Murphy Theatre
50 W. Main Street,
Wilmington,
OH
45177
50 W. Main Street,
Wilmington,
OH
45177
3 people
favorited this theater
Related Websites
Murphy Theatre, Wilmington (Official)
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Chakeres Theaters Inc.
Firms: Dittoe, Fahnestock, & Ferber
Functions: Concerts, Live Performances
Phone Numbers:
Box Office:
937.382.3643
Nearby Theaters
No theaters found within 30 miles
The Murphy Theatre opened on July 24, 1918. By 1932 it was operated by Chakeres Theatres. It was closed as a movie theatre on May 15, 1988 with John Lone in “The Last Emperor”.
It had been purchased on March 31, 1988 by the Murphy Theatre for the Arts Inc.
Contributed by
Charles Burgess
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Recent comments (view all 20 comments)
Just saw the 1993 movie Lost in Yonkers on TV. Façade of the theater used prominently. For interior photos go to location shots for Lost in Yonkers. There are a couple of them.
Is the Murphy Theatre showing Motion Pictures, all I can find is live performances.
I happened to run across this 2015 re-cap of the 1930 film “The Widow From Chicago”. At the bottom there is a print ad for the film at the Murphy Theatre from the November 25, 1930 Wilmington Daily News-Journal.
https://immortalephemera.com/63905/the-widow-from-chicago-1930-alice-white/
The late actor,John Ritter of Three’s Company was married to his second wife at the Murphy.
The Wikipedia page for the Murphy Theatre has multiple photos including vintage interior images.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murphy_Theatre
Closed as a movie theatre on June 1st, 1988
Murphy Theatre stops showing movies 31 Mar 1988, Thu Wilmington News-Journal (Wilmington, Ohio) Newspapers.com
A history of Clinton County published in 1915 notes two movie theaters at Wilmington: The La Max, owned by Lacy and McCoy, and the Cub, owned by Frank Murphy. These were also the two houses listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. The Cub was located on West Main Street. Numerous mentions of the Murphy Theatre in trade publications of the 1920s refer to Frank Murphy as the manager of the house. As the 1988 article about the closing refers to “…the 70-year-old building….” it seems likely that the Murphy was the replacement for Mr. Murphy’s Cub Theatre, perhaps built on the same site. The earliest announcement I’ve found of Murphy’s intention to build a new theater appeared in Moving Picture World of May 6, 1916.
The Murphy actually closed as a movie theater on May 15, 1988 with “The Last Emperor”. The theater was then left abandoned throughout the rest of the month.
Opened with Douglas Fairbanks in “Say, Young Fellow” and Fatty Arbuckle in “Goodnight Nurse” along with an unnamed Paramount Burton Holmes Travelogue and Pathe News, which also showed the latest in World War I. The Murphy also has its own orchestra, with Charles Fischer playing the piano throughout its silent days, and Clyde Hall as the drummer in its first two years of operation.
Operated by Chakeres by 1929.