Movie Palace

5589 Old Troy Pike,
Huber Heights, OH 45424

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Additional Info

Previously operated by: Jerry Lewis Cinemas

Functions: Retail

Previous Names: Jerry Lewis Cinema,Huber Heights Cinema,Huber Heights Flicker Palace

Nearby Theaters

Movie Palace

The Jerry Lewis Cinema located in the Imperial Heights Shopping Center was to be the first of several Jerry Lewis Cinemas in the Miami Valley. However, soon after the theatre’s opening, the franchise owner’s plan fell through and within two years the Jerry Lewis Cinema was a just memory.

The theatre then was known as Huber Heights Cinema. Barry Weaver who owned the Englewood Cinema (who still owns the property today) the DaBel and the Midtown Cinema 1 & 2 took over Huber Heights Cinema and renamed tthe theatre Huber Heights Flicker Palace. Weaver later sold the Huber Heights Flicker Palace to his manager who was a heck of a guy and his voice was known all around Huber Heights.

Sadly in 1995 as he was planning to triplex the Flicker Palace with blueprints in hand and money ready to go he opened the Dayton Daily News to read “DANBARRY CINEMAS TO BUILD 12 SCREEN DOLLAR SAVER”. The Flicker Palace was doomed, negations with Charlie Lofino who owns the shopping center to lower the rent was a no-go so on October 25, 1995 after a showing of “Apollo 13” the Flicker Palace was closed.

DanBarry would open in early-1996 and the Flicker Palace would follow in summer of 1996 as Movie Palace operated by Mark S. Ballard and his brother who also own Simco Refrigeration, Inc. just down the street from the Movie Palace. The Movie Palace would run the same movie often day and day with DanBarry and seemed to be doing okay. The Flicker Palace was a deal at $1,000 a month and fully equipped. However in December 1999 the Ballard Brothers had a lot of deals with Lofino and his many stores and shopping Centers that include Cub Foods and Save A Lot Food Store. That December Loews Cineplex did not want to renew the Beaver Valley Cinemas a six Cineplex just down the street from a new 20-plex Regal Cinema and a 7-plex closed National Amusement/Showcase Cinemas theatre-The Beavercreek 7.

Lofino did not want the Beaver Valley to be closed and ask the Ballard Brothers to run Beaver Valley until he could find someone to take over the cineplex. The Movie Palace suffered horribly. The one person who ran the Movie Palace was moved to Beaver Valley and kids from Beaver Creek were sent to Flicker. In the end all the money was Beaver Valley’s $8,000 month rent and as much as $12,000 in electric bill. The Movie Palace closed in January 2001 with “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” and Beaver Valley followed in April 2001.

The Movie Palace was gutted by March 2001 and only the marquee remains today.

Contributed by ReelMovieInfo

Recent comments (view all 13 comments)

reichspot
reichspot on July 20, 2005 at 12:43 am

I started working at the Flicker Palace the day after I turned 16— May 1978. I worked there on and off for the next 5 years. Never met anyone named Weaver. There was a Weaver cinema in Englewood and I remember briefly in Huber- but not at that time. Carol Austin is the one who renamed it the Flicker Palace after her husband foreclosed on it. She would bring a tiny dog with her every night and put it in a cage in the lower level office. She always wore a smock- and drove a Vega- despite her wealth. After the weekend movies started, she would go to a local restaurant one strip mall over and smoke and talk to people. She was there nearly every single night for a long time. (Come on guys— I was there. This isn’t a recounting from a newspaper.)

Although there were midnight movies before her, she brought them into their heyday. I remember seeing Motel Hell on New Years Eve at the party she threw us at the theater. She turned weekend midnight shows it into cult hit nights— A Boy and His Dog, Eraserhead, Tomatoes, Motel Hell, The Hills Have Eyes— and even the Rocky Horror Picture Show. But she searched everyone who came into the theater to make sure they didn’t bring anything to throw at the screen. (Screens are expensive.)

I still have a scar on my lower right inside arm from cleaning the popcorn popper (made with solid coconut fat and Savorol) and I still have the red, cap-sleeved t-shirt we were required to wear that says “Huber Heights Flicker Palace” on the left breast. I also remember that’s where I was when there was a local earthquake. It was a Sunday matinee and the large glass windows in the front of the theater wavered like paper. I can still name most the people who worked there at the same time and run into them occassionally. We were a small group and made sub-minimum wage.

englewoodcinema
englewoodcinema on July 20, 2005 at 5:22 pm

I am not sure when Weaver Cinemas took over the Flicker Palace but they did own it by 1984 before selling it to their manager in around 1992.

Weaver operated four theatres that I know of through the 1980’s. Huber Heights Flicker Palace, Englewood Cinema (they still own the building and shopping center it is housed in), The DaBel Cinema and Midtown Twin in Middletown. Brenda Baker who now owns Englewood Cinema was a general manager for the Weaver Cinemas chain.

I also now Huber Heights Flicker Palace name came after it was called first Jerry Lewis Cinema than Huber Heights Cinema.

I saw “Attack of Kiler Tamatoes” their for a midnight showing and Weaver Cinemas was operating it.

I did look up several newspaper ad yesterday from the early 80’s and infact it did read “Weaver Cinemas” Flicker Palace / Englewood.

DaBel at this time was still owned by Midstates Theatres.

FUN FACT
A lot of people think the Jerry Lewis was Huber Heights' first cinema … Not true! The Wayside North was opened in April 1962 by Charlie McCartney and is located on Brant Pike. It featured Disney cartoons on the lobby wall and the building still stands today. The Huber Heights Wayside played its final show in the fall of 1965. The building still stand today!

kirk0727
kirk0727 on August 16, 2005 at 6:15 pm

Working for Barry Weaver as the manager of the Flicker Palace then having a chance to buy it were some of the best years of my life. I really do appreciate the nice comments here on this site. Thank you all very much. Kirk Brackman, manager, 1990-1992; owner, 1992-1995.

knarf21
knarf21 on May 25, 2007 at 5:02 pm

I worked at the Flicker Palace for nearly 10 years. as Senior Projectionist and Ass. Mgr. I have pay check stubs signed by Carol Austin

tech1
tech1 on July 19, 2007 at 9:53 pm

I worked for a company that serviced the projection and sound equipment for the Flicker Palace during the early 80’s. Carol Austin was indeed the owner before Barry Weaver.

Movies2Night
Movies2Night on March 27, 2008 at 1:51 pm

Kirk who ran this theater from 1992 – 1995 was going to triplex it.
He had everything ready to do; however before work was to start Danbarry made news of them coming in 1996.

Kirk could not afford the current rent to stay open. The sad thing is he gave up on it before it closed.

He opened two failed Pizza Shops. One up the road from Flicker, which closed very fast. The other was Rudy’s named after his favorite movie at the time.

His time at the pizza shops left to mismanagement at the Flicker. Simco who took over the Flicker and renamed it Movie Palace were paying only $1,000 for rent.

And in the last seven months paid nothing, this is however mostly because they took over Beaver Valley 6 because the lease from Sony was up and the land lord wanted Beaver Valley to stay open.

But if Kirk would have had a rent deal like Simco for just $1,000 a month it may have been saved.

But Kirk had loyal patrons that may have stuck with Flicker even with Danbarry but when Kirk left it to go on to the pizza shops it was closed long before Apollo 13’s last credits rolled.

ZookieFreddie
ZookieFreddie on February 24, 2009 at 4:03 am

I would like to please add my comments. Back in the late 80s through the 90s, I was a single parent raising two kids. This was our most favorite theater and I knew Kirk well. He always spoke to us and made us feel welcomed. I distinctly remember the huge wall photo montage of all the movie stars very well. The kids and I went here just about every week through the time of the Danberry. This theater was on the RTA bus line and Danberry wasn’t. I remember it well and will always cherish the place.

reichspot
reichspot on July 23, 2013 at 2:23 pm

I was cleaning and found an article from when Carolee Austin reopened the theater. According to the article from the Dayton Daily News, Randolph Haun took ownership of the theater in May 1976 and opened the County Square Cinema in Englewood in 1977. Both theaters closed in 1978. Carolee Austin took over the theater and changed the name from the Huber Heights Cinema to the Huber Heights Flicker Palace. She also raised the prices to $2.50 for adults and $1.25 for children.

dallasmovietheaters
dallasmovietheaters on February 7, 2021 at 10:06 pm

George Gardner of Cinema Twenty launched what was to be the first of several Jerry Lewis Cinema locations in southern Ohio. It opened at the Imperial Shopping Center with its first film of “Airport” on September 13 1972. “The Poseidon Adventure” was the longest running film during the short run under the Jerry Lewis moniker. With the Jerry Lewis circuit going bankrupt and then defunct, the name was changed to the Huber Heights Cinema beginning May 10, 1974.

Randolph H. Haun took on the venue in February of 1976 running it as a family discount house closing it and the County Square Cinema in October of 1978. Carolee Austin took on the venue on November 3, 1978 as the Flicker Palace with “Hooper.” It ended on October 26, 1995 at end of lease with “Apollo 13.” It relaunched as the Huber Heights Movie Palace with a second run policy and “Independence Day” on October 18, 1996. It closed February 1, 2001 with “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.”

robboehm
robboehm on February 8, 2021 at 3:28 am

Current street view uploaded.

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