The Elgin Theatre was a historic movie theatre located at the corner of Lisgar and Elgin Street in Ottawa, Ontario,

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. The 750 seat cinema opened in 1937, with the first film shown being ''

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.'' This is a famous American comedy about Hollywood, with parodies of many components of the film industry.https://ottawa-trend.com/uk/eternal-759-zabuti-kinoteatry-ottavy For several decades it was one of Ottawa's premier theatres, and in 1947 it was the location of the world premiere of

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's '' Sleep, My Love''. Owner Nat Taylor, of 20th Century Theatres, opened a second screen on an adjacent patch of land in December 1947. It earned the nickname of "Little Elgin". This makes Elgin the second such dual-screen theatres in Canada, a few months after the Hollywood Theatre in Toronto. In 1957, Taylor became frustrated of having to replace still-profitable films with new releases. For this reason, he put older releases on the second theatre while keeping new releases for the first one. This was the first time a choice was offered at a North American cinema box office, and Taylor is credited as the inventor of the multiplex. Taylor would go on to build ever larger multiplexes, and eventually form the Cineplex Odeon Corporation. The Elgin eventually became part of the

Famous Players Famous Players Limited Partnership, DBA Famous Players, is a Canadian-based subsidiary of Cineplex Entertainment. As an independent company, it existed as a film exhibitor and cable television service provider. Famous Players operated numerous m ...

cinema chain. In 1994 the company announced that it would be closed. The building was in disrepair, and ironically small downtown theatres were of little use in the era of megaplexes that the Elgin had launched. Despite community efforts and a petition signed by 3,500 to get the company to reconsider, the cinema was shuttered in November 1994. The final film shown in Theatre 1 was ''

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''. The final film shown in Theatre 2 was an adaptation of the novel ''

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''. There was considerable debate about what to do with the building. The

Great Canadian Theatre Company The Great Canadian Theatre Company (GCTC) is a professional theatre company based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It was established in 1975 by a group of professors and graduate students at Carleton University. Riding a wave of cultural nationalism, ...

expressed a desire to move into the location, but Ottawa City Council did not support this idea. Eventually the theatre was redeveloped into a cluster of restaurants. The theatre is closed and now accommodates multiple restaurants: *

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(previously Teriyaki Experience/Quiznos/Prince Shawarma) *

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(Previously

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) *

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References

*McQueen, Ann Marie.
City's role in film history secure
" ''

The Ottawa Sun The ''Ottawa Sun'' is a daily newspaper in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is published by Sun Media. It began publication in 1983 as the ''Ottawa Sunday Herald'', until it was acquired by (then) Toronto Sun Publishing Corporation in 1988. In Apri ...

'' Tue, June 28, 2005 *Tam, Pauline. "That's all, folks." ''

The Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as ''The Bytown Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris, it was renamed the ''Citizen'' in 1851. The newsp ...

.'' Nov 18, 1994. pg. B.3 *Darcy, Steve.
The Elgin Theatre
" ''Heritage Ottawa.'' Volume 22, No. 1, June/July 1995. {{coord, 45.418885, N, 75.691590, W, region:CA-ON_type:landmark, display=title Theatres in Ottawa Former cinemas in Canada Cinemas and movie theatres in Ontario

See also

References