Denis Theatre
685 Washington Road,
Mount Lebanon,
PA
15228
685 Washington Road,
Mount Lebanon,
PA
15228
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Showing 51 - 62 of 62 comments
Denis Quad was excellent in “The Day After Tomorrow”.
Got a picture of the Denis today.
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Dude, GET A LIFE! Cinemette did not close the King’s Court. It was closed by Cinema World Theatres Inc.. The lease was up and the landloard wanted to just about Double the rent. It was a single screen with low grosses and high overhead. The Oakland crowd was getting rough and it just became more trouble than it was worth.
Not quite sure who “got run out of town” Most of the surviving people that ran Cinemette and Cinema World still reside in the Pittsburgh area.
Did you, by any chance get fired by Cinemette or do you just not know any better than to blame the local theatre circuit for a nation wide trend in the theatre industry?
Yes, the Denis and Encore were something else. Right at the end of the Dormot/Mt Lebanon trolly line it was easy to get too as long as the film was shown downstairs.
Cinemmette ruined everything it got it’s hands on starting with the Fulton downtown, the Fiesta, and the Kings Court. How could such a greatness turn into such a nightmare…..answer….the bum management it had. Glad they all got run out of town.
Found this article about the Denis in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette…
http://post-gazette.com/pg/04255/376939.stm
As an update, the theatre is still closed, but has not yet been torn down. I tried researching it further; apparently, there are some investors who want to buy it but the owner is unwilling to sell.
My correction stands corrected. You’re right, TomB. The Encore was built over the original theatre’s lobby. Remember the stairs to nowhere that remained in the original upstairs projection booth?
The Monroe was also listed in the Associated Theatres directory.
Also it should be noted that the Encore and Forvm (both equipped with the some of the first American Seating rocking chairs in the city)usually ran the same film day & date.
The Crest – that’s the theatre out at Donaldsons Crossroads? It’s been a long time since I lived in Pgh (how younze doin? LOL)…
The Denis was twinned by Associated Theaters in the late 60’s.
The second theatre, the Encore, was built over the lobby of the original theatre (if you could get behind the Encore screen, you would find the previous entrance to the main auditorium’s balcony – and a portion of the main stairway up into the old Encore was part of the stairs used to reach the old balcony). When the second theatre was added, Associated continued to utilize the balcony on the Denis side, accessed by a former emergency stairway at the end of the main lobby, but subsequently transformed it into the fourth theatre (anyone with a heart condition never went up there)when the conversion to a quad took place. Before Cinemette (who had earlier purchased the local Stanley-Warner properties) absorbed the Associated circuit in the eary 70’s, the Denis appeared in a daily newspaper directory with the Gateway, Fulton, Kings Court, Forvm, Liberty (East Liberty), South Hills (Dormont), Roxian (McKees Rocks),
McKnight, Crest, Regent (East Liberty), Cinema World (Pleasant Hills) and Bellevue.
Wasn’t the Denis always listed in the Post-Gazette and the Press in the same directory as the South Hills Village, McKnight Cinemas and that one out at Donaldsons Crossroads (i forget the name)?
I guess I’m getting alzheimers – I was there and saw ‘Summer of 42’ back in the 20th century and I could have sworn it was a upper-lower split… thanks for the correction.
The Denis Theatre closed on September 9, 2004. It is being torn down to make room for more retail/office space.
A few corrections: The denis theatre built by the J P Harris circuit Then sold to Associated Theatres, Then in 1975 it was sold to Cinemette Theatres, Then in 1987 it was sold to Cinema World Inc.And finally it was operated by Cinemagic Theatres of Pittsburgh.
The Encore Theatre was never part ot the Dinis theatre. It was created from retai space in front of the Denis Theatre. Later, Cinemette Corp. did one of the worst splits of all time. The original Denis auditorium was split into 3 screens (one balcony auditorium that no one wanted to make the trek down the long lobby and then up the stairs to get to, and two small downstairs auditoriums with screens that so high, they were located above the exit doors). Along with the Encore, It became the Denis Quad. This closing was ot a great loss to anyone.