Barry Theater
637 Penn Avenue,
Pittsburgh,
PA
15222
637 Penn Avenue,
Pittsburgh,
PA
15222
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Here is a 1915 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/lwf975
This site has a 1948 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/dh7ycn
An oddity of the Barry is that for several years after the theater was razed, its marquee lingered there, hanging over the sidewalk on Penn Avenue heralding what the property had become: the Barry (surface) parking lot.
It was as if a mansion has been razed but that no one removed the roof from the former front porch – a neat remnant.
The land is occupied now by a theater of a different sort – the O'Reilly thrust-stage theater, Pittsburgh Public Theatre’s present home.
Originally called the (New) Kenyon Opera House, it opened Dec. 23, 1912. It already had become the Pitt Theatre by the time it played “Birth of a Nation,” though not necessarily as part of the silent blockbuster’s initial release.
Later it became the Penn Avenue Theatre and then the Miles.
I believe it might have become the Barry in 1935. Estimates of capacity during this period range from 900-1,000 seats. It closed on or about June 1, 1951.
The Barry played almost exclusively first-run double bills of minor, hour-long movies from distributors such as Republic. Sample bills: “Loaded Pistols” with “Leather Gloves”; “Baby Face Morgan” and “Bad Men of Tombstone”; “Hold That Baby” and “Brothers in the Saddle.” Holdovers were extremely rare.
Notable exceptions: The Marx Brothers' “Love Happy” got a 12-day run as a single feature. And most notably, about a year after “The Red Shoes” had concluded a roadshow (reserved seat) engagement elsewhere, it moved to the Barry for a six-week run that did business far beyond the norm here.
According to Craig Morrison’s book “Theatres” for the Library of Congress, this theatre was built in 1910 and had a capacity of 1,636.