Harris Theater

rivest266 on February 17, 2021 at 12:08 pm

Reopened as Art Cinema on September 16th, 1935. Grand opening ad posted.

InesitadaSilva on October 25, 2014 at 1:35 pm

While searching for performance dates for The Six Rockets, my grandmother’s all-girl vaudeville acrobatic act, I came across this article: http://www.inesitadasilva.com/images/PittburghPressDec9_1929.jpg which suggests the Harris was showing movies as early as December 1929 (see third column, fourth line from bottom). However, most sources suggest The Harris didn’t come into being until much later. Was my grandmother’s theatre therefore another Harris in Pittsburgh perhaps? For those curious, more on The Six Rockets here: http://www.inesitadasilva.com/index.php?page=Keith%27s-Theatre

SusanD on July 18, 2014 at 8:42 am

The “Operated By” (chain) should be Pittsburgh Filmmakers.

SusanD on March 31, 2012 at 5:58 pm

I’ve been here a couple of times. As part of PGH Film Makers, it’s a good place to see fare that’s just a little out of the mainstream. I wish they’d do something with the exterior, though. That blue still reminds me of its days as a porno house.

Gerald A. DeLuca on January 25, 2011 at 3:12 pm

Yes, Gerald DeLuca (that’s me) still posts on CT. But I tend to specialize in cinemas of my area, the state of Rhode Island.

edblank on March 30, 2009 at 6:53 pm

Renewing link.

edblank on November 16, 2008 at 6:30 pm

No idea why, Ken, but I, for one, can never read the copies posted here from Pittsburgh newspapers. The guys who post stuff from New York newspapers get imaculate copies with large type, which one can navigate from top to bottom and from left to right, but the Pittsburgh ones are always inky black and with tiny reproductions. Wish I understood what the problem here is. Thanks for trying.

edblank on August 24, 2008 at 6:41 am

We need to sort out something here. The photo you’re discussing is of the wrong Harris theater. The one relating to this particular CT entry, at 809 Liberty Avenue, is functioning today as a moviehouse run by Pittsburgh Filmmakers.

The one in the photo(s) began as the Alvin, changed to the (John P.) Harris and finally became the Gateway. It has been a health club for about a quarter of a century. See separate entry under Gateway Theatre.

The theater on the left is the Byham, which functions today as a performance arts theater. (It’s listed in CT as the Byham.) In the era when the photo was taken, it was the Fulton, which was its identity for several decades. In the vaudeville/silent era, it was the Gayety.

kencmcintyre on August 23, 2008 at 5:09 pm

There’s another theater down the street, but I can’t make out the name on the marquee.

edblank on August 23, 2008 at 5:02 pm

Can’t access that, Ken.

edblank on May 28, 2008 at 8:37 pm

The theater dates to at least 1927. From then until 1936 it was known as the Avenue (one of at least five Avenue theaters in the Pittsburgh/McKeesport area in the early 20th Century).

The capacity in the early years was estimated at both 300 and 374.

In 1936 it became the Art Cinema, a name it retained until its 1995 refurbishing and reopening as the Harris.

The Art Cinema was the premiere art house (foreign, British and independent films) in Pittsburgh for about 17 years.

Its many classic films included “Paisan” (16 weeks), “The Red Shoes” (weeks 5 through 14 of its initial Downtown run), “Quartet,” “The Fallen Idol,” “The Bicycle Thief,” “Kind Hearts and Coronets,” “Bitter Rice” (a record 17 weeks, later returning for two more), “Cyrano de Bergerac,” “Trio,” “Kon-Tiki,” “Oliver Twist,” “The River,” “Rashomon,” “Manon,” “Devil in the Flesh” and many others.

The Art Cinema unfortunately lacked amenities, and when a wholly renovated Squirrel Hill Theatre reopened Christmas Day 1952 with “The Lavender Hill Mob,” the Art Cinema’s dominance as THE local art house began to fade.

As several other art theaters (the Shadyside, King’s Court, Forum, Guild) competed for product in the eastern suburbs, the Downtown Art Cinema lost its upscale audience.

Fow a while it continued to grab occasional important films (“Fanfan the Tulip,” “Forbidden Games”), but by 1954 its bill of fare vascilated among double bills of recent commercial hits (“From Here to Eternity” with “The Wild One”; “The Caine Mutiny” with “On the Waterfront”), nudist camp romps, saucy softcore sex films and a long-defunct series of striptease movies. Some, including “The Orgy at Lil’s Place” in the early 1960s, did some business, but the audience for them was finite – the “raincoat” crowd.

The theater became identified progressively more with harder-core porno in the 1970s and 1980s, and its condition deteriorated markedly over the decades. By the time it closed for renovation into the Harris, many seats were missing, and those remaining were in deplorable condition.

The Harris, though minimalist in amenities, is a great improvement in programming and comfort. Its one drawback is a peculiar acoustical problem.

roxdude on June 8, 2006 at 3:17 am

As a kid, I always wanted to sneek into the Art Cinema. It showed racy movies staring Jane Mansfield and the Immortal Mr. Teas series of movies. Big boobs, big tits and then some, from what I gathered from the marqee and movie posters. And it had some of the oldest broads sitting inside the ticket booth.

I still haven’t had time to see a movie in the renovated space. But that is on my “to do” list.