Shubert Theater
90 Seventh Street E,
Cincinnati,
OH
45202
90 Seventh Street E,
Cincinnati,
OH
45202
4 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: RKO, Shubert Brothers Theater Company
Architects: Herbert J. Krapp
Previous Names: Sam S. Shubert Theater
Nearby Theaters
The Shubert Theater was built inside what was originally the city’s original YMCA (which opened in 1848). The theater opened on September 25, 1921 with the play “The Passing Show”. It remained a venue for legitimate theatrical performances for many years. The Shubert Theater switched to a combined use venue for movies and stage shows in 1935.
The theater was closed in 1953 and reopened as Rev. Earl Ivies' Revival Temple.
Just two years later, however, the Shubert Theater was renovated and once again returned to legitimate theater. It was closed on March 23, 1975 with a magic stage show. In 1976, the Shubert Theater was demolished to make way for a parking lot. Today, there is an office building on the site.
Contributed by
Ray Martinez, Anna Horton
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Recent comments (view all 24 comments)
I saw Godspell, the broadway musical at The Shubert Theatre in 1973. It was a Beautiful Theatre, it is a shame that Cincinnati does not appreciate Theater like it should. Cincinnati has destroyed the Rko Albee, The Palace Theater, the Skywalk Cinema, The Times Theatre and others.
I noticed that the Cox does not have its own listing. It seems to me that it was a substantial enough operation on its own from the Shubert that perhaps it should have a page.
When I went to see magician Harry Blackstone Jr. at the now-demolished Palace around 1980, he said that the last time he was in Cincinnati the Cox theatre was operating but was now gone. He then added that he hoped the next time he came to town he wouldn’t be performing in a parking lot.
Sadly, considering the fate of the Palace, he was not far off.
meheuck: The Cox Theatre doesn’t have a page at Cinema Treasures because it never showed movies.
My father, Ray Hall, was the one who demolished the Shubert/Cox theatres. He and Larry Trumbo were good friends. He saved a lot of materials from the job to build our home with. He had thousands of brick cleaned, marble was used in the kitchen as a breakfast bar and inlaid on 3 fireplace hearths and mantels, floor joists from the stage were used, colored concrete piece from outside of building inlaid in one fireplace in the creek rock and we have a couple of light fixtures. The house was awesome!
Side by side photos of Shubert and previously as the YMCA added courtesy of Sharyn Lee M. Shows that part of the top floor was removed when converted into the theater.
Mr. Zorning, You are correct the triangular tower was removed because of poor maintenance over the years. The Cox Theater next door to the Shubert was a memorial to George B. Cox who had been associated with the Shuberts in many theaters. The Shuberts and he owned the largest theater in the world in 1905, The Hippodrome Theater in NYC., it seated 7,000. The Cox theater was built by Mrs. Cox as a tribute to her husband George who died in 1916, the Cox theater was erected in 1921. Today, of course,the Hippodrome Th. has suffered the fate of most Cincinnati downtown theaters….it is a parking lot!
The Shubert closed after a March 23, 1975 magic stage show. The Shubert and its sister theater, the Cox, were demolished a year later.
Opened with a live play, “The Passing Show,” on Sept. 25, 1921.
I also saw Godspell at the Shubert Theatre in 1973 with my church group. Really good show and an absolutely beautiful venue. I remember the massive chandelier hanging in the theatre. One thing that really stuck in my mind was the lobby poster that advertised the effort to save the Union Terminal. It had an interesting by-line of “When it’s gone… it’s gone.” Anyone else remember that?
The Shubert played a significant role in the โ70s obscenity case involving Kenneth Tynanโs ๐๐ฉ! ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ค๐ถ๐ต๐ต๐ข!, a musical revue that spotlighted sexually explicit themes and nudity.
Producers arranged in September 1970 for a Broadway performance of the show to be telecast via closed circuit to theaters across the nation. While some 250 venues originally enlisted, about four-fifths backed down because of local opposition and restrictions including prosecutorial threats.
The Shubert, which later that fall would play host to a touring production of ๐๐ข๐ช๐ณ that included brief nudity, wasnโt among them. Shortly afterward, a local judge viewed the videotape, found the production obscene, and issued a permanent injunction.
There the matter rested until October 1977 when Cincinnatiโs Music Hall booked a two-night live presentation of the touring revue. On the date of the first scheduled performance and on the authority of the 1970 injunction, Hamilton County Prosecutor Simon L. Leis Jr. blocked the event. A federal judge overruled him the next day, and the show went on.
Mr. Leisโs aggressive stance in this and other cases led to Cincinnatiโs frequent portrayal in national media as a graveyard for sexually explicit material. But itโs worth emphasizing that the city was among the minority where the ๐๐ฉ! ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ค๐ถ๐ต๐ต๐ข! telecast went forward in the first place. Even Los Angeles was among the locations that pulled the plug in the face of opposition.
Nor were the coasts immune to repercussions where the telecast took place. In Cambridge, Massachusetts, home of Harvard, a police raid led to the arrest of the theater owner and eight employees. As in Cincinnati, charges were ultimately dismissed.
Similarly, while prosecutors in Cincinnati targeted graphic sadomasochistic photos from the Robert Mapplethorpe ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐ง๐ฆ๐ค๐ต ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต exhibition in 1990, that’s because the cityโs Contemporary Arts Center went ahead with showing it in the first place. Some other venues, such as Washington D.C.โs Corcoran Gallery, declined to do so.
And of course, a jury in Cincinnati acquitted the CAC.