Beverly Theater

The Beverly turned art and repertory film in December of 1963 becoming the Beverly Art Theater launching with “An American in Paris.” Four years later, Mid-America Theaters rebranded this as the Fine Arts Theater on October 4, 1967 turning art house with “King of Hearts.” The venue also closed as the Fine Arts Theater almost 20 years later on May 31, 1986 with “April Fool’s Day.”

I went to the Fine Arts many times back in the 1970s. It did not run hardcore pornos, but the French soft cores that were so popular, particularly with couples—The Story of O and Emmanuelle were very big and it was extremely romantic to go on a Friday or Saturday date night. And everyone was dressed to the nines! The Last Tango in Paris ran here for over half-a-year, the first few months on an advanced ticket sale and reserved seat basis. That was the first X-rated film I saw and I still think it is a classic. They also ran lots of French films that were PG and R. I saw Day For Night, which won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, and Claude Lelouch’s And Now, My Love, which changed my life and inspired me to become a professional cameraman. Both of those were M or PG. It was a terrific cinema. I think of it very fondly.

October 6th, 1937 small grand opening ad in photo section.

If I remember correctly, “Last Tango in Paris” played at the Fine Arts. I used to work for Mid-America Theatres and would sometimes join a group of managers in the screening room at their main office at the Holiday Drive-in. While the films shown at the Fine Arts were x-rated, they were not hardcore. Every Friday, some executives would screen x-rated films for future bookings at the Fine Arts. As the films were screened, the projectionist would have to mark sections of the films that were too hardcore for St.Louis and he would cut them out. Every projectionist who worked the screening room had their own reel of hardcore clips cut from the movies and never put back after they film was shipped out. The theatre used to keep the house lights turned up during the films to discourage any public displays.

Architect Oliver W. Stiegemeyer was born in 1891, and by 1910 was listed as a draftsman, working for August F. Haeussler from 1909-1910 and then for Duggan and Huff from 1910-1912, the firm which designed the CLIMAX Theatre in Milwaukee and the CHEROKEE Theatre in St. Louis. From 1913 to 1931 he was a partner with a Mr. Kennerly and together they did a home at 3424 Longfellow in St. Louis, and the Deco/Moderne DuQuoin State Fairgrounds in Illinois. His final office address was at 4412 Lindell Boulevard, where he retired in 1942. Stiegemeyer died in 1985.

Oh, I see…so Mr. Halloway, the original owner, bequeathed (sp?) the theater to the Archdocese in his will. Of course, Mr. Halloway had no way of knowing what future owners of this theater were going to do. Makes sense now…thanks, JAlex! Was it the Archdiocese who eventually sold the theater?? I always thought there was no way the Archdiocese was going to approve of the films the Fine Arts was showing. Guess they couldn’t exercise the option to sell for whatever legal reason…

I totally agree with Chris about the infamous Fine Arts. I never went to or even drove past this theater, but based on the movie ads I read in the newspaper in the 70s, it wasn’t hard to figure out what kind of movies they were showing.

At some point, it was discovered either the building or the land for the Fine Arts was owned, at least in part, by…get this…the St. Louis Archdiocese!! That’s right, the Catholic church owned a porno movie house!! Granted, the Archdiocese was not involved in booking films or managing the theater, but that discovery created quite the buzz for a while! If anyone has any more information on that, please feel free to post…and correct if I got part of that wrong.

Based on the comments from Chris and the pic from American Classics, it seems the Fine Arts tried to go mainstream in its final years. As a single-screen dollar show in the mid-80s, that idea was destined to be short-lived. However, one personal observation: It seems to me that, once a theater went porno, it was very difficult to shed that reputation. The Plaza Drive-In in St. Charles is another example. It showed a lot of soft-core porn in the 70s, then tried to go more mainstream in its final years of operation, but it just didn’t work. Guess once you get the reputation of showing porno-type films, that reputation sticks with you and is very, very difficult to change. Granted, both the Fine Arts and the Plaza Drive-in were very old theaters that were well past their prime anyway, but I still believe people’s memories of the movies they used to show played a part in their eventual closing down for good.

Just my observation…feel free to comment…

Oh yeah, the notorious Fine Arts – Land of Porno! Ooooh-wee! Even as a kid, I know the titles on the marquee were skanky!

Went inside this place 1 time to see a $1 show of “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” after whoever owned it at the time ditched the porn. I felt nasty all over just being inside the joint!

From the business section in the 1/6/2005 St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

“The Asian market and restaurant corridor on Olive Boulevard in University City now stretches from Interstate 170 to North and South Road with the opening this week of Wei Hong Theater and Cultural Center in the old Beverly Theater. It includes a restaurant, bakery and banquet halls.”