Loew's Ritz Theatre

If you enlarge the 1953 photo with “Above and Beyond,” you can see the Loew’s Ritz sign hanging under the marquee. The 1948 photo probably displays a reissue booking, as “Argentine Nights” was originally released in October, 1940, and “Hellzapoppin” a full year later in December, 1941. Film directories for both 1948 and 1953 list the theatre as Loew’s Ritz. But by 1957, the Ritz Theatre is listed as closed, with no circuit name attached. In 1936, the year mentioned in the introduction, the Ritz was being operated by WB, according to the FDYB for that year. In that same year, Loew’s was reported as operating only the Penn and Aldine in Pittsburgh. Warner Brothers was the dominant circuit in Pennysvlvania, with MANY more theatres than Loew’s. It’s possible that WB made a “pooling” deal with Loew’s/MGM to get better product for the Ritz.

The top Loew’s in Pittsburgh was the Penn Theatre (now Heinz Hall), which had close to 3,000 seats. I suspect that the much smaller Ritz was primarily a Loew’s move-over house and played first-run only when the Penn had a more important booking. I also don’t think that Loew’s had a longtime association with the Ritz, which may be the reason for that dinky hanging sign under the marquee. I have seen the Ritz reported as operated by Warner Brothers (or Stanley Warner), but I don’t know for what years.

The year given for this photo is 1948.

The entire 200 block of 5th Avenue, on the odd side, has been bulldozed for construction. This theater is no more.

A Robert-Morton theater organ was installed in the Ritz Theater in 1928.