Roosevelt Theatre
425 Central Avenue,
Cincinnati,
OH
45202
425 Central Avenue,
Cincinnati,
OH
45202
1 person
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Architects: Henry N. Hooper
Previous Names: Thoms' Hall, Thoms' Music Hall, Havlin's Theatre, Freeman Theatre, Star Theatre, Lyceum Theatre
Nearby Theaters
One of the city’s most long-standing entertainment addresses was ended when a jury set a value of $124,695 to Cincinnati’s Roosevelt Theatre in March of 1960 allowing the State Highway Department to raze the theatre for its expressway project which became Interstate 75.
The Roosevelt Theatre sat at 423-427 Central Avenue which also housed the Central Avenue Cafe. But the Roosevelt Theatre and its demolished predecessor together dated back to the late-1830’s when the Morris Chapel was built there.
J.C. Thomas bought the chapel turning it into Thoms' Hall later Thoms' Music Hall. In November 1883, it was sold to John H. Havlin who renamed it Havlin’s Theatre. In 1895, Havlin’s Theatre was sold and it became the Freeman Theatre. In 1896 under the new ownership of Hubert Heuck (known for Heuck’s Opera House) and James E. Fennessey, it became the Star Theatre. Heuck & Hennessey hired architect George Leslie Rapp who gave the Star Theatre a major makeover, including a new lobby. The theatre was renamed Lyceum Theatre, relaunching on December 24, 1899 with a live presentation of “McFaddens Row of Flats”.
On September 23, 1917, the Lyceum Theatre became an African-American theatre showing “The Smart Set”. The Lyceum Theatre joined the West End’s Pekin Theatre and Lincoln Theatre as well as the nearby Victoria (later Dixie) Theatre as leading African-American motion picture venues.
The Lyceum Theatre was under John Bruner’s management beginning in 1919. Three years later, cities around the nation reacted to the horrific January 28, 1922 Knickerbocker Theatre tragedy in Washinton, DC with its collapse and massive fatalities and injuries. Cincinnati inspectors notified property owner Mary S. Thomas and Bruner that they were shuttering the Lyceum Theatre effective February 12, 1922. The Lyceum Theatre was razed in October of that year and rebuilt by Frank F. Folk & Co. for a new building for Bruner, the Roosevelt Theatre opening in 1923. The architect of the theatre was Henry N. Hooper and the theatre would be owned by the Lincoln Amusement Circuit.
In addition to film, vaudeville and live jazz & blues were staples of the Roosevelt Theatre programs. Ethel Waters performed there on May 7, 1926. Louis Armstrong and his orchestra played there on November 16, 1931. Bettie Smith performed at the Roosevelt Theatre multiple times.
The theatre was improved several times. It converted to sound. In the 1950’s it converted to wide-screen to allow the playing of CinemaScope movies and it upgraded its sound system. But when plans to build two new Interstate highways and an urban renewal plan that included a convention center were drawn up, the plans would be drawn up right through the African-American retail and entertainment hot spots.
The Pekin Theatre was razed first followed by the Lincoln Theatre in 1957, as well as numerous, neighboring West End retailers, taverns and restaurants. The Roosevelt Theatre was in business throughout 1959. But as the West End neighborhood was vanishing around it and buildings were being razed in 1958, the sounds and vibrations of the demolition work took its toll on business.
Patrons hearing loud noises on one day panicked fearing the building was going to collapse. The panic was due in part to the theatre’s reputation. A February 20 roof collapse led to multiple lawsuits when about 60 of the 250 partons watching “A Girl in Every Port” were struck.
The highway project ultimately hurt the theatre’s daily operation and then damaged the valuation of the property. As noted above, a judge set a value just under $125,000 in March of 1960, allowing the State Highway Department to bulldoze the Roosevelt Theatre. The final showings at the theatre were Sal Mineo in “Six Bridge to Cross” & James Stewart in “Night Passage” and two cartoons.
The Roosevelt Theatre was demolished and the operator moved their operation to the Regal Theatre at 1201 Linn Street in 1960. The Regal Theatre and the Dixie Theatre were among the African-American theatres that soldiered on trying to do business with urban renewal plans taking place all around them.
By 1964, the proposed Cincinnati Convention project took out an African-American retail city block that demolished the 50-years old Dixie Theatre. The Regal Theatre would survive but - as had happened in the end of the Roosevelt Theatre’s run - the city’s Laurel-Richmond urban renewal redevelopment project caused a major shift as well as noise and traffic flow issues in the neighborhood. The owners of the Regal Theatre sued the city over lost revenue in that project in 1964. The Regal Theatre would go on to do business in the Blacksploitation era and still stands as of the 2020’s.
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Recent comments (view all 6 comments)
The Roosevelt was apparently still operating as late as 1957, when the August 10 issue of Boxoffice listed it as one of the theaters in the Cincinnati area playing “The Ten Commandments” in that movie’s first post-roadshow engagements.
The earliest mentions of the Roosevelt I can find are from various 1929 issues of Movie Age when it was among the theaters listed in a series of ads for Photophone sound equipment.
A January 17, 1953, Boxoffice roundup of the previous year’s events in Cincinnati reveals the likely opening year of the Roosevelt to have been 1922. It reports this among the events for March, 1952: “Improper nailing when the ceiling was installed thirty years ago was blamed for the collapse of the plaster-covered metal ceiling lath at the Roosevelt Theatre, which injured about 60 patrons, none seriously. Jack Goldman, owner, estimated damage at about $2,500.”
Jack Goldman is mentioned frequently in Boxoffice. He’s mentioned as the operator of the Roosevelt in 1937, at which time he took over the Lincoln Theatre. The June 29, 1940, issue refers to him as “…owner of the Lincoln, Roosevelt and Beecher, all colored houses in Cincinnati….” The October 27, 1945, issue says that Goldman’s son-in-law, Joseph Miller “…is handling the Jack Goldman chain of colored houses while Goldman is taking a rest following illness.”
The February 9, 1946, issue of Boxoffice has an item datelined Cincinnati which refers to Goldman as “…operator of four colored theatres here….” It doesn’t give the names of the theaters, but the July 9, 1949, issue says that “Jack Goldman, who operates the Roosevelt, Lincoln and Regal theatres here has taken over the Roxy at Lockland, Ohio.” Apparently by then he had closed or sold the Beecher.
A May 21, 1965, Boxoffice item names Goldman as the operator of the Regal Theatre in Cincinnati, and says that he had been in the theater business for 27 years. I’ve found no mentions of him after that.
Joe ,Probably by 1949 Mr. Goldman had also taken over The Metropolitn Th. of 1915(which he renamed (The State). It was just two blocks from his Regal Th.(which was built as (The Casino in 1913)adding it to his monopoly of black theaters. His son and grandson continued in the film business and that grandson Gary is still active in Movie operations in the Cincinnati area even to this late date.
The Roosevelt Th. was built upon the footprint of an earlier legitimate theatre called,“ The Lyceum”, which was sited at(427) Central Avenue.Today of course this site is part of Interstate 75.
The footprint of the Roosevelt had quite a few transformations in earlier days,firstly as a Methodist Church pre 1840’s called Morris Chapel,then converted to Thoms Music Hall,later as The Havlin Th. in the l883’s for a negrow audience, again Edward Hart ran it in 1900 as The Lyceum,and finally designed as The Roosevelt by Henry N. Hooper and built by the Frank W. Folz Company
The Havlin Th. was also called the Star at some point in its lifespan. Our Lyceum was condemed after a city inspection, conducted soon after a famous theater roof collapsed in Washington,D.C. caused by a vast snow accumulation.
That theater with the tragic roof collapse was the Knickerbocker Th. in Washington,D.C. in 1922 January 28th after a heavy snowstorm. 98 people were killed and over 100 were injured.