DuBois Playhouse
8 N. Brady Street,
DuBois,
PA
15801
8 N. Brady Street,
DuBois,
PA
15801
1 person
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The Harris-DuBois opened with William Powell in “Double Wedding” with no extra short subjects. It was built by the B.C. Skinner & Son company and construction began in early June of the same year. A “Mirrophone” Western Electric sound system, Da-tone Non-Glare curtains, and latest air conditioning units were also installed.
The August 31, 1957 issue of Boxoffice said that the Pershing Theatre, formerly the Harris, had recently opened in DuBois under the management of Tony Calose. The house had been modernized and redecorated, with new seats, drapes, and carpeting, as well as new screen, sound, and projection equipment. Exterior lighting had also been upgraded.
The Harris-Dubois Theatre launched on October 27, 1937. It changed names to match the hotel as the General Pershing Theatre. On May 28, 1968, the Pershing Theatre became the DuBois Playhouse launching with “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” and playing a heavy mix of R-rated New American movies and some porno chic single X-rated films.
New operators came in repositioning the Dubois Playhouse to more family centric offerings. The theater returned to X-rated fare in 1979 and 1980 if not longer (ads aren’t published post-1980). After a period of inactivity, the Dubois Playhouse was upgraded and tried live plays from July through December of 1988. That appears to end the Dubois Playhouse run.
The DuBois Theatre was added to the venerable Commercial Hotel building in 1937. At some point the hostelry was renamed the General Pershing Hotel, and it appears that the theater shared the new name briefly before being renamed the Playhouse. So far nothing (ads, newspaper articles) has surface showing the Pershing Theatre name, so we don’t know the exact period when the name was used.
Did this theater ever go by the name Pershing in the mid 1960s?
Linkrot repair: The Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company ad illustrated with a photo of the front of the Harris DuBois Theatre, in Boxoffice of October 15, 1938, can now be found at this link.
There was another Elks Theater on Brady Street in Du Bois. I have a 1926 post card image. I will add it to CT when I can find more info on it.
Here is a fresh link to the photo of the Harris DuBois Theatre in Boxoffice, October 15, 1938.
A post by user Foxfan on this page at a DuBois community forum says that this house was called the Pershing Theatre for a while before being renamed the Playhouse. The post also has some information about other theaters that have operated in DuBois.
The October 30, 1937, issue of Boxoffice said that the new Harris DuBois Theatre had opened the previous Wednesday. The architect of the Harris DuBois Theatre was Victor A. Rigaumont. A photo of the marquee appears in an ad for the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company in Boxoffice of October 15, 1938.
Hi,
I would like to note that the picture posted by Bryan in 2005, and ad posted by ken mc in 2007, are of the “Harris Theatre”. Du Bois had three theatres, the Avenue, the Harris and the Carlton.
Rich Levine
Du Bois
Here is a July 1946 ad from the DuBois Courier-Express:
http://tinyurl.com/23q9ht
According to Cinema Tours there was the Avenue Theatre in DuBois PA, but from the photo it looks to pre-date the DuBois Theatre.
Does anyone have other photos or information on this PA theatre?