Chez Artiste

Colorado

A suburban Denver twin cinema was opened by a man who would later buy Twentieth Century-Fox and sell it to Rupert Murdoch.

culturehistoricalpeople

In November of 1972, a two-screen neighborhood theater opened beside a shopping center in southeast Denver. It was called the University Hills 2. The opening bill was Billy Jack and Fantasia. One of the two men running it was Marvin Davis. Davis went on to lead the family company that bought Twentieth Century-Fox in 1981, then sold the studio to Rupert Murdoch four years later. His time as a suburban theater operator was short. Highland Theatres bought the place in September of 1974. Commonwealth Theatres ran it after that, and in the eighties a storefront next door was converted into a third auditorium. Then in December of 1988, United Artists reopened it under a new name, the Chez Artiste, with a new lobby, new projection, and new sound. There was a champagne reception and a benefit screening of Pelle the Conqueror. From then on it showed foreign films, documentaries, and whatever the multiplexes down the road would not touch.

This is the first of 3 parts. The rest runs about 3 minutes and is read to you as you drive past. Hear the whole piece.

What this was written from
Davis later led the family company that bought Twentieth Century-Fox in 1981 and sold it to Rupert Murdoch in 1985.

Written from Wikipedia, used under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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