Movie Palace

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.”