Uptown Theater
2501 N. Fourth Street,
Harrisburg,
PA
17110
2501 N. Fourth Street,
Harrisburg,
PA
17110
2 people
favorited this theater
The curtain was raised at the 693-seat theater at North Fourth Street and Schuylkill Street on October 6, 1949. “In the Good Old Summertime” with Judy Garland and Van Johnson was the main attraction. The one-story brick theater cost $175,000 to build.
The entrance had a cool, curving corner marquee of stainless steel. The outside lobby was paneled in birchwood with indirect cove lights. The main auditorium was decorated in blue and cocoa with fabric hung walls, acoustical ceiling, wood wainscoting and lights on the side walls. All seating was on a single floor. The building was air-conditioned. Additional facilities included a Television lounge which could seat around 20 persons, a crying room, and a free parking lot.
The theater closed April 9, 1972, without fanfare. The last film was Cecil B. DeMille’s “The Ten Commandments”. The theater equipment and furnishing were sold and the building later razed for a parking garage.
Contributed by
John Messick
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Recent comments (view all 15 comments)
The Uptown was owned/operated by the Rubinsky family. My cousin Jeff and I used to go to the Saturday kids' matinees all the time in the 1950’s. We watched Buster Crabbe serials, Westerns, and cartoons (Casper the Friendly Ghost, Tom and Jerry, etc.). Today Jeff is a TV director/producer in Hollywood. Some favorite snacks were popcorn (of course) in a cardboard box, Jujubees, Rolo bars, Good & Plenty, Goobers.
Downtown theatres included the Senate (right on Market St. Square) and the State Theatre on Market, if memory serves correctly.
Cynthia Melman
Don’t forget pretzel sticks in a little cellophane-covered box and chocolate covered raisins.
The lady at the Penway refreshment stand once said I was going to turn into a chocolate-covered raisin!
I really liked the Uptown.
Any photos out there?
No photo – I wish – but an ad for one of the Uptown’s foreign film screenings:
View link
I add to this album of vintage theaters & movie memorabilia from time to time:
View link
I lived at 2147 N. 4th St. until I left for the Army in February, 1960. The only movie I remember watching at the Uptown was Auntie Mame (sp), and I saw it three times one day in the company of a pretty blonde. I loved that area of uptown back then, but I digress.
I forgot to mention that my dad and grandfather used to take me to the “Broad,” which was a real rathole, even back then. People would run up on the stage while the movie was in progress and the audience would make rude comments during the shows. I used to go to the matinees where I won silver dollars, but I can’t remember what I did to win them.
I remember the Broad but I never saw anything there. I think it was generally considered pretty sleazy. It was sort of across the street from the market as I recall. Later turned into some kind of store (furneture?)
My parents used to go to the market and the shopping district. I forget the street names. There was a five-and-ten and a store called Bill’s. There was another movie theater down the street, the Rialto? Never went there either.
I grew up in Lower Paxton township, and, when I was in high school at Central Dauphin, I saw a number of foreign films at the Uptown. In my recollection, during that period (1963-1966), the Uptown only showed foreign films. Here are some films that I recall seeing there: Billy Budd, The Collector, Tom Jones, 8 ½, Juliet of the Spirits, Blow-Up, and A Man and a Woman.
I understood at the time that the Uptown was owned by Robert Mumma, the Pennsy Supply mogul, who was a wealthy guy. When I went to the Uptown it would be on a Friday night, always alone, and I remember that the theater was never very full. There was an audience for foreign films in Harrisburg in those days, but it wasn’t a big audience. I had the impression that the owner wasn’t strongly focused on making a profit on the Uptown. I thought then, and I think now, that the Uptown was the most significant cultural force in the whole Harrisburg area in the mid 1960s.
I consider myself lucky to have been able to see a number of significant foreign films of that period when they were contemporary.
Grand opening ad posted.