Underground Cinema 12 was a midnight movie screening series of underground films that ran in theaters owned by Louis Sher, who founded “the nation’s largest circuit of art houses” in 1954.
While Sher was the head of the Art Theatre Guild, Underground Cinema 12 was run by his nephew Mike Getz. The series began at the Cinema Theater in Hollywood, California on Columbus Day 1963; and when it proved to be a big hit there, Getz came up with the idea to run the series at all of his uncle’s theaters. A program would run on a Saturday night at one theater, then that theater would ship the films to the next theater, and so on.
The industry magazine Boxoffice profiled Louis Sher in their July 9, 1962 issue, over a year prior to the start of Underground Cinema 12. Sher came to cinema operations in his early forties as an outsider to the industry.
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While Sher was the head of the Art Theatre Guild, Underground Cinema 12 was run by his nephew Mike Getz. The series began at the Cinema Theater in Hollywood, California on Columbus Day 1963; and when it proved to be a big hit there, Getz came up with the idea to run the series at all of his uncle’s theaters. A program would run on a Saturday night at one theater, then that theater would ship the films to the next theater, and so on.
The industry magazine Boxoffice profiled Louis Sher in their July 9, 1962 issue, over a year prior to the start of Underground Cinema 12. Sher came to cinema operations in his early forties as an outsider to the industry.
