Ritz Theatre
111 E. Market,
Clearfield,
PA
16830
111 E. Market,
Clearfield,
PA
16830
1 person
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The building’s portion of what was to become the Ritz’s foyer was built in the 1890’s. The auditorium portion was built in 1926. The owner of the three storefront building wanted to build a movie theatre so his goal was achieved by knocking out the back wall of the middle store and adding the auditorium. Aesthetically, both buildings blend together harmoniously. If I hadn’t been told the Ritz’s structural history by its manager, I, like most observers, would have assumed the building was built as the Ritz theatre complex.
Today, the Ritz (twinned in the ‘70’s) seats a total of approximately 640. The twinning was done lengthwise down the middle but I’d swear one auditorium is larger than the other. The “larger” side seats 340 while the other side seats 300. The original wall fixtures were removed from the exterior wall of the smaller side and placed on dividing wall inside the larger auditorium. The Ritz was built without a balcony and I’d guess its original seating capacity at about 800 – 900. The auditorium’s several fluted floor to ceiling half pillars appear to be decorative rather than structural. An ugly dropped tiled ceiling covers what old pictures show to be a rather plain plastered ceiling.
Unfortunately, the Ritz, today is rather tired looking. One auditorium has seats from three time periods while the other displays two. The Ritz’s marquee is quite nice and I hope to return soon to see a movie.
The Ritz operates seven days per week with each auditorium screening (depending whether it’s considered peak season or not) between 7 and 16 showings. The Ritz is a first run house and its $5.00 admission charge makes it a bargain. The Ritz is owned by the person who owns the theatre (also twinned) in St. Mary’s, PA.
Contributed by
Richard Grows
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Recent comments (view all 17 comments)
Clearfield once had three theaters – The Ritz – The Lyric and The Roxy.
Does anyone happen to have any pictures of the Lyric and the Roxy?
My mother did her last broadcast from the stage of the Lyric to a full house.
There was a premiere at the Ritz on April 17, 1940. Other theaters advertised that day were the Lyric, Roxy, Dixie in Coalport and Rex in Curwensville.
Everything Ready For Big Premiere Tonight
Everything is in readiness for the presentation of the Hollywood Premiere and Clearfleld Follies at the Ritz Theatre tonight. Promptly at seven o'clock, the first car will arrive at the theatre entrance, where under batteries of flood and studio lights, the stars will be greeted and introduced to the theatre going throngs. Then the stars will be escorted to seats reserved for them in the audience until they are called to the stage to do their bit in the Follies.
There will be two complete shows with the stars arriving at 7, the stage show starting at 7:15 and the feature at 7:55. The second show will begin at 9:15. There will be a special matinee for children only at 4 o'clock and no children will be admitted for the evening
performance without their parents. The theatre will close at 6 o'clock to permit the staff of the theatre to make the theatre ready for the Premiere. The box-office will reopen at 6:45.
All the marvelous coiffures worn by the stars tonight will be the creations of the expert operators at the Prave Beauty Salon whose advertisement will be found in this issue. Due to an oversight the ad was not included in yesterday’s paper.
The Roxy building still stands on 3rd street. It was already closed when I moved to Clearfield in 1959, with only the framing of the marquee left. We could look into the lobby through dirty windows and see the snack bar with its' popcorn machine looking ready to go. The building was used by the Leitzinger Department Store for storage until they closed in the 90’s.
The Lyric Theater was almost across the street from the Roxy. It had a very short auditiorium but did have a balcony with steps going up each side of the lobby. It didn’t have a covered “outdoor lobby” as the Ritz used to have, but had the ticket box located right at the sidewalk. It was a much more intimate theater than the Ritz, as you sat close to the screen.
The Ritz seemed larger but without a balcony, its' seating may have been smaller. It seemed to be a long way from the back rows to the screen, especially on a kids' matinee with hundreds of screaming kids! Matinees were 25 cents and we went at least every week.
I was just a little girl when I lived in Clearfield … we moved when I was 10 so any teater was large to me. I do recall though that the Lyric had live stage shows as well as movies and I had the opportunity to see a couple of them as well as my Mother’s last radio broadcast which as I said was done from the stage of the Lyric.
The Lyric was set up for stage shows and had dressing rooms back stage.
I’m sorry to hear that Leitzingers closed because the station that Mother worked at did shows from their record department every Saturday morning.
We moved from Clearfield in 1950 so I’d probably not recognize the town now.
Here is a May 1950 ad from the Progress, a local paper:
http://tinyurl.com/yv85ls
This theatre has a great looking marquee though don’t like to read that it has been “twinned” which usually means separating/dividing off the balcony from the main auditorium.
The Ritz didn’t have a balcony. It just had the main floor which means that a wall now goes down the center isle and most likely seats were removed.
In a town of under 9000 that wouldn’t matter much though except for purests.
For a small town though the Ritz was a really nice theater as were the others that were there when I was a child.
Every Saturday afternoon I would either go to the Lyric or Ritz, and once the Roxy which was also a nice theater in it’s day.
For a small town like Clearfield to have 3 theaters was something special.
My cousin owned the Rex Theater in Curvinsville but I never saw it so if anyone has pictures of that theater I sure would like to see them.
Anyone know of any theatres for sale in Pa.
1988 Photo
Any new pics or info on this theatre!