Re Joe Vogel comment from 2010. Boxoffice Mag was probably wrong. The planned opening date was ‘about’ April 15, 1972. (Source: Tampa Bay Times p 44 3-21-73). In a search of the Tampa Bay and St. Petersburg Times, no advertising or directory listing turned up until Sunday April 30 where there was a display ad for “Grand Opening”. An article from 4/25/72 says the opening would be that Saturday 4/29, with a benefit showing of “The Yearling” as a matinee. No advertising was found for Saturday, however there was an ad on Sunday. Whether the theatre really opened Saturday or Sunday is still unresolved. I am attaching the Sunday ad. “The Yearling” was a MGM Children’s Matinee that weekend and played at several theatres in the area. This is just another example of the spotty advertising of the Jerry Lewis theatres. Sometimes there would be a very large ad a day, or two, or three before the actual opening and then on opening day there would be no ad or just a 1x2.
Sunday 5/21/67 Kokomo Tribune front page article and photo, “Sipe Theater Destroyed by Fire”. Other businesses on the block also damaged. Theatre marquee said “In Like Flint” had been playing.
This is not the Walter Brennan Rainbow Theatre. It isn’t listed on Cinema Treasures. Opened July 1950 and closed June 1953 in a dispute over rent payments due Brennan. No other information found as to what happened to the Rainbow Theatre in Joseph, OR.
Frankfort, IN newspaper of 5-20-80 said the 2nd screen would be open soon. A photo (so dark nothing can be seen) of workers in an auditorium and a caption.
Still open as of March 1988, and with the Jerry Lewis Cinema name. Article in the March 15, 1988 Washington Post mentions the theatre as the only one near Wash. DC. playing the Whoopi Goldberg bomb “The Telephone.” The article was about how this film bombed and was receiving scant distribution in anticipation of sales to television and home video.
October 2007 photo of Jerry Lewis Cinema, Eagan, MN, shortly before demolition. https://www.flickr.com/photos/70267096@N00/1640505583/in/photolist-5bJ4M1-Y1Lisz-7UWaDC-7Yb9HE-v5DTE-3uY2a2-7XhysX-8rxfQ2-8rxfi4-8rxfct-7XkN2d-7XkNm3-7XkNhf-7XhyFP-7XhyKt-rshmo4-Kd387Y-JWhA1o-5bJ4LY-pY2X8-fQZ5HA-fSzs5c-fQS3y4-fSvN2F-fSFCKP-rfH9uX-6dx2FW-oZnX5y-qgmq9c-NcQ1ci-Cwtd3c-BJriH7-2c7eWCY-T9aJ4J-2cGopre-GJvjfA-227mSBJ-24NWpRg-23rSKF2-GJvhS5-2evwsxP-23KQUhL-23KQUNA-RNAea8-dDGrGF-23CCy3a
Opened as Jerry Lewis Twin, 10/1/71; name change to Cedarvale I & II 7/1/72; Engler Theatre chain acquires 6/14/74, runs for one year to 6/3/75. Taken over by Metropolitan Theatres Co. (Ernest Peaslee) a few days later. Closes mid-October; reopened by new operator 11/26/75, final closing 2/12/76.
Several articles in 2016 about how the Thunderbird Mall would be “de-malled”, including the demolition of K-Mart, where they would follow the new fad of flip-flopping the retail spaces to strip-mall style and the retail would face outside, to the parking lot.
Two malls, the Mesabi Mall in Hibbing, and the Thunderbird Mall in Virginia MN, opened in mid-August 1971. Neither Jerry Lewis Cinema were ready to open however, and lost the momentum behind the malls’ openings. About two months later, the Virginia Lewis theatre opened on Oct. 6 and the Hibbing theatre on Oct. 7. Both opened with “Blue Water, White Death” which was frequently booked at Lewis locations of the time. To take the sting off missing the mall openings, the “See a Grown Man Cry” ad campaign was created by one of the partners of the dual-theatre venture, who was in the advertising business.
Hibbing Daily Tribune article of 10-28-1982 reports the Lybba being closed and Cinemaland was going into the Irongate Mall 3-plex. Cinemaland said competition from the 3-plex in 1981 hurt the Lybba’s business. Impression given by the article is that the 3 plex had been a different operator, and may have been out of business at the time Cinemaland closed the Lybba and went into the 3-plex. The article is a bit murky on these details.
Lybba was twinned in March 1980; article in 10-28-82 Hibbing Daily Tribune said the Lybba was to be closed and owners to take over 3-plex in Irongate Mall.
Dec 2024 article in Mesabi Tribune (consolidation of the Mesabi Daily News in Virginia, MN and the Hibbing Daily Tribune). The website has a paywall so you can look at only one article.
The opening was 4/16/71 with “Cromwell”. Attached are the opening ad and a pre-opening news story. As of Feb. 2025, the building has been demolished and is now the site of storage rental garages.
In the Photos area, an ad from 10-21-1970 that shows Cinema II playing Hello Dolly in 70mm, which seems to confirm Joe Vogel’s findings in 2009 - that this theatre had 70mm. I don’t believe this playdate is in the Coate 70mm research for Hello Dolly, so it should be added in… I did some looking at ads in the Kokomo Tribune, various dates, in 1970 and 1971. Cinecom was operating all the theatres there at the time. (The ad for Cinema I on 10-21-70 was the reissue of Son of Flubber.)
2005 reader comment says this theatre is running film with carbon arc projection. Still doing it today? It’s very frustrating to see theatre websites and advertising that * never * say * how * they are showing the “movie.” E-mails to theatres asking this question are never answered. Phone calls are not returned.
The geodesic dome picture here is for another theatre, not the Playhouse Cinema Southfield, later known as Cabaret Theatre. The geodesic dome theatre was part of this 1950’s shopping center: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northland_Center. There was also live legitimate at this shopping center, which may have been held at some place other than the geodesic dome theatre. The Southfield Playhouse Cinema I & II is not related to any of these and not in the same location. The address was 25570 W. 8 Mile Rd, “1 block east of Beech Daly.” It was in a strip mall and the building can be seen on google’s roadside camera. The theatre was busted for allowing minors to see X-rated films (see article - I found the date - 1-24-73). Soon after the name was changed to Cabaret Theatre. Ads in May 77 say “under new management” and still said that in Jan. 79. Jan. 81 ads were porn, so the change to porn probably occurred in 1980. This twin theatre was originally intended to be a Jerry Lewis theatre but appears to not have used the name. There was also a “Playhouse 1 & 2” in Marysville (no listing on C. Treasures) in the early 70s which could have been the same operator. This is something to research (also see CT entry for Waterford, MI Playhouse twin l/k/a Academy 59 Twin.) CT says the opening was 10-25-72 for the Southfield Playhouse Cinema. Ads found dated Fri 10-27-72 showed the theatre playing “The Other” in a multiple wide run.
Announced to be a Jerry Lewis Cinema. (see Waterford, MI Academy 59 Theatre in Cinema Treasures). Waterford also named Playhouse and opened Dec. 72. Name of operator and corporate name listed in the article that was posted here (date?) matches up with the Waterford Playhouse operator.
This looks like a Jerry Lewis Cinema but probably didn’t open under the name. There was a brief article in Boxoffice 3-20-72:
“WESTLAND, MICH. — Attorney Frederick Nagher, general partner of Automated Cinema Enterprises and president of Pisces Exhibitor, Inc., will be the principal operator of a 350-seat Jerry Lewis Cinema to be constructed in the K-Mart Center at Eight Mile and Beech in Southfield, Mich., it was announced by Nicholas Fileccia, president of Michigan Cinema Corp., JLC representative in the southeastern Michigan area.
Nagher also will operate a 700-seat JLC twin cinema to be constructed in the Waterford Plaza Shopping Center, Waterford Township.
The theatres will be full automated, Fileccia stated, and an early summer opening of both facilities is planned."
Further comment: The opening ad that was uploaded says “Grand Opening Dec 22” - that was probably 1972 since “Pete n Tillie” was a Christmas release that year. ‘Planned to open in the summer’ - most likely there were delays and the theatre didn’t open until Christmas, and not with the JLC name. Several theatre operators waited around for JLC and finally opened themselves under their own name.
Is this the same location as a proposed 1972 United General theatre on Van Dyke that supposedly was 16mm? Here is the brief item from Boxoffice magazine of 8-7-72: “PONTIAC, MICH. — Ted Damerow’s Oakland Mini-Theatres has opened United General mini-theatres in Clarkston, Milford and Romeo, Mich. All three houses will use 16mm film and feature family-oriented films, according to Damerow.
The Clarkston Cinema is a 266-seat house located on Dixie Highway and will be operated by Damerow. John Henn is licensee of the Cinema in Milford, a 171- seat house located in the Milford Shopping Center, and the 320-seat Lantern Theatre on Van Dyke Road in Romeo is operated by licensee Gene Powers."
Update to 7-22-2024. The misidentifed theatre was actually in Fullerton, CA even though it was called Yorba Linda Cinema. https://cinematreasures.org/theaters/6641 It was a United General franchised theatre
Re Joe Vogel comment from 2010. Boxoffice Mag was probably wrong. The planned opening date was ‘about’ April 15, 1972. (Source: Tampa Bay Times p 44 3-21-73). In a search of the Tampa Bay and St. Petersburg Times, no advertising or directory listing turned up until Sunday April 30 where there was a display ad for “Grand Opening”. An article from 4/25/72 says the opening would be that Saturday 4/29, with a benefit showing of “The Yearling” as a matinee. No advertising was found for Saturday, however there was an ad on Sunday. Whether the theatre really opened Saturday or Sunday is still unresolved. I am attaching the Sunday ad. “The Yearling” was a MGM Children’s Matinee that weekend and played at several theatres in the area. This is just another example of the spotty advertising of the Jerry Lewis theatres. Sometimes there would be a very large ad a day, or two, or three before the actual opening and then on opening day there would be no ad or just a 1x2.
Sunday 5/21/67 Kokomo Tribune front page article and photo, “Sipe Theater Destroyed by Fire”. Other businesses on the block also damaged. Theatre marquee said “In Like Flint” had been playing.
This is not the Walter Brennan Rainbow Theatre. It isn’t listed on Cinema Treasures. Opened July 1950 and closed June 1953 in a dispute over rent payments due Brennan. No other information found as to what happened to the Rainbow Theatre in Joseph, OR.
Frankfort, IN newspaper of 5-20-80 said the 2nd screen would be open soon. A photo (so dark nothing can be seen) of workers in an auditorium and a caption.
Also see Jerry Lewis Cinema in Hibbing, MN: https://cinematreasures.org/theaters/39831
Still open as of March 1988, and with the Jerry Lewis Cinema name. Article in the March 15, 1988 Washington Post mentions the theatre as the only one near Wash. DC. playing the Whoopi Goldberg bomb “The Telephone.” The article was about how this film bombed and was receiving scant distribution in anticipation of sales to television and home video.
The Roxanne/Beverly Hills Cop II photo was probably taken in late summer 1987. The two pix were released in June, and May 1987 respectively.
October 2007 photo of Jerry Lewis Cinema, Eagan, MN, shortly before demolition. https://www.flickr.com/photos/70267096@N00/1640505583/in/photolist-5bJ4M1-Y1Lisz-7UWaDC-7Yb9HE-v5DTE-3uY2a2-7XhysX-8rxfQ2-8rxfi4-8rxfct-7XkN2d-7XkNm3-7XkNhf-7XhyFP-7XhyKt-rshmo4-Kd387Y-JWhA1o-5bJ4LY-pY2X8-fQZ5HA-fSzs5c-fQS3y4-fSvN2F-fSFCKP-rfH9uX-6dx2FW-oZnX5y-qgmq9c-NcQ1ci-Cwtd3c-BJriH7-2c7eWCY-T9aJ4J-2cGopre-GJvjfA-227mSBJ-24NWpRg-23rSKF2-GJvhS5-2evwsxP-23KQUhL-23KQUNA-RNAea8-dDGrGF-23CCy3a
Opened as Jerry Lewis Twin, 10/1/71; name change to Cedarvale I & II 7/1/72; Engler Theatre chain acquires 6/14/74, runs for one year to 6/3/75. Taken over by Metropolitan Theatres Co. (Ernest Peaslee) a few days later. Closes mid-October; reopened by new operator 11/26/75, final closing 2/12/76.
Several articles in 2016 about how the Thunderbird Mall would be “de-malled”, including the demolition of K-Mart, where they would follow the new fad of flip-flopping the retail spaces to strip-mall style and the retail would face outside, to the parking lot.
The two malls opened on the same day, Aug. 11, 1971. A press release from Gamble’s was in the Duluth News-Tribune of Aug. 10.
Two malls, the Mesabi Mall in Hibbing, and the Thunderbird Mall in Virginia MN, opened in mid-August 1971. Neither Jerry Lewis Cinema were ready to open however, and lost the momentum behind the malls’ openings. About two months later, the Virginia Lewis theatre opened on Oct. 6 and the Hibbing theatre on Oct. 7. Both opened with “Blue Water, White Death” which was frequently booked at Lewis locations of the time. To take the sting off missing the mall openings, the “See a Grown Man Cry” ad campaign was created by one of the partners of the dual-theatre venture, who was in the advertising business.
Hibbing Daily Tribune article of 10-28-1982 reports the Lybba being closed and Cinemaland was going into the Irongate Mall 3-plex. Cinemaland said competition from the 3-plex in 1981 hurt the Lybba’s business. Impression given by the article is that the 3 plex had been a different operator, and may have been out of business at the time Cinemaland closed the Lybba and went into the 3-plex. The article is a bit murky on these details.
Lybba was twinned in March 1980; article in 10-28-82 Hibbing Daily Tribune said the Lybba was to be closed and owners to take over 3-plex in Irongate Mall.
State Theatre in Hibbing, MN closed 3-27-80 with “Apocalypse Now”
https://www.mesabitribune.com/news/community/the-state-theater-hibbing-s-movie-palace/article_6723a7ec-b26a-11ef-9e4a-1fc4cd8d26d1.html
Dec 2024 article in Mesabi Tribune (consolidation of the Mesabi Daily News in Virginia, MN and the Hibbing Daily Tribune). The website has a paywall so you can look at only one article.
The opening was 4/16/71 with “Cromwell”. Attached are the opening ad and a pre-opening news story. As of Feb. 2025, the building has been demolished and is now the site of storage rental garages.
In the Photos area, an ad from 10-21-1970 that shows Cinema II playing Hello Dolly in 70mm, which seems to confirm Joe Vogel’s findings in 2009 - that this theatre had 70mm. I don’t believe this playdate is in the Coate 70mm research for Hello Dolly, so it should be added in… I did some looking at ads in the Kokomo Tribune, various dates, in 1970 and 1971. Cinecom was operating all the theatres there at the time. (The ad for Cinema I on 10-21-70 was the reissue of Son of Flubber.)
2005 reader comment says this theatre is running film with carbon arc projection. Still doing it today? It’s very frustrating to see theatre websites and advertising that * never * say * how * they are showing the “movie.” E-mails to theatres asking this question are never answered. Phone calls are not returned.
Listed on Loopnet as of 9/2/2024: https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/14238-Harper-Rd-Detroit-MI/30393499/
The geodesic dome picture here is for another theatre, not the Playhouse Cinema Southfield, later known as Cabaret Theatre. The geodesic dome theatre was part of this 1950’s shopping center: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northland_Center. There was also live legitimate at this shopping center, which may have been held at some place other than the geodesic dome theatre. The Southfield Playhouse Cinema I & II is not related to any of these and not in the same location. The address was 25570 W. 8 Mile Rd, “1 block east of Beech Daly.” It was in a strip mall and the building can be seen on google’s roadside camera. The theatre was busted for allowing minors to see X-rated films (see article - I found the date - 1-24-73). Soon after the name was changed to Cabaret Theatre. Ads in May 77 say “under new management” and still said that in Jan. 79. Jan. 81 ads were porn, so the change to porn probably occurred in 1980. This twin theatre was originally intended to be a Jerry Lewis theatre but appears to not have used the name. There was also a “Playhouse 1 & 2” in Marysville (no listing on C. Treasures) in the early 70s which could have been the same operator. This is something to research (also see CT entry for Waterford, MI Playhouse twin l/k/a Academy 59 Twin.) CT says the opening was 10-25-72 for the Southfield Playhouse Cinema. Ads found dated Fri 10-27-72 showed the theatre playing “The Other” in a multiple wide run.
Announced to be a Jerry Lewis Cinema. (see Waterford, MI Academy 59 Theatre in Cinema Treasures). Waterford also named Playhouse and opened Dec. 72. Name of operator and corporate name listed in the article that was posted here (date?) matches up with the Waterford Playhouse operator.
This looks like a Jerry Lewis Cinema but probably didn’t open under the name. There was a brief article in Boxoffice 3-20-72:
“WESTLAND, MICH. — Attorney Frederick Nagher, general partner of Automated Cinema Enterprises and president of Pisces Exhibitor, Inc., will be the principal operator of a 350-seat Jerry Lewis Cinema to be constructed in the K-Mart Center at Eight Mile and Beech in Southfield, Mich., it was announced by Nicholas Fileccia, president of Michigan Cinema Corp., JLC representative in the southeastern Michigan area.
Nagher also will operate a 700-seat JLC twin cinema to be constructed in the Waterford Plaza Shopping Center, Waterford Township.
The theatres will be full automated, Fileccia stated, and an early summer opening of both facilities is planned."
Further comment: The opening ad that was uploaded says “Grand Opening Dec 22” - that was probably 1972 since “Pete n Tillie” was a Christmas release that year. ‘Planned to open in the summer’ - most likely there were delays and the theatre didn’t open until Christmas, and not with the JLC name. Several theatre operators waited around for JLC and finally opened themselves under their own name.
Is this the same location as a proposed 1972 United General theatre on Van Dyke that supposedly was 16mm? Here is the brief item from Boxoffice magazine of 8-7-72: “PONTIAC, MICH. — Ted Damerow’s Oakland Mini-Theatres has opened United General mini-theatres in Clarkston, Milford and Romeo, Mich. All three houses will use 16mm film and feature family-oriented films, according to Damerow.
The Clarkston Cinema is a 266-seat house located on Dixie Highway and will be operated by Damerow. John Henn is licensee of the Cinema in Milford, a 171- seat house located in the Milford Shopping Center, and the 320-seat Lantern Theatre on Van Dyke Road in Romeo is operated by licensee Gene Powers."
Update to 7-22-2024. The misidentifed theatre was actually in Fullerton, CA even though it was called Yorba Linda Cinema. https://cinematreasures.org/theaters/6641 It was a United General franchised theatre