Franklin Art Theater
237 South Avenue,
Syracuse,
NY
13204
237 South Avenue,
Syracuse,
NY
13204
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Additional Info
Previous Names: Franklin Theater
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The Franklin Theater was opened on April 26, 1914 with “The Passion Play”. In 1968 it was renamed Franklin Art Theatre and initially screened foreign art house films, but it went on to screening adult movies. It was closed on June 11, 1989 when it was purchased by the city in order to close it down. It was demolished on November 23, 1992.
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Recent comments (view all 8 comments)
The Franklin Theatre looks like it was a very nice little theatre that was allowed to fall by the wayside before closing its doors. Too bad.
This theater may have been called the Franklin Art in 1973, according to Boxoffice magazine:
http://tinyurl.com/ygvy9af
RE: kencmcintyre on March 14, 2010 at 9:23 pm This theater may have been called the Franklin Art in 1973, according to Boxoffice magazine: (heres a better link from the Landmark Syracuse page)
http://tinyurl.com/nulbab
http://tinyurl.com/nulbab
Here is a fresh link to the Boxoffice item kencmcintyre linked to earlier. The item is about the outcome of an obscenity trial involving the theater’s manager.
Joe Vogel’s link appears to be broken. But the story was probably referring to 52-year-old owner Herman Hausman’s $26,878 fine for showing the film DEEP THROAT. Syracuse NY City Court Judge William J. Burke imposed the sentence on Friday, August 24, 1973, after Hausman rejected the offer of a discharge if the Franklin Art Theater stopped exhibiting X-rated films. [Associated Press bulletin via the Kansas City Times, Saturday, August 25, 1973, pp. 2A, “Theater Fined for ‘Deep Throat.’”]
My name is George Read and here is my connection to the Franklin. In 1950, at the age of 16, I went to work at the theatre as doorman and worked my way up to assistant manager. In 1955, I was drafted into the Army for two years. While in the service, I worked at the theatre at times when I was home. I got out of the service at age of 21 and took a three-year lease on the theatre as the previous owners, Mr. and Mrs. Rapley Merriman (who ran the theatre from almost the year one) decided to retire. I took over the theatre on August 8, 1955 and ran it until December 31, 1959. Declining business was the reason for closing. Almost immediately, I went to work for Kallet Theatres at their Genesee Theatre, remaining in their employment until February 15, 1974 when the theatre was taken over by Cinema Natinal Theatres. Getting back to the Franklin, it was a third run house until I started to run first-run art and foreign films, mostly from Rank Film Distributors of America. A theatre owner from Rochester reopened the Empire Theatre downtown with the same policy and I couldn’t afford to continue to operate, thus forced to close.
The first ad for the Franklin Theater appeared on April 26, 1914 with “The Passion Play.” The venue converted to sound to remain viable. It was a sub-run, neighborhood double/triple feature house until converted to an art theater called th Franklin Art Theater in 1968. That art run gravitated full-time to to adult films during the porno chic and into the home video era. The operator was constantly taken to court and beat the city of each of the obscenity charges levied against. it. So the City of Syracuse came up with Plan B. And the Franklin Theatre closed on June 11, 1989 with adult films after the building was purchased by the City of Syracuse. The former Franklin was demolished on November 23, 1992.