State Theatre
212 Locust Street,
Harrisburg,
PA
17112
212 Locust Street,
Harrisburg,
PA
17112
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Showing 26 - 33 of 33 comments
Turning an old theater into a performing arts center, including showing movies, takes friends at city hall who in turn have friends in the corporate world. York had that with Mayor John Krout and Louis Appell of Susquehanna Pfaltzgraff (whose grandfather built the Strand.) That’s how the Strand-Capitol came to be. In 1973 Harrisburg was suffering through one its worst administrations in city hall. The next mayor, Steve Reed, like him or not, would have jumped through hoops to save the State. He tried to save the Colonial but it was too late. (Apparently he didn’t feel much affection for the Senate, however, if that axe story is accurate!) Downtown York was a ghost town and the Strand-Capitol helped turn it around. The State could have done the same thing for Harrisburg. I just think some things are worth saving and the State was one of them.
23 weeks for “MASH?” I stand corrected, Norelco. You should know. And I’m not surprised that with continuous shows, even that film played to an empty house occasionally. When I worked at the Eric as an usher, I remember that happening sometimes on Sunday afternoons, so it wasn’t just the downtown theaters.
Norrelco, you have an insider’s view of the State the rest of us can only dream of. What was it like upstairs?
People were not coming downtown anymore for movies so why would they come downtown for stupid performing arts?? They did the right,, If your not going to run movies in this beauty, then TEAR IT DOWN. I ran M.A.S.H. there for 23 weeks, not seventeen, The uptown in DC had the largest screen I ever saw on the East Coast. Besides people now adays would not knoe cuylture or performing arts if it jumped up andd bit them in the ass, I remeember running M.A.S.H. to empty seats, and they sent an usher up to tell me to shut it off towards the end, was one beautiful theatre but it’s time was done and so they mover on.. They have the Hershey Comunnity Theatre wich would be an excellent arts Theatre if they chose to use it, and they have parking….
PS: John S, reading your entry in detail I see you answered my Fabian query.
Thanks again.
I have a photo of the State which shows the large office building which housed it. It looks to be at least four stories with a facade of rectangular stone blocks. Paramount’s “War and Peace” is showing. The photo is dated Oct. 14, 1956. (I’ll post this on my blog soon).
I seem to recall at one point the State and the Colonial were Fabian theaters? I hope someone may add details concerning the earlier history of the State.
I also remember the State CinemaScope screen and the stereo sound system as being really impressive. It was probably the first time I (and many people) had heard stereophonic sound.
I think I saw “Journey to the Center of the Earth” there too. It was always disappointing when a big Fox ‘Scope film (like “Prince Valiant”) was booked into the Senate. The Senate also got “How to Marry A Millionaire,” the second 'Scope film released (though I’ve heard it was actually made first).
With this entry I think all of the five major downtown Harrisburg theaters are listed here.
I loved all of these and it’s too bad Harrisburg did not have the foresight to preserve some or all of them. (I was told the mayor allegedly took an ax to the beautiful mirrored Deco doors of the Senate. So much for “historic preservation”!)
I recall that York wisely turned the Strand/Capitol theaters into a performing arts center. They used to have a vintage film series on the weekend.
Ross – I should have mentioned this before – excellent write-up on the State! The address of the State Theater Building was 208-212 Locust Street. The building housed the theater, several adjacent businesses and a large number of offices. So large was this building that Harrisburg’s original Channel 27, WCMB-TV, had offices and studios there. (WCMB-TV was a Dumont affiliate and went dark in 1957, but the studios remained intact and unused until the building was demolished, I’m told.) The State was Harrisburg’s prestige theater. It played a lot of the usual stuff that Hollywood was releasing, but when important films came to town, they played the State, at least until the Eric and Trans Lux were built. Among the films I remember seeing at the State: “Thunderball,” “The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm” (not in Cinerama), “Planet of the Apes,” “Mutiny on the Bounty” (the Brando version), and “7th Voyage of Sinbad.” My first movie at the State was “Journey to the Center of the Earth.” I also saw “MASH” at the State, which had the longest downtown run in my memory, 17 weeks. I was told by someone that the State had the largest Cinemascope screen on the East Coast. I don’t know if that was true but it was really big.
Boxoffice of September 30, 1974, had the sad news: “The historic State Theatre in Harrisburg, purchased last October by the Pennsylvania Rural Electric Ass'n, now has been razed. The 50-year-old house was demolished to make way for a new office center.”
Flickr user pscf11 says this photo depicts the Lyceum in Harrisburg. The evidence cited is that a bar called Carley’s is now located in a building next door to the site of the Lyceum, and that building is seen in the photo. I’ve looked at a photo of the exterior of Carley’s on the bar’s web site (photo 14 of their slide show), and I don’t see a strong resemblance. The building could have been altered, of course, but until other evidence surfaces, I remain sceptical about the claim that the Lyceum in the photo is the one in Harrisburg. The address of Carley’s however, is 204 Locust Street, which means that the address of the State probably was 208 Locust, or very near it.
The Lyceum at Harrisburg is listed in the 1904 edition of Julius Cahn’s Official Theatrical Guide, which gives that house a seating capacity of 1,732.
John, your well-known accuracy is a little off on this one. The State was never a Loew’s or Fox property. It was constructed on the site of the Orpheum Theatre by the Wilmer and Vincent circuit in 1926, at a cost of one million dollars. Grand opening was April 12th, 1926. The State was co-owned with the Colonial, Victoria (demolished in 1945) and the Majestic (later called the Rio.) Ownership passed to Fabian Theatres in the 1950s and 60s. Fabian retained ownership of the building and leased both the State and Colonial to United Artists Theatres in the early 1970s. When the building was sold, UA’s lease was terminated. The last picture to grace the State’s huge screen was, sadly, X-rated. The theatre closed November 25th, 1973, and was demolished in August of 1974. The last film I saw there was “Deliverance.” Although a citizens group formed to save the State, the city wasn’t sympathetic toward historic preservation at the time. The idea was scuttled by a “consultant” who declared that the project was economically infeasible. The cost to renovate the State would be one and a half million dollars, he said, and the powers agreed that an old theater just wasn’t worth such a price tag. Idiots. What a complete exercise in stupidity and short-sightedness. What that theater would have brought to downtown would have paid for itself time and time again. A beautiful theater, even in it’s latter days, and a wonderful place to see a movie. I was there dozens of times and never thought it would end. I really miss the State.
AKA Loew’s State Theatre…212 Locust Street..Opened in 1930. Closed in 1969. Seating listed at 2,196. Operated by Loew’s, Wilmer & Vincent and Fox. Very nice write up Ross.