobby wall of the theatre exterior when new, which shows a vertical sign to the right of the facade. Below this is a little written tribute to the theatre, written by a longtime patron.

DonLewis on September 23, 2006 at 10:51 am

My image of the COLISEUM in Tillamook www.flickr.com/photos/lastpictureshow/250732456

lostmemory on January 16, 2005 at 1:26 pm

There is a small photo of this theater here:
http://www.cinematour.com/tour.php?db=us&id=2299