Viers Mill Theater

August 3rd, 1950 grand opening ad in photo section

Wow you guys. I remember the monster double features, sticky floors, and someone mentioned the soda machine. No one mentioned the silver dollar prize between horror movies. I do remember the guy coming out on stage warning us about throwing food at the screen and that they were getting a new one. Memories

Just a side comment about unchaperoned kids:
We all grew up in a time when our moms threw us out of the house and told us not to come back till the streetlights came on!
The times were not simpler, or safer back then. Just the fear mongering kid-snatcher-on-every-corner reporting of the 24 hour news channels today. It saddens me to see such a societal regression where an ederly man in a park dare not help a child who’s fallen down for fear of being accused of attempted molestation .

Another Randolph Hills kid here! Spent a good portion of my 50s/60s youth at the Viers Mill Theater on Saturdays. Yes there was always a double feature, and if you walked in after the movie had started, you would just stay until it started again—I think that was allowable in most area theaters at the time. We would also go to Rexall and buy candy—Bonomo’s Turkish Taffy was a fave because it lasted a long time—remember the ad campaigns, urging you to slam it on a surface to crack it? The theater seat armrest was just perfect for doing so. I remember lots of Vincent Price movie double features being advertised, although we were usually there for kiddie fare: Disney films and other family fare—I remember seeing “Snow White Meets the 3 Stooges” there-yikes. Our parents would just drop us off, no adults in attendance, and I remember the place just teeming with nothing but kids whose parents had done the same—can you imagine that happening today? The floors were quite sticky. I also remember the soda machine in the lobby—it was the kind where the cup came down and then the soda & syrup came in two streams to fill it and magically stop at the right place. Of course, there were lots of times when the cup failed to appear and you watched your soda going down the drain.

In its heyday, Viers Mill was the only movie house from downtown Rockville to Downtown Silver Spring, an area crawling with thousands and thousands of little baby boomers, so it was THE place to be on a Saturday afternoon. I, too, was there when the manager came out onstage and told us that our parents would have to pay $50,000 for a new screen if we got caught pelting it with candy (or cups full of soda!). As newer theaters sprung up from Randolph Hills to Wheaton Plaza to Aspen Hill, Viers Mill was forced to go porno around 1968. I was working at Rodman’s when they took over in 1976, and by that time, the place was really gross. Rodman’s owners called an employees' meeting in the theater to explain their plans, and I can tell you nobody wanted to sit in those seats! I still have a mint condition National Bohemian can that we found during the demolition, inside a wall where some worker had entombed it during the original construction back in 1949. The stage became the pharmacy, and the old theater lobby now housed the optical department. The rest rooms were retained in their same location, but were updated for the employees. The marquee was kept for awhile and displayed store specials, until it caught fire a couple of times and had to be demolished. I believe the old poster frame shown in the photos was actually installed later for the drug store’s weekly ad, but it is possible that it was salvaged from an original location next to the box office. If you stand on the sales floor and look up, you can see perhaps the last remaining vestige of the original theater: the projection booth became the manager’s office, allowing them to watch for shoplifters using the same projection window through which such classics as Old Yeller and The Shaggy Dog once shone onto the silver screen (well, silver accented by orange Nehi and assorted colors of Jujubes!).

Here are then and now photos of the former Viers Mill Theatre. The interior has be completely gutted and nothing, save for an old poster frame,remains of the theatre.

I grew up in Glenmont and often walked to the Viers Mill theater to see Saturday afternoon matinees. They even had intermissions when local live acts performed.

It was a pretty raucous crowd and I recall the projectionist stopping the film a few times. One time kids were throwing popcorn boxes and other debris at the screen because the movie was boring. The manager came out and said our parents would have to pay $50,000 if the screen was damaged in any way. He got a lot jeers and profanity, but no one threw any more stuff at the screen that day. Just at each other.

We lived in Randolph Hills in the 50’s and I loved that theatre. Saw many Disney movies there. I remember the old woman who worked the concession stand there, and the dark tapestry carpet in the lobby.

We even went to mass there when St Jude’s got crowded. when we moved to English Manor (near Georgia Ave and Bel Pre) in 1960, my next door neighbor’s uncle was Sidney Lust (her mom’s brother), the owner of the Sidney Lust theatres. Good memories , simple times.

Would love to email others who grew up in the area.

I lived in Viers Mill Village from 1950 til 1955 when we moved to upstate NY. I remember as a little kid loving that marquee that would change from a happy to a sad face. I also remember going to Mass there while waiting for St. Catherine Laboure church to be built. I have lived in NY since 1955 but still have fond memories of Selfridge Rd.

I live just around the corner now. However at just 36 years of age I always remember Rodman’s being there, but my father said it was a theater before then. He said they showed soft core porn there. Can anyone back that up?

The Viers Mill Theater opened on 3rd August 1950 with the film “The Good Humour Man” starring Jack Carson.

The architect was Richard L. Parli and it was built as part of the Viers Mill Village Shopping Center. It had a seating capacity of 900.

It was operated throughout its existance by the Sidney Lust organisation.

After closing it was converted into a drugstore.