Luciann Theatre
2434 Summer Avenue,
Memphis,
TN
38122
2434 Summer Avenue,
Memphis,
TN
38122
5 people
favorited this theater
Showing 17 comments
Looks like Italians dominated the movie theater business in Memphis at one time.
Better quality Grand opening ad:
Luciann theatre opening 09 Nov 1940, Sat The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, Tennessee) Newspapers.com
This opened as the Luciann theatre on November 9th, 1940 and closed in 1958. It reopened as the Paris Adult Theatres I & II on March 23rd, 1971. Both grand opening ads posted.
Dear Spin doctor. Our family has not owned that property since about 1980. I would suggest a check of tax records for Memphis might help. I can tell you about the history up to the time the Luciann was closed when it was the Party Nightclub Mike Cianciolo
We have someone interested in accquiring the building. Would appreciate any info available!
Great old theatre. I remember being a guest of the family there.
There is community interest from several avenues in preserving it.
The building should be heritage listed!!
This is the adult theater where the only known surviving print of the infamous “Bat Pussy” was discovered. Released by Something Weird Video on vhs and dvd, this is a low budget adult movie from the 1970s generally considered by adult film historians to be one of the worst and least erotic adult movies ever made. It’s also one of the strangest from its era, that’s for sure.
Hello all,
I am doing a large-scale research project on adult theatres and would be very interested to hear from anything who either worked at or attended this theatre during its time showing adult films. If you would like to help me out, you can email me at .
Thanks!
The June 2, 1958, issue of Boxoffice reported that Augustino Cianciolo had announced that the Luciann Theatre would be closed within the next 60 days and converted into a 16-lane bowling alley. Cianciolo also opened a new 20-lane bowling alley near his Plaza Theatre the same year.
I am the son of Augustine Cianciolo,he did not build the theatre my Grand father Michael Cianciolo built in in 1939-40,My dad ran it.The Luciann is named after my aunt Lucy Cianciolo and my aunt Ann Cianciolo Angelo.In the early 1960’s dan turnned it into a bowling alley ,not very suscessful so in about 1966 he turned it into a night club,Very popular with the Memphis Sound artests and very popular with the public.I believe that The Luciann had the first lighted dance floor in the city.In the early 70’s the neigaborhood changed and so did the busness so it was sold to the Paris Adult Group,we asked if the concret letters could be removed they said no.I have fond memories of that movie house when I was a kid dad would have my birthday party’s there we would have 4 hour showings of Tarzan movies and Flash Gordon movies.But alas the days are gone.There is something that my dad told me once he said that there was a time capusel in the east cornerstone of the building he did not say what was there but knowing my dad is is something special.Thanks Michael Augustine Cianciolo 3390 Central Ave Memphis Tn.38111
Looks like several of us have been by there in 2006. Here’s a shot from October 18, 2006: Former Luciann Theatre in Memphis, Tennessee.
Here are a couple of photos from 2006 of the Luciann Theater.
WHW, you’ll pardon my smile and wink when I say I was in the old Luciann many times after it ceased to be a -ahem- first run theatre. I did actually get a complete look at the building. It had been totally gutted, the floors leveled and any vestige of the old cinema and the subsequent bowling alley were gone. The projection booth was a storage room and some old amplifier equipment still in place, but nothing else.
Having been away from Memphis for many years now, I don’t remember the name that it operated under as an adult entertainment center. It was nothing but a pit. But let me tell you, the place was always busy!
The Luciann opened November 7, 1940. It was the designed by Claude Northern, the same architect who designed the Airways on Lamar Ave.
The way I heard it from Memphis show business old-timers, both the Rosemary (q.v.) and the Luciann were built by Augustin Cianciolo, a Memphis movie entrepreneur who named them after his daughters. The Luciann was on the North side of Summer Avenue just East of Trezevant/East Parkway. It was already closed as a movie theater when I first saw it in 1963 and I’m pretty sure it was a bowling alley at that time. Later it returned to show business as a porno center, with private viewing booths and tape rentals, according to signs on the building. I never went in it, even though I lived only a few blocks away, at two different periods, for several years in all. From the outside it had that shortly-after-WWII “airplane hangar” look. Best wishes.