Majestic Theater

Joe Vogel on February 19, 2014 at 1:50 pm

This page has a late photo of the Majestic Theatre. Judging from the cars it was taken in the late 1940s or early 1950s. The Majestic had no attraction board on its marquee, and the posters in the cases are too small to read.

The Majestic Theatre was built in 1907. The March 23 issue of the Chicago finance and real estate journal The Economist ran this item about the project:

“Marshall & Fox are completing plans for the Majestic theater which Boyle & Holzman will build at Johnstown, Pa. It will be two stories high, 64x150, and on the roof there will be a garden. It will have a seating capacity of 1,200 and will cost $75,000.”>

Marshall & Fox designed Johnstown’s most splendid theater in the Beaux Arts style, but perched atop it a pergola for the Majestic’s roof garden. This feature is displayed in two early postcard photos of the house at JohnstownCafe (scroll down to reach the thumbnails near the bottom of the page.)

The Majestic was listed in the 1908-1909 edition of the Cahn guide as a ground floor house with 605 orchestra seats, 367 in the balcony, and a gallery accommodating 450. It had a good sized stage (40x62 feet) capable of accommodating all but the most elaborate traveling productions. However, the 1913-1914 Cahn guide said that the house was playing vaudeville exclusively.

SethG on August 20, 2021 at 8:34 am

Movie in Joe’s photo is ‘The Man With My Face’ so it was taken in 1951.