Palace Theatre
165 Main Street,
Danbury,
CT
06810
165 Main Street,
Danbury,
CT
06810
8 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 119 comments
Correction: It was actually once operated by Stanley-Warner, then RKO, and later Crown Theatres LLC.
Once operated by RKO Stanley-Warner, and later Crown Theatres LLC.
Reopened with 3 screens on March 30th, 1979. Ad posted.
Historic Buildings of Connecticut link with the reason behind the 1999 seats.
https://historicbuildingsct.com/martha-apartments-1926-palace-theater-1928/
Can’t find any recent news reports about the renovation but from the pictures at their official website it looks like they’ve done a great job restoring the lobby areas – they look quite beautiful.
It also looks like they have a reasonably active schedule of shows and events, live performances, concerts and occasional movies.
No views of the auditoria – from the seating map on their website it looks like they still haven’t yet removed the partitions and are still working out of one half of the orchestra section. But what renovations they’ve done look great and they have a reasonably active schedule, which are the most important things at this point. The article linked from above indicates they’re looking at approx. 17 million for the renovation, which is not high at all compared to other renovations I’ve seen attempted so I think it’s quite doable – I expect progress will continue to happen.
In the 1976 film ONE SUMMER LOVE (originally titled DRAGONFLY) Susan Sarandon plays a candy/popcorn girl at the Palace and the marquee, lobby, mezzanine, auditorium and even manager’s office are shown. A hard to find film that popped up on TV today here in Richmond, VA. Hope all get to see it.
CT Film Fest 2011, Palace pics. View link
Postcard from 1934 showing Palace and Empress marquees.
Both movies, “Six of a Kind” and “Long Lost Father” are from 1934.
http://yfrog.com/h2e623j
I struck gold! I was researching today for a doc I’m producing and Diane at the Museum showed me an old postcard of the 1934 blizzard with the Empress and Palace marquees visible.
I’ll post them later today as well as photocopies of pics (the person didn’t want to donate) of the Capitol’s exterior and INTERIOR! Not ornate at all.
Great update on the Palace renovations and cost. View link
I’d love to see the pictures. Thank you!
i emailed them to you just now, but they bounced back.
I would like to see them Dave,my e-mail is on my homepage.Thanks.
I’m very happy today. I was doing research at the Danbury Museum for an unrelated project the last few days and found many pictures of the Palace, Capitol and Empress Theatres, and not just the traditional “Images of America” book pictures. I’ve found countless viewspoints including aerial!!!
Unfortunately, I cannot post pics still, so I’ll send them over to Roger Katz. For folks interested in these great black and white and some color photos, I’d be happy to email them to you in a zipped file. They are great.
And now they have an Artistic Director. http://bit.ly/byWnm8
now has a website…http://thepalacedanbury.com/
great to see all the progress since I last posted here 3 years ago! I can’t wait to hear when it is finally restored to the original single theater design.
Vaudeville is back at the Palace as one of many events at First Night Danbury.
View link
and to honor the history of the Palace Theater, which opened in 1926 as a vaudeville house, a series of contemporary vaudeville performances hosted by Sean Grissom, who for the past ten years has done similar honors for the Holiday Vaudevilles at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.
Great news. This Saturday, the Palace theater, in conjunction with the CTFF and City Center Danbury, will present the CT Premiere and nationwide, pre-theatrical release of “The Private Lives of Pippa Lee” (already shown at Berlin FF). Produced by Roxbury, CT-native and daughter of Henry Miller, Rebecca Miller and filmed in Danbury, Southbury and New Milford; it features a star-studded cast. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1134629/
They were filming with all trucks next door to the Palace at the opening night of CTFF ‘07 and now we can own it.
Welcome Cocktail Reception 6:30pm, Screening at 7:30pm
After Party @ Two Steps Downtown Grille immediately following the film.
Tickets for reception, film and party $10.
http://tinyurl.com/y9ucoq6
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1134629/
Talk about more diverse programming. The Danbury Museum is teaming up with the Railway Museum to offer a mystery movie night at the Palace on Nov. 7 showing, “Murder on the Orient Express” for $40, including a wine and hors d'oeuvres hour and silent auction.
Not to toot my own horn, but we originally were going to use the rail museum as a venue for the CTFF but it fell apart at the last minute. I spent countless hours programming and acquiring movies while their staff bent over and met with us many times and signed off on it. I was very disappointed it didn’t work out. We had 10 railroad movies scheduled every day, the same ones, including Hitchcock’s “Strangers on a Train” (1950) which was shot at the station, the Danbury Fair and 2 downtown establishments. Warner Brothers gave a collection of stills to them which is always on display.
Glad to see it happen.
Danbury hires architect to study Palace renovation.
By Robert Miller
10/15/2009
DANBURY — The city has hired the Hartford-based JCJ Architecture to study what’s needed to renovate the Palace Theater on Main Street.
City Planner Dennis Elpern said Thursday that JCJ won out over 24 other firms that submitted bids for the six-month study. A $45,000 grant from the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation and a $10,000 donation by the theater’s owner, Joseph DaSilva, will pay for the work.
Elpern said JCJ has national experience in theater renovations, including working on the New York State Theater at Lincoln Center. And part of the firm’s team — AMS Planning& Research Corp. of Fairfield — has worked with many theaters in Connecticut and around the United States on theater management.
Elpern said it’s important to learn not only whether the Palace can be renovated, but also how — and if — if can be run as a successful business.
“We told all the applicants not to tell us what we want to hear,” Elpern said. “Tell us what we need to know.”
Forgot to post this last week, but the Danbury Common Council voted to approve going forward with the $50k study on the Palace and the addition of $10k by Joe DaSilva.
There is a nine month window to use all the money and it’s not contingent on passing of the state budget, which is good news.
No website yet.
Tbe News-Times editorial from earlier this week announces the CT Trust for Historic Preservation’s awarding of a $45,000 grant to study the future of the Palace. DaSilva has promised to add another $10k of his own money.
Does it have a website? What events is it hosting?
Right on target, the News-Times editorial endorses starting a “Friends of The Palace” and urges community support.
http://www.newstimes.com/opinion/ci_12852684
To all the DaSilva naysayers (i used to be one of them), the man put in $500k into the Palace so far for the CTFF and other events. This is no small amount and is truly a community investment.