Cinema 7
Marsh Hill Road,
Orange,
CT
06477
Marsh Hill Road,
Orange,
CT
06477
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: National Amusements
Previous Names: Orange 1-2-3, Showcase 4, Cinema 1-2-3-4-5, Cinema 1-2-3-4-5-6, Cinema 1-2-3-4-5-6-7
Nearby Theaters
The eight-plex owned by National Amusements is across the street from this former theater.
This introduction was pieced together by regular posters, (myself), Roger Katz, Joe Masher, Wobbly, Hollywood and TommyR.
According to the Milford/Orange City Directory, the Orange 1-2-3 opened in 1966, then became 1-2-3-4-5 in 1975 and became Showcase, then six screens in 1980 and seven in 1983.
Opened with 3,000 seats total. This area wasn’t built up with stores or malls so this huge building was in the middle of nowhere and quite modern. It showed first-run movies.
In 1973/1974, one of the three was gutted into two, so it became Showcase 4. In the summer of 1974, they used a portion of the oversized lobby space into a fifth space, but it was too small.
When the theatre opened, its advertising stated you could park three 747s in the lobby alone. After there were five screens, two more were built behind the main complex. It was closed in mid-1994 and was soon demolished.
After it was torn down, the Bayer corporation built offices and a factory on the site and the new Showcase complex was built across Marsh Hill Road.
Contributed by
Dave Bonan
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Recent comments (view all 5 comments)
Drove by it Thursday heading on a trip to New York and just by my eye sight I was able to capture a picture of the old cinema entrance sign but, sadly the building was all gone wasn’t able to stop and look but, was neat that I was able to see the old sign.
Didn’t see this above, but the theater officially closed in mid-1994. Not 100% sure on the demolition date, but it was very soon after.
I don’t think these were ever General Cinema Theatres, but just designed by the same architect. The evolution of the complex here is similar to how many other Redstone/National Amusement “CINEMA I-II” evolved. (West Springfield, MA; Louisville, KY; Toledo, OH; to name a few)
Also – while not 100% reliable, this does not appear on an internal list of GCC locations that was posted to a General Cinema group on Facebook that appeared to contain all GCC locations since the 1950’s.
This venue’s 70mm presentations history is included in the recently-published article “70mm Presentations in New Haven: A Chronology of 70mm Large Format Exhibition, 1960-Present”.
The Bayer orange ct offices are now permanently closed. The replacement showcase cinemas complex is also permanently closed, which has its own page.