Ventnor Square Theatre

The Ventnor theatre opened on July 8th, 1922. Grand opening ad posted.

To be demolished in 1997

Ventnor theatre to be demolished 19 Mar 1997, Wed Press of Atlantic City (Atlantic City, New Jersey) Newspapers.com

Please update, grand opening May 22 with 3 screens and total seats 334 based on theatre ticketing system. Theatre 1 264 Theatre 2 37 and Theatre 3 33.

I worked there as a union projectionist from 1973-1984. I also lived in the top floor Apt. on Weymouth Ave., in 1974-75. I have one of the old Western Electric 35mm sound projectors in my garage. When the Franks twinned it in 1979, I became manager/projectionist.

Phily.com story on the rebuilding, with pictures.

Your memory of the Ventnor Twin is accurate. The theater on the right was much narrower than the larger on the left. The smaller theater had a 2.40 to 1 screen with side masking that was positioned pretty high on the wall and the seating rows had an odd slope…kind of like an S. The last film I saw in the smaller theater was in 1997 (Conspiracy Theory)and I do recall that the picture quality was dark and murky and the sound tinny mono. I don’t recall whether the larger theater on the left had masking (the last two films I saw there were in ‘scope) but the screen was really big and appeared to have an aspect ratio of around 2.2 to 1. At some point the larger theater had Dolby sound installed but not Dolby Digital.The last two films I saw in the big room were Forrest Gump and True Lies. As I recall, the projection for both films was quite good. I would guess that whatever renovation is done, it will include digital projection and digital surround sound.

The guys who bought it have the Harbor Square Theater in Stone Harbor. Based upon what they did with the Harbor Square they will gut the theater and completely renovate. It will be interesting to see if it remains a two screener or if they divide it up into more screens. The larger auditorium at the Ventnor as I recall is quite wide and had a very large screen. If left intact dimensionally that large room could potentially be one of the best places to see a film at the Jersey shore.

Very, very good news for folks at the Jersey Shore and fans of the old Ventnor theater. In an unrelated article (it was about the Margate beach front issues)in today’s Phila Daily News there was a blurb “the long decrepit but historic and much loved Ventnor Twin was purchased by the owner of the Stone Harbor boutique movie theater who plans a similar bar-theater- restaurant complex”. Sounds promising to say the least.

The theater was not twined until the late 70’s. Saw Earthquake there and Midway. The last season as a single theater it went to a dollar discount theater. One of the opening features as a twin was Kramer Vs Kramer. Please UPDATE overview information.

There was a theater in Ventnor Heights called the Ventnor Plaza. My father, George Perry, relocated here from Massena NY to open it under perry management in the 60s. It was a dual movie theater. Played host to premieres, one I can recall was “Seduction” starring Morgan Fairchild, which her and the stars attended. My father hosted many FREE movie days in appreciation to those that served the community for the Local Policemen and their families (it was touching at his funeral some remembered and honored him by attending). He also made first run movies available to his children’s school and had buses of kids coming to theater for a day out to see a movie. He was very giving to the community and his empoyees at this theater. The bright orange ticket booth with the candy counter stand out in my memory most. It is the first place I ever worked or helped out. It was eventually sold to the Frank Family of Theaters that operated the remaining majority of theaters in the community. It reopened for a bit as other businesses, and now remains closed, believe due to damage from flood water from Hurricane Sandy.

Ken – the theatre at Ventnor Plaza was called “The Ventnor Plaza Twin.” I lived a few blocks away, and saw a lot of movies there. Last time I was there, it was a video rental store about to close.

Boxoffice Magazine reveals the date the Ventnor reopened with Armand Carroll’s handsome deco-moderne interior (seen in the 1936 photos linked in Warren G. Harris’s comment of May 15, 2008, comment above.)

The September 26, 1936, issue of Boxoffice ran an article about theater grosses in the Atlantic City area. One line reads “…and Ventnor in Ventor city also reported grosses topped previous season despite the fact that the Ventnor house was only rebuilt and opened on July 4, missing a month of good business.”

The Boxoffice item corroborates Warren’s 1936 trade journal photos as to the year the Ventnor reopened, but this Cinema Treasures news post says the house was reopened in 1938, after the original 1921 theater was destroyed by a fire. Unless the place was rebuilt twice in two years, the claim of a 1938 reopening must be an error. Unfortunately, the news post doesn’t cite a source for the date or for the information about a fire.

The wording of the Boxoffice article doesn’t make clear if the Ventnor was closed for only a month for rebuilding (an awfully brief time for a major project) or had merely lost a month’s business from the busy summer season, but it does use the word “rebuilt,” suggesting that, at the least, the house had been gutted, so a fire is a possibility. A planned rebuilding probably would not have been scheduled at a time that might keep the house closed during its busiest season.

This message board page includes some discussion of the Ventnor Theatre, and some pictures of the facade.