JR Theatres was a chain of cinemas in the
Baltimore
Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...
metropolitan region. Now defunct, it was one of the largest movie theatre chains in Maryland between the 1950s and the 1980s. At its height, JF Theatres owned over 50 movie theatres, including all of the major cinemas in Baltimore, including the
Royal Theatre and what is now the
Charles Theatre.
History
JF Theatres was founded and owned by Jack Fruchtman Sr., an office manager and chief accountant at the
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
office of
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...
. Fruchtman was born on Manhattan's
Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Historically, it w ...
, the son of
Polish-Jewish
The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Jews, Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the long pe ...
immigrants. Fruchtman's wife Goluem K. Bragg and their son Jack Fruchtman, Jr. were also involved in the family business. Publicity for JF Theatres was managed by Herbert A. Schwartz. In 1956, Paramount chairman of the board
Adolph Zukor
Adolph Zukor (; ; January 7, 1873 – June 10, 1976) was a Hungarian-American film producer best known as one of the three founders of Paramount Pictures.Obituary ''Variety Obituaries, Variety'' (June 16, 1976), p. 76. He produced one of Ameri ...
selected Fruchtman's New Theater as one of the first cinemas to screen Cecil B. DeMille's ''
The Ten Commandments''. Following
white flight
The white flight, also known as white exodus, is the sudden or gradual large-scale migration of white people from areas becoming more racially or ethnoculturally diverse. Starting in the 1950s and 1960s, the terms became popular in the Racism ...
to the suburbs in the 1960s, movie attendance fell at JF Theatres. An avowed liberal, Fruchtman began to cater to
Black
Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...
audiences. During the 1960s and 1970s, Fruchtman helped make Baltimore a major market for
blaxploitation
In American cinema, Blaxploitation is the film subgenre of action movie derived from the exploitation film genre in the early 1970s, consequent to the combined cultural momentum of the black civil rights movement, the black power movement, ...
films.
The Royal Theatre in Baltimore, then owned by JF Theatres, was damaged during the
Baltimore riot of 1968
The Baltimore riot of 1968 was a period of civil unrest that lasted from April 6 to April 14, 1968, in Baltimore. The uprising included crowds filling the streets, burning and looting local businesses, and confronting the police and national gua ...
. Physical damage to facilities owned by JF Theatres was generally minimal. However, according to the film historian Robert Headley, the "psychic damage to the theater going public was terrible" and a wave of cinemas closed in the following decade.
Former JF Theatres facilities
*AMC Lexington Park 6,
Lexington Park, Maryland
Lexington Park is a census-designated place (CDP) in St. Mary's County, Maryland, United States, and the principal community of the Lexington Park, Maryland United States micropolitan area, Micropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 11,626 ...
*
Charles Theatre, Baltimore
*NextAct Cinema at the Pikes,
Pikesville, Maryland
Pikesville is a census-designated place (CDP) in Baltimore County, Maryland, Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. Pikesville is just northwest of the Baltimore city limits. It is the northwestern suburb closest to Baltimore.
The population ...
Demolished structures
*Avalon Theatre, Baltimore
*Columbia Palace 9,
Columbia, Maryland
Columbia is a planned community in Howard County, Maryland, United States, consisting of 10 self-contained villages. With a population of 104,681 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the second-most-populous community in Maryland ...
*Loews Northpoint Plaza 4, Baltimore
*Mayfair Theatre, Baltimore
*
Royal Theatre, Baltimore
*Sun Valley 6 of
Pasadena, Maryland
Pasadena is a census-designated place (CDP) in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, United States. The population was 24,287 at the 2010 census.
The areas of Lake Shore, Riviera Beach and Pasadena are collectively referred to as Pasadena by residen ...
*Tower Theatre, Baltimore
See also
*
Jews in American cinema
References
{{Reflist
African-American history in Baltimore
Cinemas and movie theaters in Maryland
Jews and Judaism in Baltimore
Movie theatre chains in the United States