Marysville Cinema
121 S. Main Street,
Marysville,
OH
43040
121 S. Main Street,
Marysville,
OH
43040
3 people
favorited this theater
Showing 20 comments
The theater has been completely demolished with plans for a full rebuild. Pic uploaded.
Are they still planning on doing second run or repertory? When my wife and I were part of the project, it was going to be first run with the ability to do the occasional stage show, but then they changed their mind on what they wanted the theater to be. They’re targeting it more as a community center last I heard, concentrating on stage acts.
That should say June 4, not June 3.
Bad news from Marysville.The auditorium of the Avalon Theatre partly collapsed on June 3, 2020 during renovations. Fortunately the collapse took place overnight, and there were no reported injuries. Spokespersons say the renovation project will go ahead despite the loss.
Since rebuilding has begun to restore this to its art deco days can the admins change the name back to Avalon Theatre?
Renovation has begun!
Grand opening ad:
Found on Newspapers.com
This opened as the New Century Cinema on December 15th, 1972 and reopened as Marysville Cinema on October 15th, 1976. Grand opening ads in the photo section. Article:
Found on Newspapers.com
Grand opening ad at
Found on Newspapers.com
also in the photo section.
There’s a $1.2m project planned to re-open this. They just received a $300,000 grant.
http://www.marysvillejt.com/wp/?p=13238
In photos of the Avalon, one can see some type of stylized box on the sidewalk next to the road. It has an “A” on it, and is aligned with the theatre box office. It appears in photos that were taken twenty years apart. Anyone know what this might have been?
Here’s a short clip of the Avalon in 1939.
https://youtu.be/9qBic2s1D0s
The Avalon Theatre was designed and built by the F & Y Building Service of Columbus, Ohio. It was one of eleven theaters on a list of the company’s projects in an ad that was published in the October 27, 1938, issue of the Boone County Recorder.
A privately-funded organization called the Union County Development Fund has purchased the Avalon Theatre building, as well as two other buildings in Uptown, Marysville’s historic business district. It intends to renovate and reopen the theater, but plans have been stalled for quite a while. This item appeared in the local paper over a year ago, and it’s the most recent information I’ve been able to find.
Does anyone know what is going on with this building now?
Sad Story.Good Luck to Them.
Closed:
from http://www.marysvillecinema.com/
Dear Marysville:
From our family to your family, we would first like to say thank you to our loyal patrons and to the community of Marysville for 10 years of doing business together. We regret that we have come to the decision that we have, but after discussing the over all business plan with my wife, praying together about it, and talking to our immediate family, we have made the decision that the best thing to do for our family at this time is to close Marysville Cinemas down effective immediately. As you may suspect this was not an easy decision for us to make, but one that had to be made.
Over this last year, as a family, we have invested everything we had to try and maintain the level of service that came to be expected of us by the community at the cinema, but in the end it was not enough. While our loyal patrons have continued to support us over the last few years, and we thank you for that, the general admission patronage has dropped to levels that will not sustain the business any longer.
We have tried our best over the years to play first run movies and to always have at least two of the top five films in the nation at any one time. But the strain on the theater to play first run movies has become to great. Though the demand from the community for first run features remains high, the attendance levels have been at an all time low and continue to drop. Coupled together with today’s current economic situation, we have not been able to procure the funds needed to continue to operate. More over, due to the high operating cost and lack of customer turn out, much needed cosmetic repair to the cinema has been delayed or has been stopped all together. It seems that the support from the community to keep the cinema open over the last few years has been slipping away and while the support from our local patrons has been there, it has not been enough to keep us in business with the cost burden the theater was under.
To give example and add explanation to our decision to close the cinema, we were already running in the red going into the month of November. Our hope was that the spending confidence within our community would increase based on the film title release dates and our November business sales model that we had used in the past would bring the cinema back to with in a manageable margin. We have always used the month of November for our business model for the winter months, which is notoriously our largest grossing month of the year. Roughly 5-10% of our yearly gross income is obtained in the month of November. In November of 2007 the cinema had approximately 2500-3000 patrons in attendance. In 2008 the cinema had approximately 3000-3500 patrons in attendance. This year, in 2009, the cinema had its lowest grossing November in the last ten years with just over 1000 patrons in attendance. This combined with a huge decline in the amount of gift certificate sales and coupon redemptions along with stagnant concession sales made the inevitable decision to close the theater very obvious.
In conclusion, while it was not an easy decision to close the theater, it was a decision that had to be made for our family. My wife and I can’t express enough, the gratitude to all the families that allowed us to be part of their lives over the last ten years. It has been very humbling to us that the community we have been a part of for over 30 years and that we love, took us in and gave us their support. We want to thank everyone for this, we will miss you.. As always, our hope is for the future and for our great community and that some day we might cross paths again.
Sincerely,
The Weikle’s
A May 19, 1958, Boxoffice article about the closing of the Avalon that year said that before building the Avalon in 1936, F.E. Price had operated the Strand and Rex theatres in Marysville. It added that by 1958 these two houses had been closed for several years.
The February 16, 1970, issue of Boxoffice says: “Charles Van Fossen, formerly Palace Theatre manager, Columbus, is the new manger of the Avalon Theatre, Marysville, opening in a few weeks after renovation. I’ve found no other mentions of Van Fossen’s project in Boxoffice.
There was a photo of the Avalon in the issue referred to above:
http://tinyurl.com/lxte25
Here is part of an April 1958 article in the Marysville Journal-Tribune:
A form of entertainment which people have enjoyed in this community for nearly a half-century will cease to exist in Marysville when the Avalon Theater closes for good on April 28. F.E. Price, of Newark, owner of the Avalon, said lack of business is forcing him to close the theater “indefinitely” after the last performance that date. The final picture will be Walt Disney’s “Perri”. Mr. Price said he had no idea what the future of the theater building might be. “I have no plans to dispose of the building or the equipment in it. We’ll just turn off the electricity and other utilities and let it set.”
As far as attempting to rent it for some other type of business is concerned, Mr. Price said he had no plans along that line either. “I’ll listen to any proposition,“ he declared, "but really I have nothing at all in mind as to what to do with the place.” Clair Jarvis, manager of the theater since 1940, indicated he has no plans for the future either. Mr. Price has offered him a job in Newark, where he operates two drive-in theaters, but Mr. Jarvis prefers to remain in Marysville and will seek employment here.
“Operating the theater had been a losing proposition for some time, Mr. Price said. “I’ve had it.” “I regret terribly having to do this,” he continued. “Marysville has been good to us in the past and I hate to see the town without a theater. “I realize the townâ€"any town-needs a theater; that people must have a place to go.”
Closing of the Avalon, Mr. Price said, is part of a trend that is happening all over the country. He feels, however, that Marysville may be one of the largest cities in Ohio without a theater after next week.
In 1935, Mr. Price bought the old Factory store building on S. Main St. from Mrs. Robinson, and built the Avalon Theater on the site. The Avalon was opened August 4, 1936 and has operated continuously since then, except for a few brief periods when it was closed by epidemics.