Studio theaters

The Studio Theater chain of 5 [[?) movie houses came up in a wine infused conversation the other night, and now I need sage Forum recollections of these locations. This is what I recall: Studio North was in Ferndale in the current Magic Bag location. Studio 8 was on Greenfield at 8 Mile in a shopping center east of Northland [[saw Hugh Heffner's production of Roman Polanski's adaptation of "Macbeth" there.) Then there was the Studio 4 up in Birmingham [[Five Easy Pieces, Fellini's "Amarcord," Terrence Malick's "Badlands.") and the Studio New Center, directly west of the Fisher Building [[Fellini's "Satyricon" and "King of Marvin Gardens.") Oh, and the Studio Theater, the original, which I never attended, and can't recall where it was located?

Back in the 60's and 70's these theaters exhibited a nurturing first run opportunity for foreign films and independent American fare. But memories fade and I will appreciate the better memories from DetroitYes folk.

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Originally Posted by Vitalis

... Oh, and the Studio Theater, the original, which I never attended, and can't recall where it was located?

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On Livernois, near Davison, IIRC.

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Originally Posted by Neilr

On Livernois, near Davison, IIRC.

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Correct. West side of Livernois, south of Davison.

These were great theaters. My folks and their friends went to the New Center one pretty often. I was in there a couple of times for movies a kid could actually see. It was on Third north of the Blvd. next to the Dittrich Furs building.

Studio North was formerly the Ferndale Theater. It showed the very popular "Harold and Maude" for about a year. I remember the lines on Woodward. Studio 4 was on Woodward [[aka Old Woodward) south of downtown Birmingham and was built such that the front of the theater looked like a big "4". If you look carefully you can still see the 4 on the side of the Roche Bobois furniture store that's there now. Studio 8 was in the Green-8 Center on Greenfield just north of 8 Mile, which is long gone.

The Studio Theater [[later Studio 1) was in this building on Livernois south of Davison. It was built as the Dox Theater in the 1930s, became the Studio in 1951, and was finally the adult Astro in the '70s.

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These theatres operated quite differently from regular theatres. I'd be curious to hear of any details from anyone who attended 'back in the day'.

Saw "Medium Cool" and "Closely Watched Trains" at the Studio North. They also ran a series of "independent" short films on Saturday nights at Midnight.

We saw Last Tango in Paris at the Studio New Center, Harold and Maude at the Studio North. I know there were more, we loved the different movies they offered. Medium Cool, Brewster McCloud, I will probably remember more.