Cinema 4 Center
672 S. 5th Street,
St. Charles,
MO
63301
672 S. 5th Street,
St. Charles,
MO
63301
3 people
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A 8/28/1990 article in the St Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Wehrenberg closed this theatre in September of 1987, shortly after the St. Charles 10 Cine opened.
The ad notes it was the first FOUR-theatre complex. The first multi-plex in the market had opened in 1964.
June 26th, 1970 grand opening ad in photo section. It was the first multiplex in the St. Louis area.
The last movie I saw at Cinema 4 was The Great Mouse Detective. According to imdb.com, that movie was released in 1986. So that means I saw my last film at C4C about a year before it closed down for good. Sad to see the place go, but glad I have a good memory of my final movie there. Never forget that place…
BTW, the address provided for the venue has to be incorrect. It is listed as North Fifth Street, that is incorrect, it was on SOUTH Fifth, as the dividing line for N/S is First Capitol Drive and it was definitely south, as it was along I-70 south of Booneslick. A Walgreen’s is on the site now.
Okay, that was before the ex ran the place. I only can remember two, one being “Bud” and the other, IIRC his name was Jerry? He learned he was a distant relative to Howard Hughes and may have resigned to go through all that in the courts. I did live across the street from him for a short time in St. Charles in about 83.
Cholla, I was part of the Allen/Bill/John triumvirate in the 70’s.
Thanks, JAlex and Cholla, for the updates on C4C. Sad to hear it was getting run down in its final years, because I have so many memories of this place. So they went dollar show in ‘87…that would be during my last year of graduate school at University of Illinois. I was just too wiped out from graduate study to do anything when I was home. I still, however, think Cinema 4 Center would have made a better dollar show location than St. Andrews, if it were still standing, but since Wehrenberg ran it, they were bound to close it soon once the St. Charles 10 opened.
The architect was George Berg. Seating capacity was listed as 1200 with 2 auditoriums seating 350; the remaining two seating 250.
The venue became a dollar house in July 1987 when Wehrenberg opened the nearby St. Charles 10. Theatre held on briefly with this policy before closing August 30, 1987 with bills of Adventures in Baby Sitting, Spaceballs, Ernest Goes to Camp and Predator.
My ex wife managed the C4C in the early -mid 80s. It wasn’t a very nice place in its final years before being replaced by the Ct. Charles 10 (now 14). She also managed the St. Andrews for a short time.
I knew a couple of the projectionists at C4C. ex1431a your name wouldn’t happen to be “Bud”, would it?
Wow,What A Story,ex1431a.
I was one of the projectionists at C4C in the 70’s and I remember the flick “Earthquake” starring Charlton Heston that played. Prior to the run, Sensurrond equipment had to be installed which emitted low frequency sound waves which simulated earthquake vibrations as a special effect for the film. About two weeks into the run we heard this tremendous “bang” in the theatre and we shutdown the film, turned up the house lights and rushed into the theatre (I think it was #2). In the back row about two or three seats were totally destroyed from a falling cinderblock brick that fell. Thank goodness it was a matinee and the theatre was not filled. Someone could have been killed. Sensurrond did have a problem with this.
Yes, the shopping center was known as the Mark Twain…the theatre was not. Of interest may be that when a theatre was announced to be built in the shopping center, in 1967, the name was intended to be the Huck Finn.
Im assuming you guys realize that the Mark Twain refers to the name of Mark Twain Mall that the Cinema 4 Center was next to/in same lot of. That would probably explain the naming mixup.
I notice that we have never established when the Cinema 4 Center opened…it was on June 26, 1970.
Sunset Hills opened as a twin on Dec. 25, 1964.
The Esquire converted to a three-screen venue in late 1969 and early 1970. The theatre was closed in December 1969 and the main theatre (without the balcony) reopened on December 25, 1969. The two mini-theatres (the old balcony) opened on February 4, 1970.
As for the drive-ins, indeed, there were two multi-screen venues at the time the Cinema 4 Center opened…the St. Ann 4-Screen and the South Twin. Both of these opened as multi-screens, the St. Ann in June 1951 and the South Twin in November 1954.
JAlex, did Sunset Hills open as a twin or as a single-screen and then covert to a twin? And when did the Esquire go to 3 screens?
Not trying to start an argument…hey, if I got it wrong, I got it wrong (and so did Wehrenberg), but just curious.
Thanks for the info!
As well, the Esquire reconfigured itself into a 3-screen venue before Cinema 4 Center opened.
Cinema 4 Center was not the first multi-screen venue in the St. Louis area. Sunset Hills Cinemas I & II opened much earlier in 1964.
Demolition was in June 1994, according to this blurb:
http://tinyurl.com/yoaw94
As far as I know, Chris, it’s true…but a more accurate statement would be that Cinema 4 Center was the first multi-screen INDOOR theater in the St. Louis area. The St. Ann 4-Screen Drive-In was around long before Cinema 4 opened. Of course, I really wonder if this place really was the first multi-screen indoor in STL.
I thought I read (at Wehrenberg’s website I think) that this was the first multi-screen theatre in the St. Louis area. Is that true?
Although this theater was located in the Mark Twain Shopping Center, I don’t recall it ever being called Mark Twain Cinema 4. It’s name was always “Cinema 4 Center”. I also don’t recall it ever operating as a discount house, although I could be wrong on that. This was THE place to see movies in St. Charles during the 70s and early 80s. Went there many, many times.