As a theatre owner I can see both sides of the story here. I have a single screen small town 2nd run theatre. However, I’m also the highest grossing 2nd run theatre in the state, out grossing many 1st run theatres, and I do it on a $3.00 ticket price. Even with that being the case, I can’t come close to breaking even on ticket sales alone. Concession sales have to pay the remainder of the overhead costs, and then hopefully create enough profit to maintain this historic theatre in a safe, comfortable and attractive condition.
My highest price concession item is a large tub of popcorn which sells for $3.00. The local Carmike sells their small popcorn for $5.75.
I appreciate what Ron Newman said about independents, although I don’t believe many independents (at least in my area) sell their concessions for anything near what the big chains do.
I do not allow patrons to bring food or drink into the theatre from outside, although people do sneak some in. If caught we take it from them. If they refuse to give it up, I throw them out (that seldom happens). That may seem harsh, but they were warned as there is a sizable sign on the front door. It has been my experience that few people that sneak stuff in ever use the trash cans, but rather leave everything on the floor for us to clean up, even though they haven’t contributed anything toward the cost of such.
I realize that the movie going public does not understand the complexities of the movie theatre business, and I agree that the prices charged at chain theatres are simply redicules, but when it’s fairly easy to see how inexpensive we are when compared to the chains, I would think that we should be appreciated for what we do to make movie going affordable for all of our patrons.
We do not run ANY screen advertising, nor do we have any video games in the lobby, so we have no income stream from anything other than ticket sales and concessions.
Our average concession per capita sale is $2.00 added to a $3.00 ticket, means you’ve just spent $5.00 a person to enjoy a movie in a beautiful well maintained art deco theatre with a uniformed staff, an auditorium with beautiful drapes and house curtain, with state of the art Dolby and DTS stereo sound, and a large free parking lot directly behind the theatre as well.
The thought of people suggesting that you sneak food and beverages into our theatre and undermine the financial well being of this showplace is very disturbing to me. Other then Ron, that is exacting what the others here are suggesting.
I’m not aware that Automaticket made a ticket machine that stamped the name of anything on it. They use preprinted machine tickets with the theatre name, location and price already printed on them by the ticket company.
In regards to the post made last February about the letters announcing the title “Forbidden Paradise”, those were a standard style of changable letter that was available during that period. Each letter was on a metal rectangle with a raised channel outline that had individual lightbulb sockets within. Each letter had a plug on the back that was plugged into special sockets in the interior of the marquee attraction panel.
I still have a bunch of those letters in the basement of my theatre.
The Theatre Historical Society visited the Sedgwick during their Philadelphia Conclave on July 11th of this year. It is indeed still in operation as a community center in the section of the building housing the lobbies.
We also went into the auitorium, but had to do so through the stage loading dock doors as it is still sealed off from the lobbies and used as a wharehouse. Wow, what a beautiful ceiling.
The lobbies have some spectacular art deco plaster work, but quite a bit of it is damaged and missing. It will take a lot to bring it back to it’s former glory.
The photo that you posted above is not the Boyd in Allentown, Pa., but rather the Boyd Theatre in EASTON, Pa.
I had posted this info once before, and notice now that it has been removed. This photo had been attached to the Easton posting, but is now gone from there and has for some reason returned here.
Not all listings on americanclassicimages are correct.
I know the theatre in that photo only too well, as I had my first theatre job there as an usher, and latter leased the theatre. I was the final operator, having closed it in May of 1972 when I lost my lease when it had been purchased by E-Park to be demolished for a parking lot.
As a late comer to this theatre listing, I’ve just finished reading through all the posts, and noticed this question:
“I have no idea what could have been on the upper floors of this building when it was a theater.”
Does anyone know or have any ideas?
Unless I missed an answer post… I wish to point out that the answer to that question is shown in the 1964 photograph posted by Lost Memory on April 17th, 2009.
If you study that photograph, you will see that the Nemmer Furniture store occupied the left side on the ground floor even when the theatre was operating. Their sign on the front of the building just to the left of the Paramount marquee says: 9 Floors of Furniture. That pretty well says it all. They occupied all of the front building except the theatre entrance and lobby. When the theatre closed they apparently expanded into that space as well.
The information in the heading above gives the proper information for the Symnra theatre, but the wrong address which is what has caused the confusion. 7 West South Street is the location of the restored Opera House.
The Symnra theatre built in the 40s is located at aprox. 106 South Commerce Street, about three blocks from the Opera House. The building is still there, but what it currently is used for I have no idea.
If you go to Live Search Maps, type in the 106 South Commerce Street address and you will see the building on the birds eye view. To the left of the theatre are some parking lots, then a church. Look at the exterior photo from the July 9th, 2007 post above, and you will see the building shape conforms to that in the ariel view, and you will see the church to the left.
Yes, the Family did become the State. The family was a 2nd floor house. When it was redone into the State, the building was gutted and the theatre put on the ground level. It was a beautiful theatre. I have all the original blueprints for the conversion into the State.
There may have been a fire there, but the building has not been demolished. It is still there and houses a retail store. If you go around to the alley in the back you can see the addition that was built to house the speaker when sound was added. It never had a stage and there was no room behind the screen for a speaker, therefore the small bump out on the back.
I can’t tell you much about this theatre, as I don’t remember what it looked like except for the fact that it was a single screen shopping center theatre built probably in the mid to late 60s. For a theatre of that period, which were usually pretty plain, it was of good size. comfortable, with a large screen and yes, it did have a curtain that was opened as the lights faded away for the beginning of the show.
I was there in the fall of 1969 while stationed at Ft. Gordon. I went there one time to see the movie “The Sterile Cuckoo” starring Liza Minnelli. The theatre was located north of the city on the hiway that becomes Broad Streen in town which is the main street that all he downtown theatres were located on. I took a bus up to the theatre late one Sunday afternoon and discovered that when the movie got out in the evening there were no more buses running at that time of day on a Sunday. I had to thumb it back into town to catch a bus from there back to the base.
The Jonas Bros. 3D concert film didn’t exactly set the world on fire on it’s opening weekend. It did only $12,700,000 to take 2nd place behind ‘Madera Goes to Jail" which hit #1 for a 2nd week after droping 60% from it’s opening weekend figure of $41,000,000 and going down to $16,500,000 this weekend. This was a rather lackluster weekend overall for theatrtes nationwide.
When you figure that the theatre average for Jonas was $9,992 at an average ticket price of about $13.50 that amounts to only about 740 patrons per theatre for the entire weekend. With each theatre probably averaging 4 shows a day, or 12 shows for the weekend, the show average would only be about 62 people per show.
The 1940 photo of a Lamar theatre submitted by ken mc is obviously not the same theatre. Everything about the theatre, it’s neighbors, and the street elevation is completely different.
The Colonnade is a reverse auditorium theatre. You enter on either side of the screen and are looking at the seats facing you. It’s one of several such theatres still in Pennsylvania. Others still existing are the Majestic in Pottsville, and the Columbia in Brookville. None of them are currently showing commercial movies. The Majestic does run very late run childrens films for free, but not as a commercial film venue.
Bob,
You can find us at www.roxytheaternorthampton.com
As a theatre owner I can see both sides of the story here. I have a single screen small town 2nd run theatre. However, I’m also the highest grossing 2nd run theatre in the state, out grossing many 1st run theatres, and I do it on a $3.00 ticket price. Even with that being the case, I can’t come close to breaking even on ticket sales alone. Concession sales have to pay the remainder of the overhead costs, and then hopefully create enough profit to maintain this historic theatre in a safe, comfortable and attractive condition.
My highest price concession item is a large tub of popcorn which sells for $3.00. The local Carmike sells their small popcorn for $5.75.
I appreciate what Ron Newman said about independents, although I don’t believe many independents (at least in my area) sell their concessions for anything near what the big chains do.
I do not allow patrons to bring food or drink into the theatre from outside, although people do sneak some in. If caught we take it from them. If they refuse to give it up, I throw them out (that seldom happens). That may seem harsh, but they were warned as there is a sizable sign on the front door. It has been my experience that few people that sneak stuff in ever use the trash cans, but rather leave everything on the floor for us to clean up, even though they haven’t contributed anything toward the cost of such.
I realize that the movie going public does not understand the complexities of the movie theatre business, and I agree that the prices charged at chain theatres are simply redicules, but when it’s fairly easy to see how inexpensive we are when compared to the chains, I would think that we should be appreciated for what we do to make movie going affordable for all of our patrons.
We do not run ANY screen advertising, nor do we have any video games in the lobby, so we have no income stream from anything other than ticket sales and concessions.
Our average concession per capita sale is $2.00 added to a $3.00 ticket, means you’ve just spent $5.00 a person to enjoy a movie in a beautiful well maintained art deco theatre with a uniformed staff, an auditorium with beautiful drapes and house curtain, with state of the art Dolby and DTS stereo sound, and a large free parking lot directly behind the theatre as well.
The thought of people suggesting that you sneak food and beverages into our theatre and undermine the financial well being of this showplace is very disturbing to me. Other then Ron, that is exacting what the others here are suggesting.
Shame on you.
I’m not aware that Automaticket made a ticket machine that stamped the name of anything on it. They use preprinted machine tickets with the theatre name, location and price already printed on them by the ticket company.
It looked pretty nice back in 1984. But today, lets just say it desperately needs an exterior paint job.
We would love to see them jimbarry.
In regards to the post made last February about the letters announcing the title “Forbidden Paradise”, those were a standard style of changable letter that was available during that period. Each letter was on a metal rectangle with a raised channel outline that had individual lightbulb sockets within. Each letter had a plug on the back that was plugged into special sockets in the interior of the marquee attraction panel.
I still have a bunch of those letters in the basement of my theatre.
The Theatre Historical Society visited the Sedgwick during their Philadelphia Conclave on July 11th of this year. It is indeed still in operation as a community center in the section of the building housing the lobbies.
We also went into the auitorium, but had to do so through the stage loading dock doors as it is still sealed off from the lobbies and used as a wharehouse. Wow, what a beautiful ceiling.
The lobbies have some spectacular art deco plaster work, but quite a bit of it is damaged and missing. It will take a lot to bring it back to it’s former glory.
Chuck1231
The photo that you posted above is not the Boyd in Allentown, Pa., but rather the Boyd Theatre in EASTON, Pa.
I had posted this info once before, and notice now that it has been removed. This photo had been attached to the Easton posting, but is now gone from there and has for some reason returned here.
Not all listings on americanclassicimages are correct.
I know the theatre in that photo only too well, as I had my first theatre job there as an usher, and latter leased the theatre. I was the final operator, having closed it in May of 1972 when I lost my lease when it had been purchased by E-Park to be demolished for a parking lot.
As a late comer to this theatre listing, I’ve just finished reading through all the posts, and noticed this question:
“I have no idea what could have been on the upper floors of this building when it was a theater.”
Does anyone know or have any ideas?
Unless I missed an answer post… I wish to point out that the answer to that question is shown in the 1964 photograph posted by Lost Memory on April 17th, 2009.
If you study that photograph, you will see that the Nemmer Furniture store occupied the left side on the ground floor even when the theatre was operating. Their sign on the front of the building just to the left of the Paramount marquee says: 9 Floors of Furniture. That pretty well says it all. They occupied all of the front building except the theatre entrance and lobby. When the theatre closed they apparently expanded into that space as well.
{Which Roxy Theater is shown in the color photo above??}
Roxy Theatre
Northampton, Pa.
These are two different theatres.
The information in the heading above gives the proper information for the Symnra theatre, but the wrong address which is what has caused the confusion. 7 West South Street is the location of the restored Opera House.
The Symnra theatre built in the 40s is located at aprox. 106 South Commerce Street, about three blocks from the Opera House. The building is still there, but what it currently is used for I have no idea.
If you go to Live Search Maps, type in the 106 South Commerce Street address and you will see the building on the birds eye view. To the left of the theatre are some parking lots, then a church. Look at the exterior photo from the July 9th, 2007 post above, and you will see the building shape conforms to that in the ariel view, and you will see the church to the left.
The theatre was torn down. The present building is a replacement.
Yes, the Family did become the State. The family was a 2nd floor house. When it was redone into the State, the building was gutted and the theatre put on the ground level. It was a beautiful theatre. I have all the original blueprints for the conversion into the State.
There may have been a fire there, but the building has not been demolished. It is still there and houses a retail store. If you go around to the alley in the back you can see the addition that was built to house the speaker when sound was added. It never had a stage and there was no room behind the screen for a speaker, therefore the small bump out on the back.
I can’t tell you much about this theatre, as I don’t remember what it looked like except for the fact that it was a single screen shopping center theatre built probably in the mid to late 60s. For a theatre of that period, which were usually pretty plain, it was of good size. comfortable, with a large screen and yes, it did have a curtain that was opened as the lights faded away for the beginning of the show.
I was there in the fall of 1969 while stationed at Ft. Gordon. I went there one time to see the movie “The Sterile Cuckoo” starring Liza Minnelli. The theatre was located north of the city on the hiway that becomes Broad Streen in town which is the main street that all he downtown theatres were located on. I took a bus up to the theatre late one Sunday afternoon and discovered that when the movie got out in the evening there were no more buses running at that time of day on a Sunday. I had to thumb it back into town to catch a bus from there back to the base.
The Jonas Bros. 3D concert film didn’t exactly set the world on fire on it’s opening weekend. It did only $12,700,000 to take 2nd place behind ‘Madera Goes to Jail" which hit #1 for a 2nd week after droping 60% from it’s opening weekend figure of $41,000,000 and going down to $16,500,000 this weekend. This was a rather lackluster weekend overall for theatrtes nationwide.
When you figure that the theatre average for Jonas was $9,992 at an average ticket price of about $13.50 that amounts to only about 740 patrons per theatre for the entire weekend. With each theatre probably averaging 4 shows a day, or 12 shows for the weekend, the show average would only be about 62 people per show.
Not many ponied up, did they.
The 1940 photo of a Lamar theatre submitted by ken mc is obviously not the same theatre. Everything about the theatre, it’s neighbors, and the street elevation is completely different.
Does anyone know what Lamar theatre that is?
The Colonnade is a reverse auditorium theatre. You enter on either side of the screen and are looking at the seats facing you. It’s one of several such theatres still in Pennsylvania. Others still existing are the Majestic in Pottsville, and the Columbia in Brookville. None of them are currently showing commercial movies. The Majestic does run very late run childrens films for free, but not as a commercial film venue.