The Ohio Theatre is located at 3114 Lagrange St in the Toledo's Polish International Village of
Toledo, Ohio
Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, and according ...
. Built in 1921, it is Toledo's last operating neighborhood theatre. This three-story brick and stone masonry building comprises and features stadium seating, the original Mighty 90 carbon arc 35mm movie projectors, and the
Marr and Colton pipe organ originally installed in the razed Rivoli Theatre in downtown Toledo.
[http://www.theatreorgans.com/tatos/organ.htm 2011-07-24] The theatre has a spacious 40' by 60' thrust stage with a 10' by 20' orchestra platform. It was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
in 2006.
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Location
The Ohio Theatre is located in Toledo's Polish International Village on Lagrange Street, the center of Toledo's largest concentration of people of Polish ancestry for over 130 years. The Ohio Theatre is a tremendous neighborhood asset and historical treasure that contributes to the uniqueness of the Lagrange Street business district. For generations, the Ohio Theatre has been a source of entertainment for Toledo area residents — from vaudeville and silent films, to movies and weekly serials, and even performing arts.
History
The Ohio Theatre was built by the Lagrange Street Amusement Company, opening its doors on February 28, 1921, featuring the Douglas Fairbanks film, '' The Mark of Zorro''. Admission, including the War Tax, was 25 cents for adults and 15 cents for children. It was the largest neighborhood theatre in the country at the time.
It is best remembered as a movie house and remains Toledo's only historic operating neighborhood theatre. In 1929 Toledo had 41 indoor movie houses. While the country was experiencing the Great Depression, movie houses such as the Ohio Theatre offered quite an entertainment value. The Ohio Theatre still features the original deluxe red brick façade with Greek columns, a loading dock with overhead doors, the original wood seats with the original aisle lighting, the original side wall sconces and the original projection booth with a newsreel work bench. It has the same footprint as when it was built in 1921.
The Lagrange Street Amusement Company was dissolved by court order in 1923 and sold at public auction to Rosa Bialorucki, the only bidder and one of the five investors in the Lagrange Street Amusement Company. The Bialorucki family owned the theatre until 1974 when it was acquired by the Catholic Diocese of Toledo. It was sold to the Ohio Theatre, Inc., a non-profit management board in 2004, and sold again in 2009 to United North, formerly known as the Lagrange Development Corporation, a non-profit community development corporation.
Notable events
* 1928 the movie ''Louise and the Haunted House'' required crowd control with people standing in line from 1 to 9 pm on New Year's Day.
* 1950 Dale Evans
Dale Evans Rogers (born Frances Octavia Smith; October 31, 1912 – February 7, 2001) was an American actress, singer, and songwriter. She was the third wife of singing cowboy Roy Rogers.
Early life
Evans was born Frances Octavia Smith on ...
, Roy Rogers
Roy Rogers (born Leonard Franklin Slye; November 5, 1911 – July 6, 1998) was an American singer, actor, and television host. Following early work under his given name, first as co-founder of the Sons of the Pioneers and then acting, the rebra ...
and Trigger
Trigger may refer to:
Notable animals and people
;Mononym
* Trigger (horse), owned by cowboy star Roy Rogers
;Nickname
* Trigger Alpert (1916–2013), American jazz bassist
* "Trigger Mike" Coppola (1900–1966), American gangster
;Surname
* Bru ...
(Roy's horse) appeared at the Ohio Theatre.
* 1953 the twin billing of ''The Long, Long Trailer
''The Long, Long Trailer'' is a 1954 American Anscocolor road comedy film based on a novel of the same name written by Clinton Twiss in 1951 about a couple who buy a new travel trailer home and spend a year traveling across the United States.''V ...
'' starring Lucille Ball
Lucille Désirée Ball (August 6, 1911 – April 26, 1989) was an American actress, comedienne and producer. She was nominated for 13 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning five times, and was the recipient of several other accolades, such as the Golde ...
and Desi Arnaz
Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y de Acha III (March 2, 1917 – December 2, 1986) was a Cuban-born American actor, bandleader, and film and television producer. He played Ricky Ricardo on the American television sitcom '' I Love Lucy'', in which he c ...
and ''Cheaper by the Dozen
''Cheaper by the Dozen'' is a semi-autobiographical novel written by Frank Bunker Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey, published in 1948. The novel recounts the authors' childhood lives growing up in a household of 12 children. The bestsel ...
'' is the Ohio Theatre’s all-time biggest movie draw.
* 1960 the Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to:
*Democratic Party (United States)
Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to:
Active parties Africa
*Botswana Democratic Party
*Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea
*Gabonese Democratic Party
*Demo ...
rented the Ohio Theatre for John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...
's presidential campaign.
* The Toledo Area Theatre Organ Society has had their headquarters at the Ohio Theatre since 1977, and since 1985 has featured the former Rivoli Theatre's Marr and Colton theatre pipe organ.
* In the 1990s, the Ohio Theatre hired professional children's theatre groups to develop programs to allow area children to perform in one-act plays.
* The Ohio Theatre has hosted the Moscow Boys Choir, the Warsaw Wind Quartet, Neil Simon
Marvin Neil Simon (July 4, 1927 – August 26, 2018) was an American playwright, screenwriter and author. He wrote more than 30 plays and nearly the same number of movie screenplays, mostly film adaptations of his plays. He has received mo ...
's 'The Odd Couple Odd Couple may refer to:
Neil Simon play and its adaptations
* ''The Odd Couple'' (play), a 1965 stage play by Neil Simon
** ''The Odd Couple'' (film), a 1968 film based on the play
*** ''The Odd Couple'' (1970 TV series), a 1970–1975 televisi ...
' starring Jamie Farr
Jamie Farr (born Jameel Joseph Farah; July 1, 1934) is an American comedian and actor. He is best known for playing the cross-dressing Corporal turned Sergeant Maxwell Q. Klinger in the CBS television sitcom ''M*A*S*H''.
He was inducted to ...
and William Christopher
William Christopher (October 20, 1932 December 31, 2016) was an American actor and comedian, best known for playing Private Lester Hummel on '' Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.'' from 1965 to 1968 and Father John Mulcahy on the television series '' M*A*S ...
, Mickey Rooney and his wife Jan Chamberlin, and the infam
References
External links
{{National Register of Historic Places in Ohio
Tourist attractions in Toledo, Ohio
National Register of Historic Places in Lucas County, Ohio
Polish-American culture in Ohio
Culture of Toledo, Ohio
Buildings and structures in Toledo, Ohio
Theatres on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio
Cinemas and movie theaters in Ohio