Community Theater
1424 Post Road,
Fairfield,
CT
1424 Post Road,
Fairfield,
CT
1 person
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The Community Theatre is a twin screen movie theatrer located in downtown Fairfield, Connecticut. Opened circa 1923 as a vaudville house, it changed to an all film format in 1929. The theatre was extensively renovated in 1933 which included the sealing off of dressing rooms, the construction of a balcony, and a neon tubed Art Deco marquee.
The Community was closed by Loews Cineplex on May 10, 2001, but reopened in December 2001 as an independent movie house.
Its more interesting features include the still opened balcony (in only Cinema 1, closed off in Cinema 2), indoor box office and closed outside box office. Behind the screens still remains the orginal theatre stage (used for storage) and an intact proscenium arch.
Contributed by
Robert Cohen, Paul Kreitler
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Recent comments (view all 31 comments)
Nice large color photo of the Community Twin.
http://www.agilitynut.com/05/8/commthe.jpg
I have attended this theater both prior to and following its “twinning”. If there were better movies today,I would frequent it more often, as this is one of the few places you can get a small sense of what movie theaters were like in their heyday.My favorite story about this theater was, approximately 16 or 17 years ago I attended a viewing. When they changed reels, the segue was so choppy that afterwards, I found myself discussing this with one of the patrons and suggesting that maybe they “lost a reel” in the process. Afterwards, I was listening to a review of the movie on the radio and discovered that I had been conversing with the critic herself, who mentioned our conversation in her review!
I saw that there was a “family friendly” movie playing there today, so I brought along my wife and daughter, who had never been to the theater. It was a little shabbier than I remembered it, but still at least struggling to exist. The theater was manned (or, should I say, “adolescened”) by teens and pre-teens who did all the jobs, such as taking care of the tickets, refreshments, and ushering. The tickets aew $4, a bargain in this age. The popcorn and soda were great and very low-priced. I don’t know if the kids did the projector also, but I was quite surprised to see the movie began at precisely the time advertised…for all of about five seconds. Then, there was a deafening roar and the screen went black. After a bit, one of the teens came into the audiorium and apologized to the audience, stating “there was something wrong with the projector” and “it would be abour five minutes” before it could be fixed. About 25 minutes later, the movie began, shortly beyond the point of trouble. Despite all this, I’m happy to see concerned citizens doing what they can to keep this movie house going, and, if they make good enough movies, I’ll be back.
Here is another photo of the Community Theater.
Thanks, Lost, for your photo. It is a familiar sight as I often pass by it on the way to work. I attended another screening after the one I described above, and there were no problems whatsoever, and all had a great time. This is a community treasure that should be supported.
Here is a link to the CinemaTour website with many interior and exterior photos of the Community Theatre.
www.cinematour.com/tour/us/3927.html
There’s an old photo of this theater on page 24 in Images of America: Fairfield.
The Fairfield City Directory shows the Fairfield Theatre opened in 1920 at 859 Post Road and becomes the present incarnation on 7 Unquowa Road.
This is another photo of the Community Theater.
I live in Rockland County NY, about 60 minutes away from the Community Theatre! I am looking forward to visiting again, after going back in 2002. I missed Hot Tub Time Machine in the souless multi-plex.
They are now screening that motion picture until May 13th. For $4.00 VS $11.50! All one has to do is wait 4-8 weeks for the film to come to the Community.
It is a wonderful theater lovingly operated by a friendly and caring staff!