Artifacts from former movie houses in Schuylkill County are being put on display in Pottsville in an exhibit that will showcase relics from a time long before digital cinema silenced the flicker of 35 millimeter projectors.
The grand opening for the exhibit, called “Schuylkill County Cinemas,” is set for March 2 at the Schuylkill County Historical Society, 305 N. Centre St. Opening night will feature a screening of a short film that references the city, the 19-minute Laurel and Hardy short, “Berth Marks (1929).” After that, the exhibit will be out in the society’s main hall for at least a month, Thomas Drogalis, the society’s executive director, said Monday.
“Movie theaters were once the cornerstones of our local communities, centers around which everyday life revolved. Attendance reached its peak in 1947, but after that, people who had once filled the theaters stayed home to watch television, and the downtown movie houses began disappearing,” Joann Chuba, Pottsville, a member of the society’s board of directors, said.
Chuba is spearheading an effort to collect as much information about Schuylkill County’s former movie houses, and Drogalis has been picking through the society’s archives and reaching out to local collectors, inviting them to display relics from the theaters that once dotted our communities.
On Monday, Chuba, the exhibit’s curator, and Drogalis had a few out in the society’s main hall.
Under glass were a few marquee letters which were used to spell out the names of the features that played at the Hippodrome Theater, which stood at 111 E. Market St., Pottsville. It was demolished in the 1950s, according to www.cinematreasures.org.
Down the hall next to the doorway to the society’s Schuylkill County Meeting House was the popcorn machine from the former Orpheum Theatre, which once stood at 126 W. Market St., Orwigsburg. Today the popcorn machine is owned by the Orwigsburg Historical Society.
There’s even a wall sconce from the former Capitol Theatre in Pottsville, which once stood at Centre and Race streets.
“And here’s a curtain holder from the Capitol,” Drogalis said.
The vintage curtain tie back and tassel was in the society’s archives, he said.
So far, the society has managed to collect more than 50 photographs as well as other artifacts. Chuba is also compiling a list of the county’s former movie theaters, a “Schuylkill Cinemas Index.”
“Some of this history is documented. Much is not. For some theaters, like the Capitol in Pottsville, you’ll find tons of information. For some, there’s none. When movies took off back in the day, some property owners who had store rooms opened movie theaters in them, then they closed,” Chuba said.
One former theater in Pottsville she’s trying to find more information on is the Columbia Theatorium.
“It was at 6 North Centre Street. It was open from 1908 to 1912. There were a lot of little theaters like that,” Chuba said.
“People were making money with moving pictures in Pottsville, and Athanos Speros had a room behind his Columbia Quick Lunch Restaurant which could quickly be converted into a make-shift theater. Business boomed and soon seating capacity was at 500. After a while, authorities felt it was a fire hazard and it was closed down,” according to an entry from the Schuylkill Cinemas Index Chuba is compiling.
People interested in showing or donating items related to Schuylkill County cinemas should contact the society, Chuba said.
Drogalis said he’s contacted officials from Saint Clair borough to talk about a former movie theater there that is slated for demolition, the Ritz.
That movie theater closed in the early 1980s and sat vacant for many years.
Saint Clair Borough Council will hold a special public meeting at 7 p.m. tonight to hire a demolition contractor for the project.
Drogalis wants to see if there are any relics left in the three-story blighted structure at 31 N. Second St.
The exhibition at the historical society in Pottsville is open to the public during the society’s business hours: 1:30 to 4 p.m. March 2, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. March 3, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. March 4 and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. March 5.
For more information, call the society at 570-622-7540.