Yes, I found an article in the Bridgeport Post that gives the Liberty Theater’s address as 1292 State Street. I signed the writeup that I did about the Liberty (above) on October 13, 2013—my name is at the end—so I wonder how anyone could imagine that it was written by someone else? In any case, we’re all friends here. It doesn’t surprise me that the theater has been demolished; much else of value in Bridgeport has gone as well. But let me add a hasty correction. When I wrote that the Liberty cost ten cents for a Saturday afternoon, I was wrong. It cost NINE cents! On a happier note, I was pleased to see that the school where I went to kindergarten, Elias Howe School, has been saved to become apartments for senior citizens. Bravo! And best wishes to all of you who care about the old movie houses that we loved so much.—BZ
If the placement shown in the photograph is correct, and the Liberty stood approximately where the fenced-in limousine service now stands (with its blue awnings), then here’s the problem: move the street marker to the right and you’ll see the building (red door) that was supposed to be the West End Theater. Also, the red dot indicator in the map shows the West End and Liberty on the same side of the street, but this wasn’t the case at all. I lived on Hanover Street, a few blocks away from both of these theaters, and with friends attended Saturday matinees at both theaters during my late forties-early fifties childhood. The favorite of me and my buddies was the Liberty—ten cents on a Saturday afternoon. Two tenth run movies (Hopalong Cassidy, or “The Fighting Seabees” or “Sands of Iwo Jima” or two horror pictures, etc., plus cartoons, cartoons, cartoons.) There was a famous seat that everyone ran for—its bottom was out and you could rest your duff on the floor, but look out for the rats!. The West End, which was snazzily remodeled, was fourteen cents, and who had that kind of money? I do remember, though, one Saturday wanting to go to the West End for a live appearance of Clarabel the Clown (I don’t know which one) from the Howdy Doody Show. It was a quarter! Somehow I reached down into that tiny money pocket on my jeans and found it—twenty-five cents! Anyhow, the West End and the Liberty were practically across the street from one another, NOT on the same side of the street. If I can still remember, the West End was on the south side of State Street and the Liberty was on the north side. And if I look hard at that building with the red door, I’m willing to bet it’s not the West End but the Liberty. In the early sixties the new manager of the West End ran everything from Russ Meyer flicks (“Lorna”) to Igmar Bergman festivals. I think I saw fourteen Bergman films in a week’s time. It was truly an experience. But the West End, the whole city in fact, was imploding, and nothing, not even the best films in the world, could save those movie houses.—Bill Zavatsky
Yes, I found an article in the Bridgeport Post that gives the Liberty Theater’s address as 1292 State Street. I signed the writeup that I did about the Liberty (above) on October 13, 2013—my name is at the end—so I wonder how anyone could imagine that it was written by someone else? In any case, we’re all friends here. It doesn’t surprise me that the theater has been demolished; much else of value in Bridgeport has gone as well. But let me add a hasty correction. When I wrote that the Liberty cost ten cents for a Saturday afternoon, I was wrong. It cost NINE cents! On a happier note, I was pleased to see that the school where I went to kindergarten, Elias Howe School, has been saved to become apartments for senior citizens. Bravo! And best wishes to all of you who care about the old movie houses that we loved so much.—BZ
If the placement shown in the photograph is correct, and the Liberty stood approximately where the fenced-in limousine service now stands (with its blue awnings), then here’s the problem: move the street marker to the right and you’ll see the building (red door) that was supposed to be the West End Theater. Also, the red dot indicator in the map shows the West End and Liberty on the same side of the street, but this wasn’t the case at all. I lived on Hanover Street, a few blocks away from both of these theaters, and with friends attended Saturday matinees at both theaters during my late forties-early fifties childhood. The favorite of me and my buddies was the Liberty—ten cents on a Saturday afternoon. Two tenth run movies (Hopalong Cassidy, or “The Fighting Seabees” or “Sands of Iwo Jima” or two horror pictures, etc., plus cartoons, cartoons, cartoons.) There was a famous seat that everyone ran for—its bottom was out and you could rest your duff on the floor, but look out for the rats!. The West End, which was snazzily remodeled, was fourteen cents, and who had that kind of money? I do remember, though, one Saturday wanting to go to the West End for a live appearance of Clarabel the Clown (I don’t know which one) from the Howdy Doody Show. It was a quarter! Somehow I reached down into that tiny money pocket on my jeans and found it—twenty-five cents! Anyhow, the West End and the Liberty were practically across the street from one another, NOT on the same side of the street. If I can still remember, the West End was on the south side of State Street and the Liberty was on the north side. And if I look hard at that building with the red door, I’m willing to bet it’s not the West End but the Liberty. In the early sixties the new manager of the West End ran everything from Russ Meyer flicks (“Lorna”) to Igmar Bergman festivals. I think I saw fourteen Bergman films in a week’s time. It was truly an experience. But the West End, the whole city in fact, was imploding, and nothing, not even the best films in the world, could save those movie houses.—Bill Zavatsky