Ravenna Theater

225 S. Chestnut Street,
Ravenna, OH 44266

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Additional Info

Previously operated by: Schine Circuit Inc.

Functions: Housing, Retail

Styles: Art Deco

Previous Names: New Ravenna Theater, Schine's Ravenna Theater

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Article Record Courier

The New Ravenna Theatre was opened in 1928. In December 1937, it was taken over as part of the Schine Circuit. It was closed in 1967. The auditorium was demolished in 1969, but the front part of the theatre remains, converted to retail had apartments.

Contributed by G H Jackson

Recent comments (view all 4 comments)

ravenna65
ravenna65 on February 27, 2006 at 9:22 pm

This theatre is not demolished. The building is still there and houses retail stores on the first floor and apartments on the second floor. The theatre was built in 1929 by the same company that built the Kent, OH theatre. The two buildings are very similar. It apparently closed as a theatre in the mid 60’s.

jvollmar
jvollmar on October 18, 2006 at 10:17 pm

Does anybody know if this was the lee theater at one time?

Don_Rankin_III
Don_Rankin_III on February 2, 2012 at 2:32 am

The Ravenna Theatre was built by a man whose name was variably related in newspapers and articles as Burl/Burle/Beryl (C.) Steel/Steele. The Ravenna Theatre opened in 1928, and it is neither totally demolished nor entirely standing. It closed in 1967 and the auditorium was razed in 1969. The upstairs apartments, streetside retail/office space and lobby (which was subsequently converted to additional retail & office space) remain, as does the projection booth atop the rear of what’s left of the building. The Ravenna Theatre (221 South Chestnut Street) was never Lee’s Theatre (North Meridian Street. (The Ohio Theatre (which once stood at 111 North Meridian Street in Ravenna) MAY have previously been Lee’s Theatre, as I haven’t yet found them to have operated concurrently.) The Ravenna Theatre was actually named “The New Ravenna Theatre” in its first several years of operation, perhaps until it’s purchase by the Schine Circuit. The December 11, 1937 issue of Box Office Magazine reported that earlier that week, Schine’s had announced that it had acquired “B.C. Steel’s” Kent and Ravenna Theatres, incorporating The Schine Kent Improvement Corp., The Schine Kent Theatre Corp., The Schine Ravenna Improvement Corp. and The Schine Ravenna Theatre Corp. The story added that “incorporators in all four transactions [were] Peter E. Klein, Roger Zucker and Marie Boehm, all of Cleveland” and that “Beryl Steele could not be reached for confirmation and details of the deal.” While under Schine ownership (at least into the 1950s,) “The Ravenna” was formally known as “Schine’s Ravenna Theatre.”

RSM3853
RSM3853 on November 5, 2015 at 4:05 pm

Movies that played at the Ravenna Theater in the mid-1960s. Research is from microfilms of the Ravenna-Kent Record Courier which I viewed at the ohio Historical Society in Columbus. The date listed is the Wednesday of the week. 07/01/64The Bridge on the River Kwai 07/08/64Hey There, It’s Yogi Bear – A Distant Trumpet/Dead Ringer 07/15/64Mail Order Bride/Advance to the Rear – The Chalk Garden 07/22/64The Three Lives of Thomasina 07/29/64Flipper’s New Adventure/Gladiators 7 – From Russia, with Love 08/05/64Viva Las Vegas 08/12/64What a Way to Go! 08/19/64How the West Was Won 08/26/64The Unsinkable Molly Brown 09/02/64The Moon-Spinners 09/09/64Robin and the Seven Hoods 09/16/64The Carpetbaggers 09/23/64Good Neighbor Sam 09/30/64A Hard Day’s Night 10/07/64The New Interns/The Long Ships 10/14/64The Night of the Iguana 10/21/64A Shot in the Dark 10/28/64The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao/Rhino! 11/04/64The Caddy/You’re Never Too Young 11/11/64I’d Rather Be Rich/Bedtime Story 11/18/64The World of Henry Orient/633 Squadron 11/25/64Bikini Beach/The Young Racers 12/02/64The Masque of the Red Death/Black Sabbath 12/09/64The Fall of the Roman Empire 12/16/64The Secret Invasion/Ensign Pulver – Comedy of Terrors/X-The Man with X-Ray Eyes 12/23/64So Dear to My Heart – Roustabout 12/30/64The First Men in the Moon/Ride the Wild Surf 01/06/65Roustabout 01/13/65Send Me No Flowers 01/20/65Beach Party/Muscle Beach Party 01/27/65Emil and the Detectives/The Golden Horseshoe Revue 02/03/65The Disorderly Orderly 02/10/65Sex and the Single Girl 02/17/65Invitation to a Gunfighter/Topkapi 02/24/65The Americanization of Emily 03/03/65Father Goose 03/10/65Goodbye, Charlie 03/17/65Two on a Guillotine/Hercules and the Captive Women 03/24/65Pajama Party/Summer Holiday 03/31/65Becket 04/07/65Strange Bedfellows 04/14/65Those Calloways 04/21/65Goldfinger 04/28/65How to Murder Your Wife 05/05/65DARK-VACATION 05/12/65DARK-VACATION 05/19/65Your Cheatin' Heart/Honeymoon Hotel 05/26/65Peyton Place/Return to Peyton Place 06/02/65Hush, Hush…Sweet Charlotte/The Earth Dies Screaming 06/09/65Beach Blanket Bingo/Operation SNAFU 06/16/65Cheyenne Autumn – Major Dundee 06/23/65Dr. No/From Russia, with Love 06/30/65The Truth About Spring/The Lively Set – Circus World 07/07/65The Satan Bug/Ferry Cross the Mersey – The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders 07/14/65The Train – Masquerade/Mister Moses 07/21/65Mary Poppins 07/28/65Genghis Khan/World Without Sun – Joy in the Morning/The Rounders 08/04/65Cinderella/The Tattooed Police Horse 08/11/65Girl Happy – Mirage/Quick, Before It Melts 08/18/65Von Ryan’s Express – Up From the Beach/A High Wind in Jamaica 08/25/65The Yellow Rolls-Royce – The Sandpiper 09/01/65Cat Ballou 09/08/65What’s New, Pussycat? 09/15/65The Sons of Katie Elder 09/22/65The Monkey’s Uncle/The Country Coyote Goes Hollywood 09/29/65Shenandoah 10/06/65Help! 10/13/65In Harm’s Way 10/20/65She/Hercules, Samson, and Ulysses 10/27/65 Operation Crossbow 11/03/65Billie/The Glory Guys 11/10/65Lord Jim 11/17/65Living it Up/Pardners 11/24/65The T-A-M-I Show/The Checkered Flag 12/01/65Old Yeller/Flash, the Teenage Otter 12/08/65Marriage on the Rocks 12/15/65Morituri/Surf Party – The Nanny/The Reward 12/22/65Help/Billie – Red Line 7000/The Town Tamer 12/29/65Harum Scarum 01/05/66The War Lord 01/12/66Once a Thief/Zebra in the Kitchen 01/19/66The Ipcress File 01/26/66Blue Hawaii/Fun in Acapulco 02/02/66Sands of the Kalahari/Beach Ball 02/09/66Never Too Late 02/16/66The Cincinnati Kid 02/23/66That Darn Cat 03/02/66Do Not Disturb 03/09/66Boeing Boeing 03/16/66Thunderball 03/23/66Sergeant Deadhead/Samson and the Slave Queen 03/30/66The Hallelujah Trail 04/06/66When the Boys Meet the Girls 04/13/66Our Man Flint 04/20/66The Heroes of Telemark 04/27/66The Ugly Dachshund 05/04/66DARK-VACATION 05/11/66DARK-VACATION 05/18/66The Spy with My Face/To Trap a Spy 05/25/66The Silencers 06/01/66Agent for H.A.R.M./Wild Wild Winter 06/08/66Bambi 06/15/66The Ghost and Mr. Chicken/Love and Kisses 06/22/66The Rare Breed/Pinocchio/The Samll One in Outer Space 06/29/66Frankie and Johnny 07/06/66A Patch of Blue 07/13/66The Ten Commandments 07/20/66Paradise, Hawaiian Style 07/27/66The Trouble with Angels

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