Cine Showcase Cinema
1137 Peachtree Street NE,
Atlanta,
GA
30309
1137 Peachtree Street NE,
Atlanta,
GA
30309
3 people
favorited this theater
Showing 26 - 42 of 42 comments
For some reason, I have never noticed this page before, and only happened upon it while writing a comment for the 10th Street trying to sort out the identities of the four different theatres that were located along this four block section of Peachtree. I have little to add to the Peachtree Art part of this theatre’s history as I never attended a movie here during that time. One show that I did want to see was “Oh What A Lovely War”, but in those days I was not about to come down to this part of town, especially at night.
Starting in 1967, the section of Peachtree Street between 8th and 14th became the center of what would become known as the hippie, peacenik, Woodstock, (fill in your own favorite adjective here) scene. This lasted for about three or four years, and at night the area was gridlocked as thousands of people converged on the area surrounded by Peachtree, Piedmont, 8th and 14th to either participate or sightsee. By 1970, the fad was starting to fade away and the strip turned into a crime and drug infested dump, for lack of a better word. I observed this first hand as during those days I was riding the old Atlanta Transit Company busses through here twice a day while going to Georgia State.
It was during this time that the Peachtree Art closed, leaving the 10th Street Art and the Metro Art, both soft core porno houses as the only theatres in the area. The closest mainstream theatre was the Fox, about eight blocks south. In 1970, efforts were started to revitalize the area around Peachtree and 14th with the construction of the Colony Square office block. As part of this effort, Weis theatres reopened the Peachtree Art on July 30th under the name Weis Cinema with the Southeastern Premiere of “Catch 22”. In an effort to make suburbanites more comfortable coming to this area, free parking was offered in the Colony Square decks for the night time shows.
“Catch 22” must have done well because it played 19 weeks, leaving on Christmas Eve to make way for “Little Fauss and Big Halsey”, starring that well known comedy team of Robert Redford and Michael J. Pollard. With its 10 week run, “Halsey” was the last hit to play here for quite a while. These were the days of exclusive runs which required considerable up front money paid, in advance, to the film companies. Since blind bidding was legal in those days, it was even more of a gamble to put up a big guarantee for anything other than a sure fire hit, and there were not enough of those to go around. Weis also had the Fine Art, Broadview Plaza, and its flagship, the Capri (Garden Hills, Screening Room, and Buckhead Roxy on this site) to book, and since those locations were located further to the north in seemingly safer Buckhead with a better parking situation, it was less of a gamble to book the more expensive efforts there.
Following “Halsey” was a series of low profile first runs, reruns, fillers and reissues. Here is a list with the number of weeks in the run in ( ):
Little Murders (5)
Mephisto Waltz (3)
Percy (1)
Making It (1)
Left Handed Gun (2)
Joy In The Morning (2)
Grissom Gang (3)
Fortune In Mens Eyes (3)
Velvet Vampire (2)
Panic In Needle Park (4)
Beast of the Yellow Night (1)
Death In Venice (2)
The Touch (4)
Bless the Beasts and Children (6)
Cisco Pike (3) (Christmas attraction)
Goodbye Columbus (3)
“Goodbye Columbus” a filler after “Cisco Pike” bombed, was the first movie I saw here. As described above by Mike, I found the place to be dark, cavernous, and a little creepy since I was the only one in attendance for the weekday 5 PM show. The sound was pretty hollow and the auditorium did not seem big enough to hold the 800 seats I see listed for it here. Maybe there was a balcony that I did not notice. The lobby had been somewhat done over in the Weis style which has been described on other pages of this site as “mod”, “hip”, and groovy". Since everyone is entitled to their own opinion I will just say that I found it downright ugly, distracting, and unfortunate in that it ruined the old time appeal of older sites such as the Fine Art and Capri. The most obnoxious example here was the round frame built around the marquee overhanging the sidewalk which was covered with copper colored metal sheeting with a conflicting rectangular box cut in it to expose the sign itself. This type of stuff was fine for the newer Peachtree Battle (Silver Screen on this site) and the Broadview, but it certainly clashed with the traditional architecture of older sites like this one.
Following “Columbus”, were one week bookings of “Casino Royale” (the Woody Allen version) and “Ryan’s Daughter”. Next, on 2/16/72 came “Cabaret”, probably the most successful of the Weis efforts here. It probably played here by default since on the very same day the Broadview opened an 8 month reserved seat run of “Nicholas and Alexandra”, and the Fine Art opened its own four month run of “The Last Picture Show”, while the Capri had to be kept available for its upcoming run of “The Godfather”, opening in mid March. These three movies opening in the same week followed by “The Godfather” three weeks later certainly marked the high point of the Weis days in Atlanta during the 70’s.
“Cabaret” ran for five months but it probably did not perform up to expectations as Weis went to extremes to draw crowds. During this time the Weis Cinema consistently had the largest space in the Weis newspaper ad block. Nearing summer, the ad included a letter to Atlanta that was printed as part of the “Cabaret” ad. In it Albert Weis stated that he thought “Cabaret” was the outstanding picture of the year and encouraged Atlantans to come see it as he was confident that it would win more Oscars than any other film. He also stated that its was “no goody goody Julie Andrews type musical” which enraged a Julie Andrews fan from Brunswick to the point that he wrote a letter to the Weis company complaining about this disparagement and suggesting that Albert go see the striptease scene in “Star”. (To bad that “SOB” had not been made at that time.) Weis wrote the man a letter of apology and from that day on, there was a blank space in the middle of the ad where the offending sentence had been blacked out. The letter also offered a money back guarantee, later increased to “double your money back” if the patron did not think that “Cabaret” was indeed the movie of the year. I do not know how many, if any refunds were given, double or otherwise, but Albert was proved correct when “Cabaret” did indeed win more Oscars than any other film, although it was long gone from here by the time the Academy Awards rolled around the next spring.
After “Cabaret” it was back to the grind with:
Easy Rider (1)
Salzburg Connection (6)
Little Mother (2)
Play It Again Sam (1)
Twilight People (1)
Hello Dolly (1)
Bad Company (1)
Devil’s Widow (2)
Come Back Charleston Blue (2) (m/o from Coronet)
Hammersmith Is Out (4)
Black Girl (6) (Christmas attraction)
Heartbreak Kid (11)
Caesar and Rosalie (2)
Woodstock (3)
As you can see, the only one of these to have any success at all was “Heartbreak Kid”. The attraction for summer 1973 was “Day of the Jackal”, another big budget / big guarantee movie. I saw the movie here with a pretty good crowd, but I do not know how it did overall. Albert Weis tried to repeat his “Cabaret” act by using the newspaper ad to remind Atlanta how he had been right about “picking a winner”, and reviving his Academy Award prediction, this time with “Jackal” as the winner presumptive. Although I considered it a good movie, and still do, I thought that this was a bit of a reach. Later, I came across a Macon paper and noticed the same letter in the Weis ad, this time slightly adjusted to promote the current feature of the Riverside Twin, “Paper Moon” as the next big winner. I do not know what his prediction for Savannah was but it was probably whatever he had the most money up for.
During this time, the industry phrase “Go Black” was the motto for most of the downtown theatres as the white audience had mostly fled to the burbs. The Coronet was the first and most successful with these bookings followed by Loew’s Grand, The Atlanta, Martin’s Rialto, and occasionally even the Fox. The Weis Cinema was in something of a no mans land, customer wise, being too close to downtown to attract the white audience, especially at night, and too far north to be considered downtown. As indicated above, the Christmas 1972 feature was “Black Girl” starring Leslie Uggams which was not a bad movie but a dud at the box office. For Christmas of 1973, Weis Cinema presented Billy Dee Williams, and in a small role, Richard Pryor, in “Hit”. This one did better, but again, not a success. In 1975 the Christmas feature was “Uptown Saturday Night” but by then had Weis put most of its effort in this area into The Atlanta after they took over the lease from Walter Reade in the fall of 1973.
For Christmas of 1974, the Weis Cinema was booked with the X rated “Story of O”, not much of a Christmas movie for sure, but one that was sure to do big business if they could get away with it. By this time I was managing theatres and was not paying much attention to anything but my own problems, but I remember that this movie was either raided or threatened with a raid, and as a result the Christmas booking fell through. The Weis ended up playing the same feature as the Capri, “The Man Who Would Be King”. Another odd story was the booking of “The Savage Is Loose”. This movie is notable only for the way its star and owner, George C. Scott marketed it. Instead of renting it for a cut of the box as was the norm, he offered to sell the prints to theatre companies who would then keep all of the box office receipts. Weis bought several prints and two of them played at the Capri and Weis Cinema. Later those prints made the rounds of most of the Weis theatres in town whenever there was a gap in the schedule, and for years seemed to be the permanent co-feature at many of the Weis drive-ins.
Given the right movie, any theatre will do big business regardless of where it is located. This was proven true here in May 1975. The feature of the moment was “The Great Waldo Pepper” not exactly a hit, but more importantly a Universal release. This meant that when Universal ran their sneak preview of “Jaws”, a common practice in those days, they placed it at the Weis so that it would play with their own current release. The name of the movie was not advertised, but the jaws artwork was included in the ad so everyone knew what the feature was. As a result, for one night at least, the Weis Cinema had the hottest ticket in town. By 1975, the Weis chain was in big trouble from poor bookings and overexpansion. In 1972 they had bought out the Peachtree Battle Mini Cinema, in 1973 the Atlanta, followed by the rest of the mini cinema chain in 1974. The last big effort to return to the glory days was during Christmas 1976 when they put up big money for “7% Solution” at the Capri, and “King Kong” at almost every other theatre. The next year they tried again with “Ode To Billy Joe”, and you don’t need me to tell you how that worked out.
Since I was busy with my own theatre I do not recall when this location closed, but by 1978 or 79, Weis was gone from Atlanta, only six years or so removed from their years of being home to most of the big, high profile movies that came out. There may have been some efforts to reopen this location but I am not aware of any. In the late 80’s or perhaps early 90’s the entire block was demolished and the Peachtree Art went to the landfill to join so many other once proud Atlanta theatres.
OH yes thats it! Would you have or know where I could get some stills and a picture of the Playhouse?
Thank you,
Pam
I believe you are confusing the Peachtree Art with the Peachtree Playhouse, which was across the street and belonged to a women’s organization. Theatre of the Stars, a live production company, staged some of their plays in the Playhouse during the ‘60s and '70s. I was in it as late as April, 1978, when my wife to be and I saw BAREFOOT IN THE PARK with Lyle Waggoner, Molly Picon, and Lou Jacobi. It was our first date.
The Peachtree Playhouse was a small venue, probably in the neighborhood of 300-400 seats. I also saw EQUUS, which, believe it or not, may have actually starred Paul Michael Glaser.
Mike
He definately was there March 16-28th.
Pam
About the only live performance theatres I can think of right off hand that were in operation during the 1970s were the Alliance (at the Memorial Arts Centre), the Fox, the Civic Centre, Chastain Park, Theatre Atlanta and possibly the Atlanta (later the Columbia) theatre. I don’t think the Peachtree Art was equipped for live performance.
I was looking for an old playbill/ pictures from the Peachtree. It’s the play “Luther” held in the 70’s starring Paul Michael Glaser. Does anyone have or know anyone that might have some?
It’s a shame that the wrecking ball is so readily avialable. Old theatre’s are so beautiful. An old theater in Arlington was restored and only lists wonderful stage shows. Great to have those back.
Pam
DUNWOODY FOR THE DEAD. I’m calling George Romero…
Next time you’re at the downtown library, check the old Cole and Polk directories from 1915 to date. In the early editions (circa 1900-1940) you’ll probably need to look under the heading of “Movie or Motion Picture Theatres. The later editions have all of the listings under Theatres.
Ms Marsh site is as inconspicuous as she was. Oakland is the Dunwoody for the dead.
Mike – Thanks for the clarification. I do not own copies of the biographies I mentioned earlier. It’s possible that the Art might have booked A CANTERBURY TALE (possibly a reissue, or first time engagement) on the strength of the RED SHOES run. Atlanta movie houses were often behind other parts of the country when it came to booking films. Wonder if they booked TALES OF HOFFMANN? I’ve seen most of Powell’s films.
Wish the Atlanta Public Library’s collection of newspaper microfilms was easier to use and not as fatiquing on the eyes!
800 seats sounds about right for the Art.
Peggy Mitchell Marsh was remarkable. Let me recommend that you visit her grave in Oakland Cemetary! It’s a remarkable place!
From MSN: “On August 16, 1949, Mitchell and her husband left their home, intending to go to a movie theater to see the Michael Powell/Emeric Pressburger movie ‘A Canterbury Tale.’”
I have researched THE RED SHOES item tonight and although there are conflicting reports, Margaret Mitchell was most likely on her way to see A CANTERBURY TALE (1944), an earlier movie by director Michael Powell. Maybe the confusion started with his name included in the various stories over the years. By the way, Mitchell was struck by the taxi on August 11. She died August 16.
Thank you all! I do recall the Weis. It was located on the corner of Peachtree and 13th about ½ block down from Colony Square. Rather cryptic account of Ms Mitchell. It’s been a very long time since I have heard this story and it strikes a cord. She was one swell gal.
Although I have read two biographies of Margaret Mitchell, I was reluctant to add that detail because I was not 100% sure if I remembered it correctly. However, I suspect that you are correct. I do recall that she and her husband were on their way TO the theater when she was struck by a taxi. She died in the hospital on August 16, 1949. THE RED SHOES was notable in its original release for being held over for particularly long runs at a number of the theaters that booked it.
The Peachtree Art was OK as a venue for the foreign films that other first run Atlanta theaters would not have booked. When I went there I sat in the orchestra section. The details are hazy now. After seeing CATCH 22 at the renovated WEIS CINEMA, I never had to urge to return.
I’m not certain, but it’s stuck way back in my mind that Margaret Mitchell was either going to or leaving a showing of THE RED SHOES at this location when she was killed by a cab. I suspect that’s why this particular photograph exists.
I saw one film in the Peachtree Art, LILIES OF THE FIELD, on a Sunday afternoon in 1963. The house was jammed. There was a Mr. Magoo cartoon.
Since the theatre was full and I was with my mother, I didn’t get to snoop. I kind of think it was split level in those days, but not exactly a balcony or stadium seating. I’d sure like to know.
Weis Theatres acquired the Peachtree Art, renovated and reopened it as the Weis Cinema in 1970. The first film, CATCH-22, had an Atlanta exclusive for the duration of its run.
I also caught THE DAY OF THE JACKAL (1973) and UPTOWN SATURDAY NIGHT (1974).
The theatre was not a very special venue and probably had all of its charm removed by Weis. The sound was bad, muffled. I want to say the walls were carpeted. The place was forgettable in those days for sure. I remember it as small and cramped and dark.
The only reason for me to go there was to see an exclusive. It didn’t remain open too much longer.
Hi, Jack – The Peachtree Art Theatre was located at 1137 Peachtree Road, NE (on the east side of Peachtree) with the front of the theater facing Peachtree Road. The location was near the corner of 13th Street, between 13th and 12th Street. As I wrote in my previous post, I became aware that the theater had been demolished on my last trip to Atlanta in 2003. Before that, I had not been in town since 1996. Since I hadn’t spent a great deal of time in Atlanta since 1982-83, I really can’t say for sure when the theater closed or when it was demolished. However, I can assure you that it no longer exists.
My ignorance here is really not surprising. It wasn’t until 2003 that I became aware that the Erlanger/Tower/Cinerama/Columbia/Atlanta Theatre at 583 Peachtree Street, NE had been torn down. To say that “things change” in Atlanta is an understatement. When I took a long walk through downtown Atlanta in 2003, I felt like I was living out an episode of The Twilight Zone!
Do you happen to know where on 13th Street the theatre is/was located and if it is still standing? I have one listing for an Art Cinema at 293 Peachtree St NW, but I think this was an adult cinema.
Correction: The location of the Peachtree Art Theatre was at 13 Street, according to a photocopy of a 1954 page from the Atlanta Journal. The advertised feature was the documentary CONQUEST OF EVEREST (1953). The Art (as it was usually referred to) often booked British films, many starring Alec Guinness, John Mills, Terry Thomas, Peter Sellers. So much so, that at times the Art seemed like a bastion of the British Empire.
The Peachtree Art Theatre at 1137 Peachtree Road, NE (near 12th Street if I remember correctly) was the primary venue for first run foreign films in Atlanta from the 1940’s into 1960’s. The photo from the Lane Brothers Collection at Georgia State University would be from the original release of Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger’s THE RED SHOES (1948 release), circa ‘48 or '49.
In 1949, Margaret Mitchell, author of GONE WITH THE WIND, was struck and killed by a taxi as she and her husband, John Marsh, were walking across the street to see a film at the Peachtree Art Theatre. The couple had moved over to apartment on Piedmont Avenue, opposite Piedmont Park. During the years that they lived in an apartment near Tenth Street (in a building that has been recently restored in), Peggy (as her friends called her) Marsh often attended the second run Tenth Street Theatre. This long gone theater once stood at 990 Peachtree Road, NE directly in front of her apartment building. The displays at the former Margaret Mitchell residence includes a picture of the Tenth Street Theatre.
The Peachtree Art Theatre was a movie house for people who ordinarily did not go to the movies. In the early 1960’s, the Garden Hills Theatre at 2835 Peachtree Road, NE was re-christened the Fine Art Cinema and became the main competition in the art film market for the Peachtree Art Theatre.
The last time that I was in Atlanta in 2003, I drove by the site of the Peachtree Art Theatre and was somewhat surprised that it had been demolished. Since I hadn’t been in Atlanta for 7 ½ years before that, I can’t even offer an educated guess about when the theater was torn down. For whatever it’s worth, I liked this theater.