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Dubinsky Theatres info
posted by
KingBiscuits
on
August 31, 2006 at 4:54 am
Can anyone tell me about this chain? They owned a couple of theaters in the Springfield, Missouri area in the 1970’s.
Comments (6)
In the Film Daily Yearbook, there was an Dubinsky Bros., which owned 3 in Levanworth KS, 3 in Fulton MO, 3 in Jefferson City, one in Kansas City MO and one in St.Joseph, This theatre chain changed its name to Durwood Theatres and than American Multi-Cinemas.
I worked for this chain in the 70s and 80s. They were headquartered in Lincoln Nebraska with a majority of their theatres in Iowa and Nebraska. Started by Irwin Dubinsky, he died and control went to his son Sarge. At one point they had over 200 screens with Des Moines Iowa as their main market. They eventually sold off all their theatres to Excellence Theatres and a few years later they sold out to Carmike. Irwin Dubinsky was tight with Stanley Durwood and they had a few early ventures together.
The Dubinsky theatres never given the Motion Picture Almanacs 1980-1990 a list of their theatres, the only chain to do so, I have an grand opening ad from an Cedar Rapids newspaper from my site at http://movie-theatre.org/usa/ia/cedarrapids.pdf (Stage 4 entry)
I was born in Springfield in 1960 and worked for several of the chains there in the 70’s (Commonwealth,Dickinson) and don’t think Dubinsky had any theatres there. But I may be wrong.
I was looking at microfilm and Dubinsky owned the Petite 3 and the North Town ¾. Both theatres became Dickinson Theatres on December 2nd, 1983. You can help out if needed, as I wasn’t born until 1990.
Dubinsky Bros. Theater Chain: The Dubinsky Bros. were Maurice, Edward and Barney Dubinsky. They had a traveling tent show named Dubinsky Bros. They retired to Kansas City, MO, around 1920; when they started buying theaters. Edward Dubinsky changed his name to Durwood. Stanley Durwood was the son of Edward Dubinsky and Celia Taxman. Irwin (born Isadore) Dubinsky was the youngest surviving son of Simon Dubinsky and Sarah Schoop, the oldest were Maurice, Edward and Barney. More Dubinsky Bros. information can be fund by googling Dubinsky Brothers. Several articles from the Kansas City newspapers are quoted.