Palace Theatre
165 Main Street,
Danbury,
CT
06810
165 Main Street,
Danbury,
CT
06810
8 people
favorited this theater
Showing 76 - 100 of 119 comments
Alright folks, these quotes by DaSilva are either BS or BS. He never speaks publicly about the Palace or anything and has always refused to turn over the Palace to the community. Of course as stated above, I know 1 person who is restoring the place and has for the last 5 years. From a capitalistic standpoint, if you own so much property in Danbury, why give it up and instead you can make millions if you sell it to an outside interest. I understand. But seriously, check the next post out.
I was going to post that today but you beat me to it. I don’t know. A few weeks ago there were paper bags on the interior of the doors, now tarps. With DaSilva, anything’s possible. If you read the above post you’ll see my post about a friend of a friend working on the renovation. He’s been doing it solo for 6 years.
Is the Palace Theater being renovated? I saw work being done on the entrance way a few days ago and now theres one of those clearish tarps covering it.
I contacted Ridgefield Playhouse via email and was told that I could do an internship and then was given a number to call. When I called, the director didn’t even remember me and then told me to call back the next week. I was starting to doubt whether or not they were being serious with me. It turns out they weren’t because I called back and left a message and no one ever responded.
I’m hoping that I might be able to get a job or do an internship at Billy Baloneys in Danbury or at least get a straight answer out of them when I ask.
No, actually. I don’t go into Ridgefield often so I didn’t even think of that. Thanks for the suggestion.
Cheshir, have you checked with the Ridgefield Playhouse?
I really wish that the Palace theater would open. Being a junior at Danbury High School with 2 years experience in the technical aspects of working in a theater, specifically sound, an opportunity to work in a theater would be like a godsend. I was offered a job running the sound equipment for a traveling acting troupe run by a counselor at school but my parents were not fond of me riding around CT with some guy and his acting troupe. I am currently the head of the sound department for the stage crew at DHS. We do the spring musical and few little things throughout the year. I would love to do more but with the empress gone and the palace closed there aren’t many opportunities for someone like me to get a job in the theater business.
Since a few weeks ago there are now brown paper bag coverings on the inside of the lobby doors. Not much of an update.
That IS kind of strange. You have to wonder if anybody at the News-Times even remembers the name of the theater!
The Palace was mentioned in an April 5, 2007 editorial in the News-Times regarding the oft-mentioned new owner of the Bank Street Theatre in New Milford. What’s strange is the editorial obviously refers to the theater but not in name. It’s assumed everyone in town knows what they mean.
Good move
Danbury should follow New Milford’s lead in saving downtown theater
Apr 05 2007
We have to agree with Richard Freedman. He thinks New Milford is lucky to have found Gary Goldring, the entrepreneur from Sherman who bought the Bank Street Theater in downtown New Milford, and so do we.
The old theater with the distinctive Art Deco exterior is a downtown landmark.
Freedman certainly has an informed opinion as he is the one who sold the gem to Goldring. The price tag was $1 million, the same amount paid by Freedman two years ago, even though he invested more with lobby renovations and new seats. Whether it is generosity or market reality, we are glad to see the building sold at that price instead of languishing for years.
Mayor Patricia Murphy rolled up her sleeves and, as she said, “went chasing” the buyer, who had earlier indicated interest in doing business in New Milford. This is one more piece of evidence that she has made economic development a priority.
Granted, a movie theater does not have the tax impact that would come with some larger potential projects, but it has considerable cultural impact.
In the early days of moving pictures, nearly every thriving downtown had its own theater and many even had competing theaters. Some were converted from vaudeville stages and most had elaborate decorations that are nearly cost prohibitive to duplicate now.
Cities that have restored their wonderful old theaters — the Shubert in New Haven and the Palace in Waterbury come to mind — have not only preserved a bit of history, but also have attracted complementary growth with restaurants and shops.
When will it be Danbury’s turn? The city’s old theater, also privately owned like New Milford’s, has sat sadly empty for years, right on Main Street.
New Milford has shown that with ingenuity deals can happen. Let’s take a step in Danbury and get talking about how the Hat City’s own piece of history can be saved.
You can see an overhead view of downtown Danbury in CT Circle Magazine from 1946 in the local history room of Danbury Library. Call number 974.692C. You can see the Empress and the Palace (Palace sticks out obviously). Page 2 and 16 are overheads. Page 29 has the marquee of the Palace visible.
I went to see movies at the Palace from 1965 to 1984. Disney films, grindhouse films, westerns- you name it. Special double feature matinee programs for kids on the weekends were always fun. During high school, they had midnight shows of Rocky Horror, and sometimes Up in Smoke. After the triplex conversion, I saw Empire Strikes Back and Clash of the Titans in the large “balcony” theater. I always regreted that they carved up the original theater, though. We called the other 2 theaters “bowling alley” theaters because they were so long and narrow. In the mid 70’s, before the conversion, there were some nights where they would really pack ‘em in! I hope the renovation Shoeshoe has been posting about is moving forward, since the last post was almost a year ago.
I e-mailed Elizabeth Putnam at the News-Times to ask if she’d heard anything about the status of the Palace. Her story in Sunday’s paper about the revitalization of downtown Danbury made no mention of the Palace, yet ironically said that the old Pride Cleaners building on Main St. may be converted into an 85-seat theater!
This little tidbit appeared in Sunday’s Danbury News-Times “Do You Remember? 50 Years Ago” — from 1956:
50 years ago
A “Rock-A-Rama” entertainment scheduled at the Palace Theater in Danbury Saturday (April 7, 1956) has been canceled through mutual agreement of the theater manager, city and police officials and the agency scheduled to present the show.
Police Chief F.ŸJ. Mazzia said theater officials were requested not to stage the event in view of boisterous occurrences at similar programs elsewhere in recent months and in view of an incident here March 23 (1956) when furniture and plumbing were damaged at the Elks auditorium during a rock ‘n’ roll review sponsored by the Hat Makers Drum Corps.
Hey ShoeShoe, that’s pretty interesting — and it leads to the question, Where Is The Piano Now?
Another tidbit from Sunday’s News-Times “Do You Remember” section.
25 years ago.
Although initial attempts are only beginning to be made to create the Danbury cultural center proposed for Main Street’s Palace Theater, it has received its first gift in time for the holidays â€" the 60-year-old concert piano that was the original piano in the theater since it opened.
Robert Claypool, owner of the Samoria Music Center, bought and restored the piano, and is donating the instrument to the Danbury Downtown Council so it can be returned to the theater once the cultural center opens.
I can rememember seeing Fantasia when I was young at this theatre. THe Palace was a beautiful movie theatre before they divided it up. When they divided it up, they ruined it. It was neat thought, seeing a movie in the secton that use to be the balcony. I can remember seeing 3 movies in one day at the Palace.
Today’s Danbury News-Times ran another “Do You Remember” from 25 years ago, that continues the saga begun above…it’s hard to know who to believe, or not to believe!
Theater’s sale to DaSilva upsets city’s plans for cultural center
From The News-Times files
25 years ago
Mayor James E. Dyer says he is “crushed” that plans to convert the Palace Theater on Main Street in Danbury into a cultural center have been shattered because the property was sold Thursday (Dec. 11, 1980) to downtown landlord Joseph DaSilva.
A contract between DaSilva and the Coury Realty Corp., represented by Theodore Gemza and composed of Elie Coury, Doris Jean Gemza and two silent partners, was signed this week.
This week’s sale came after the Danbury Downtown Council had been working for several months with Dyer on a plan to buy the 51-year-old theater with state, federal and private aid and renovate it as an arts center.
Well, clearly Jimmy Dyer won’t be recommending anything, because I believe since the time that story originally ran he was convicted of racketeering or accepting bribes, or whatever it is mayors in Connecticut always do, and spent some time in prison. It’s a shame, because when I attended Westconn in the 1970s it was the same Jim Dyer, before he became mayor, who took my yearbook photo!
Anyway, I remember going to the Palace with a bunch of college pals to see “Blazing Saddles” when it first came out, which must have been 1974. We laughed our asses off. (I saw it a second time at the Ridgefield Cinema, in case anybody is cross-referencing entries and wants to know why I said I saw it there.) It’s a shame this theater is gone. I hope the stories about a slowly progressing rehabilitation are true.
From “Do You Remember” column from the 10/16 issue of the News-Times.
The grand old Palace Theater on Main Street could become Danbury’s
cultural center if a plan supported by Mayor James E. Dyer comes to fruition.
Dyer is working with the Danbury Downtown Council on a plan for the city, with state, federal and private aid, to buy the 51-year-old theater and renovate it into an arts center.
The adjacent 34-unit Martha Apartments building would be used for housing for the elderly, according to the plan. Dyer will recommend opening negotiations with the theater’s owners.
Ah, that’s the one whose name I got wrong that I saw upstairs with the back open.
The former organ from the Palace Theatre is now installed in the Thomaston Opera House.
I found another ad by accident while researching the theaters in New Milford. It’s from Our Times New Milford and there’s and old ad on page 4 for the Warner Brothers Palace Danbury for “She Couldn’t Say No” starring Winnie Lightner and Chester Morris.
That is good news. Danbury has many treasures to be restored. I have many wonderful memories from living in Danbury and I would hate to see the downtown area go to ruin.
Yeah, me too. Even thought DaSilva has a bad rap, he his restorer towed his line but made sense. The City of Danbury kept on him to let them have it as a performing arts center for $1, etc. and he said no. I always thought he was stubborn and his rep is to hold onto empty buildings all the time. He owns the Pershing Building on the corner of West and Main (former Opera House) and at one time it was the largest office building in the country. The downstairs have 75% used office space and the top 2 floors are compeletely dead. Anyway, the restorer told me that why should we give it to the city? They aren’t done restoring it and nobody has any idea that it’s being restored. It’s almost secretive. Slowly by slowly, it’s getting done.