UNITED Theater on Broadway

This theatre was not one of the UA/Loews operations. It was part of Fox West Coast Theatres / UA chains during that time frame.

They’ve taken Dr. Scott’s name off the marquee, which makes sense. There is a large ad, very faded, on the back wall. I took some pictures. They also have the two “Jesus Saves” signs that used to be on the Church of the Open Door over by the library.

They didn’t hesitate to waste that electricity once they got it, apparently.

Has anyone contacted the New York Public Library to let them know that their photo caption misidentifies the Ohio Theatre as the United Artists? Errors such as that are pretty common on the Internet, unfortunately. Not every institution will respond to notification about mistakes on their websites, either. The Library of Congress website has never corrected any of the caption errors I’ve told them about, but the L.A. Public Library has corrected several such errors in their on-line photo collection after I’ve informed them about them by e-mail. I’ve never contacted the New York library, so I don’t know if it would do any good or not.

Thanks ziggy. Mystery solved! The Ohio Theatre, Columbus, OH is listed in the 1941 F.D.Y. as being a United Artists Theatre Circuit theatre, operated as the Loew’s Ohio Theatre.

Well the feature playing is the Fox film “On Your Back” with Irene Rich and H.B. Warner, which was released Sept. 14th, 1930. Theres the first clue for where to look.

Well it’s not the Los Angeles United Artists Theatre for sure. In the 1941 edition of Film Daily Yearbook it states that Loew’s Inc. operates several theatres in association with United Artists Theater Circuit, which theaters are designated in the list of United Artists hodings.

There is no Loew’s United Artist Theatre in that list of of U.A. holdings. So we have a mystery theatre!

I would say it is in the New York area, as the photograpgh comes from the Billy Rose Theatre Collection which deals mainly with New York theatres.

I worked for Dr. Gene Scott as a paid intern from 1993-96. My first year was spent as the deacon of maintenance at the UA Theater. I was responsible for the general up-keep and security of the building and Dr. Scott’s priceless bible and manuscript collection. I also headed the public tour each Saturday and expidited the pre-production activities for the world-wide Sunday broadcast of Dr. Scott’s teaching sermons.

I would be happy to answer any questions regarding the UA building, its systems, the bible collection, general church activities, etc.

Please refrain from inquiring about Dr. Scott’s personal life—I will answer only those questions that concern his general involvement, and perhaps a few humorous anecdotes between Dr. Scott and myself.

You may reach me through this forum or at

I look foreward to sharing with you.

On the installation of Todd-AO at the United Artists Downtown (Todd-AO #3). Remember the Egyptian Theatre (Todd-AO #2) was part of the same circuit as the UA, as was the Rivoli Theatre (Todd-AO #1) in Times Square. Those theatres were operated under Magna Theatres in NYC, it was a subsidiary company of United Artists Theatres. So United Artists Theatres converted select First Run theatres to the Todd-AO format. Just like Stanley Warner had a contract for the Cinerama houses. They had the place the booth as close to the mezzanine level to get the best projection, because the original booth was one of those high angle booths. So remember on some installs seats had to be removed or closed off. Like the Fox Theatre in San Francisco (Diamond Horseshoe) because of the balcony over hang was in the picture area on those seats. There was only two Cinerama houses before the Dome was built in 1963. The Warner Hollywood (Pacific 1-2-3) and the Forum Theatre (company test house).

In reference to Goober’s comments on November 29…“The removal of the mezzanine seems like quite a radical move for basic widescreen adaptation. Anamorphic processes like CinemaScope would not have required so much (vandalistic!) remodeling. Perhaps this has already been discussed, but I wonder, is there a possibility that there was an attempt to fit the house for Cinerama? That would entail quite a bit of alteration”. Y ou’re right. Cinerama was never installed at the UA; however, in December of ‘55, Todd-AO was (for a simultaneous engagement with the Egyptian of “Oklahoma) brought in, and in those days, while M. Todd was still alive, these 70mm installations were mainly deep-curve and straight-throw affairs.

1928, the photo shows people lining up for a new Norma Talmadge movie:

http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater3/00015593.jpg

Here are more UA-oriented pix from the USC archive. The big Texaco sign is plainly seen in one shot. And the UA’s ‘cathedral crown’ is also seen, with and without the ‘Texaco’ neon.

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