Strand Theatre (#2)

50sSNIPES on June 7, 2025 at 2:31 pm

There are two Strand Theatres in Jennings, and this was the second one.

The second Strand Theatre opened its doors on July 12, 1939 with Bing Crosby in “East Side Of Heaven” along with the Barney Bear cartoon “The Bear That Couldn’t Sleep” and the MGM News Of The Day newsreel, which contains highlights of the U.S. Army testing machinery into the fog which include shots of an eight-inch railway gun ejected a projectile into the Chesapeake Bay, and a 600-pound bomb being dropped on an abandoned barn. What’s very strange about the grand opening advertisement is that the cartoon is listed as a Captain And The Kids cartoon for some weird reason, but it was just a plain MGM cartoon before Barney Bear received stardom.

The Strand Theatre originally housed 575 seats, with 375 seats in the orchestra pit and 200 seats for the colored in the balcony, and the entire auditorium measures 47x120ft. The original draperies were plum-colored and a second curtain was also used as well. There are four fire exits, with two in the rear and two in the front, as well as a fire escape secret for the colored. The projection booth is fireproof with devices which keeps the pictures on the screen from vibrating and fireproof shutters covers the windows throughout while the film was projected on the screen. Those shutters also automatically close whenever the temperature gets through triple digits. The rest is theater safety sealed. The projection also featured installations of giant multi-cellular loudspeakers that was installed by RCA Victor engineers.

randar on November 3, 2013 at 7:43 pm

this is a renovation. It was the Strand for years. My dad bought it in 70’s and changed it to Cinema 1.After he closed it, the city or community bought it and renovated back to its original STRAND.