Mode Theatre

[Ricky_Berkey]

If you go inside the Montage furniture store downtown you can see remnants of the Mode theatre that were left behind as artifacts as the building has been remodeled. Along the sides of the walls you can see decorative paintings from the original theatre walls, all the way in the back of the store traces of the theatre are evident and up on the mezzanine display area you will suddenly realize you are in the theatre balcony. I had been in there at least once before but had never noticed. Its neat to discover little traces of the past that have survived.

[RER]

5 Cents 1940s Old 1950s Cup Candy 1950s

Mode 1951 Crump 1950s Rio 1951


As a very young guy in the 1940s the Rio was my normal place to go on Saturday mornings walking from Union Street down past the old Boys Club. Serial Western movies seemed to grab my interest.

Then in the 1950s it was always the Mode and Crump theaters that I went to on Friday night or Saturday, but seldom on Sunday. Some movies were taken in at the Columbus Drive-In theater starting at driving age. Sometimes I would go with friends, dates or just myself based on the year during the 1950s. I went to the Mode most of the time before I started dating the ladies I guess because of the places I like to visit along Washington Street before or after a movie. Later as a "teen bopper" it was mostly the Crump with a young lady. Many times several couples would go together and go to a kids hangouts after the movie like the Jive Kennel next to the Crump, Frisch's Big Boy on 25th Street, Bob-o-Link on highway 31, Pasquales on 25th, Becker's A & W 25th, and Zaharakos on Washington.

The Mode is left above 1st car

My Memories of Mode Terrain 1950s (in picture above):

301 Union Starch & Refining Company
301 ½ Irwin Building
305-7 Gamble's Inc. (auto accessories)
305 ½ Masonic Temple
309-11 J. C. Penney Co.
315 Mode Theater
321 Kitzinger Café
323 Kitzinger Bakery Company Inc.
325 The Fair Store (variety store)
327 F. W. Woolworth Co.
329 James K. Zaharako & Sons Confectionery
331 Stilwell Drug Store
331 ½ First National Bank Building

Some Movies I Remember:

High Noon 1952
Singing In The Rain 1952
The Robe 1953 ( First Cinema-Scope)
Rebel Without A Cause 1955
The King & I 1956
Bridge On The River Kwi 1957
Old Yeller 1957
South Pacific 1958
Ben-Hur 1959
Some Like It Hot 1959
And many more.........

Comment: The Robe was the first movie made and shown in the Mode with new tech called Cinema-Scope with a special lens to wear, and larger screen. Also, watched a couple 3-D movies at the Crump with special glasses. I never did care for those glasses.

[RER]

The Mode Theater Of The Past & Present
315 Washington Street
Columbus, Indiana

The theater is long gone but the building still stands today. The building space later became Colliers Shoes and is now Economy Sales and Distributing Company.

Here is a picture near today's looks and the other picture is from 1950 when it was still a theater.

Notice, the circles at the top and the long bar is still shown in both pictures. The long bar held the large sign spelling M O D E. The windows are the same design of the past.

The Mode Theater had a seating capacity of 715, and had a single screen.




Sources: Indiana Department of Natural Resources, by Governor Mitch Daniels web site. Also, the 1950s picture is from the Time/LIFE picture group.

[Rhonda]

Searching for some documents last week for a patron in the Columbus Indiana Architectural Archive (CIAA), I found that we have blueprints for the Mode Theater dating to 1936! Haven't had time to look at them yet, but I would imagine it will be interesting.

If you ever want to visit the Archive to look for any buildings in particular, please let me know.

[David Sechrest]

Rhonda, that is too cool! I will definitely be getting in touch with you at some point. I would love to see this, as well as get an overview of CIAA.

BTW, congratulations on the award and the editorial in yesterday's paper!

[Rhonda]

More info on the blueprints.......

Had a few minutes to look at Mode blueprints this past Thursday. We have blueprints for balcony plans dated August 24, 1937. We also have plans for the poster case. There are also multiple blueprints showing seating within the Mode, and it appears that it was configured differently for days of the week, and matinee times!