Rosemary Theatre

The way I heard it from Memphis show business old-timers, both the Rosemary and the Luciann (q.v.) were built by Augustin Cianciolo, a Memphis movie entrepreneur who named them after his daughters. The Rosemary appeared to be a little older and a little more ornate, in the late 1920s or at least pre-WWII style—in contrast to the stark, functional-looking Luciann. A script addition to the big “Rosemary” sign read, “A Cianciolo Theater.” I remember the lobby and restrooms as being very cramped. It was at the intersection of Jackson and Watkins, a mile or two West of the Southwestern campus, and I used to walk there and back to see the show (hey, I was on the cross-country team!) Saw “The Great Escape,” the original “Manchurian Candidate” (beware of imitations), Glenn Ford and Stella Stevens in “Advance to the Rear,” and Peter Ustinov and Melina Mercouri in “Topkapi” there, all first run I believe. My friend Bill Kendall who managed the Guild theater (q.v.) had grown up right across the street from the Rosemary and said he went there almost daily as a kid. This experience helped make him perhaps the greatest movie afficionado in the entire Memphis area. The Rosemary was still standing in 1973, but was torn down not long after and replaced by a branch of First Tennessee Bank. That lasted only a few years and was itself closed and then demolished in the early 80s. Until I left Memphis in 1983 I used to bicycle down Jackson Avenue occasionally, but don’t remember anything special there in the later years. Too bad.

The March 22, 1952, issue of Boxoffice Magazine has an article about Augustine “Gus” Cianciolo and the new Plaza Theatre, then nearing completion, which Cianciolo would operate under lease. It said that the Rosemary had been operated by Gus’s father, Michael, and that Gus had taken over full operation of the house in 1939. Michael Cianciolo probably did open the Rosemary in 1932, as the Boxoffice article said that Gus, 31 years old in 1952, had “grown up” at the Rosemary, helping out at the theater from the age of 11.

The item also mentioned that the Cianciolos opened the Luciann Theatre in 1941. Gus was still operating both of these houses in 1952 when the Plaza opened. Michael Cianciolo died in 1943, according to a brief notice in the August 7 issue of Boxoffice that year.

Mike Cianciolo apparently ran a Memphis movie house called the New Theatre prior to operating the Rosemary. The New Theatre at Memphis, operated by Mike Cianciolo, was listed in the March 11, 1930, issue of Motion Picture Times, in an item about theaters that had installed quiet, talkie-friendly ventilation systems during the previous year. I don’t see the New Theatre listed at Cinema Treasures yet.

The Rosemary theatre was never known as the Rosewood. As a young man I frequented both the Rosemary and the Rosewood, and the later was located in South Memphis on Lauderdale Avenue. The Rosewood was of later design and construction, with some dark marble front. Also, the Rosewood was much larger. Of Course, Mr. Nickas is entirely correct in his historical comments. Another question, if I may…does anyone remember “Ronnie, the Rosemay Kid?” He was a mentally-challenged young man who was almost a fixture at the Rosemary. He just came to my mind, and I wondered if others remembered him.

The Rosemary was still operating into March. 1965. I think that’s when it closed. A Hard Day’s Night was not its final attraction (unless the Rosemary continued to operate without running an ad in the newspapers). A Hard Day’s Night did play first Memphis run at the Rosemary as part of a saturation opening around August, 1964. I think it was also simultaneously at the Park and Lamar theaters and at several drive-ins.