ASHLAND – On March 27, 1942, Schine’s Theatre on Center Street opened its doors to the public. The theater featured live entertainment along with movies and drew throngs of Ashlanders to the 1,500-seat venue.
Over the years, many changes were made to the interior of the theater, including dividing it into three separate movie theaters – two downstairs and one upstairs. Now, a group of area residents are working to restore the theater to its opening-day condition.
“It’s kind of a streamlined, art deco look inside,” said Bill Sample, vice president of the Ashland Schine’s Theatre Organization. “To restore is a lot different than a remodel or a renovation. When you restore, you have to try and save as much of the original as possible, and we’ll do that.
"What we can’t save, we’ll have it replicated so it looks exactly like it did in 1942."
The History
The theatre was built by the Schine family who owned a chain of movie theaters in New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio. Several are still in existence and have been restored, including one in Galion.
On opening night at what was known as The Ashland, standing-room only crowds watched two showings of “Rings on Her Fingers,” starring Henry Fonda and Gene Tierney. The cost was 10 cents for children younger than 12, 30 cents for matinees and 40 cents for evening performances for adults.
The building next to the theater was most recently home to RSVP, which was originally a laundromat.
“You come in and do your laundry. You watch a movie, you come back out, throw them in the dryer, watch another movie, and it’s done. That was pretty innovative for 1942,” Sample said.
In the early days of the theater, it continued to show movies in its single, 1,500-seat theater, but it also played home to live entertainment, including Buddy Ebsen who visited Ashland in 1943.
In 1966, the Schines sold the theater to the Nussbaum family, who continued to run the theater until it closed.
The theater was converted into a triplex in the mid-1970s and continued to show movies in the three theaters until Ashland Square Cinema closed its doors in 2011. According to the owner at the time, the cinema could no longer compete with the larger theaters and the growth of home entertainment.
The Present
From that point, the former Schine’s Theatre sat unused for four years until The Ashland Schine’s Theatre Organization purchased the building in July 2015 with the goal of having the restoration project completed by March 2019.
Sample said the timeline for completing the project depends on several factors, but the group is still hopeful it will be completed within the next several years.
“The shell of the building is in real good shape,” Sample said.
The major issue with the exterior of the building is water collecting on the roof and leaking inside the theater. Last year the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission awarded $300,000 for the restoration project, which will be used toward repairing the roof.
Sample said the roof project should be finished within 30 days after the state releases the funds.
“Once we get it weatherized, then we can go in and do a ton of demolition, further than what we have,” Sample said.
Behind the two screens downstairs lies a back room with the original stage which has served as a storage area for nearly 40 years. Sample said when the previous owner converted the theater into a triplex in the 1970s, he attempted to use the stage area as a fourth theater but was unable to due to building codes.
Many of the original ornamental lights and other items that had been removed have been stored in that area, which will allow the group to save money by not having to purchase new items.
To aid in their restoration efforts the organization was lucky enough to find one of the ushers who worked in the theater when it opened in 1942. The usher had taken several photos of the Schine’s Theatre on opening day and gave those pictures to the group.
Sample also found the original architect’s plans for the building when he was sorting through all the items left in the theater.
