Berwick Theatre

50sSNIPES on April 7, 2023 at 11:11 pm

The Opera House became the Strand Theatre as early as 1921. After the Strand was damaged by a fire on September 23, 1933, it was rebuilt and reopened on December 12, 1934 with John Boles in “Music In The Air” and Ben Blue in “Out Of Order” along with a Big V comedy and a Fox Movietone Newsreel.

On June 10, 1966, the Strand Theatre almost suffered another fire after a small blaze occur near the adjacent to the Strand.

On October 28, 1967, the Strand Theatre closed for a couple of days due to a new screen installation. The Strand Theatre changed its name to the Berwick Theatre when it reopened on November 1, 1967.

Mike (saps) on August 3, 2018 at 11:24 pm

That Strange Inheritance show was on again, and it was chock-full of info about this theater.

The sketchy introduction on this page needs to be rewritten with some facts and respect.

Joe Vogel on March 25, 2015 at 8:38 am

A report of the September 23, 1933, fire that destroyed the Strand Theatre in Berwick appeared in the September 25 issue of The Kane Republican from Kane, Pennsylvania. The article said that the building was owned by the P.O.S. of A., so it could well have been the old Opera House with a new name.

The article also said that nearby buildings suffering damage from water and smoke included the Palace Theatre, so the Palace and the Strand were different houses very close together, possibly adjacent. The Strand was back in operation by 1935, but I don’t know if it was a new theater on the old site or if the name Strand had simply been moved to the nearby Palace Theatre.

I’ve found two notices of theater construction in Berwick, one in 1916 and one in 1919. No theater names were attached to either item, but one of them might have been the Temple Theatre, in operation in 1943 and located on W. Front Street.

muviebuf on March 5, 2015 at 5:25 pm

The Berwick Theatre is scheduled to be featured on an upcoming episode of the new Fox Business Network show “Strange Inheritances”. The episode is currently scheduled for Monday March 16, 2015 at 9:00PM ET.

Not exactly sure why they consider inheriting a movie theatre to be strange.

Rad59679 on September 11, 2013 at 2:09 pm

Hi there! I’d like to offer some insight on this topic. My grandfather was Vincent DiAugustine. He recently passed away and it was his dying wish to keep the movie theater open. As the only family member up for the challenge, I’ve taken on his mission. I believe my grandfather purchased the movie theater from Aaron Daniels grandfather. It was then called the Berwick Theater. My grandfather leased the theater for a number of years, until 1997 when he did major renovations to the theater. He ran the theater from 1997 until the last days of his life which was July 8th 2013.

Growing up in this movie theater (I’m only 22), I’ve come to know some of the history (as told by grandfather). I was under the impression that the theater was the Palace Theater initially and then the Strand movie theater. One was performing arts and the other was film. There was a fire in the movie theater in the late 30’s. I think thats when it was solely the Strand movie theater. In the 70’s, I believe there was major renovations to it in which the BIG screen was added. I also think that was when the lot that used to be empty was expanded and that’s how we ended up with the lobby. I know that the lobby wasn’t always there. It was in the middle under the marquee. That’s why it looks so strange, to those who are used to seeing a typical vintage movie theater entrance.

I hope that helps!

I’m also on here to find out how I can track down old/vintage movies to play. It’s a popular request among our customers and I’m having a hard tine getting my hands on them!

Thanks
Renee

Joe Vogel on May 13, 2011 at 10:41 am

The Strand/Berwick is located at the same address that was listed for the P.O.S.of A. Opera House in a 1905 city directory. This was a theater built in 1890 by the Patriotic Order Sons of America. The P.O.S. of A. Opera House, according to various editions of Julius Cahn’s guide, was a ground floor theater seating about 650. Unless the original building was destroyed, the Strand/Berwick Theatre must be the same house. The facade of the Berwick in the photos linked above does look fairly old, though it also looks rather plain for a theater built in 1890, so it might have been remodeled at some point.

During the 1910s, Berwick had houses called the Palace Theatre, mentioned in a book published in 1915, and the Lyric Theatre, mentioned in a 1913 magazine article as having been recently remodeled. I haven’t found any references to the Opera House later than 1908, so either the Palace or the Lyric (or both) might have been the Opera House renamed, and thus an aka for the Berwick, but I’ve been unable to connect either name with an address.

rekindt on May 12, 2011 at 5:27 pm

I don’t know much about the history of the theatre, but we recently purchased a home in Berwick and found 3 photo quality flyers advertising Shirley Temple in “Stowaway” for a continuous showing beginning New Year’s day, running through January 5th, 1937. So it was open at least by 1937. The front of the poster is a picture of Santa Claus with Shirley Temple’s face superimposed over his and says “Best wishes for happy holidays- Shirley Temple”

RJS on August 12, 2005 at 8:17 pm

I was able to take an exterior photo of the Berwick theater in August 2005. It seems to be showing second run at this time. You can view the photo here. The entrance is the set of doors to the left.