Hippodrome Theatre

To Roger Stewart: Thanks for your confirmation on murals for the Stillman and Park, and possibly the Keith’s 105th. I am not familiar with the names of the Uptown, the Granada the Knickerbocker or the Carter. would those have been major first run theaters? I’ll just hope that more information will turn up about these theaters and their decorative schemes. There are a few interiors photos of the Hipp that I’ve run into in the course of this research but I can’t quote the source right now. As I go through my material I will post anything that might be of interest. Surprisingly, Roger, none of the typical Cleveland resources for photos (Cleveland Public Library, Cleveland State, Western Reserve Historical Society) have much on the theaters. In response to the present state of the Hanna Theater, it is standing but not restored. The main floor of the theater is used on occasion for cabaret type productions (“Nunsense”, etc.), but I don’t know what Playhouse Square Foundation’s plans are for the theater long term. Thanks for your response.

Dave: Yes, Cleveland does get a bum-rap as does Buffalo at times. Glad to read that Cleveland has restored a cluster of five and Buffalo has saved their downtown Shea’s! There were others, but they are gone today. And there is a book entitled CLASSIC BUFFALO that really shows off the wonderful architecture throughout Buffalo that has been SAVED!

Patsy – Cleveland as well as most cities did have many wonderful theatres, but Cleveland still has five major theatres from the 1920s that are alive and well and operating, thanks to the many years of hard work by the Playhouse Square Association. They prevented the demolition and restored the Loew’s State & Ohio Theatres, and the Keiths Palace and RKO Allen, I’m not sure of the atatus of the Hanna Theatre. True, the Hippodrome was lost, but to me it was not particularly remarkable aside from the capacity of the auditorium and size of the building. As I stated in the lead info, I never saw the auditorium with the lights on, but I remember some things about the lobby, and nothing about the decor stood out as grand, or even faded-grand. It was a long, narrow 1-story room. The Playhouse Square theatres, on the other hand, were from the golden era of theatre building, and in many ways were/are Grand, some elements are even what I would consider dazzling. Cleveland gets a bum-rap in a lot of ways. Many towns would be lucky to have 1 big old theatre still standing, let alone restored, but Cleveland saved and restored a cluster five, and in my opinion they are the best five.

TO: Brucec: I would swear that the Hipp had 4400 seats – but there seems to be some controversy about the actual number. The auditorium did undergo some changes over the years, and I do know that some seats were removed in the top balcony and in the orchestra section back in the 1950s. As for a picture, you really can’t appreciate how big the theatre really was from looking at shots of the marquee on Euclid or the one on Prospect. But surely some news photographer snapped some pictures back in the alleyway when the building was being torn down. If I lived in Cleveland now, I’d spend some time at the library going through the newspaper morgues. Surely either The Press or The Plain Dealer published some Hipp photos. Happy New Year, Bruce!

TO: Patsy: Hold on to that exit sign from the Hipp! I might have changed the lightbulb in it at one time! No question that Cleveland had its share of absolutely great theatres. I’m thankful that I had the chance to see so many of them before they were destroyed. Happy New Year!

Roger: I’m sure Jlove is appreciative of your knowledge as I was reading it though was saddened to read about the drunks and bums who lived and slept in one of the former theatres, the Carter and that it “smelled worse than the city dump”! Sounds like Cleveland had many wonderful theatres, but not anymore. :–(

I believe I have an EXIT sign from the Hipp.

I remember taking a shortcut through the alley btwn Euclid and Prospect where the Hipp’s stage doors were – and that windowless auditorium structure was towering above the street, and was nearly as tall as the Hippodrome office building. It had stage doors that they could (and I’m sure at some point did) march elephants through.

I believe one of the last times that the Hipp was doing capacity business was in the 60s during Beatlemania and “A Hard Days Night” played there. It was packed to the rafters with screaming teenage girls.

I think the THSA figure may be incorrect. The 4500 seat figure is the ‘as-built’ capacity and came from the list in the back of ‘American Picture Palaces’. The Palace in Cleveland had 3600+ seats and the Hippodrome was way bigger, and always acknowledged locally as the biggest movie theatre in town with over four-thousand seats. Perhaps as the years went by it was re-seated with bigger seats, or official capacity reduced when they closed the upper balconies. Roger Stewart – how many seats in the Hipp when you worked there?

The Hippodrome Theatre was truly a magnificent place! When it opened, it was reported to be the largest theatre in Ohio, with the second-largest stage in the United States. Backstage, there were 42 private dressing rooms on 6 floors — served by two elevators. The stage once held a full-size swimming pool. It was so large that live horses were ridden around a “ring” that was similar to what you’d find on a horse farm.

For years, the house attendance record was held by Sophie Tucker, who “packed ‘em in” during a 12-day run back in the twenties. At the time I worked at the Hippodrome, (the late 1950s), a lot of memorabelia like signs, one-sheets and stage props from the vaudeville era were stored in several rooms under the stage area. Today, these items would be worth a fortune. I only hope someone was smart enough to retrieve them before the theatre was demolished.

BTW, the firm of Knox & Elliot is listed as the architect of the Hippodrome.