Search: Select Location Type:  

Studio 8 Theatre

Address: 21172 Greenfield
City: Oak Park State: MI Zip: Phone:  
County: Oakland
View on Mapquest   View on Google Maps   View on Microsoft Live    
Open: 1964 Closed: Capacity: 500    
Owner: Unknown
Web Address: N/A
Number of visits to this page since Sept 2013: 1766

8/31/2011 - John Lauter
I worked at the Studio 8 in 1976-77 as projectionist, the theatre had opened as an art house. There was a Studio theatre chain consisting of the Studio in Detroit, the Studio North in Ferndale (now KA the Magic Bag) the Studio 8 in Oak Park and the Studio 4 in Birmingham. The chain had long since disbanded by '76. The Studio 8 had shown porno in '74-75, and would again in '77 but when I started there it was known as the Ritz Studio 8 and was run by a family who owned a scrap metal business. They really tried to reclaim the theatre's image as a family theatre and ran good movies.

I ran Outlaw Josey Wales, My Name is Nobody, Lady sings the Blues and several other films. The Studio 8 was very nice inside,they tried to class it up inside beyond the usual draped auditoriums of the day with a half-timbered look to the auditorium. The booth was a dream to work, great Simplex XL machines and Carbon Arc lamps. We would assemble 6,000 ft.

reels there, so you would start the show and not have to make a changeover for one hour. The Scrap metal folks just closed the doors one day and I was owed $250 in wages (big money back then) and I went after them thru the State of Michigan labor relations board, but that didn't produce any results. The theatre re-opened as a porno house shortly after that closing, in the winter of 1977. Oak Park didn't like the theatre running porno and started inspecting the building for everything they could.

Studio 8 Theatre - FROM ROBERT MORROW
Studio 8 Theatre - FROM ROBERT MORROW
