Frederick Theater
110 N. Market Street,
Frederick,
MD
21701
110 N. Market Street,
Frederick,
MD
21701
1 person
favorited this theater
The Frederick Theater was the first movie theater in Frederick, MD. Although the Opera House and Majestic Theater’s had already been built, they weren’t movie theaters. When the theater opened in 1919, a crowd reported to excede 1,000 attended. Over the years, the Frederick Theater became known for showing mostly Westerns. By 1941, the Frederick Theatre was operated by Warner Bros. Circuit Management Corp.
When Coke was still sold in glass bottles, the children had a game that they played during the movie. Since the theater had a slanted floor, the children, (and sometimes kids-at-heart) would set the bottles down in the aisle and let them roll down to hit the stage. When they hit, they cracked and sent a whirlwind of excitement through the auditorium.
The Frederick Theater was popular up until the advent of television. At that time, the theater was closed, never to be reopened. For a time, the theater was occupied by Rogers hardware store, until it was demolished to make way for a parking lot.
Contributed by
Jody Brumage
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There is a nice photo of the Frederick, circa 1940, in the 7/18/95 edition of the Frederick Post. Unfortunately, I can’t reproduce it here. The text is as follows:
The Frederick Theater, since demolished, was located south of the former Social Services building (once JC Penney’s) on North Market Street. It was one of three theaters downtown: The Frederick Theater, The Opera House (old City Hall, next to the Frederick Theater) and The Tivoli Theater (now the Weinberg Center for the Performing Arts).
Here is part of an article from the Frederick News dated 12/10/59:
For the first time since 1926, the Tivoli Theater became locally owned on Wednesday with the transfer of ownership from the Transamerica Realty Corporation of Washington to the new Frederick Theaters Inc. Mr. and Mrs. Dan Weinberg, controlling owners of Frederick Theaters, Inc., announced last night they had purchased the Tivoli and the leasehold interest in the closed Frederick Theater on Market Street for $150,000.
The Weinbergs said they had no plans at the moment to reopen the Frederick Theater, which has been closed for four or five years except for a short month or two of foreign film presentations a year or so ago.
The lease on the Frederick Theater from the William O. Fisher estate expires on May 1, 1961, and it is not known if the Frederick will be purchased or re-leased at that time. The Weinbergs and Jasper L. Stanley, of Bedford, Va., who represents other theaters in which the Weinbergs have an interest in Virginia, formed thee Frederick Theaters Corporation recently to purchase the Tivoli and the Frederick theaters. These are the only theaters this corporation owns.