This Cinema X in Newport,Kentucky ,is often confused with the Cinema X in Cincinnati,Ohio on Race Street. The Kentucky venue ran much longer than its Ohio neighbor.
A sad addition to history of the Loveland Stage Company, articles from Cincinnati, Ohio Enquirer newspaper carry news of a fire which gutted the facility Oct.20,2008 leaving damages estimated at $300,000.00. The Theatre dates from 1939 as a movie cinema prior to use as a live presentation house with 29 years of productions. Funding a new roof could possibly put the Stage Company back in business, but it will take a massive fund raising.
Owner of the American Sign Museum in Cincinnati,Ohio is from the same family which has published nationally, since before 1900, the sign industry bible entitled ,“Signs Of The Times”.A large marquee would pose a real space eater in an interior museum, of course it might find use as an exterior weather sheild. Maybe White Way knows where the marquee went.
In a recent August Enquirer of 2008 article The Act 1 theater is due to have its official reopening on Septemper 20,2008. It will now serve as a performing arts center with some concert and film use.
Now that this site is an empty lot, students from the University Of Cincinnati have added a colorful mural to an adjacent brick wall depicting many neighborhood images of this old German area. Included is a painting of the last Empire vertical signage.
Having recently(like July 2008) viewed the interior of the Emery it amazes me that very little decay has occured since the Ohio Valley Chapter of the American Theater Organ Society left the theater with their Wurlitzer in late 1999. A local Cincinnati volunteer group called,Give Back Cincinnati, did a one day sweep up, brass polishing, and seat vacuuming tidy up job there in July 2008, which make the venue more presentable. No further plans have been announced for The Emery Th. New signs which carry a short history of this theater have been placed in the facade lobby doors and windows.
Hello RCMH knowledge dispencers; In the latest article about the upcoming Wurly concert with Jack Moelmann there is a wide shot of the Hall used showing an area under the third choral staircases which offers a view of stairways and a corridor. Is this an exit passageway or the entrance for the choristers to assend the draped tiers leading to the stage? I’ve never seen this area open before.
Thank you David M. for the alert to the Time magazine article, I did find the piece with a nice black and white picture of the fireworks at the end of the item in a bound copy in our library. Sorry I never got to see the fireworks used at any of my attendings in the 1950’s.
Having viewed this Hippodrome Theater in the 1990’s ,then being used as a bingo hall which was in splendid condition, I’m appauled to see what devistation the current owner has wrought upon this fine structure.
Thanks meheuck for the Laemmle info. Have you checked the cincy site for Heucks and Peoples Theaters or my updates on the Valley Theater here? Until soon, Hank
Hello Jane; You have all I found about Dolly Varden Chocolates. Mr. Eisen went on to become a Vice President of a Cincinnati Savings and Loan in 1922. He became a violinist with the first Cincy Symphony Orchestra and was a City Councilor in 1927 under the Charterite banner. He quit school at age 10 to help support his widowed mother, working for $2.00 a week. In later years he built a fancy mansion in College Hill and lived to be 92 years of age.What other kinds of candy they made I don’t know. That’s all I’ve got. Hank
The first manager of the ,“Dolly Varden Theater”, was Charles Sternberg, so it looks like the Dolly Varden might have opened in 1911. The candy company next door with the same name was opened by its President, Charles Eisen ,sometime before 1909.He introduced chocolate covered cherries to the American public.
Hello Jane; Well a picture of the Dolly Varden Chocolate Box, good luck! Maybe Kroger Grocery Company made Varden Chocolates as they were also located on State St. in Cincinnati,Ohio after the early 1920’s. On November 10,1901 the Glaser Opera Company performed for a week at Robinson’s Operahouse ,Ninth and Plum Street at Cincinnati, with an orchestra of 40 pieces, a budget of $30.000 ,in the Opera entitled,“Dolly Varden”, staring Lulu Glaser. I couldn’t find a review of the performance in our local newsrag. The Opera was written by Stange and Edwards ,their seventh music work ,it was advertised as a comic opera. Probably the story came from the Charles Dickens Novel. Hope this helps somewhat. Hank
Mr. Lubun of Phidelphia was an Eye Doctor who was credited with offering free eye exams to his patients, and what better business to morph into after selling them new glasses than the cinema field. Lubin set up a production company to supply films for his enterprises,sounds like he learned early what the Warner Bros. realized that the man who eliminated the middle fellow was far ahead of the game. Apparently the free eye exams idea was adopted by many other eye firms in the early glass selling days, sadly it doesn’t continue today. This Lubin Cincinnati Th. must have happened not long after Marcus Loew had opened his Fountain Square penny arcade here in 1906.
The Lubin Nickelodeon opened in 1907 and closed April 29,1930 the final manager of this house was Moses Wilchins who died at age 70 in 1965. Wilchins was also the manager of 3 other early nickel shows on 5th.St.they were The Ohio,Colonial,And The Avenue Theater. Moses worked for the Frankel Bros. Realty Co. who owned many theaters in Cincinnati also Newport,Ky .
Does anyone know the whereabouts of Frank M. Spencer the longterm costume designer at RCMH? If he has passed I’m unable to find an obit in the NYTimes, Variety, Billboard,or other sources.
Sometime in the early 1950’s my parents drove us from Lowell,Mass. to Schenectady to visit with a couple they knew. To fill our evening ,so the adults could have grownup conversations ,they dropped us off at The Strand Th. It was a double bill and the picture we saw on entered was ,“It Came From Beneath The Sea”….I was 10 years old my kid brother was only 7. During the screening the projectionist must have forgotten to adjust the audio level on one projector, for as the screen creature emerged from San Fransisco Bay there was a tremendous ear splitting sound effect(much louder then the film was intended to produce). I screamed like a four old girl,it scared me so. Now ,(I was a boy )so I had two reactions, first embarrasment for being a wimp and secondly I feared if my brother told my parents the film scared me, they might never let us venture out to cinema again. We flash ahead to the present(55 years later), last week I took home from our Library a DVD of ,“It Came From Beneath The Sea”, a Ray Harryhousen epic and laughed myself silly. How in hell could I ever have been terrorised by this film????? Well the foolishness of youth, I guess. Sorry I didn’t really share my observations about your theater interior, but the film is mostly what I remember all these years later.
The letter Y in the company called F&Y Building Corp. stood for Leo Yassenoff who ran the company and the F stood for the architect of the firm.
This Cinema X in Newport,Kentucky ,is often confused with the Cinema X in Cincinnati,Ohio on Race Street. The Kentucky venue ran much longer than its Ohio neighbor.
Look carefully this maybe one of our ONLY automobile deco cinemas.More later.
Probably part of the Sullivan&Considine chain of vaudeville theaters as all their venues were called Empress Theaters nationwide.
A sad addition to history of the Loveland Stage Company, articles from Cincinnati, Ohio Enquirer newspaper carry news of a fire which gutted the facility Oct.20,2008 leaving damages estimated at $300,000.00. The Theatre dates from 1939 as a movie cinema prior to use as a live presentation house with 29 years of productions. Funding a new roof could possibly put the Stage Company back in business, but it will take a massive fund raising.
Owner of the American Sign Museum in Cincinnati,Ohio is from the same family which has published nationally, since before 1900, the sign industry bible entitled ,“Signs Of The Times”.A large marquee would pose a real space eater in an interior museum, of course it might find use as an exterior weather sheild. Maybe White Way knows where the marquee went.
The Royal Theater never carried any other name than Royal even when it showed soft porn.
The Enquirer article about Act One Theater appeared Aug.28,2008. Their open house will be Aug.20,08 from 1-5p.m..
In a recent August Enquirer of 2008 article The Act 1 theater is due to have its official reopening on Septemper 20,2008. It will now serve as a performing arts center with some concert and film use.
R.I.P Circle Theater you were a wonderful learning venue.
Now that this site is an empty lot, students from the University Of Cincinnati have added a colorful mural to an adjacent brick wall depicting many neighborhood images of this old German area. Included is a painting of the last Empire vertical signage.
Having recently(like July 2008) viewed the interior of the Emery it amazes me that very little decay has occured since the Ohio Valley Chapter of the American Theater Organ Society left the theater with their Wurlitzer in late 1999. A local Cincinnati volunteer group called,Give Back Cincinnati, did a one day sweep up, brass polishing, and seat vacuuming tidy up job there in July 2008, which make the venue more presentable. No further plans have been announced for The Emery Th. New signs which carry a short history of this theater have been placed in the facade lobby doors and windows.
Hello RCMH knowledge dispencers; In the latest article about the upcoming Wurly concert with Jack Moelmann there is a wide shot of the Hall used showing an area under the third choral staircases which offers a view of stairways and a corridor. Is this an exit passageway or the entrance for the choristers to assend the draped tiers leading to the stage? I’ve never seen this area open before.
Thank you David M. for the alert to the Time magazine article, I did find the piece with a nice black and white picture of the fireworks at the end of the item in a bound copy in our library. Sorry I never got to see the fireworks used at any of my attendings in the 1950’s.
It’s always worth a try, the folks at Theatre Historical Society are very knowledgable. Good luck.
Having viewed this Hippodrome Theater in the 1990’s ,then being used as a bingo hall which was in splendid condition, I’m appauled to see what devistation the current owner has wrought upon this fine structure.
Thanks meheuck for the Laemmle info. Have you checked the cincy site for Heucks and Peoples Theaters or my updates on the Valley Theater here? Until soon, Hank
Hello Jane; You have all I found about Dolly Varden Chocolates. Mr. Eisen went on to become a Vice President of a Cincinnati Savings and Loan in 1922. He became a violinist with the first Cincy Symphony Orchestra and was a City Councilor in 1927 under the Charterite banner. He quit school at age 10 to help support his widowed mother, working for $2.00 a week. In later years he built a fancy mansion in College Hill and lived to be 92 years of age.What other kinds of candy they made I don’t know. That’s all I’ve got. Hank
The first manager of the ,“Dolly Varden Theater”, was Charles Sternberg, so it looks like the Dolly Varden might have opened in 1911. The candy company next door with the same name was opened by its President, Charles Eisen ,sometime before 1909.He introduced chocolate covered cherries to the American public.
Hello Jane; Well a picture of the Dolly Varden Chocolate Box, good luck! Maybe Kroger Grocery Company made Varden Chocolates as they were also located on State St. in Cincinnati,Ohio after the early 1920’s. On November 10,1901 the Glaser Opera Company performed for a week at Robinson’s Operahouse ,Ninth and Plum Street at Cincinnati, with an orchestra of 40 pieces, a budget of $30.000 ,in the Opera entitled,“Dolly Varden”, staring Lulu Glaser. I couldn’t find a review of the performance in our local newsrag. The Opera was written by Stange and Edwards ,their seventh music work ,it was advertised as a comic opera. Probably the story came from the Charles Dickens Novel. Hope this helps somewhat. Hank
Mr. Lubun of Phidelphia was an Eye Doctor who was credited with offering free eye exams to his patients, and what better business to morph into after selling them new glasses than the cinema field. Lubin set up a production company to supply films for his enterprises,sounds like he learned early what the Warner Bros. realized that the man who eliminated the middle fellow was far ahead of the game. Apparently the free eye exams idea was adopted by many other eye firms in the early glass selling days, sadly it doesn’t continue today. This Lubin Cincinnati Th. must have happened not long after Marcus Loew had opened his Fountain Square penny arcade here in 1906.
The Lubin Nickelodeon opened in 1907 and closed April 29,1930 the final manager of this house was Moses Wilchins who died at age 70 in 1965. Wilchins was also the manager of 3 other early nickel shows on 5th.St.they were The Ohio,Colonial,And The Avenue Theater. Moses worked for the Frankel Bros. Realty Co. who owned many theaters in Cincinnati also Newport,Ky .
Also a cinema belonging to Henry Levy was the Liberty Th. in Northside on Spring Grove Avenue.
Does anyone know the whereabouts of Frank M. Spencer the longterm costume designer at RCMH? If he has passed I’m unable to find an obit in the NYTimes, Variety, Billboard,or other sources.
Sometime in the early 1950’s my parents drove us from Lowell,Mass. to Schenectady to visit with a couple they knew. To fill our evening ,so the adults could have grownup conversations ,they dropped us off at The Strand Th. It was a double bill and the picture we saw on entered was ,“It Came From Beneath The Sea”….I was 10 years old my kid brother was only 7. During the screening the projectionist must have forgotten to adjust the audio level on one projector, for as the screen creature emerged from San Fransisco Bay there was a tremendous ear splitting sound effect(much louder then the film was intended to produce). I screamed like a four old girl,it scared me so. Now ,(I was a boy )so I had two reactions, first embarrasment for being a wimp and secondly I feared if my brother told my parents the film scared me, they might never let us venture out to cinema again. We flash ahead to the present(55 years later), last week I took home from our Library a DVD of ,“It Came From Beneath The Sea”, a Ray Harryhousen epic and laughed myself silly. How in hell could I ever have been terrorised by this film????? Well the foolishness of youth, I guess. Sorry I didn’t really share my observations about your theater interior, but the film is mostly what I remember all these years later.