Centre Theatre
216 16th Street,
Denver,
CO
80202
216 16th Street,
Denver,
CO
80202
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Larry,
Actually, Jim Sutton did not manage the Centre Theatre. He opened and managed the Century 21 Theatre in the late 1960’s, later becoming the City Manager for Denver and then District Manager before relocating to California. I also worked for him during that time and he truly was a wonderful man and was one of my role models as a young man in the exhibition industry. Sadly, he passed away quite a few years ago.
A photo of the auditorium of the Centre Theatre was featured on the frontispiece of Boxoffice magazine’s Modern Theatre section of August 6, 1955. The curved screen was 28 feet high and 60 feet wide.
I have a Theatre Catalog 1954-55 with a big article on the Centre. There’s a picture of the opening night marquee. The film was “River of no Return” and although there’s no date given, the movie premiered April 30, 1954 according to IMDB.
Here are two 1978 photos:
Photo1
Photo2
Does anyone remember when Jim Sutton managed this theatre in the early 70’s? He later left there to become district manager for No. Cal. division for National General. I remember working under him when he was DM, what a great guy he was. Would like to hear from anyone who would know where he is now.
Still trying to find out what year the Centre was built. It was definitely built after 1941 (the 1942 AFI theatre listing does not include the Centre), but I don’t believe it could have been built to showcase the 1952 Cinemascope process (as mentioned above); it’s design looks too early for that. Possibly right after WW II?
The Centre was one of the first theatres I remember. Although it was built in the early 1950s, it was in a stylized Baroque decor. There was a balcony but it didn’t overhang the lower seats. What do they call that? Like an upper and lower shelf.
We saw There’s No Business Like Show Business in about 1954. I also remember Flower Drum Song and its fabulous opening credits with the Dong Kingman watercolors. I believe the last film I saw there was MAS*H.
Trainmaster,
I would love to see more pictures of the Centre. I do remember it had a beautiful box office both outside decorated in bold gold trim, lots of neon and the marquee was big, bold and beautiful. For some reason I cannot remember the lobby?
I did see a few scope movies over the years at the Centre and do remember it having a very large wide screen. Ben Hur played there a few times during an MGM revival series every few years or so and I’m sure it played in 70mm. Personally I never seen Ben Hur there or any other 70mm feature at the Centre.
I was told that when Mann theaters closed the Centre permanently, the projectors were shipped and sent to the Chinese in Hollywood.
Monty-Denver
To Ken MC:
That is the exact photo I was referring to. There were two photos of the theater in the “Movie Palaces” (still available from Amazon.com – not a promo) book – the other was a nighttime photo of the exterior.
Does anyone have a DAYTIME photo of the exterior – I would love to see it. Referring back to the photo Ken MC posted, either that
interior shot was taken with an extreme wide-angle lens or the screen was able to show movies with an aspect ratio larger than 235:1. If there are any more photos of the theater, including the lobby, exterior, etc. I would love to see them. Too bad this theater is gone.
Trainmaster
Ken MC,
thanks for sharing the photo. Seeing it brings back lot of memories. The Centre was an elegant movie house. They don’t build them like that any more. Do you have any more photos? Monty-Denver
Here is one of the photos that trainmaster was referring to on 2/19/08. Date is circa mid 70s:
http://tinyurl.com/2fskq4
I don’t recall. Sometime in 1980 or 1981.
I might direct your attention to the book “Movie Palaces” by Ave Pildas.
It has beautiful interior/exterior color photos of the Centre Theater in Denver.
By the way, when was this theater demolished?
Trainmaster
The Centre was located on 16th street between Cleveland Place and Court Place, now called the 16th street mall. The building it occupied was demolished sometime in the early eighties and a ten story high-rise is in its place. I think Mann theaters was running the Centre at the time it was raised.
Thanks. The Center Theater photo that I linked to on Jul 11, 2007 had an address of 1621 Curtis Street Denver, Colorado.
I also found an Empress Theater listed for Denver, Colorado and the address given for the Empress Theater is 1621 Curtis Street. The Center Theater in the photo might have been renamed Empress or the Empress Theater replaced the Center Theater on Curtis Street.
Lost memory,
The picture posted to my knowledge is not the Centre Theater in Denver.
The Centre was a beautiful modern movie theater (at the time when it was built)
with a large screen.
I don’t know how true this is, I was told the Centre was built by 20th Century Fox to display the new CinemaScope process in 1952. I’m sure The Robe had its Denver premiere at the Centre.
I was a very young person the first time I seen a movie at the Centre.
I think it may have been the Plant of the Apes. I remember the Exorcist played for months, Gone with the Wind always seemed to playing, I even seen Star Wars there during a second run in the summer of 78.
My mother and I attended the Centre often when I was young. It was on our favorite movie theater list, along with the Denver, Paramount, Aladdin and of course the one and only fabulous Cooper Cinerama Theater.
Was this Center Theater in Denver also a movie theater?
I saw many first-run movies at the Centre. Those Magnificient Men, The Fortune Cookie, Deliverance and Poseidon Adventure were among them. In the 60’s and early 70’s the theatre was operated by Fox Intermountain (National General) Theatres. The experience of seeing a movie here was always enjoyable.
Here is a color photo of the Centre Theatre Auditorium.
View link
Here is an older color photo of the Center Theatre in Denver, Co.
View link
The ANNUAL mentioned is available from:
PHOTOS AVAILABLE:
To obtain any available Back Issue of either “Marquee” or of its ANNUALS, simply go to the web site of the THEATRE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA at:
www.HistoricTheatres.org
and notice on their first page the link “PUBLICATIONS: Back Issues List” and click on that and you will be taken to their listing where they also give ordering details. The “Marquee” magazine is 8-1/2x11 inches tall (‘portrait’) format, and the ANNUALS are also soft cover in the same size, but in the long (‘landscape’) format, and are anywhere from 26 to 40 pages. Should they indicate that a publication is Out Of Print, then it may still be possible to view it via Inter-Library Loan where you go to the librarian at any public or school library and ask them to locate which library has the item by using the Union List of Serials, and your library can then ask the other library to loan it to them for you to read or photocopy. [Photocopies of most THSA publications are available from University Microforms International (UMI), but their prices are exorbitant.]
Note: Most any photo in any of their publications may be had in large size by purchase; see their ARCHIVE link. You should realize that there was no color still photography in the 1920s, so few theatres were seen in color at that time except by means of hand tinted renderings or post cards, thus all the antique photos from the Society will be in black and white, but it is quite possible that the Society has later color images available; it is best to inquire of them.
Should you not be able to contact them via their web site, you may also contact their Executive Director via E-mail at:
Or you may reach them via phone or snail mail at:
Theatre Historical Soc. of America
152 N. York, 2nd Floor York Theatre Bldg.
Elmhurst, ILL. 60126-2806 (they are about 15 miles west of Chicago)
Phone: 630-782-1800 or via FAX at: 630-782-1802 (Monday through Friday, 9AM—4PM, CT)
and….your point? Tell me something about THIS theatre.