Fairmount Theatre
20601 Fairmount Boulevard,
Shaker Heights,
OH
44118
20601 Fairmount Boulevard,
Shaker Heights,
OH
44118
2 people
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The Fairmount’s big first run engagement was for THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK in ‘59 and then went back to 2nd runs before eventually closing.
This is actually in Shaker Heights, OH, not Cleveland itself.
My family owned the theatre from its opening to closing. I was only 4 when it closed but remember weekends there with my family eating free popcorn and the shaker heights police driving my dad to the bank with the deposits.my grandfather Henry was a partner with his family in community circuit theatres, which owned the rich,one, cedar Lee and later village square. TV and home airconditioners impacted many movie housed through the late 50s and 60s. It wasn’t until the 70s that multi screen venues began to open up. My dad wore a tux on Saturday nights to give an air of formality. It’s amazing how much I remember since I only got to spend about a year hanging out there but the memories are still fresh in my mind. A big impact on a 4 year old.
Listings in the Plain Dealer 1942-1961
I find it hard to believe the F. closed in ‘59 — B4 my Case graduation in '59 (after graduation I moved to the west coast)I went to the F. many times as it was a nice theater in a nice part of town which next to the downtown flicks was a good place for a date —in fact in '59 (or 58)I saw the Academy Award winning “Gigi” there.
The article in Box Office Magazine dated Sept.12,1942 stated that the Fairmount did not have a balcony but was built so a 300 seat balcony could be added later. It was never added. Newer theaters such as the Vogue, Richmond and Mayland built after the Fairmount, probably meant that the balcony was not needed since the 1600 seats were enough to accommodate the audiences. The Fairmount closed before these other theaters did. I wonder if a decrease in attendance caused its demise? They seemed to have large crowds on Saturday evenings in the mid and late 50’s.
Yes, that’s the Fairmount in the ad, with the wrong location in the caption. The two-page article about the Fairmount in Boxoffice of September 12, 1942, begins at this link. There’s another photo of the auditorium on the second page, showing the opposite wall from the one in the ad, but it’s a bit washed out.
The Fairmount Theatre actually opened in 1942, and was featured in a two-page spread in Boxoffice Magazine’s issue of September 12 that year. Architect George H. Burrows, also the designer of the Shaker and Telenews theaters in Cleveland, gave the Fairmount a Colonial exterior but used an Art Moderne style in the auditorium.
The Fairmount was featured in an ad for the American Seating Company’s Bodiform Theatre Chairs in the June 19, 1948 issue of Boxoffice Magazine. The caption to the photo of the auditorium identified the architect of the theater as George H. Burrows, of Cleveland.
Here is a pic of the marquee
www.maxxgen.org/fairmount/Image2.JPG
The Fairmount was a “very classy” nabe showing second run and some art house fare. The booth was (2) Motiograph AAA, Motiograph-Hall lamps, Motiograph/RCA sound, Motiograph/Altec Stereo. I remember they used a “very long” Zeiss Anamorphic Lens. The operators were Warren Covell and his son.