Amusu Theatre

Joe Vogel on March 8, 2024 at 8:06 am

A letter published in the “Projection Department” column of Moving Picture World for October 25, 1913 says in part “Mr. Leslie K. Moore, Paulding, Ohio… says: I recently opened a new theater, ‘The Amusu,’ in a fireproof building, erected in accordance with the Ohio State Building Laws.”

The Amusu was the only theater listed at Paulding in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory, but a book called A Paulding Journal: 1870-1950 by Jeanne Bennett Calvert, which consists mostly of snippets from the local newspaper, mentions a couple of other theater names. An August, 1914 item mentions a Family Motion Picture Theatre, and a June, 1915 item mentions both the Amusu and a house called the Palace, which had just been taken over by the owner of the Amusu.

There was also a mention of the Amusu after 1916, but I cant find the exact year (Google Books has no full view of this book.) The only house other than the Grand listed in the 1926 FDY is called the Lincoln, and it was no longer listed by 1929. A March 17, 1917 Moving Picture World item notes a Paulding Theatre Company had plans and capital to build a new movie house there immediately, but I’ve found no later items about it. If it was built it could have ben the Lincoln, and if not then the Lincoln might have been the Amusu under a new name.