MEDINA, Ohio – The popcorn was buttered, the laughs were genuine and no one got caught in the “kissy corner” when a group of people of a certain age gathered for a screening of the Medina Theater documentary at Cool Beans Cafe on Wednesday evening.
Most of the 60 people in attendance could rewind the reels in their heads to the many happy afternoons and evenings they spent watching movies at the city’s iconic movie house.
The theater, which served generations of Medina families from 1937 to 2002, was torn down this summer in conjunction with the demolition of the badly deteriorated Masonic Temple.
“This was one instance, this was one building, that we couldn’t save,” City Councilman-at-large Bill Lamb said in footage from the documentary.
“We started out thinking we were making a documentary about the building,” Lamb told the audience at the fund-raiser sponsored by the Medina Community Design Committee.
Sisters Kim Perkins, left, and Tammy Foore grew up in Medina and spent much of their childhood and teen years hanging out at the Medina Theater.Ann Norman, special to cleveland.com
“But the reason the theater building was really important was because of what was going on inside it,” he said.
Sisters Kim Perkins and Tammy Foore, who grew up on a farm in Medina in the 1960s and 1970s, said the theater looms large in their childhood memories.
“Our grandparents lived on Friendship Street, right around the corner from the movie theater. We would walk down there to see a movie when we were visiting on holidays,” Perkins said.
As they grew older, the theater was part of the social fabric of their lives.
“In junior high, we would go there to meet boys. There was a lot of necking in this one corner. If Mrs. Petrigala caught you there with her flashlight, you had to sit in the lobby,” Perkins said.
“Candy was a lot cheaper back then,” Foore said. “And the popcorn was 10 cents.”
They ticked off a list of movies they remembered seeing, including “Ben Hur,” “Jaws,” “The Exorcist” and “Murder on the Orient Express.”
“I didn’t like that last one. I fell asleep,” Foore said.
“We had a lot of fun in this town, a lot of happy memories,” Perkins said.
“We were so sad when the theater was torn down,” she said.
At 91, Macy Hallock, left, was probably one of the few people at Wednesday’s screening of the Medina Theater documentary to actually remember when the theater first opened in 1937. Hallock and his daughter, Debra Hallock, enjoyed front row seats in a set of theater chairs rescued from the demolition of the old theater.Ann Norman, special to cleveland.com
Lifetime Medina resident Debra Hallock said she remembers taking a field trip with her fourth-grade class to see “Ben Hur” at the theater.
“My first movie was ‘Bambi.’ Sad movie,” she said.
Her dad, Macy Hallock, one-upped her, noting that he went with his high school class to see “The Wizard of Oz.”
“That was quite something,” the 91-year-old said from his perch in one of three theater seats rescued from the rubble.
Ward 4 City Councilman Jim Shields, whose father, Charlie, ran the projector at the theater, bought the seats in a city auction and plans to donate them to the CDC, Lamb said.
Joan Weigel, whose parents, Steve and Mae Petrigala owned and operated the theater in its heyday, was also on hand, along with several generations of cousins, including Jayne Thompson, Leslie Coleman and Coleman’s young daughter, Rachel.
“I can’t tell you how much Mom and Dad loved living in Medina and loved all of you,” Weigel said.
“I recognize a lot of faces. You grew up in this theater. And I grew up in this theater – a long time before you,” she said.
Matthew Tomek, from MedinaTV, worked on the documentary project with Lamb.
“It was one of the first projects I worked on here. This community appreciates history. Hopefully, when you watch this, you’ll experience some nostalgic happiness,” Tomek said.
Added Lamb: “Where we come from, and how we used to live, matters.”
Copies of the DVD of the documentary are available for purchase for $20 at Cool Beans Cafe, 103 W. Liberty St. Proceeds will be used to help restore the second floor of the old Medina Fire Department engine house on the square.
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