Coronet Theatre
King's Highway and White Horse Pike,
Audubon,
NJ
08106
King's Highway and White Horse Pike,
Audubon,
NJ
08106
1 person
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Milgram Theaters
Previous Names: New Century Theatre, Century Theatre
Nearby Theaters
The New Century Theatre opened on October 10, 1921, many vaudeville acts entertained on the stage, and later films were shown.
The theatre closed briefly in the 1960’s, and re-opened as the Coronet Theatre, showing first run movies on April 10, 1968. A local movie chain bought it, then closed it in 1979.
The Campbell family (owner’s of Capa’s costumes and theatrical supplies) purchased the buiding in 1979. Music acts like Rick Springfield and Dexy’s Midnight Runners played there.
The Campbells formed a professional theatre company, and a theatre school. Outstanding students were sometimes invited to perform in the professional productions. The theatre school was unusual, in that all phases of the school (dance, music, drama, art) participated in an original show at the end of the school year. The director and drama teacher was Richard Snee (who has gone on to produce the critically acclaimed children’s CD’s Mother Goose Rocks), his show “Musical Mother Goose” had its premiere at the Century Theatre.
As you might have guessed, I was one of those lucky students who experienced the magic of the Century Theatre. From 1980 to 1985.
The theatre was a beauty, 1,578 seats, a balcony, cavernous stage space, and a history that you could feel in the air.
The Campbells closed the theatre and the school in 1985. Sadly, the theatre became a storage space for Capa’s costumes. I drove by there last month, and found the theatre partially demolished; just the stage still standing amidst piles of rubble. It was demolished in 2003. I read later that a chain drugstore is being built there, and that they are renting the space.
Contributed by
Faith Barlow
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Recent comments (view all 25 comments)
Just goes to show the pea-brained mentality of the idiots we elect to represent us as a so-called government. These poor excuses for human beings allowed the building to be torn down to build an Eckards drug store. ( Keep in mind now there was already a CVS right across the street !!! ) The Eckards lasted less then a year before they abandond the site. So now instead of having a piece of American history they have a white elephany of a building that no one wants or needs. GREAT JOB CIY OFFICALS !!!! Hope you morons are never in charge of my city….
I can’t tell you how many times my mother and I drove by this theater on the way to Philly. This would be circa 1968 to 1977, so I believe the theater was still showing movies at that time. Here is one the of the Arcadia photos as discussed above:
http://tinyurl.com/2p2ju5
Everytime I pass the now empty Eckerd, I shake my head. I remember when Tina Turner, Dexy’s Midnight Runners, and Rick Springfield played the Century in the early 80s.
I loved this theatre. My aunt and uncle lived practically across the street from the Century. I recall in 1952 visiting them and watching the traveling lights on the theatre’s marquee advertising a Martin & Lewis feature. I saw “Tonka” starring Sal Mineo ar this theatre. They played many Disney films here as well as many of the campy AIP features of the late 50s. Coming attractions with “Tonka” included the “Brain from Planet Aros”. They also had “How to Make A Monster”, Teenage Caveman" and “The Spider” at
this theatre among many other teenage fav AIP
features. It was a fun theatre and well maintained
(at least in the late 50s).
I remember in the 1950’s going to the Century on a Saturday for .25 cents. Admission got you a feature film, usually John Wayne, and 25 cartoons. It was an adventure trying to sneak in through the side door and purchasing candy from Bulks Pharmacy next door and getting it past the Manager who lived on Princeton Road.
And now the drug store property has been vacant for a couple years. Good job, Audubon!
April 10th, 1968 grand opening ad as Coronet in photo section.
This opened as Century on October 10th, 1921
Century theatre in Audubon opening Thu, Oct 6, 1921 – 4 · Courier-Post (Camden, Camden, New Jersey, United States of America) · Newspapers.com
Once operated by Milgram Theaters.
7-23-26 Philadelphia Inquirer article about Audubon’s new history museum includes the following:
New Century Theater, founded in 1921, is no longer standing. The theater, renamed the Coronet in the ‘60s, was demolished in 2003. The space is currently being developed by a car wash company.
But the historical society managed to acquire many keepsakes to remember the theater’s past. They have a seat someone rescued before the building got knocked down, a part of the wall, bricks, faint blueprints, and a movie reel Jakubowski said he found on eBay. A 1931 vaudeville contract is propped against the seat.
Craig E. Burgess, 81, remembers when he could see a movie, a newsreel, a serial, and get candy, all for 10 cents at New Century Theater. When he found out the Audubon staple was going to be torn down, Burgess, who lived in the same house in Audubon for 73 years before moving to Collingswood, didn’t let the theater die without a last trip.
“I stood in front of the door and said, ‘You don’t get in here until I get in to get some photos and get some video. If you won’t do that for me, then I will stay here, and you’ll have to push me over into the rubble,’” Burgess said. “And they believed me. I got in.”