UA East Park I & II
4400 Derry Street,
Harrisburg,
PA
17111
4400 Derry Street,
Harrisburg,
PA
17111
1 person
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Creative Entertainment, Sameric Corporation, United Artists Theater Circuit Inc.
Previous Names: Eric Theatre, Eric I & II, Twin East Park Center
Nearby Theaters
News About This Theater
- Mar 2, 2010 — Happy 45th, "The Sound Of Music"
Originally opened July 10, 1963 as a single screen theatre with 1,350 seats, with “Lawrence of Arabia”. The Harrisburg Eric Theatre was built for 70mm reserved seat movies.
Twinned on December 19, 1973, the Eric I & II opened with “Sleeper” and a double-bill “Midnight Cowboy” & Easy Rider". The landlord then padlocked the theatre, claiming he was entitled to twice the rent since it had been twinned. Sameric went to court and the landlord lost that lawsuit. It was taken over by Creative Entertainment on May 5, 1989 and renamed Twin East Park Center. On April 23, 1993 it was renamed UA East Park I & II. It was closed on February 26, 1995. Vandals started small fires in the vacant building in 1996, and it was demolished in 2006
Contributed by
Lost Memory
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Recent comments (view all 32 comments)
In the overview, Lost Memory wrote: “Twinned in 1978, the Eric I & II opened with “Superman” starring Christopher Reeve.”
This theater was twinned earlier than 1978.
Michael:
The comment about the twin in 1978 came from me in a post several years ago. For some unknown reason that post along with several others that I made along way several years ago seem to have gotten deleated when this website went through various machinations.
If I recall correctly the theatre was twinned sometime around in either 1977 or early 1978. It took the landlord a while to find out about the twinning but then the Landlord decided to take action with the opening of Superman. I believe that Superman was playing on both screens.
The landlord literally padlocked the front doors with large chains and padlocks. I know this for a fact because I represented the theatre owner in the court case. The county court found for the theatre owner since the lease did not forbid twinning of the theatre so long as the premises were returned to its original state on termnination of the lease. Needless to say on the settlment of the suit the theatre owner got a sweethart rental adjustment due to the landlord’s actions.
The grand opening of the “all-new” (whatever that means)Eric Twin I and II was December 19, 1973 — and the landlord didn’t figure this out for 5 years?
Contrary to the photo of the plaque, the theatre opened July 10 with ribbon-cutting by Sen.M.Harvey Taylor.
If I may join the earlier conversation on showmanship and Paul Hipple—I had the pleasure of working with him in probably the least glamorous venues in Harrisburg- The Star Art— but I always loved to hear his memories of the golden days of movie theatres. In particular to the Eric Theatre—before it was twinned— Mr. Hipple told me that when “Sound of Music” closed after 67 weeks (I believe) they were still running the same print they used on opening night—that says a lot about the precision of those Norelco projectors in the booth—but more to the point about the meticulous care the IATSE projectionsts took in assuring a flawless show. Mr. Hipple told me those projector gates and film paths were cleaned after EVERY performance, and the mag heads were de-magnitized after EVERY performance. There is no showmanship like that anymore—my last outing at one of the local Digplex Multiplex venues—I had to tell the candygirl the show hadn’t even started 10 minutes after the fact! I remember movies with curtains, and when showmanship was why you went to the movies. Thank you for considering my reflections. L. Weigard
Anytime L. Weigard.
A chronology of Harrisburg’s 70mm presentations has recently been published for those interested in this aspect of the city’s motion picture exhibition history. The Eric at East Park Center gets several mentions in the piece.
MSC77 link is dead. its at https://www.in70mm.com/country/usa/h/harrisburg/index.htm
Closed in 1995.
The East Park Center shopping plaza was announced in 1962 anchored by a Town & Country discount variety store and a Super Thrift Food Market. Sameric Theatre and Sam Shapiro added the Eric Theatre, a 1,400 luxury cinema to the complex in the planning stages just to the right of the Super Thrift. Purportedly, it was “adaptable” to Cinerama but would open with 70mm and 35mm capability and stereo sound. The theatre was a big deal as Governor William W. Scranton showed up to lay the cornerstone for the theater on April 26, 1963.
The Eric Theatre opened in the East Park Center with a ribbon cutting by State Senator M. Harvey Taylor on July 10, 1963. Just over ten years later, on December 19, 1973, the venue became a twin called Twin Eric I and II with “Sleeper” and a double feature of “Midnight Cowboy” and “Easy Rider.”
Sameric Theatres sold the theatre in May of 1989 to UAB II Inc. with the theatres operated by Creative Entertainment, LTD. The theaters were renamed as the Twin East Park Center Theatres on May 5, 1989. The Creative Entertainment nameplate was discontinued in 1991 with the theaters continuing. On April 23, 1993, they became the UA East Park I & II Theatres.
The UA East Park I & II Theatres closed at the end of lease on February 26, 1995 with “Nobody’s Fool” and “Legends of the Fall.” Any thoughts of returning the cinemas to operational condition was challenged by arsonists who set a number of small fires inside the twins in 1996. The theater stood until 2006 when it was finally demolished.