Manos Theatre
415 East Lawrence Avenue,
Ellwood City,
PA
16117
415 East Lawrence Avenue,
Ellwood City,
PA
16117
No one has favorited this theater yet
The Liberty Theatre dates back to at least 1930. By 1935 the name had been changed to the Manos Theatre. The Manos Theatre is still listed in 1955 with 1,047 seats.
Contributed by
Lost Memory
Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater
Recent comments (view all 8 comments)
Here is a March 1933 coupon/ad for the Liberty Theater.
Mike Manos opened the Manos Theatre in Ellwood City in 1934, according to the “Ten Years Ago” feature in Boxoffice of September 16, 1944.
The May 21, 1949, issue of Boxoffice revealed that the Manos Theatre had reopened after a $70,000 remodeling. The May 28 issue gave the exact date of the reopening as May 5.
If Boxoffice is accurate, then the Liberty was a different theater. The strange thing is, the Liberty had 972 seats in 1930 and is no longer listed in 1935. The Manos appears in 1935 with 970 seats. Coincidence? I read on some website that the Liberty became the Manos but I didn’t bookmark it.
This site which is the same site that you linked to on the Majestic page, claims that: “Liberty Theater (also known as the Manos Theater)”. It’s on the right hand side of the page in the column under “Wanted” where they are asking for pictures. Maybe the Liberty was remodeled around 1934 and opened as the Manos.
I’d just assumed that it was a renaming that took place in 1934. The Boxoffice item didn’t give any details, and didn’t mention the name Liberty, but that’s often the case with Boxoffice items.
I found a May 14, 1949, Boxoffice item about the remodeling of the Manos that year, and it said that Victor A. Rigaumont was one of the guests at the reopening, so he was most likely the architect for the project. He did design a number of projects for the Manos circuit.
Is this theatre still standing?
There are 18 theatres listed as Victor Rigaumont as the architect. Many are or were in PA such as the present day Erie Playhouse in Erie PA and the former Dubois Theatre in Dubois PA.
Both theaters that once stood in Ellwood City are long gone.