Bexley Theater
2484 East Main Street,
Bexley,
OH
43209
2484 East Main Street,
Bexley,
OH
43209
4 people
favorited this theater
The Bexley Theater was one of the first twin-screen theaters ever built when it opened in 1935. At the time, it used a unique projection system that split the projector beam into two identical images so that the same film could be shown simultaneously in both auditoriums.
In 1954, the Bexley Theater became part of the Art Theater Guild chain. By the 1960’s, the split-projector system had long been abandoned, and the two screens always showed separate films. But bookings were often shared with the chain’s other Columbus house, the World Theater on North High Street next to Ohio State University.
When I knew it in the late-1960’s and early-1970’s, the Bexley Theater showed primarily foreign and art films, but some bookings tended to be on the racy side—for instance, “I Am Curious (Yellow”. Occasionally they showed revivals — I recall attending several evenings of a Charlie Chaplin film festival there in the early-1970’s.
As the 1970’s wore on, the bookings devolved towards soft porn (e.g. “The Stewardesses”) and eventually hard porn. In its final few years it was little more than an appendage to an X-rated video store, and very much an anomaly in this quiet, upper-middle-class Columbus suburb.
After years of controversy, the Bexley Theater was demolished in 1997 to make way for a McDonald’s fast-food restaurant. The McDonald’s did not last long, and was in turn replaced by the Chipotle Mexican restaurant that stands on the site today.
Contributed by
Ron Newman
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Recent comments (view all 17 comments)
We lived in neighboring Whitehall during the 1950s, then briefly in Bexley, so we were constantly driving past the Bexley Theater on Main Street. As moviegoers we primarily went to drive-ins in those days. The one time I was taken to the Bexley as a child was for my first “Fantasia”. According to release dates found on IMDB, that would have been the 1956 re-release.
I remember very little of that, except for a few impressions of the film and a vague mental image of the theater interior rather austere. However, it came as a complete surprise to read here that it was always a twin. All these years, I hadn’t known or remembered that.
As a side note, I’ve tried to figure out where we kids were taken to see Disney’s “Sleeping Beauty” on its first run in 1959. Can anyone say if that one played the Bexley?
1982 photo of the Bexley Theatre. Looks like it was playing X rated films at the time of this photo from the marquee.
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1984 night photo of the Bexley Theatre.
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This is a February 1991 article from the Marysville Journal-Tribune:
BEXLEY, Ohio (AP) â€" Franklin County Sheriff Earl Smith says the Bexley Art Theatre is a public nuisance and wants it closed. Smith said undercover detectives saw lewd acts committed during four trips to the theater, which shows X-rated movies, this month.
Judge Dale Crawford of Franklin County Common Pleas Court issued a temporary restraining order that allowed Smith to photograph and inventory contents of the theater during a raid Wednesday. A complaint against the theater by detectives also names Arts Theatre Guild in Scottsdale, Ariz., the parent company, and Prentice Hall Corporate Services, the local theater agent.
More crime stories. Yawn.
For a time in the very late ‘50s, this theatre was known as the Bexley Continental/American. Foreign films were shown in one screen and American films on the other. I found this while looking for some other things in the Columbus Dispatch microfilm records.
The dual projection system was still in use in 1955, when Louis & Maury Sher took over the ownership, with Robert Little as manager. Original screen size was 9' x 12', but the screens were expanded to 15' by 20'. At that time, it was not equipped for wide screen/Cinemascope. Popcorn and candy was not sold, but free coffee and soft drinks were available in the lobby. Children under 18 were not admitted, even though adult films were not shown at that time.
Updated and edited on June 26, 2011 I worked for a small chain of Art Theatres from 1963-1973. The company was Art Theatre Guild, Inc. Founded by Louis K.Sher in Bexley, Ohio in 1955. The company moved its HQ to Scottsdale, Arizona in 1963. I was promoted to manager in 1964 and sent to Tucson to operate the original Loft Theatre located at 6th & Fremont, which I also lived in. I also managed the Fine Art in Fresno, The Rockhill in Kansas City, Missouri. The Cinema in Hollywood, the Art Theatre in Dayton along with the Little Art in Yellow Springs, Ohio and The Bexley (then first twin theatre in America) in Bexley, Ohio along with the World Theatre in Columbus and the Opera House in Granville, Ohio. I was the manager of the Bexley and World theatres from 1969 – 1973.
MovieMgr, I was a student at Capital University during your management years at the Bexley. You had some good movies running there then!
Was there any remnant of the mirror system there while you were there?
Hi Mark, No, when I took over we had two projection booths and one projectionist. I’m not sure when the mirror configuration ended but it was due to sulfur in the well water used for evaporative cooling, it disorted the mirrors and thus the image projected. Of couse I knew Lou Sher and Bob Little well. I wonder if you knew any of the capital students who worked for me. I’m at
Do you happen to remember when you showed the Charlie Chaplin festival? That was my first exposure to Modern Times, Monsieur Verdoux, A King In New York, and The Great Dictator.