Croft Theatre

50sSNIPES on November 17, 2023 at 2:41 pm

The Lonergan Theatre opened its doors on May 24, 1915. It was renamed Star Theatre in late August/early September 1930 after it was taken over by new management led by Frank Lupin followed by extensive remodeling.

The Star Theatre name didn’t last long. After a short closure and being taken over by Harold Smith, the theater was renamed Dreamland Theatre and reopened on March 16, 1934.

After more than four years with the usage of the Dreamland name, the Dreamland closed in December 1938 following both extensive reconstruction of the building and remodeling.

The theater was renamed Croft Theatre and reopened its doors on February 1, 1939 with Claude Rains in “They Made Me A Criminal” along with a Hearst Metrotone “News Of The Day” newsreel and a couple of short subjects.

During the late-1950s and early-1960s, the Croft Theatre received a couple of ups-and-downs which received a couple of short closures and reopenings, followed by another short closure in 1962.

Now this is where the information gets very unusual. On August 29, 1963, the Croft Theatre changed its name to the Y.C.S. Theatre and reopened its doors with John Wayne’s “Hatari” plus a couple of short subjects. Despite its unusual name, Y.C.S. stands for Young Catholic Students, as it WAS operated by them of St. John’s High School. The Y.C.S. Theatre plays mostly first-run films but it was sometimes mixed with matinees and special events as well as a couple classic films. This lasted until the mid-1970s.

After a very unexpected operation by a school, the theater went back to normal independent operations in 1975 or 1976. At that same time, the theater was renamed Bancroft Theatre. Unfortunately, this didn’t last long.