Goodwill Theatre

On July 28, 1957 at approximately 3:20 PM ET, 17-year-old Roy Paul Cosgrove, the usher of the theater, was standing at the edge of the balcony when he witnessed several kids with their feet on other seats. He turned on his flashlight and shined the kids telling them to get their feet off the seats until he accidentally plummeted 30ft from the balcony to the orchestra seats in the 12th row of the main auditorium, with his leg striking a 15-year-old girl between her stomach and her right arm. His flashlight also fell around the same time as himself. This all happened during “20 Million Miles From Earth”, which was part of a double feature alongside “27th Day”. He was completely knocked out after the fall and was taken to Wilson Memorial Hospital for numerous injuries, including a broken wrist, broken front teeth, and multiple bruises and abrasions.

The 15-year-old, Donna Kolly, told the Press and Sun Bulletin that she thought that it sounded something like glass breaking. She looked up at the balcony but didn’t see anything. She turned back to watch the movie. Suddenly, Cosgrove landed on Donna without even a single notice. She said that Cosgrove landed on his stomach on the back of the seat in front of her and hung there for several moments.

The only movies that I remember seeing at the Goodwill, were both Clint Eastwood movies. Dirty Harry and Magnum Force. It had to have been about 1975, because I had just purchased a new car. Went at night and parked out front———-I didn’t see the NO PARKING sign in front of the theatre and when I came out of the, I had a $10 parking ticket on my windshield. The Police Department was next door back in those days!

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/goodwilltheatre?ref=ts&fref=ts

It was open into the ‘70’s. There have been alot of articles about the renovations lately, as the asbestos abatement in the main theater has been completed, and volunteers will now be able to start restoration projects. I will be volunteering at some point in the coming year. They have an active Facebook page. I will bring the link.

My family lived behind the Enjoy Theater on Broad st. In the late 40’s & early 50’s my brother & I would walk to the Enjoy to see our favorite movies like the Lone Ranger & Hop A Long Cassidy. Once I became a teenager my friends & I would be at the Enjoy every Friday night with the expectation of sitting with a boy friend. Hopefully he would dare to put his arm around you. We weren’t the best behaved kids at this point & the usher would shine his light in your face & threaten to throw you out if yhou didn’t straighten up. We had alot of good times at the enjoy & I’m thrilled that it’s being restored. It is a historical land mark in Johnson City.

Binghamton is the largest city in Broome County, and the county seat. The office of Sanford O. Lacey, architect of the Goodwill Theatre, was in Binghamton. Johnson City, despite its name, is classified under New York law as an incorporated village, and is part of the Binghamton Metropolitan Statistical Area.

The architect of the Goodwill Theatre was Sanford O. Lacey, then a partner in the firm of Lacey, Schenck, & Cummings. The Goodwill Theatre was built in 1920, and was designed in the Georgian Revival style (a subset of the Colonial Revival style.)

Although the house operated for decades as the Enjoy Theatre, it is now under renovation as part of a project that will include three performance halls as well as other arts facilities, all to be operated by The Goodwill Theatre Inc. (official web site.)

So far, the only performance space in operation appears to be the Firehouse Stage, located (of course) the the town’s former firehouse, at the other end of the block from the Goodwill Theatre. I can’t find anything on the web site about how the renovation is proceding, or when the theater might be expected to open.

I did ENJOY it Lost Memory.

I was born in Johnson City in 1953 and now live in Florida. My father used to own the Tip Top restaurant on Main street, just around the corner from the EnJoie. My mom, met my Dad while working at the Crystal Tea Room on Main street and used to work at the enjoie when she was a teenager. The last movie I saw at the enjoie was the evil kneivel story. besides the enjoie I used to go to the Sun Theater, Crest, Strand, Rivera and the Vestal Drive In or V drive in.

A friend of mine told me that a Beman organ was used in the Goodwill for a time. It had an Echo division which was inside the dome in the ceiling. The Beman was eventually removed and installed inside St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in nearby Endicott. The church at some point decided to replace it with another organ, so I can’t help but wonder where it went, or even if it still exists.

I would bet that En-Joie is the correct spelling. Everything in the area with an E-J in the name is named after the Endicott Johnson shoe company. It was a company town way back when and Endicott Johnson built many things for the workers, this theater included. They also built schools, parks, and other recreational and community facilities. The golf course in Endicott (neighboring village) is named the En-Joie, the same name as this theater had.