Stanley Theatre

The Stanley Theatre in Jersey City opened on March 28, 1928. It was part of the Stanley-Fabian Corporation which was acquired by Warner Bros. in October 1, 1928. It operated as part of the Warner Bros. theatre chain until the US Justice Department required the motion picture companies to divest the theatre operations from film production. A new corporation, the Stanley-Warner Corporation was created and taken over from the Warner Brothers by Si Fabian who along with his father and Samuel Rosen operated the original Fabian Corporation. Stanley-Warner was acquired by RKO and it became RKO- Stanley Warner. The Stanley Theatre facade is prominently displayed as part of the Theatre Historical Society letter head on its stationery.

Helene Stapinski’s book “Five Finger Discount” has a great description of her childhood experiences attending shows at the Stanley and the Loew’s. Worth a read.

Here are some more old Stanley ads from the Jersey Journal, courtesy of the microfilm collection at the Jersey City Public Library.

1942 – Special Reduced Prices for Men and Women in the Armed Forces:

View link

In this ad from July 1961, the director of the Stanley’s attraction threatens to kill you:

View link

In another ad for the same film, try to read the small print on the right-hand side. Even after expanding the image, it might be hard to decipher, but it talks about having your admission “sneerfully refunded” if you’re too cowardly to see the end of the picture. That’s showmanship! :

View link

MissPeaches' comment is so obviously biased and illogical that it doesn’t deserve a response. This site is about Cinema Treasures, not inflamatory religious accusations. The renovated Stanley Theatre is a fine example of what this site is all about; its ownership is irrelevant. I say “Three cheers to Jehovah’s Witnesses for preserving this masterpiece!”

Here is an old postcard that hasn’t been posted yet:
View link

Noticed that GabeDF’s Mar ll entry of the largest theatres ever built left out the Fox here in San Francisco. According to it’s listing on the Cinema Treasures website, the Fox had 4651 seats making it the 8th largest American theatre.

Re: GabeDF. Speaking about size in theaters(a rather delicate issue, and not intending to be too chauvinistic about)here in México we had two or three buildings actually larger than the Maximo: The Colonial had more than 5000 seats, the Orfeon opened with more than 6000 seats, and then there was the Florida, the largest one with 7500(some more than the Radio City Music Hall) The Florida was rather narrow but very long: probably more than 300 feet. I realize that wasn’t actually a “Movie Palace” (it’s difficult to compare mexican movie theaters to the great american ones), but was a very imposing building in its own right. Unfortunately the Florida was demolished many years ago after a fire.
And now, about the Stanley, it’s impossible to open the above posted links.
Speaking about the Stanley, it’s impossible to open the above link.

CORRECTION…I meant to say “none of them have been during the time the organ was there”. R~

We visited the Stanley Sunday and the hostess/guide Deborah could not have been friendlier. We had a wonderful tour, enjoyed the short film, and had a nice conversation with the other tourists. Anyone who grew up in the Hudson County area should see this treasure. Thanks to the hard work and donations of the congregation, the Stanley is now the jewel of Journal Square. We are wondering if anyone knows what was the last film that played at the Stanley when it closed? Before going to the Jersey Journal archives, does anyone have an answer? Thanks in advance.

Last week I went to the Loews Jersey for the first time to see “Great Escape” and “Great Dictator”…what an experience…I went across the street to the Stanley and a security guard took me inside and talked to me about it…what a theater it must have been back then…question..the procenium where the screen would be didn’t look as though it would encase a huge screen fitting for the size of the theater…anybody have info on that??

Here’s an ad from a local Jersey City newspaper in July 1960 announcing an upcoming show at the Stanley: Hitchcock’s “Psycho”.

The reason that the ceiling in the auditorium was repained white from the original blue, is that it must be a reflector of the white metal halide flood lights hidden behind the building facades along the horizon line in order for these up-lights to cast upon the ceiling to reflect enough light down upon the congregation in order for them to be able to read their Bibles during the discourses; remember that there is no original bright lighting in an ‘atmospheric’ movie palace. Other lights in blue are turned ‘on’ when these white ones are turned ‘off’ and then they turn the stars and clouds on and people see it much as it was. It would seem that the blue paint on the ceiling is no great loss when compared to the gem that was restored and survives today (and the ceiling had to be repainted in any case, since rain leaks during the years of darkness before the Witnesses took over the place, had produced many visible damaged sections of the plaster ‘sky.’

TC, wait till you see the auditorium. It’s a sight to behold! The stars come out, and the clouds float by. So cool! I’m told the cieling was once painted sky blue, and not the white color it’s painted now (maybe Bill can verify that since he went there alot when he was younger). Even so, the effect isn’t really lost in the dark.

Bill: the tourguides were learning as much from you, as we were from them. They only knew the place as it looked when they first walked in: a dump. Not as it was previously.

I wish I had remembered to bring my camera.