The Gables appears in Ken Wiederhorn’s thriller EYES OF A STRANGER with Lauren Tewes and Jennifer Jason Leigh, in a scene where Tewes goes to the movies with her boyfriend. In an outdoor display case is a poster for DAWN OF THE DEAD, an inside joke on Tom Savini doing the special effects, and in a wider shot, BEING THERE can be seen on the marquee.
I think I may have an answer to the narrow design of the Eden/Guild theatre.
I looked up the address of 782 E. McMillan in Newspapers dot com from 1900 onward, and from 1920 to approximately 1932, it was an auto shop!
One ad from September 5, 1920, proclaimed, “ROOM FOR 12 CARS, AND EQUIPMENT FOR REPAIRING.” Another from April 25, 1926, advertises Peebles Corner Auto Sales at the 782 address.
A classified ad on Aug 07, 1932, simply reads, “Store, reasonable rent, good for any business.” So that may well be when the site got scouted by Willis Vance for a movie theatre.
So it’s still a wild guess, but perhaps that former Cincy Theater from 1913 got gutted and turned into a garage, and then was reconfigured back in the ‘30s. Maybe the ceilings got elevated in the 30s?
Ludlow Cinema marquee spotted in the final scenes of Jeff Nichols' THE BIKERIDERS (shot almost entirely in the Greater Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky, and Middletown areas), with a bearded Norman Reedus on a motorbike enticing patrons into seeing EASY RIDER.
Got the new Vinegar Syndrome bluray of Nick Millard’s 1974 horror film SATAN’S BLACK WEDDING, and there’s a moment where the lead character walks past the 812. Spurred me to look it up here.
In the 1974 sketch comedy THE GROOVE TUBE, during “The Dealers” segment, the Elgin is the theatre that Ken Shapiro and Richard Belzer duck into to avoid police, and end up meeting a…very accommodating woman.
In the 80s, during its three-screen incarnation, it was run by Pete Gall, former owner of the Guild in Cincinnati, the former Cinema Malibu in Hamilton, and the Franklin in Franklin, and the Ludlow in Ludlow KY.
At one time the Ludlow had a 4-channel quadrophonic magnetic stereo capability, which was later transplanted to the Cinema West theatre in Hamilton in 1975.
In the ‘70s, this venue was known as the Franklin Cinema, and was owned/operated by Clarence “Pete” Gall and his Malibu Inc. company, which also operated the Cinema Malibu in Hamilton (formerly the Linden), and most infamously, the Guild Cinema in Cincinnati.
Clarence “Pete” Gall became the owner of the theatre and gave it the name Cinema Malibu in 1968; his company name was Malibu Inc. Gall would be best known for his time running the Guild Cinema in Cincinnati, which, on his opening night of operation, was raided by the vice squad for playing Russ Mayer’s VIXEN.
It’s safe to say that the Guild’s lean to adult fare began in 1969, where they transitioned from R-rated art films and moveovers to straight up softcore. In the hierarchy of the active adult theatres in Cincinnati of the time, they would share higher-profile titles with Cinema X on Race St., while the Royal would effectively be second-run double features and the Imperial stressed their striptease performers more than the movies they played. Besides VIXEN, the Guild also opened PUTNEY SWOPE, Morrissey’s TRASH, and Art Napoleon’s THE ACTIVIST (ghost released by Universal under the “Regional Films” alias).
1972 saw some cracks in the fascade, interspersing a Charlie Chaplin compilation and the Black drama THE BUS IS COMING with the skin flicks. It looks like they went dark for a few months, and reopened in December of that year under a new owner, “Mark I Theatres,” and a new name, Midtown Cinema, and became a second-run double feature house. They even instituted super late night 2am shows on the weekend. More importantly, much like Black-attended theatres as the Regal and the State, they stopped listing showtimes in the Cincinnati papers and only occasionally put their name in display ads if joining a city-wide saturation run. They apparently dabbled back in adult films again, attempting to play DEEP THROAT in 1974 after it had already been shut down at the Alpha Fine Arts in Northside; they too had their run raided and ended early.
Some time before 1976, they entered a joint-operation agreement with the Alpha, and rebranded again as Eden Theatre. Looks like they still weren’t putting times in the papers, but reportedly they concentrated on exploitation fare like martial arts movies, and were only open on weekends.
In the ‘70s, the space was rebranded the “Video Theatre” and dabbled in countercultural programming. The original videotape version of Ken Shapiro’s THE GROOVE TUBE sketch program played there, followed by Ernest Pintoff’s “magazine” film DYNAMITE CHICKEN with Richard Pryor, and Emile de Antonio’s documentary MILLHOUSE.
According to an article in The Cincinnati Post about adult businesses published on June 22, 1973, this Cinema X location was closed on January 12, 1972, by the Common Pleas Court, and its assets auctioned by the county to pay off the fines.
In a story on adult businesses in The Cincinnati Post on June 22, 1973, it states that the Monte Vista had been shut down by a Common Pleas Court order on November 1, 1972. Sometime later in 1973, the theatre reopened and returned to second-run double features.
Origionally owned and operated by Jack Goldman, grandfather to current Esquire theatre operator Gary Goldman. It was part of a five-screen black theatre circuit Jack had in Cincinnati, along with the Regal and the Roosevelt downtown, the Lincoln in the West End, and the Roxy in Lockland.
This photo is a little misdirecting because the actual theatre building is not the brown complex at the corner, it’s the white-painted structure to the far right.
At some point, this building had served as a synagogue, with Hebrew text carved into its current facade. A banner hanging in front proclaims a business called “Truth Bar & Grill” Coming Soon, and looking it up shows documents drawn up in 2020, so it could be delayed by Covid or the venture aborted.
An organization called Bonekrushers National Pro Wrestling Tranining Center is listed next door at 6105 Vine Street, and passing by the location, it would appear they are using the theatre space at 6109 to train their students and present exhibition matches to the public. Their alumni apparently includes former TNA champ Abyss and WWE Diva Jillian Hall.
I was able to get a tour of the theatre from the people working on renovating it. Their plans are very ambitious, involving developing the lot next door for more arts-based activity and hosting. They’re still looking for funding, but they appear to be well organized so I think they can pull it off. Can we change the status to “renovating”?
By process of elimination, I believe this drive-in was featured in a pivotal scene in Umberto Lenzi’s 1989 kidnap thriller HITCHER IN THE DARK with Josie Bissett, which was shot around the Virginia Beach area. Amusingly enough, during the scene, the movie being screened is the Italian caveman comedy GRUNT, which to the best of my knowledge, never actually got a U.S. release.
The marquee can be spotted during a scene in the 1972 horror film SCREAM BLOODY MURDER aka THE CAPTIVE FEMALE.
There’s an incomplete placeholder website for the venue.
https://www.thekultla.com/
Looks like they’re operating with just the bare bones of what was left after the seats and film equipment were taken out.
The Gables appears in Ken Wiederhorn’s thriller EYES OF A STRANGER with Lauren Tewes and Jennifer Jason Leigh, in a scene where Tewes goes to the movies with her boyfriend. In an outdoor display case is a poster for DAWN OF THE DEAD, an inside joke on Tom Savini doing the special effects, and in a wider shot, BEING THERE can be seen on the marquee.
I think I may have an answer to the narrow design of the Eden/Guild theatre.
I looked up the address of 782 E. McMillan in Newspapers dot com from 1900 onward, and from 1920 to approximately 1932, it was an auto shop!
One ad from September 5, 1920, proclaimed, “ROOM FOR 12 CARS, AND EQUIPMENT FOR REPAIRING.” Another from April 25, 1926, advertises Peebles Corner Auto Sales at the 782 address.
A classified ad on Aug 07, 1932, simply reads, “Store, reasonable rent, good for any business.” So that may well be when the site got scouted by Willis Vance for a movie theatre.
So it’s still a wild guess, but perhaps that former Cincy Theater from 1913 got gutted and turned into a garage, and then was reconfigured back in the ‘30s. Maybe the ceilings got elevated in the 30s?
Ludlow Cinema marquee spotted in the final scenes of Jeff Nichols' THE BIKERIDERS (shot almost entirely in the Greater Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky, and Middletown areas), with a bearded Norman Reedus on a motorbike enticing patrons into seeing EASY RIDER.
Got the new Vinegar Syndrome bluray of Nick Millard’s 1974 horror film SATAN’S BLACK WEDDING, and there’s a moment where the lead character walks past the 812. Spurred me to look it up here.
In the 1974 sketch comedy THE GROOVE TUBE, during “The Dealers” segment, the Elgin is the theatre that Ken Shapiro and Richard Belzer duck into to avoid police, and end up meeting a…very accommodating woman.
In the 80s, during its three-screen incarnation, it was run by Pete Gall, former owner of the Guild in Cincinnati, the former Cinema Malibu in Hamilton, and the Franklin in Franklin, and the Ludlow in Ludlow KY.
At one time the Ludlow had a 4-channel quadrophonic magnetic stereo capability, which was later transplanted to the Cinema West theatre in Hamilton in 1975.
In the ‘70s, this venue was known as the Franklin Cinema, and was owned/operated by Clarence “Pete” Gall and his Malibu Inc. company, which also operated the Cinema Malibu in Hamilton (formerly the Linden), and most infamously, the Guild Cinema in Cincinnati.
Clarence “Pete” Gall became the owner of the theatre and gave it the name Cinema Malibu in 1968; his company name was Malibu Inc. Gall would be best known for his time running the Guild Cinema in Cincinnati, which, on his opening night of operation, was raided by the vice squad for playing Russ Mayer’s VIXEN.
It’s safe to say that the Guild’s lean to adult fare began in 1969, where they transitioned from R-rated art films and moveovers to straight up softcore. In the hierarchy of the active adult theatres in Cincinnati of the time, they would share higher-profile titles with Cinema X on Race St., while the Royal would effectively be second-run double features and the Imperial stressed their striptease performers more than the movies they played. Besides VIXEN, the Guild also opened PUTNEY SWOPE, Morrissey’s TRASH, and Art Napoleon’s THE ACTIVIST (ghost released by Universal under the “Regional Films” alias).
1972 saw some cracks in the fascade, interspersing a Charlie Chaplin compilation and the Black drama THE BUS IS COMING with the skin flicks. It looks like they went dark for a few months, and reopened in December of that year under a new owner, “Mark I Theatres,” and a new name, Midtown Cinema, and became a second-run double feature house. They even instituted super late night 2am shows on the weekend. More importantly, much like Black-attended theatres as the Regal and the State, they stopped listing showtimes in the Cincinnati papers and only occasionally put their name in display ads if joining a city-wide saturation run. They apparently dabbled back in adult films again, attempting to play DEEP THROAT in 1974 after it had already been shut down at the Alpha Fine Arts in Northside; they too had their run raided and ended early.
Some time before 1976, they entered a joint-operation agreement with the Alpha, and rebranded again as Eden Theatre. Looks like they still weren’t putting times in the papers, but reportedly they concentrated on exploitation fare like martial arts movies, and were only open on weekends.
In the ‘70s, the space was rebranded the “Video Theatre” and dabbled in countercultural programming. The original videotape version of Ken Shapiro’s THE GROOVE TUBE sketch program played there, followed by Ernest Pintoff’s “magazine” film DYNAMITE CHICKEN with Richard Pryor, and Emile de Antonio’s documentary MILLHOUSE.
According to an article in The Cincinnati Post about adult businesses published on June 22, 1973, this Cinema X location was closed on January 12, 1972, by the Common Pleas Court, and its assets auctioned by the county to pay off the fines.
In a story on adult businesses in The Cincinnati Post on June 22, 1973, it states that the Monte Vista had been shut down by a Common Pleas Court order on November 1, 1972. Sometime later in 1973, the theatre reopened and returned to second-run double features.
Looks like they reopened again in November 2022, and as of this post, are still operating.
Screen count is down to 2 though.
The Sandrigham was featured in Colin Eggleston’s infamous 1977 ‘white-coater’ FANTASM COMES AGAIN, in a sequence featuring Rainbeaux Smith.
Origionally owned and operated by Jack Goldman, grandfather to current Esquire theatre operator Gary Goldman. It was part of a five-screen black theatre circuit Jack had in Cincinnati, along with the Regal and the Roosevelt downtown, the Lincoln in the West End, and the Roxy in Lockland.
The plot thickens - in early 1975, it was known as the Studio Theatre and indeed listed at 120 N. State St.
This photo is a little misdirecting because the actual theatre building is not the brown complex at the corner, it’s the white-painted structure to the far right.
At some point, this building had served as a synagogue, with Hebrew text carved into its current facade. A banner hanging in front proclaims a business called “Truth Bar & Grill” Coming Soon, and looking it up shows documents drawn up in 2020, so it could be delayed by Covid or the venture aborted.
An organization called Bonekrushers National Pro Wrestling Tranining Center is listed next door at 6105 Vine Street, and passing by the location, it would appear they are using the theatre space at 6109 to train their students and present exhibition matches to the public. Their alumni apparently includes former TNA champ Abyss and WWE Diva Jillian Hall.
I was able to get a tour of the theatre from the people working on renovating it. Their plans are very ambitious, involving developing the lot next door for more arts-based activity and hosting. They’re still looking for funding, but they appear to be well organized so I think they can pull it off. Can we change the status to “renovating”?
By process of elimination, I believe this drive-in was featured in a pivotal scene in Umberto Lenzi’s 1989 kidnap thriller HITCHER IN THE DARK with Josie Bissett, which was shot around the Virginia Beach area. Amusingly enough, during the scene, the movie being screened is the Italian caveman comedy GRUNT, which to the best of my knowledge, never actually got a U.S. release.
Apparently, in 1974, it was then known as the Boondocks cinema.