Varsity Theater
6610 Delmar Boulevard,
St. Louis,
MO
63130
6610 Delmar Boulevard,
St. Louis,
MO
63130
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Louis K. Ansell Interests incorporated as U-City Theatres Corporation in 1935 with the purpose of converting a terra cotta retail building at 6215-6217 into the U-City Theater to the plans of Bruce F. Barnes. That project foundered and they tried again here at 6608-6612 Delmar again with plans by Bruce F. Barnes and with a new name, The Varsity. The theater would be the company’s third along with the acquired Ritz and Empress.
The Varsity Theater launched here on a 15-year lease opening December 5, 1935 with “Broadway Melody of 1936.” Final operators Grace Viviano Piccione and Peter Piccione operated the venue from 1960 until January 3, 1988 closing appropriately with “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” a film that first played the Varsity in 1976 before playing every weekend from May 1978 to its 1988 closure. The space was almost immediately converted to a short-lived Medicare-Glaser Drug Store (picture in photos) followed by the Vintage Vinyl record store.
Remember seeing Rocky Horror Picture Show on its initial release, with four other people in the audience, then another score of times at the midnight shows c. 1977-1978
Nice 70’s marquee shot. I’d kill to see an “Andy Warhol’s FRANKENSTEIN 3D” marquee shot!
Are there any pictures of the Varsity’s interior lurking around?
A picture of the Varsity including the marquee can be found at View link
The only thing missing from that beautiful picture are side shots of the marquee (where the titles of the films showing that week were placed).
PharMor simply remodeled the old Varsity Theater; they didn’t replace the building—though they might as well have. I worked at Vintage Vinyl for a while and always wished that the drugstore had never intervened; the record store would have had a much cooler vibe if it had been converted directly from movie-theater use. PharMor totally gutted the place.
The above photo link does not go to a picture of Vintage Vinyl OR to the Varsity.
I thought the Varsity had been torn down in the 1980’s, and that on its site a new building, originally a drugstore—like PharMor or something—had been built. The way I remember it, that store went out of business and Vintage Vinyl is operating in that building, not the old theatre.
The Varsity opened on Dec. 5, 1935 and was originally operated by the Ansell Brothers, who also operated the Ritz and Empress Theatres.
The architect was Bruce F. Barnes.
The facility was a conversion of a l-story automobile repair garage.
I had a record store called Wuxtry just down the street (later bought by Vintage Vinyl). We closede at midnight on the weekends and it was always good to be able to go to a late show at the Varsity or maybe the Tivoli. The Varsity was the only theater in town with the silver screen necessary to project 3-D movies. Because of this, I finally got to see “The Bubble” in 3-D, which my parents wouldn’t let me see as a kid. They also had two 3-D “Three Stooges” films. The above-mentioned “Frankenstein” in 3-D at the Varsity was probably the greatest cinema experience of my life (until 3-D Imax).
Does anyone know what happened to Pete and Nancy Piccione that ran the Varsity Theatre for a number of years. I was involved in independent as well as major distribution and I moved around and lost track of them. Any information would be appreciated——Thanks
Bill Rice
This theatre will forever be etched in my memory as a cool place to visit. Very popular with the Washington University college crowd, it featured a few avant-garde type flicks mixed in with mainstream Hollywood fare. I remember them showing double features all the time during the 70’s. It’s 3 biggest claims to St. Louis fame are their yearly “Three Stooges” marathons, the ever popular midnight Rocky Horror Picture Show (they showed the trailer with every film that they showed!), and the even more notorious yearly run of “Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein” (X Rated and in 3-D!!!).