Eastern Theatre

A neighborhood second-run theatre located on the near East side of Columbus, Ohio. According to Phil Sheridan, the original Eastern Theatre was owned by Carl Ludwig’s Eastern Amusement Company. It opened on February 14, 1915, with a seating capacity of 523. Ten years later, on January 20, 1924, William M. “Billy” James purchased the Eastern Theatre.

After two years, the Eastern Theatre was closed on June 1, 1926 and the building was razed. The new Eastern Theatre was opened at 2 p.m., Christmas Day, 1926, with Buster Keaton in “Battling Butler”. The new building had a Spanish motif and seating capacity of 1,500.

By the early- Theatre1930’s, J. Real Neth took over ownership of the Eastern. It closed in 1965. It was converted into a disco called Ball of Confusion in the 1980’s and eventually was demolished. Sources: Phil Sheridan’s “My Kind of Town” column in the May 1996—Senior Times, p. 13" and The Columbus Dispatch.

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