Loew's Broad Theatre
39 W. Broad Street,
Columbus,
OH
43215
39 W. Broad Street,
Columbus,
OH
43215
2 people
favorited this theater
Located across the street from the RKO Palace Theatre and adjacent to the Broadway Theatre in downtown Columbus. The Rialto Theatre was opened on March 28, 1921. It was later known as the James Theatre. Re-named Loew’s Broad Theatre on August 21, 1927, it was closed on March 31, 1961 and was demolished.
An office building now is on the site.
Contributed by
Dave
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Recent comments (view all 13 comments)
Would’ve liked to have seen what this theater looked like, but it was long gone before I came here. It sounds much bigger than the Palace across the street.
The Columbus Metropolitan Library has an online historic photo collection with several photos of this and other theatres.
Broadway Theatre and James Theatre, side by side. The Broadway closed in 1929; the James became Loew’s Broad.
Loew’s Broad Theatre, 1960. The marquee advertises a live magic show, plus a double feature of Studs Lonigan and The Pusher.
Click on the thumbnails to see full-size photos.
One more Loew’s Broad photo from the library collection:
Busloads of people flocked to Loew’s Broad Theatre in 1956 to see “The Ten Commandments”.
Click on the thumbnail to see a full-size photo.
And one last Loew’s Broad photo, from 1957. This one shows lots of school buses lined up, some double-parked, outside the theatre whose marquee displays “The Ten Commandments”.
Across the street is the RKO Palace marquee, advertising Alan Ladd in “Big Land”, and a second feature of “Wicked Wife”.
Thanks for all the info!
Here is another photo:
http://tinyurl.com/g5ax7
A Kimball theater organ size 3/15 was installed in the James Theater in 1921.
Great pictures and info.
Interesting that vertical in the photo posted by ken mc on May 15,2006 reads Loews and United Artists.
Nice 1927 ad posted on the photo page today.