Majestic Theatre
63 S. High Street,
Columbus,
OH
43215
63 S. High Street,
Columbus,
OH
43215
2 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Mid-States Theaters Inc., RKO
Architects: Fred W. Elliot, Frank Farrington
Styles: Italian Renaissance
Nearby Theaters
Max Stearn opened the Majestic Theatre on January 12, 1914 and operated it until 1920. It opened with a seating capacity of 1,012. It was equipped with a Moller 2 manual organ which in 1917 was replaced by a Moller 4 manual 22 rank organ. In 1922 a new 3 manual Moller organ console was installed, while the 22 ranks of pipes were retained. For a time, the Majestic Theatre held out against the installation of sound, calling itself “the shrine of the silent art”.
In 1929, it became an RKO theatre. Later it was taken over by Mid-States Theaters Inc. It was closed December 31, 1949. It was demolished in January or February, 1950.
Contributed by
Ron Newman
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Recent comments (view all 8 comments)
Old postcards:
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This theatre is described in an article by Melissa Starker in the weekly newspaper Columbus Alive, October 4, 2001:
A Theater Near You: The Arena Grand revives the tradition of downtown movie palaces
Scroll down to “THE MAJESTIC: The first movie palace resists progress”.
(By the way, the author of this article once managed the Somerville Theatre near Boston.)
The Columbus Metropolitan Library has an online collection of historic photos with several pictures of this and other theatres. Enter the word Majestic into the search box.
Is this theatre on the main street through downtown Columbus? I recall during a visit to that city that the main drag was very wide.
The major north-south street in downtown Columbus is High Street. The major east-west street is Broad Street. (Actually, both are slightly offset from the compass points.)
This particular theatre isn’t anywhere anymore, having been demolished 55 years ago. But the RKO Palace is on Broad Street. The other two downtown theatres that still exist, the Ohio and the Southern, are on other, smaller downtown streets.
In answer to Patsy, the Majestic was indeed on the main drag, High St. in the center of downtown, next to Mill’s Cafeteria, right across from the Statehouse. The Majestic marquee, with horizontal red-neon bars, was similar to the RKO Grand, around the corner on State St. In the latter 1940s, fare was almost exclusively double features of B westerns. When the Majestic closed on New Year’s Eve 1950, the ad in the paper said, “The decade comes in, the Majestic goes out,” or words to that effect.
The Majestic’s last show ran on December 31, 1949, according to the article about the theater in the January 7, 1950, issue of Boxoffice. The Majestic claimed to have been the first theater with a rising organ console, but on opening it also featured a 23-piece orchestra.
In its last years, the Majestic ran mostly westerns and action movies. I twas demolished to make way for an H. L. Green five and ten cent store, which has itself since been demolished.
Grand opening ad posted.