Hunt's Cinestage Theatre
217 N. High Street,
Columbus,
OH
43215
217 N. High Street,
Columbus,
OH
43215
2 people
favorited this theater
Another big downtown theater that hosted the Road Show reserved seats blockbusters in the 1950’s and 1960’s. I think I can recall “My Fair Lady” and “Dr. Zhivago” both playing there well over a year. It was located on North High Street near Spring Street, and was demolished for either part of the Nationwide Insurance Complex or a State office tower. By the time I saw it, it had been modernized. Any info of its early years would be appreciated.
Contributed by
Dave
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Recent comments (view all 26 comments)
Sorry for the typos in that last post. Sure wish there was an editing tool here.
I hope to do a lot more research on this labor problem with Hunt’s. I’ll post any info I find. There were also labor problems with the Linden theatre at about the same time.
Thanks for these posts. Do you know when the bomb was placed?
The bomb exploded on the roof of the building on 4/8/1962. The Projectionist’s Local had struck the theatre on 3/3/62 over wages and working hours. The bomb exploded about 25 minutes after the last employee left the building. It was apparently thrown from an alley adjacent to the theatre. Had it been thrown 4 feet farther, it would have done severe damage to the projection booth.
Please do not imply from my post above that there is proof that the projectionist union was responsible for the bombing. To my knowledge, the persons responsible were never apprehended.
I still have the half-ticket stub from when I was 13 and my brother took me to see “Lawrence of Arabia” at Hunt’s Cinestage on September 7th 1963. The wide screen and incredible sound system made me duck when the biplanes first “strafed the audience! I THINK I saw Patton there, too, but not sure.
I’m wondering if Hunt’s Cinestage is the theater that was running “The Sound of Music” at some point in the 1968-1969 time frame — and if not, which downtown Columbus theater might have been the one.
Charles, it could have been any of them…the Ohio, Palace or the Cinestage. According to list on the Grand Cinerama, it did not play there.
SOUND OF MUSIC was not a current release by 1968 and any of these locations could have picked it up as a re-release.
For the record, the original Columbus run was at Northland.
I saw 2001: A Space Odyssey at Hunt’s Cinestage
Are you sure? I saw it at the Grand Cinerama.
Is this the same Hunt’s theater chain that owned all the movie theaters in Wildwood New Jersey?