Little Theatre Off Broadway
3981 Broadway,
Grove City,
OH
43123
3981 Broadway,
Grove City,
OH
43123
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Originally opened in 1916 as the Kingdom Theatre, this theater has been home to the Little Theatre Off Broadway, a live theatrical company, since the late-1960’s.
Contributed by
Bryan Krefft
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Recent comments (view all 6 comments)
Did it ever show movies, or has it always been a live stage?
Ron, this website mentions the Kingdom Theatre opening in 1916 “as a silent movie house” which “later showed talking pictures until the 1950s when it was taken over by one of the Catholic churches in the area”.
Also, the Film Daily Yearbooks for 1945 and 1951 show the Kingdom being in operation.
The November 8, 1947, issue of Boxoffice said that the Kingdom Theatre had changed its name to the Grove and was now operating seven days a week instead of two to four days.
Great Name.
Moved to Grove City in 1964, the theater was named The Douglas Theater. Saw The Ten Commandments revival there as well as Elvis Double Features every weekend matinee. This was 1965-67 or so. It was very small, the lobby was just a narrow hallway with restrooms on either side, and the auditorium was narrow & small, but 10 Commandments looked huge on that screen.
In 1946, this 191 seat theatre (known then as the Kingdom) was only open 4 days a week during horse racing season (Beulah Park Racetrack is in Grove City) and 2 days a week during the rest of the year. The owner/operator, Ben Almond, was taking home $4 for a days work. The only other employee was the operator, janitor, electrician and handyman, Ross Hill.
It was run as a hobby by Almond, who worked as a railroad conductor by day.
Pictures always played 2 days, and double-features were never offered. The cashier just loved to sell tickets and was a volunteer.