Mayfair Theatre
129 E. State Street,
Trenton,
NJ
08608
129 E. State Street,
Trenton,
NJ
08608
3 people
favorited this theater
Showing 25 comments
The Mayfair was originally the Orpheum which was originally the YMCA building. The Stacy across the street suffered a fire and was demolished also. A Geno’s (KFC) opened in its spot and that is now long gone. Trenton is a lost cause.
The long corridor from State Street to the small lobby was absorbed into the adjoining pharmacy. I saw Dirty Harry and Magnum Force here (my Dad and I were too brave) in 1974. I remember phoning the theater (when we did those things) and the taped message said “Magnesium Force”. By the way, we sat downstairs under the balcony slunk in our seats.
The roof collapsed due to heavy snow. It took them a while even then to tear it down. Half of it was removed when demolition stopped and the entire balcony with seats and the booth above were completely exposed for some time. I did an article for the Trenton Times about it. I took the photos too.
Looking at this photo does bring back memories. I remember the Five and Dime store, Lane Bryant I think was there, McCory’s and the Stacy store. I had to be in grade school then, I was very young at that time, but I loved to go shopping with my mother and father in downtown.
I have never forgotten my last time in this Movie Theatre before it was shut down and torn down. I was a young girl and with my sister and her husband to be. My how the Downtown area has changed. I used to love going downtown. Not anymore. It’s just not the same. We need to build it back up. Most of all the stores where I used to shop with my parents, where my mother would buy clothes are no longer there. Just about all of it is gone now. Only a few of the old stores remain.
The 5 and dime store was originally Green’s, but became another chain. I think it closed in the 1960s. The entrance of the Mayfair was always an attraction to me as a child as it had pinkish mirrored tiles that produced many curious reflections. At one point, many were missing, but then it was renewed.
Grand opening ads posted here.
This opened as Orpheum on May 22nd, 1922. Reopened as Mayfair on December 18th, 1941.
When I worked at the Mayfair in the 70’s, it did not have clock motor drives for the carbon arc lamphouses. Crazy Bob accurately described the equipment in the booth, not to mention that the generator was also in there. It was incredibly loud, and I have hearing loss today partly as a result of those years at the Mayfair. By the way, Local 359 dissolved after Walt Hoffman passed away late in 1978. At that point, there were no union theaters in Mercer County left.
I worked as a projectionist at the Mayfair from 1972 until 1978, when the Henry family closed it. For the most part, Doug Hewitson worked days, and I worked nights. It survived as a “blacksploitation” theater of the 70’s. An interesting point of trivia…the projection booth was literally a concrete box that was attached to the outside of the theater before WWII. When the trolly stopped being used in Trenton, they attached the box to the outside by encasing the trolly tracks in concrete to create support beams.
A glimpse of the Mayfair’s marquee may be seen on the left side of this picture from about 1973.
The Mayfair was the last of Trenton’s eight downtown theaters to close, according to an article Boxoffice Magazine of December 6, 1976, which announced the closing. Vincent Henry was the last manager of the house, and the last movies shown were “Saga In Africa” and “Burnt Offerings.”
This Boxoffice item says that the Henry family had operated the house since acquiring it in 1940, at which time they had changed the name to Mayfair. However, the January 3, 1942, issue of Boxoffice had said that the Hildingers (Charles and Helen) had reopened the former Orpheum as the Mayfair curing Christmas week.
The house had originally opened on March 29, 1922, as the Orpheum Theatre, owned by George B. Ten Eyck. The first feature at the Orpheum was the Coleen Moore film “Come On Over.”
During the 1930s the Orpheum was operated by the William Hunt Theatres Circuit of Wildwood, New Jersey.
Being a projectionist I’ve always had interest in the systems. I understand, mind you this is a rumor, that the Mayfair Arc Lamps had a clock motor (wind up) drive. I’d like to know if this is true or not. I remember the mirrored tile foyer leading from State Street.
Thanks,
My great great grandmother Amelia Lehman-Gorrell was suppsed to have worked here as a concert pianist and for the silent movies.I Have not been able to find a site that would contain this type of information!
The Booth door faced towards Broad St., and opened to the outside metal steps. The lobby & auditorium seemed like two separate buildings. I seem to remember red shag carperting in the lobby? Mirrors?
Yes, it could’ve. That pedestrian mall was a disaster for downtown. Four years ago they tore up the mall section in front of the Mayfair (Broad to Montgomery) and last year (or maybe it’s two years ago) they tore up the Dunham’s block (yes, in front of the Savoy) pedestrian mall (Broad to Warren).
The Savoy building is there but is now a retail store. My mother and grandmother took me to the Savoy many times for lunch when they went shopping at Dunham’s, Nevius, Lit Brothers, and Arnold Constable. Dunham’s is long gone and a new state office building in its place. The Broad Street Bank Building faced demolition but is now getting a complete renovation after being vacant for years. The Yards store where Ernie Kovacs sold cigars was renovated and is operating as a retail store (I think a pharmacy).
The fire escape entrance to the booth is a fascinating detail! I have the Trentonian photos of the Mafair when the roof collapse.
The Henry name is familiar but I’m unsure about the Vince part. I will try to check on dates regarding when it closed. I saw “Dirty Harry” and “Magnum Force” there as a double feature.
I worked at the Mayfair for Local 359 of the projectionist union. I remember running “Shaft” for what seemed like months on end. I recall that the owner was Vince Herny? To get to the booth, You had to go out the fire escape from the balcony and go up some outside steps (In all kinds of weather). The equipment consisted of two Simplex XL’s with Ashcraft Corelites. and one Simplex E-7 with a Peerless Magnarc type “F”. I offten ate at the Savoy restaurant which was very close by. Years later I was in Trenton and the Mayfair was still open? State Street was closed to motor vehicles and was turned into a pedestrian mall with trees in the middle of State Street. Could have been 1982?
Directly across State Street from the Mayfair was the Stacy Theater. It burned down in the mid fifties and has remained an empty lot ever since. The Mayfair was flanked by the Nevius-Voorhees Department store on one side (east) and Montgomery Wards on the other.
The Orpheum/Mayfair had a large, steep balcony. When it opened as the Orpheum, it had one of the largest marquees on the East Coast. It was located next to Nevius Department Store on East State Street.
This was another Charles Hildinger theater.
Listed as part of Milgrim Theatres, Inc. in the 1970 FDY & 1976 International Motion Picture Almanac.
This theater was built inside a former YMCA and opened as the Orpheum. It later became the Mayfair and operated into the 1970s as a single-screen venue. It was the last of the downtown theaters. By this time, the State, Palace, Lincoln, Trent, Stacy, State and Capitol were torn down. Only the tiny Garden Theater remains intact today.
As indicated above, its roof collapse and the building was partially razed. The auditorium roof and the west and stage walls were removed exposing the seating, the balcony, and the projection booth. It remained in this Roman-ruin condition for some time before it was totally destroyed. The long corridor from the ticket booth on State Street leading to the concession area at the rear of the theater was incorporated into the drugstore. There are visible signs of the theater.
this theater was originally designed for motion pictures.
It is not listed in the 1920 Trenton City directory.
trentonhistory.org
A Moller organ, opus 3279, was installed in the Orpheum in 1921.
I think the retail portion of this building may still survive. There’s a Rite Aid with a listed address of 127-29 East State that has a very “theaterish” look—tall arches at the second-floor level, etc.
When the weather gets a little less muggy I hope to take a lunch hour and check the current status of the sites of the recently posted downtown Trenton theaters.