Berwick Theatre
108 E. Front Street,
Berwick,
PA
18603
108 E. Front Street,
Berwick,
PA
18603
3 people
favorited this theater
I don’t know anything about the history of this theatre except that it is an old downtown theatre. It was operating as the Strand Theatre from at least 1941 thru to 1950 with a seating capacity of 800. It’s in good shape, medium sized, long and narrow, sloped floor, balcony, a few art deco architectural features, fun to go there and watch movies.
I brought my kid to see “Shark Boy and Lava Girl” in 3D. The place was full of kids. I felt like I was in a time warp. They should show “The Creature From The Black Lagoon” in 3D. I bet the Berwick crowd would appreciate it.——-Maybe someone who knows more about the history of this theatre could add something.
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Recent comments (view all 13 comments)
This is another photo of the Berwick Theater.
Another photo of the Berwick is here.
1979 photo of the Berwick Theatre.
View link
March 2009 news story about financial problems at the Berwick:
http://tinyurl.com/lbuwzy
The Berwick is listed in 1998 with 600 seats. Operator at that time was Vincent DiAugustine.
I don’t know much about the history of the theatre, but we recently purchased a home in Berwick and found 3 photo quality flyers advertising Shirley Temple in “Stowaway” for a continuous showing beginning New Year’s day, running through January 5th, 1937. So it was open at least by 1937. The front of the poster is a picture of Santa Claus with Shirley Temple’s face superimposed over his and says “Best wishes for happy holidays- Shirley Temple”
Thats a strange entrance way. I thought that was a store on the left side
The Strand/Berwick is located at the same address that was listed for the P.O.S.of A. Opera House in a 1905 city directory. This was a theater built in 1890 by the Patriotic Order Sons of America. The P.O.S. of A. Opera House, according to various editions of Julius Cahn’s guide, was a ground floor theater seating about 650. Unless the original building was destroyed, the Strand/Berwick Theatre must be the same house. The facade of the Berwick in the photos linked above does look fairly old, though it also looks rather plain for a theater built in 1890, so it might have been remodeled at some point.
During the 1910s, Berwick had houses called the Palace Theatre, mentioned in a book published in 1915, and the Lyric Theatre, mentioned in a 1913 magazine article as having been recently remodeled. I haven’t found any references to the Opera House later than 1908, so either the Palace or the Lyric (or both) might have been the Opera House renamed, and thus an aka for the Berwick, but I’ve been unable to connect either name with an address.
Renovations of Strand described in this 1969 trade article: Boxoffice
Good day ! My name is Aaron Daniels and I live in Northern Virginia. My grandfather was Joseph Lee. He owned the Strand in Berwick for a number of years. He also owned the drive-in located between Berwick and Bloomsberg, the theater on Bloomsberg itself and at least one additional theater in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. I believe he owned the Strand between approximately 1965 and 1971 when he became ill (he passed away in the summer of 1972). I also believe he “lost” the theater when 1.) he couldn’t get the first run movies from the distributors and 2.) he overextended himself financially with the big renovation hilighted in the box office article referenced above. His family ran theaters in Cinncinatti since the earliest days of film. I would love to know more about this or any other theater my grandfather was associated with, especially pictures.