The Dispatch wrote Studio 35: 70 years and still playing
Sunday, February 17, 2008
BY JIM SIEGEL
Studio 35 on Indianola Avenue is celebrating 70 years in operation tonight, far outlasting most locally owned neighborhood theaters KO’d by the corporate multiplexes that dominate the business today. The Clintonville landmark and the Drexel Grandview are the only single-screen theaters left in Columbus.
Not that it is easy. Studio 35 survived many lean years, including periods of severe disrepair and a few reincarnations, such as shifts to soft-core porn in the 1950s and art house films in the 1960s.
The rich history of the building was captured in a 33-minute documentary by Tim Baldwin, a central Ohio filmmaker and part-time employee at the theater. He asked nearly two dozen people, including former owner Frank Marzetti, to relive their memories of the theater, which opened as the Indianola on Feb. 17, 1938, with a showing of the comedy Stage Door.
Both films will be shown tonight during a special invitation-only anniversary celebration.
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