Polaris Christian Church Cinema
1480 Pearl Road,
Brunswick Hills,
OH
44212
1480 Pearl Road,
Brunswick Hills,
OH
44212
2 people
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An ambitious $18 million project announced in 1957 was the Brunswick Plaza, a shopping and residential mecca with the 34-store Brunswick Mall, as drawn in planning stages. The facility opened theatre-less as the Brunswick Plaza - eschewing the enclosed mall route for a shopping center. Fast-forward to 1971 where the Jerry Lewis theatre circuit made its foray into Northeastern Ohio right here in the Brunswick Plaza.
Ernest and John Konkil were the lucky franchisees of the Lewis single screener with 350-seats and automated equipment making ownership a snap… at least according to the sales literature. The Jerry Lewis Cinema opened on February 20, 1972 with John Wayne in “Rio Lobo” & Ron Ely in Tarzan’s Deadly Silence". Lewis stated of his chain of franchised theaters, “I want to leave my children something (and) I’ll leave them dollars; but I wanted to leave them something standing.“ So this was it!
And this location’s lasting Jerry Lewis signage would outlast a number of other locations with his face - 14 full months! By that point, The Lewis Circuit’s parent company, Network Cinema Corp., had disconnected its phones leaving franchisees miffed. Sorry Jerry’s real kids, the Lewis signage was removed for its rebranding on May 18, 1973 as the Brunswick Cinema.
Multiple lawsuits were the end of Jerry Lewis Cinemas. Network Cinema Corp. filed for bankruptcy on June 14, 1973 with the Lewis circuit imploding a year later. The Brunswick location had likely broken its initial lease opting for a renegotiated lease at its rebranding. The Brunswick Cinema closed at the end of its 30-year leasing agreement on May 1, 2003 with “Piglet’s Big Movie” and “Bringing Down the House" bringing down the house.
The venue became Polaris Christian Church Cinema on December 26, 2003 with a screening of Gus Van Sant’s “The Elephant.” That cinema effort was short-lived. It then became Faith Walk Church in 2014 lasting into 2024.
So while Jerry’s kids did not have any standing, branded theaters with his likeness upon his death, at least that had the money he had promised them decades earlier… that is until the will was read. Lewis' will stating, “I have intentionally excluded Gary Lewis, Ronald Lewis, Anthony Joseph Lewis, Christopher Joseph Lewis, Scott Anthony Lewis and Joseph Christopher Lewis and their descendants as beneficiaries of my estate, it being my intention that they shall receive no benefits hereunder.” Both Jerry’s disinherited kids and bamboozled cinema owners were strange bedfellows who were not laughing with the “king of comedy.”
The Brunswick Cinema opened its doors on February 20, 1972 with “Rio Lobo” and “Tarzan’s Deadly Silence” along with a marathon of cartoons. The theater closed on May 1, 2003 with Walt Disney’s “Piglet’s Big Movie” and “Bringing Down The House”.
Grand opening ad as Jerry Lewis February 20th, 1972 has been uploaded in the photo section.
Exactly Stephenvb. The Jerry Lewis model was for smaller size theatres. I know the twin my father and uncle worked at as projectionists seated 290 in each theatre. They had a great idea but letting people into the business who had no knowledge of running a theatre, and expanding way too fast is what killed them.
Seems a bit odd that this theatre had 600 seats for a single screen. Most, if not all Jerry Lewis singles were 350 seats or less. The twins were usually 600 seats.
Auditions were recently held at the theater for an untitled Christian comedy film, according to the website.
The church is called “Polaris Christian Church Cinema”, according to this group that was auditioning actors for films. Definitely some movie-related things going on here:
http://tinyurl.com/5kl4uw
Closed in 2003.
A church took over the Brunswick Cinema, and is now known as the “Polaris Cinema”. Church services are held every Sunday there, and Christian-themed films play occasionally…although I’ve never seen them advertised in the local newspaper.