Plaza Theater
3402 Poplar Avenue,
Memphis,
TN
38111
3402 Poplar Avenue,
Memphis,
TN
38111
4 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 35 comments found
Such a shame. My father worked across the street, and knew the manager of the Plaza Theater. There would be times when Elvis Presley rented out the whole theater so he could bring his people in to see a movie, and he’d ask the manager if he had some folks he trusted not to make a fuss, who could join them there. Dad saw a half dozen or so movies with Elvis that way.
Such a shame. My father worked across the street, and knew the manager of the Plaza Theater. There would be times when Elvis Presley rented out the whole theater so he could bring his people in to see a movie, and he’d ask the manager if he had some folks he trusted not to make a fuss, who could join them there. Dad saw a half dozen or so movies with Elvis that way.
I was the Assistant Manager of the Plaza Cinema under Ken Goderre’s Manager-ship.About 1964-65.Used to lunch with Gus Cianciolo at Pete and Sam’s Any contacts out there? Photos or …
J Tom Miller
Arkansas.
The 1952 Boxoffice Magazine item about the Plaza Theater cited in my earlier comment is now located at this link.
Good news and bad news. The building is going to become a spa for Gould’s, a beauty parlor which has been at Poplar Plaza for many years. The bad news is that all the remaining decor has been gutted. Couldn’t see the restrooms but the curved lobby which Bookstar retained is gone. The interior was much handsomer after Bookstar moved in than it ever was before (it was pretty plain as were most neighborhood theatres) but all of that is also gone.
I’d love to turn it back into a theatre, but a dinner theatre (supper club) and the cafe section of the old Bookstar could be the lounge!! All the retro stuff is still there, from what I hear, and there’s room for a stage. Look at the jobs we could create!!
Bookstar is gone & the building is vacant. Here’s a photo from April 2011:
http://www.agilitynut.com/11/4/memth.jpg
Anyone know who has the original plans?
Cool shots of the 1952 Boxoffice Joe V.
Now Showing at GCC’s PLAZA I and II “IF EVER I SEE YOU AGAIN” rated PG. in CINEMA II you have “THE GREEK TYCOON” rated R which is also playing at GCC’s RALEIGH SPRINGS IN Memphis.
A rendering of the Plaza Theatre, along with a photo of Mr. and Mrs. Gus Cianciolo and their two sons appeared in Boxoffice, April 5, 1952.
To expand on my comment above, I’ve found an item in Boxoffice of October 26, 1961, which said that Augustine Cianciolo had sold the lease on the Plaza Theatre to General Drive-In Corp. of Boston, the company which was later renamed General Cinema and became one of the leading builders of multiplex theaters.
Also, an interesting bit about Gus Cianciolo turns up in the March 19, 1955, issue of Boxoffice. When the Plaza Theatre received the print of “A Star is Born” missing 36 minutes the studio had cut because they thought the movie was too long, Gus asked the studio to provide his theater with the original, three hour and ten minute version, only to be told it was not going to be released. Most theater operators were happy to run truncated versions of movies as they could get in more showings and sell more tickets. Cianciolo must have been a real movie fan.
The architect of the Plaza Theatre was Everett D. Woods, who also designed the Poplar-Highland Plaza shopping center in which the theater was located. An article about the theater in the November 7, 1953, issue of Boxoffice also attributed the decoration of the Plaza Theatre to Woods. The shopping center and theater were built by developer L. Hall Jones, and the theater was first operated under lease by Augustine Cianciolo, operator of the Rosemary and Luciann theaters in Memphis.
The article mentioning the acroterion (the spire form the top of the marquee.) has been moved here:
View link
The spire (acroterion – and I thought I was the only one who knew that word) was lifted off with a crane. A back-lit plastic star for Bookstar was mounted in its place. The stainless steel, back-lit letters on the vertical sign that spelled out PLAZA were also lifted off at the same time.
There are a pair of similarly-designed “finials” (acroteria) inside the auditorium (bookstore) – one on each side of the proscenium.
There was another acroterion on the department store. It was smaller and not as interesting. It too was removed at the same time.
the image is here:
View link
It’s about halfway down the page.
Where is the online version?
No, but it does have a picture of it in it’s present location. Check the online version.
Does the article say why the spire was removed?
This snippet is from an article in “Memphis” magazine for Aug. 1 2008. It mentions the whereabouts of the spire that used to stand atop the Plaza:
The 1952 construction of Poplar Plaza was a milestone in our city’s history, for it was the first shopping center built away â€" and really far away at that â€" from downtown, which had always been Memphis' commercial center.
Lowenstein’s was the “anchor” store, but one of the top attractions there was the Plaza Theatre, a stunning Art Deco structure, all yellow brick and stainless-steel trim, the façade topped with a massive steel spiral (technically called an “accroterion”).
The Plaza, like so many single-screen theaters in America, faced tough times in the 1970s, added a second screen, and finally closed in 1989. Although there were fears the theater â€" and for that matter most of Poplar Plaza â€" would be demolished, new owners rescued the complex, and the theater was converted into the Bookstar that stands there today. The building exterior and interior are remarkably unchanged, but for one thing: That massive steel spire was removed
But it wasn’t lost. It was hauled a few blocks away to the University of Memphis, where it now rests in a nook in an exterior wall of the Fogelman College of Business and Economics. With a little polish, it would look as good as new.
I don’t remember the Plaza ever showing 2nd run, though they did do a few holiday themed special features. I saw a Halloween night showing of The Exorcist there in 1982 or 1983. But also saw the sneak preview of Blue Thunder (don’t remember it? Nobody else does either.) at about the same time. And if I’m not mistaken, I saw Dirty Dancing there, first run.
IMDB lists 1987 as the release year for both The Principal and Dirty Dancing. Was this a first- or second-run theatre when it closed?
Here’s a new link to my photo of the Plaza on it’s last night of business.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/crackdog/2680869840/
This is an older photo from around 2000.
Here’s a photo I took on the last night the Plaza was open.
http://www.allencreswell.com/plaza.html