LET’S HOPE SOMEBODY steps up to save the historic West Theatre in Cedartown. Its closing really has nothing to do with President Obama being re-elected, as the owners used as a cover story. The people who make movies, after all, were reported generally quite pleased by the election outcome.

It’s just hard to make a go of a small-town film house when competing with the cornucopia of entertainment options being delivered right into living rooms. Even middle-size towns like Rome have screens gone dark.

At best, someone interested more in making a go of a business opportunity and less about making a political statement will take it over. At the very least the future for the West should hold it being turned into a venue/center for live community theater as the DeSoto in Rome has been because just the building alone, like the DeSoto, is too valuable to allow to disappear.

The West is typically preceded by that “historic” and here’s why: When it opened in 1941 it was considered the finest example of the Art Deco style in Northwest Georgia and was the largest movie house in the area — bigger than the DeSoto. It has chandeliers in the lobby and 1950s-era movie posters on the walls. And, most recently, it was itself used as movie set in the filming of “Jayne Mansfield’s Car.” When that movie ever goes into general release (it has only been shown at film festivals thus far) guess it will not be showing in Cedartown.