Photo of the Month February 2024

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The landmark Cla-Zel Theatre in Bowling Green, OH was cleverly named for its owners, Clark Marion and Hazel (Keeler) Young, she the daughter of Gurdon and Edith Viola (Miner) Keeler. This vintage Cla-Zel poster dates to 1956 promoting Frank Sinatra's first western film Johnny Concho, with a run of only three days locally. The other four upcoming films were only shown for two days during the week – Odongo, He Laughed Last, Strange Intruder and 3 for Jamie Dawn.

In 1916, when the pair entered into marriage, the Bowling Green Daily Sentinel-Tribune noted that he was "proprietor of the Lyric theatre in this city and his many friends wish him and his wife much happiness." The Lyric in the early years showed one-and-two-reel silent films, accompanied by a pianist. The Youngs expanded the theatre business when they bought Everybody's Theatre and eventually the Chidester/Delmar Theatre, where stage shows were performed by touring road companies. After the Delmar was destroyed by fire, the Youngs in 1926 opened their newly built "Cla-Zel."

The theatre was said by a newspaper to be the "oldest continuously operating, first-run, single-screen moviehouse in Ohio" and a "study in acoustics and ambience." The Youngs actively operated both the Lyric and Cla-Zel until 1940. The Lyric eventually closed and was sold, but Clark and Hazel held onto their Cla-Zel ownership for another 20 years. The Cla-Zel was finally sold in 1960 to a longtime employee, Jack Armstrong, who had learned the business from the bottom-up, from janitoring to ushering to operating the equipment. He went on to buy a chain of 22 other theatres in Defiance, Fremont, Maumee, Napoleon, Portage and Toledo, and told the Sentinel-Tribune that with Cla-Zel he would "continue to operate on the same policies which it has maintained through the years." 

It closed in 2005 and was restored and re-opened in 2008 to its original grandeur. Today the Cla-Zel is utilized for weddings and receptions, corporate parties and non-profit fundraisers, featuring a spacious dance floor, two full-service bars, and seating/table space.

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Copyright © 2024 Mark A. Miner