Carousel Cinemas
8000 Reading Road,
Cincinnati,
OH
45237
8000 Reading Road,
Cincinnati,
OH
45237
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November 23rd 1971 grand opening ad for the 2nd screen in the photo section.
October 29th, 1968 grand opening ad in photo section
Saw Close Encounters when it opened there. And Barry Lyndon.
My first inside theater I remember going to: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. I also saw Superman: The Movie and Animal House. In its later days, they had Hitchcock and Woody Allen film festivals.
Who remembers the exclusive showing of EARTHQUAKE in Sensurround? Waiting in the long lines in the lobby, we felt the vibrations all the way out to the candy counter!
I remembered my family went to see Alien in 79 The most terrifying experience i’ve had in a theater. It was great ! I also remember seeing Dick Tracy in 90 with a Trailer of Die Hard 2. In early 92 it was briefly turned into a second run theater, I remembered seeing The last boyscout there.
This had to have been the NUMBER ONE PLACE IN THE CITY TO SEE any 70mm FILM!!!! I remember seeing The Right Stuff here in 70MM and between the super clear image and superb 6 track sound it was the most ineradicable, film showings I had ever seen. I think what really added to it was the curved screen in the main house. Off hand does anyone know who wound up with the equipment that was in the booths before the theater was demolished?
Carousel was built in 1968,was twinned in 1970,later closed in Aug. 1999. Twas re-born as Carousel American Cinema on Jan.18,1991 being run by Misters Segal and Baum,but was finally finished for good in 1994.
Perhaps the motel operators had some sort of legal claim on their spelling of “carrousel,” and the theatre operators wanted to still try to piggyback on the perceived popularity of the motel, so they went to the single-r spelling.
The Carousel Theater was constructed after the Carrousel Motel. Architect was Tom Tilsley, who worked for the same firm that designed the motel.
Now, to the question…why was the theatre CAROUSEL and the motel CARROUSEL?
The actual zip code for 8000 Reading Road is 45237. Google maps will not find this address if you use 45202.
August 9 1974 NOW SHOWING at the CAROUSEL
“FOR PETE’S SAKE” and “BANK SHOT” both ratedPG.
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Carousel’s Theater address was 8000 Reading Road in Cincinnati,in a suburb known as Roselawn. Mid States Theatre Corp owned the venue until 1984,having constructed it in l968 as a single screen and twinning it in the 1970’s. The largest of the screens seated over 800 patrons.
Can anyone pin down a better address for this theatre? From Google Earth, I think I have it located at about 8036 Reading Road, but I can not be certain. Does anyone have the exact location?
I remember seeing the 70’s disaster film Earthquake here (in Sensurround of course). The place had a large lobby where the next audience could wait to enter the theater for the next showing. You could feel the rumbles in the lobby while you waited to go in. Nice childhood memory for me.
The Carousel was on Reading Road, across the street from a similarly named (but not co-owned) motel, the Carrousel Inn. It had a beautiful big room capable of running 70mm – I saw STAR TREK IV and other movies in there. I believe in the ‘70’s they built a second screen adjacent to the big room, making the complex a twin. In the smaller room I saw the '80’s revivals of VERTIGO and THE RESCUERS: there was a pretty girl named Wendy I had a crush on who worked there during that time. Alas, no romance blossomed. :(
Not too far from this location was another theatre that I have yet to see get a page at this site: the Valley. I only went there a few times as a child and have a hazy memory of it’s layout, but I suspect it was a single screen that was doubled in the ‘70’s. Any former Roselawn residents out there who can update?