Cinema Theatre
1021 4th Avenue,
Huntington,
WV
25701
1021 4th Avenue,
Huntington,
WV
25701
2 people
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Now - as usual - a church.
Additional history credit David Smith.
Orpheum Theatre, later to become The Cinema & would close as a theatre on November 3, 2011. The Orpheum Theater on 4th Ave was the only place in #HuntingtonWV, at one time where blacks could see a movie, & had to sit in the balcony even if the ground floor was empty, according to Sylvia Ridgeway, a lifelong resident, and driving force behind the NAACP in W.Va., first becoming the president of the Huntington chapter and then serving dual roles as the local president and leader at the state level.
As movie audiences dwindled, a number of theaters subdivided their big auditoriums into small mini theaters. Employing that strategy, the Hymans divided the Orpheum’s auditorium into four small theaters and renamed it the Cinema Theatre. Its audiences continued to shrink, and the theater closed in 2011. Today the former movie house is used by Redemption Church.
(Greater Huntington Theater Corp. operated it as one time, per a former employee.)
I very much miss this theater.
According to “Motion Picture World”, the opening date for the Orpheum was March 15, 1916.
After running in the red for some time, this theater closed on November 3, 2011: http://www.herald-dispatch.com/news/briefs/x541893161/Downtown-Huntington-cinema-closes-doors
I’m confused about the midnight/karate kid thing? Last time I checked we didn’t do midnight movies!
“THE KARATE KID” for a Midnight show.A kid movie for grown-ups,which in my experience with Midnight movies,never in a million years would I book such a picture.Maybe folks up there don’t want edgeier movies at Midnight Movies.Strange booking.
Thanks Greg.
Just posted photos of the Orpheum/Cinema we have in our files.
http://www.ourshowtimes.com/orpheum_pics.html
The architect firm for the Orpheum was Ritter-Vickers and the architect was Verus T. Ritter of Huntington WV. The plans we have are dated with 3 different dates in 1915. I guess they were done in stages.
The Cinema is currently operating as a discount second-run theater. It seems to be doing well.
Here is a website with a photo of the Orpheum Theater in the 1937 flood (now where the Cinema Theater is located)
View link
With the closing of the Keith Albee (Jan 22) and Camelot (Jan 5), the youngest of the three Cinema Treasures in Huntington will be the only remaining active movie house . The Greater Huntington Theater Corporation has stated that they will announce Cinema’s future in three to four weeks. However when Pullman was announced , the GHTC stated that Cinema would remain as a second-run theater. I suppose in a few weeks we will know if that is still the plan.
When this theatre was known as the Orpheum Theatre it seated 1346 people. And it is located at 1021 4th Avenue.