Parsons Theatre

1291 S. Parsons Avenue,
Columbus, OH 43215

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Additional Info

Styles: Streamline Moderne

Previous Names: Paris Follies Theatre, Paris Art Theatre, New Paris Cinema

Nearby Theaters

Parsons Theatre

The Parsons Theatre was opened on February 5, 1927 with Betty Compson in “The Belle of Broadway”. It was equipped with a Reproducto pipe organ. In the late-1950’s the Parsons Theatre was owned and operated by Rowlands Theatres. F.W. Rowlands, president and film buyer and was still open as a regular movie theatre in 1957. It later went over to screening adult movies under several name changes.

Contributed by MikeRogers

Recent comments (view all 18 comments)

Ron Newman
Ron Newman on October 17, 2010 at 3:56 pm

The X-rated ads I remember seeing in the Dispatch and C-J were for the Little Art, New Paris, Livingston Art, Adult Theatre (yep, that was its name), Garden, Bexley, and World. All of these are listed here except for the Little Art, which was on North High Street. Can you add it?

The Little Art and the New Paris ran similar-looking ads, with the same movies moving over from one house to the other after a week.

Mark_L
Mark_L on October 17, 2010 at 4:12 pm

You can also include the Airport Drive-In, the North High Drive-In and the Hudson, which ran “selected films for the liberated adult male audience”. The “Adult Theatre” was previously the Markham. There may have been others, but I haven’t found them yet.

Ron Newman
Ron Newman on October 17, 2010 at 4:15 pm

We don’t have a listing for the Airport Drive-In either. Can you add that one as well?

Ret. AKC (NAC) CCC Bob Jensen, Manteno, Illinois
Ret. AKC (NAC) CCC Bob Jensen, Manteno, Illinois on October 22, 2010 at 12:15 pm

Open ~1935-~____? Anyone care to verify the exact dates?

Need more info of the early years and photos.

Ron Newman
Ron Newman on October 22, 2010 at 12:19 pm

Where did you find the 1935 date?

Ron Newman
Ron Newman on June 3, 2011 at 9:34 pm

What is a ‘Rivest Site’ ?

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on June 3, 2011 at 9:42 pm

Rivest’s ultimate list of movie theatres. It’s a useful resource for some purposes, but has only limited information about most of the theaters, and a lot of tentative surmises (usually followed by question marks.)

sampson159
sampson159 on October 30, 2013 at 8:21 pm

went there with a friend back in the 70s.topless ushettes!a girl i went to school with and had a crush on walked me to my seat.i was very embarrassed and extremely uncomfortable for the visit.left after 20 minutes.it was called the paris theater back then

rivest266
rivest266 on November 10, 2021 at 6:10 pm

This opened as Parsons on February 5th, 1927. Article posted

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