Ohio Theatre
29 E. State Street,
Columbus,
OH
43215
29 E. State Street,
Columbus,
OH
43215
25 people
favorited this theater
Showing 51 - 75 of 77 comments
Does this theater have an organ and perhaps its original organ?
Sorry….Is there a photo of the Ohio Theater, in color, like the one you posted above?
Lost Memory: Is there a photo of the Ohio Theater like the one you posted above?
Interesting that Columbus Ohio would have 2 Lamb theatres.
recent photo:
View link
The Columbus Metropolitan Library’s online historical photo collection has many pictures of the Ohio Theatre, both inside and out. To find them all, enter
(ohio theater) OR (ohio theatre)
into the search box.
Ohio Theatre exterior, 1955
Ohio Theatre exterior photos from 1928, 1932, 1942, 1968, 1978
Eight photos of the interior
RKO Grand Cinerama and Loew’s Ohio, side by side, 1969 (photo described here)
Photos taken at the Ohio Theatre jubilee, 1978
Ginger Rogers motoring towards the Ohio Theatre jubilee, 1978
Patsy, this year’s summer movie schedule is now online. I hope you can attend one or more of these screenings.
Ron: Sorry. I didn’t see the name Jenny or thought it was Jerry.
You’re welcome (but I bet that Jenny is a Ms., not a Mr.)
Ron: Thanks for the tour website and I will give Mr. Snead a call.
Does anyone know when this theatre dropped “and United Artists” from its name and marquee? It was just “Loew’s Ohio” by the late 1960s.
http://www.capa.com/ohio/school_tours.htm , but these seem to be oriented mainly towards school groups, and might not be scheduled at all during the summer. But you should still try phoning or e-mailing Jenny Snead, the contact at the bottom of that page.
It would be nice if the theatre offered guided tours.
I meant only that you might not be able to visit the theatre unless you found a scheduled event to attend. (I could be wrong about this.)
Ron: I don’t need a reason other than my increasing interest in theatres and in particular either Lamb or Eberson theatres so I’m sure I’ll find myself in Columbus sooner than later to see this Lamb ‘gem’!
The Ohio is an absolute gem and you should find any reason at all to visit it. They have a summer film series every year, but I don’t see any announcement yet for 2005. Last year’s series is described at http://www.capa.com/movies/ and
http://www.capa.com/movies/schedule.html . Try checking these links again later this year.
TC: The link with photo is fantastic and I hope to find myself in the Columbus Ohio area this summer to have a look for myself!
sorry all, corrected link:
View link
nice interior picture:
View link
I found a small color picture of the Ohio here:
http://www.columbus-connections.com/links.htm
This is the theater which is pictured on the dust jacket of David Naylor’s 1981 book, “American Picture Palaces.” That’s a much better photograph than I’ve been able to find online. There’s another color picture, showing the organ screens, on page 96 of the book.
I saw “Annie” and Dawn Wells in “Chapter Two” in 1979 or 1980. I was also got a grand tour from the theater manager, who was gracious (and obviously very proud) to show me around. At the time there were gold leaf stars around the top of the stage they were in the process of restoring, and the ones they completed looked fantastic. They were wanting the auditorium to look it’s best because Lillian Gish was coming to give a lecture. Lillian was born only about 60 miles west of Columbus in Springfield.
It is truly one of the most magnificent theaters in this country. The details are truly breathtaking. I was struck by the stained glass around the central dome in the theater, the thick lush velvet curtains I remember in theaters in Hollywood, where I was raised, and the colored glass in the chandleliers in the lobby. Any details of these (or photos in color) would be appreciated. Can anyone post links to these?
Until it closed as a movie theater, this was called “Loew’s Ohio”, both on the sign outside and in all advertising.
This is one of the theaters that Radio City Music Hall is bringing their Christmas Spectacular for the first time ever! Other cities are St. Louis (Fox Theater), Denver (Buell), Boston (Wang), Buffalo (Shea’s) and Detroit (Fox Theater). Go to www.thegarden.com/xs_cities.html
When Loew’s abandoned the Ohio in 1969, the chain was very proud of its two brand-new suburban single-screen theaters: Loew’s Morse Road and Loew’s Arlington.
Today, both of those are closed, forgotten, and unlamented (and maybe even demolished), but the Ohio lives on gloriously.
A quick clarification of my comments below: After the advent of sound films in August, 1928, while the organist no longer accompanied the films along with the orchestra, he continued his featured solo appearances. These were repeated several times a day even after stage shows and the orchestra were discontinued in 1933. The organ solos were a very popular part of the program at the Ohio from 1928 to 1943.