Findlay Theatre

-Again there’s a listing for the Findlay Theater but nothing is strong about it (wrong address, not helpful information, etc) so would prefer it just get uprooted if that works.

The Marvel Theater launched in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood at Elm Street and Findlay Street on February 2, 1910 as a silent movie house catering to a Germanic audience. It had competition from the Elm Theatre a block away and the Findlay Theatre less than a half-mile away also showing silent films with German title cards. Unlike the many other theatres which catered to the German speaking audiences in Cincinnati, the Marvel Theatre stayed true to the format perhaps longer than its nearest competitors who went out of business without transitioning to sound but also including the Freeman Theatre and the National Theatre.

The Marvel Amusement and Entertainment Company ran the theatre for seven years before subleasing the theatre for $60 a month to J.E. Stritelmeier and William A. Gervers before dissolving altogether in 1920. They relied predominately on the German-language newspaper and word of mouth instead of the English-language newspapers. The pair would equip the Marvel Theatre for sound to continue to keep the theatre relevant.

Gervers ran the theater along with the Uptown Theatre and the Fairview Theatre until his death in August of 1935. The theatre closed temporarily to get new ownership, Charles F. Unger was the new operator and changed its name slightly to the Marvel Art Cinema on April 2, 1936 playing predominately German language films. It was known as “The House of European Pictures”. Unger did not program English language pictures.

During and after World War II, the core German audience became dispersed and the theatre, under the new leadership of Jack Frisch - who transformed the former Germanic-centric Freeman Theatre to an African American house and would remodel his Hippodrome Theatre - took on the venue changing its programming and the theatre’s name. The Marvel Theatre took its name from its cross-street becoming the Findlay Theater. Frisch and his wife also operated the Findlay Dairy Bar across the street.

A tax dispute in 1950 followed by a classified advertisement offering the theatre and contents for sale appears to be the end point for the Findley Theatre or close to it. In 1953, the New Prospect Baptist Church moved to the location. In 1974, the building was razed in favor of a new New Prospect Baptist Church.

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