Village Theatre
Boardwalk,
Ocean City,
NJ
08226
Boardwalk,
Ocean City,
NJ
08226
4 people
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Historic Boardwalk Theatres -- Village Theatre
Additional Info
Operated by: Hunt's Theaters Inc.
Previous Names: Doughty's Pier Theatre
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News About This Theater
- Jun 18, 2010 — "Jaws"... Happy 35th!
- May 14, 2010 — Please Post Today, May 14 --- "Jaws," Happy 35th
Opened as Doughty’s Pier Theatre around 1900. Initially presented vaudeville and then silent movies. Survived a 1927 fire that destroyed much of the Boardwalk. When the Boardwalk was rebuilt and moved east (closer to the ocean), the theatre’s entrance and seating had to be changed to the opposite side of the building. Added a sound system in 1929. By 1931 it was operated by Hunt’s Theaters Inc. By 1941 it was operated by the Strand Theater Co.
Operated continuously until 1989, when it was sold to a paper company. The building burned to the ground on June 12, 1990.
Contributed by
tc
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Recent comments (view all 11 comments)
This was Ocean City’s premiere theater for roadshow engagments.
I should have been more clear in the original text. “Paper company” does in fact mean that the three theater properties were sold to a company that concealed the actual owners. The former owner, Helen Shriver Schilling, did not wish to sell the properties to the local competetors, with whom she had an unfriendly history. But the sale went through anyway without her understanding who was behind the deal.
The building was very interesting, however, in that you could see places where the place had been changed many times over the years. A hidden deck behind the South Seas shop was at one time a pier overlooking the ocean.
JL
Nice photo album:
View link
Web site updated with more pictures…
http://www.moorlyn.com/Village.htm
Listed as part of Shriver Theatres Co. in the 1976 International Motion Picture Almanac.
Here is a 1940 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/2gdxc6
Am I correct in remembering that this was the nicest theater in Ocean City, NJ, in the mid-1950s? If so, it’s where I saw “To Catch a Thief” in the summer of 1955. – Ed Blank
“Thank you” to everyone who provided pictures of the Village, both exterior and especially the interior shots. The decoration, though minimal, was great in the main auditorium.
I enjoyed seeing the photos showing the billboards on the back of the theater as well as those on the roof. I seem to remember when they actually had advertisements for movies on them (an on-set of old age maybe).
Rahn
Renewing link.
This was Ocean City’s roadshow theater.