Denis Theatre
685 Washington Road,
Mount Lebanon,
PA
15228
685 Washington Road,
Mount Lebanon,
PA
15228
9 people
favorited this theater
Related Websites
Denis Theatre (Official)
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Cinemette Corporation of America, Harris Amusement Co., Stanley-Warner Theatres
Architects: Victor A. Rigaumont
Previous Names: Harris-Denis Theatre, Denis Encore Theatres
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News About This Theater
- Jun 26, 2014 — Vision for Mt. Lebanon theater includes center for film, music, lectures, art
- Sep 23, 2011 — Denis Theatre's rebirth moves forward
- Jun 29, 2011 — Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Examines the Plight of the Area's Independent Theaters
- Jun 21, 2010 — Bryn Mawr, Denis Theatre restoration efforts efforts boosted by grants
- Jan 29, 2010 — Efforts intensified to renovate, reopen Denis Theater
- Nov 17, 2008 — Fundraising for Pennsylvania theater going slow
- Apr 30, 2008 — Plans to reopen Denis
The Harris-Denis Theatre opened as a single screen movie theatre in 1938. This theatre was split, with the theatre on the orchestra called the Denis Theatre, and the one in the balcony called the Denis Encore Theatre. At the time I knew it it was an RKO Stanley-Warner theatre. When Almi took over they got rid of all RKO Stanley-Warner’s operations outside of the New York metropolitan area, and the Pittsburgh area theatres became Cinemette.
The Denis Quad Theatre, as it was last referred to, closed in September 2004 and was to be demolished to make way for retail and office space. Instead, there are plans to reopen it as a theatre, with fundraising underway.
Contributed by
dave-bronx
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Recent comments (view all 62 comments)
It’s nice to read about this Oscar night fundraiser and to see a photo of the Denis Theatre on Washington Rd.
any photos of the interior?
Yes, any photos?
Two articles, each with an interior picture:
View link View link
And then there is this page from the Denis Theater Foundation’s site; it looks like very little of the theater’s original decor remains, probably lost when the theater was converted to a quad.
CSWalczak: Thanks!
Back in 2010 I linked to a Boxoffice article about theater renovations which included a photo of the Denis Theatre in Mount Lebanon. That link is dead. The bad news is that Boxoffice is reconfiguring its digital archive and will be moving everything to a new format. The good news is that, for now at least, the old archive is still online, though somewhat altered, and I don’t know for how long.
In any case, while it lasts, here is the page with the photos of the Denis, from the issue of October 15, 1938. You can’t navigate directly from one page to the next anymore, so here is a direct link to the second page of the article with the text about the Denis.
Nice to see some conversation here about The Denis! We are still in the midst of fundraising to re-open the theatre as “Four Spaces for Art” ((two theatres, a learning center/screening room, and year-round visual art gallery). Please follow along with our progress at www.denistheatre.org and https://www.facebook.com/denistheatrefoundation
I believe I saw a restored Gone With The Wind around 1973 at the Denis. I remember it had a lot of Red Velvet And Brass.
The Denis opened in 1938 says one source and was named after a senator’s son Denis Harris. Twinned 1965, quadrupled 1981, closed 2004. Purchased by a focus group, one screen reopened 2013 although probably not full-time, ongoing renovations.
Updated official link for the Denis Theatre, as the link under Related Websites is dead. Also the Wikipedia page for the Denis Theatre.
https://www.denistheatre.org/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denis_Theatre