Colonial Theater
123 N. Main Street,
Elmira,
NY
14901
123 N. Main Street,
Elmira,
NY
14901
2 people
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: CinemaNational, Dipson Circuit, Fox Circuit, Loews, USA Cinemas
Architects: Michael J. DeAngelis
Styles: Streamline Moderne
Previous Names: Colonial Theater Vaudeville
Nearby Theaters
The Colonial Theater Vaudeville was opened September 18, 1911 with 6-acts of vaudeville. By 1914 it was screening movies. It was listed in a 1917 Elmira, NY business directory at the address given above. A Link theater organ size 2/6 was installed in the Colonial Theater in 1928. In March 1929 it was taken over by the Fox Circuit.
The Colonial Theater was remodeled in 1941 to the plans of architect Michael J. DeAngelis. Taken over by Cinema National, in Ocober 1986 it was taken over by USA Cinemas. They closed it on September 13, 1987 following a 4-weeks run of Patrick Swayze in “Dirty Dancing”. It was later demolished.
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Recent comments (view all 17 comments)
And after viewing a photo from the 40’s and then a photo from the 80’s I see the doors were changed just like was done to my hometown theatre. Amazing! Need to know if this theatre is still at 123 Main.
After comparing a photo of this theatre in Box Office Magazine I also see that an exterior art piece was either removed or covered over. Hope this theatre is open now.
Joe Vogel: I looked at the Boxoffice Feb. 21, 1942 issue and couldn’t find the Colonial article with photo though I did find the Colonial article in the April 26, 1941 issue. Thanks for the Boxoffice website information as I visit it often now.
All the old links to Boxoffice articles that were posted at issuu.com are dead, and I’m gradually updating them as I come across them. Archived issues of Boxoffice are now in a section called The Vault at the magazine’s own web site.
I’ve noticed that a lot of the old links have the wrong issue dates or wrong pages. Either I made a lot of mistakes, or the magazines at issuu.com were different editions than the ones now available at The Vault (Boxoffice published a national edition and multiple regional editions, and the content didn’t always match up.)
The magazine has also set up The Vault in a way that makes it inaccessible to search engines, so I can’t always find the new locations of the articles I cited in earlier comments. The article about the Colonial is one of those I can’t find, but I have found the drawing of the proposed redesign of the theater, at the upper right corner of this page of the April 26, 1941, issue.
Sadly, this theater had been allowed to fall into disrepair, & eventually was demolished to make way for the hockey arena.
It is a shame that the Colonial is now a bank, but more importantly that its beautiful interior was changed “back then”…in the “boxofficemagazine” article one can see the elegant interior with the corner organ!
This opened on September 18th, 1911. Grand opening ad in the photo section.
I saw MAD MAX: BEYOND THUNDERDOME 1st run at the Colonial. They still had working curtains. Great theater.
Taken over by Fox Circuit in March 1929.
Correction from my March 29, 2024 (8:48 AM) comment:
The Colonial was later operated by CinemaNational and finally USA Cinemas in October 1986, before closing on September 13, 1987 after a four-week run of “Dirty Dancing”.