South County Cinema
South County Centerway,
St. Louis,
MO
63129
South County Centerway,
St. Louis,
MO
63129
2 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 40 comments
October 22nd, 1976 grand opening as twin also in photo section.
November 23rd, 1966 grand opening ad in the photo section. 2 other cinemas also opened on the same day.
I worked there from 1976 to 1979. Had a great time, especially after hours!
Quite possibly; Firefox tends to slow down on my Mac the longer I have been in it. I think it builds a bigger cache of stored previous pages than some other browsers, As soon as I notice the slowdown, I shut it down an reopen it; that seems to help.
Actually, Needy, my last post should have said Wehrenberg bought out the remaining GCC theaters IN ST. LOUIS in 1990. There were still GCC theaters in other parts of the country, as I discovered when I moved to Southern California in 1991.
Also, I apologize for my poor spelling in my original post. This editor started acting strange by not scrolling down once I came to the bottom of the box. I’m using the Firefox browser…could that have something to do with that happening?
Needy: You are correct, Wehrenberg bought out the remaining GCC theaters back in 1990 (I think). However, that was before GCC officially went out of business. When that happened, AMC acquired the remaining GCC theaters in the rest of the country.
Also, I believe it was Wehrenberg that bought out GCC in StL
I think AMC would definitely move in this area. There are no AMC theaters in South county anyway (or at least that part of SoCo). It would greatly help if they built screens that were attached to the mall. Great idea. And yes, this is very underscreened.
I suppose that another chain might want to go head-to-head with the Wehrenberg Ronnie’s 20 by building a megaplex closer to South County Mall; after all, the AMC operation competes with Wehrenberg’s Galaxy in Chesterfield. Except for the discount Keller 8, the area does seem underscreened. However, South County may not be seen as econonmically attractive. I do not think that there is any doubt that AMC will eventually close its Crestwood theaters, and that in time the whole Crestwood Plaza will be redeveloped just as the Jamestown Mall will be soon.
I drank a lot of Lotta Lemon in my days at GCC.Wish we would had COKE.
Sorry JAlex, you are mistaken. The CVS is located where the 905 store once stood, later replaced by a Western Auto. Pollo Loco is where the McDonald’s was once located. Then the outlot where Macaroni Grill was located.
For those posters on here who worked at South County Cinema…or any other GCC theater for that matter, check out this video from YouTube (no, I didn’t post it). I originally found out about this from a post in the “General Cinema Locations” thread on cinematour.com…it’s a training video for ticketing cashiers for GCC’s Montclair Plaza Cinema in Montclair, CA. Enjoy!!
View link
When the South County Cinema was a wonderful one screen showplace in 1975 it was one of the lucky places to play “Jaws” that summer to packed houses. I recall the shark teeth on the marquee and the “Jaws” wording in between – wish someone would post a picture!
Sensurround was introduced in St. Louis at the South County for “Earthquake” in 1974 and it was so loud the first weekend that the Exit lights blinked which made several patrons understandably nervous. The Sensurround gadget took out the last two rows of seats on the left and right sides.
In 1977 when the South County was split in two, the theatre lost its simple lustre and was no longer the fun place it had been. When Sensurround returned in 1977 for “Rollercoaster” the patrons in the unfortunate other part of the theatre that was seeing “The Rescuers” got a full blast of Sensurround whenever the rumble scenes of “Rollercoaster” would take place.
When it was a single screen place, the screen itself had a magical blue glow in between shows that was Perfect for “Jaws” and other films.
“The Andromeda Strain” in 1971 and “Midway” in Sensurround in 1976 were two memorable attractions at the South County.
The first weekend of “Jaws” the crowds went completely around the South County theatre. The modern blockbuster film phenomenon was born. “Jaws” played at the South County from June all the way through September of 1975.
The single screen South County Cinema was, in its own way, a St. Louis theatre paradise.
I have been reminded that Terri Schwartz was working at South County during the Funny Girl run.
Chuck1231: If you call the USBank at South County and ask to speak with Walter Schmittgens, he can confirm the exact location of the Cinema in relation to the bank. He has worked at that location since South County Bank opened in November 1963 and knows the lay of the land.
I believe everyone except Chuck1231. He’s wrong on every post he’s made about every single theater. Chuck, please go through your old posts and edit them. Every user has pointed out to the fact that you’re wrong about everything
After a little brain strain, I have come up with these additional employees from the early years: Mike Vujnich, Mike “Mouse” Montana, Ron Hoffman, Linda Bridges, Lynn Kohl, Rose Weaver and daughter Dawn Weaver, Mike Wagner, Gloria Overturf, Lynn Snitzer, Laurie Rolfes, Sherry Schuhwerk, Christa Moll, Walter Appelbaum, Carol Hoppe.
I opened this theatre in 1966. Wilton J Colonna was the Manager and Laurabel Finley was the Assistant. Colonna came from the Manchester Drive-In and Laurabel was from the Airway Drive-in and Manchester.
Actual seat count was closer to 909.
This was General Cinema unit #509.
Some of the original guys were Dan Schuhwerk, Tom Hubbard, Gary Moll, Joe Voyles. The gals with the sweets were Andrea Jo Frenz, Connie Holzum, Pat Holzum, Linda Weismiller, Bonnie Schaefer, Vickie D'Alessandro, Janet Johannes. I will strain my brain and come up with another 25 early employees.
South County Bank opened in 1963 on the site of the USBank, right next door.
The Texaco station was behind the theatre on top of the hill, later a donut shop and an optical shop, and a McDonald’s was built up there.
I worked there 1966 to 1969, with a break of 5 months in there.
-gary
The bank is where it always was.Used to make deposits from cinema.Macaroni grill is where the cinema was.
Anybody from circa 1967-1980. Good times were had by all!
Correction: They are no longer involved with the Neiman Marcus Group.
General Cinema sold the Pepsi operations long before they went bankrupt. The proceeds of the Pepsi sale is what they used to buy Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. They had been in the restaurant business back in the 60s, owning Richards Drive-In, Peter Pan Snack Shops and Amy Joy Donut shops (Amy Joy is Richard A. Smith’s daughter). They also had the food operations in the various bowling alleys that they owned. Today, all they (the Smith family) are involved in is the Nieman Marcus-Bergdorf Goodman stores and a small asset management firm.
Looks close to the one we had here in New Jersey, the Menlo Park. Twinned in Sept 1976, it too did great business up till about 1989. Then the mall across the street was being renovated and a 12 screen Cineplex Odeon put us out of business. Ours was demolished in early 1992 for a Macoroni Grill. Ahh, those old GCC twins. They were the best.
Theatre division into 2-screens occurred in late 1976.
Why is there a Texaco sign? Was there one behind it? I thought it was right along the edge of Lemay Ferry?
Did this theater close in 1987? When exactly did this close? Anyone know what the last movies were that were shown?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQQzrYr3nuI