Majestic Theater

Sounds cool Patsy..Hope you have an enjoyable time in “my neck of the woods”. The Carlisle has a really cool marquee, it looks really neat when lit at night.

Patsy…What brings you to Central Pennsylvania? I live just outside of Harrisburg and have been to both the Carlisle and the Majestic theaters. The last time I was at the Mejestic was when RC theatres ran it and it was a triplex. From photos that I have seen the old girl looks great.

In my trying to figure out the inconsistencies between David M. LeVan’s support of the restoration of the Majestic Theatre on the one hand — which I perceived as a good thing — and his seeking to introduce a casino to historic Gettysburg on the other — which is about as evil as it gets, when I re-read the comment that Karl B posted above (April 25, 2006), the last paragraph in particular, it hit me that there are no inconsistencies whatsoever. For ticket price gouging, plus too tight seating arrangements, are not things that any well-meaning and respectable theater operator would ever resort to. For what that is is none other than greed, ladies and gentlemen. And odds are the Majestic has experienced a major profitability shortfall because of it. What LeVan is doing is taking full advantage of the tremendous incompetency of the state of Pennsylvania’s government, one which has Pennsylvania’s Speaker of the House John Perzel complaining about such things as cowmilkers in Pennsylvania making too much money, some legislators having difficulty applying for credit cards (according to him because they’re not making enough), and so on. Yes, the same Pennsylvania legislators who voted themselves an illegal pay increase last year and then later were forced to revoke it. And with legislators around such as that it’s bound to bring Pennsylvania’s worst citizenry to the fore, which is exactly what I’m now seeing in this David LeVan guy.

For it sounds like the Majestic is a really great theater and could be a major boost for Gettysburg if managed right. And right now I realize it’s not under David LeVan.

As I see it, the Majestic Theatre’s restoration is in a continuous and ongoing state of evolution, which would imply that any imperfections found in it now — such as too narrow seating in its main auditorium — will be transformed and corrected over time as its evolution continues further.

My main concern, and criticism, is that it is now being used as a promotional tool for bringing a slots parlor to the historic site of Gettysburg Battlefield. Such decision cannot be taken lightly, for the implications of this are enormous.

Back on September 11, 2001 when news of the World Trade Towers plus the Pentagon having been struck reached those playing the slots in Atlantic City’s casinos — which was just as this terrible news was breaking — it is said that those playing the slots in Atlantic City that day hardly batted an eye. And so with that the casinos decided to stay open and in full operation. Those slots players were playing the slots before the news broke, when it broke, and after it broke without any sort of pause whatsoever, as if it was of “no concern” to any of them. That is how powerfully hypnotic and addicting slot machines can be.

For those of you who’ve never played the slots and don’t intend to, you can at least gain a much better understanding of this addiction by downloading any of the many free slot machine software programs now available on the Internet, or visit one of many free online sites that have slot machines you can play without actually having to gamble. You’ll learn from playing these virtual slot machines that while the odds are completely against your finishing up a winner, the obviousness of this can take forever to fully come to light. A combination of greed and curiosity spurs you to keep on playing just to see how far it can take you, particularly after you’ve doubled and then trippled your original wager. Which does happen. But how many of us are emotionally disciplined enough to just up and walk away at that point with such gains? Very few I would say, and therein lies the slot machine’s greatest danger.

And let me point out this: If the horrific events of 9/11 were not enough to shake Atlantic City’s slots players away from the machines, what impact will that same exact mindset have on historic Gettysburg? In Atlantic City’s case back when gambling first was proposed for there, you had a situation of that aging seaside resort town economically sagging in combination with most in the Atlantic City region not knowing what the downside of gambling would be once approved. So it SEEMED like a good idea at the time. In Gettysburg’s case, however, not only is Gettysburg not hurting financially the was Atlantic City was in the late 1970s, but we also know from what took place in New Jersey that legalizing gambling in Atlantic City was not the best solution to New Jersey’s economic woes after all. We don’t hear too much about that because in New Jersey’s case once gambling was legalized in Atlantic City it was impossible to reverse. In the many years since gambling was legalized there, New Jersey has simply tried to make the best of what had been an evident mistake, albeit one discovered when it was too late. For Gettysburg, however, there’s still time to say no. And God help it if it doesn’t.

I want to inform everyone of a new development regarding the Majestic. Within the past few days the Majestic has been given an additional name. Lettering has been installed over the entrance doors under the marquee identifying the theatre as the Jennifer and David LeVan Center for the Performing Arts. As a little background, LeVan is a local man who climbed the ladder of success to become CEO of CONRAIL. He apparently was given a “golden parachute” when NS and CSX took control of CONRAIL which eliminated his position. He returned to Gettysburg and built a Harley-Davidson/Buell dealership, which seems to have increased the motorcycle visitation about 1000%. LeVan was a ‘68 graduate of Gettysburg College, and as a successful businessman, was asked some years ago to be a member of the college’s Board of Trustees. In all fairness to LeVan, motorcycles and the Majestic seem to have no connection to the proposed gambling casino, which is relatively new news here. The casino appears to be another of LeVan’s ideas however.

The Majestic’s renovation finally seems to be complete. The theatre auditorium has been restored to its former appearance. The lobby, however, has been completely redesigned and expanded to take up the space of the four store fronts which used to be there. The actual storefronts are still there, but three of the interiors are now part of the expanded lobby. The fourth seems to be filled by Mamie’s Cafe, a rather fancy restaurant, accessible from the theatre lobby.

The theatre seems to host one night stands of shows with ticket prices as high as $45.00 a person. I’m not sure there will ever be a movie shown in the original theatre again as these are all live shows, scheduled in for one night about every two weeks. Jeffrey Gabel, the Founding Executive Director, welcomes each audience before the show and informs them that the theatre is owned and operated by Gettysburg College.

A former gymnasium in the same building has been rebuilt to house two mini theatres which show the latest art films. The gym has a lot of history of its own in that in the 1950’s, it served as a pressroom for all of the reporters gathered in town while President Eisenhower recovered from a heart attack at his local farm.

I have attended one show at the renovated theatre, tickets were $37 each, and the show was very good. My personal opinion was that the seats were too small (narrow). I wish I had had a tape measure with me to actually measure the space between the chair arms. I don’t recall ever sitting in such narrow seats anywhere.

I happened upon this site via the BOYD (Philadelphia site). I went to one film at the Majestic, the most depressing “Let No Man Write My Epitaph” starring Shelley Winters back in the late 1950’s/ early 60’s. I was a young Boy Scout from rural Luzerne County not far from Wilkes-Barre on a field trip with our scoutmaster Mr. Grebe (Greebee) en route to Washington. it was getting dark and Mr. Grebe needed a beer…or two…or, uh,three…..so we piled out of his station wagon in view of the Majestic. He farmed us out to the movies while he hit the nearest bar. I guess that half a dozen 12/13 year olds will cause one to need a few beers….. lol. Anyway, it’s alovely theater and Gettysburg has done well to restore this beauty!
Thimbs down on the casino for gettysburg. Good grief…. what next?

Please don’t fret that the Majestic is being renovated into a center for the preforming arts, be happy that it’s being retored to it’s former glory and beyond! It will also feature 2 cinemas, an art gallery and a cafe. It’ll open in mid November and meanwhile you can check it out at:
View link

I’m sad to see it being converted into a preforming arts center. It was the best place to see a Movie. So much so that i used to drive from half an hour away, in order to do so. There was Never a long line, Old Classic comfertable seating, A resonable price and a Small town charm.