RKO Albee Theatre
12 E. 5th Street,
Cincinnati,
OH
45202
12 E. 5th Street,
Cincinnati,
OH
45202
6 people
favorited this theater
Showing 51 - 53 of 53 comments
That is a good photo of the Albee. I have an old black & white photo if you want it. E-mail me at and I’ll reply with it. Have no idea of the date, though, but you may figure it out by what’s on the marquee. I, too, grew up in Cincinnati. My grandfather was an usher at the Times Towne Cinema at 6th & Walnut in the ‘50s and early '60s. The Albee was one of the finest theatres in the world. They had live shows as well. So glad to see others who appreciate this type of thing. I miss all of the old theatres.
I was brought up in Cincinnati and I remember the downtown theatres with passionate affection. The Albee was the most beautiful, right across from the fountain on the square. Just walking into the theatre after buying a ticket was a journey; the place was immense. You had to walk through the huge lobby, then take a left down a long corridor, and all this was on plush red carpet. Portraits hung all over the place. Even the men’s restroom downstairs (with the largest urinals I ever saw) had its own adjoining lounge with dark wood furniture.
In the fifties and early sixties downtown Cincinnati had six big movie palaces. My parents told me a few were once old vaudeville houses (The Albee, The Keith’s, The RKO Palace, The Grand, and The Capitol were the major ones), and the city also had a great legitimate live theatre, The Schubert. Remembering the times I saw movies in those places is such a pleasure. The Albee was the first theatre in that area to widen its screen to Cinamascope in 1953; my father took me then to see “The Robe.”
By 1975 Cincinnati had razed every major downtown theatre. All those treasures were destroyed.
I have searched for photographs of the Albee and other Cincinnati theatres everywhere but can’t find anything except this.
Thank you for at least this photo.
Two websites, http://www.emerycenter.com/em111899.htm and http://w3.one.net/~spmh/ballroom.htm, both make reference to the Albee being demolished. The second site gives a date of 1976 for the theater’s demise.