Cinema

JohnMessick: I’m familiar with the CT name, Norelco though didn’t know or have forgotten that he used to be a projectionist….those are the folks with great theatre memories!

Yes indeed! I was 14 when I started my first job as an usher at the New Castle Victor theatre. Now at 64 I have very fond memories of conversations with projectionists, stage hands and managers in and about the Pittsburgh area. When many of us were in our teens and twenties, these dedicated people where in their fifties and sixties. Nothing was better than sharing a coffee or a beer with one of these people. Their stories of people and events from the early days of theatrical entertainment. It was a right of passage for those of us you still believed in the magic and future of “the business.”

One of my favorite pieces of advice, when I was an Assistant Manager, was from an old projectionist who lectured me in the art of showmanship. He said: …”remember kid, if you don’t want people to think this is second class grind house, ALWAYS close the curtain and bring up the footlights between the trailers and feature.”

When people remember these picture palaces, it’s a shame that the dedicated managers, projectionists and other career folks often get forgotten and unmentioned. Big chains and moneyed people may have built most of the theatres we have all loved; but it was, indeed, the staff and management that brought the magic to life every day.

Never stop believing.

establish/renew link

Hi Joe, Sorry for the delay, I’ve been working on a restoration. This info. (from memory) originally came from an old projection operator who was around at the time. The Warner Bro’s. had been going around Western PA and Eastern Ohio, near their Youngstown home, with a crank projector, a single film and a tent for use when weather or a vacant room were not available. One of the rooms they rented for this special event was part of, or adjacent to a funeral home on New Castle’s E. Washington Street. They borrowed folding chairs from the funeral director and projected the film on a 7 foot mirror. Apparently the response was so good and New Castle was a bustling city with the world’s largest tin mill and many other industries that they decided to experiment with making New Castle a permanent location. The makeshift “theatre” was referred to as the Bijou (little Gem) and The Pioneer. After several months, in 1903, the moved a few doors down E. Washington Street to a more appropriate property and created the Cascade Theatre. The location later became a Neisner 5 and 10 store and is now called the Cascade Center with a lobby display representing the façade of the Cascade Theatre and some vintage projectors. The Cascade was quickly followed by small “nickelodeons” such as the sheet metal-constructed Moravia Theatre, The Nixon (Victor), across the street from the Cascade, The Dome (Cinema), Park (Regent), Star, all on Washington Street and the Baltimore Strand on Long Avenue. In 1904 the Warner’s bought a small film company in Pittsburgh which eventually evolved into the Warner empire. Later, more elaborate theatres included the Capitol (vaudeville) and Penn theatres were constructed.

It would be nice to see a working “model” of the Cascade created. It might show a Warner documentary film, classics, etc as a tourist attraction. Who know, maybe some day…..

In its reincarnation as the Cinema, its grand opening was Friday, November 22, 1968. The opening feature was the New Castle premiere of 2001: A Space Odyssey.