Wellmont Theatre
5 Seymour Street,
Montclair,
NJ
07042
5 Seymour Street,
Montclair,
NJ
07042
10 people
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Related Websites
Wellmont Theatre (Official)
Additional Info
Previously operated by: RKO Stanley Warner, Roberts Theaters, Stanley-Warner Theatres, Warner Bros. Circuit Management Corp.
Architects: Douglas Pairman Hall, Paul C. Reilly
Firms: Reilly & Hall
Functions: Concerts, Special Events
Phone Numbers:
Box Office:
973.783.9500
Nearby Theaters
News About This Theater
- Jan 18, 2008 — Info on Reilly & Hall
- May 24, 2006 — Historic Wellmont Theatre for Sale or Lease!
The Wellmont Theatre was opened on June 16, 1922 as a legitimate theatre with vaudeville and movies and converted into a fill-time motion picture theatre in 1929. The original entrance on the main avenue was 400 Bloomfield Avenue.
By 1941 it was operated by Warner Bros. Circuit Management Corp. In 1951, it was listed with a seating capacity of 2,137. In the 1970’s, the theatre was triplexed and the entry was moved around the corner to the lobby’s former emergency exit. The original lobby then became a diner. The largest auditorium is the balcony theatre. Two auditoriums with smaller screens were created in the former orchestra seating.
The Westmont Theatre closed in 2006. In 2008, it was reported that the theatre was sold and the new owners were working on a plan to reopen it for concerts and other events. In 2008, as part of the renovations, the Wellmont Theatre became a single screen again, with the removal of the triplexing. The Wellmont Theatre reopened November 1, 2008, as a concert venue.
Contributed by
Charles Van Bibber
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Recent comments (view all 69 comments)
Reserved Seating: 1916 (Main 800, Stage 92, Balcony 1024)
Standees: 2561 (Main 1445, Stage 92, Balcony 1024)
Banquet: 590 (Main 498, Stage 92, Balcony 0)
Tinseltoes, I usually dont differ with people here on CT, but I work here on occassion as a stagehand. The actual number of fixed seats in the building is probably correct at the top, because only the balcony has fixed seats. The entire orchestra is flat concrete used mostly for standing room. If a show comes in requiring seats, they set up portable chairs.
Tinseltoes, no need to be sorry. You are one of the more knowledgeable people on this site. I enjoy all your postings about things that happened 40, 50, 60 years ago. I only know this from working there. Otherwise, I would have thought the same like you did.
This week in the Montclair Times the Wellmont theater will be placed on sale with a price tag of $6.7 million in the next few weeks…All concern seemed to express the continued need of a theater venue in the town.
i hope someone buys it since the competition is the NJPac in Newark.
As someone who works here on occasion to load in/out shows, I can tell you this place does huge business. But oh what a pain in the a** to load gear in.
Pinnacle cos. bought the theater and will renovate it.
http://www.njbiz.com/article/20150722/NJBIZ01/150729918/montclairs-pinnacle-cos-buys-historic-theater-will-close-it-until-sept-for-renovations
Is there any evidence the Wellmont was ever capable of projecting 70mm prints?
The Wellmont’s official web site provides a bit more detailed information than our current description. The house opened on June 16, 1922, and though it presented vaudeville and stage plays it was used primarily as a movie theater from the beginning, which was not surprising since the builder, Herman Wellenbrink, was a pioneer in film exhibition, having opened his first movie house (in Los Angeles) in 1906. The web site says that the Stanley Fabian chain took over operations in 1929 (but maybe they didn’t.)
A September 9, 1974 Boxoffice article about the takeover of the house by local exhibitor Paul Peterson (owner since 1960 of the Clairidge theatre) from RKO-Stanley Warner Theatres also mentions the Fabian connection, but says that Wellenbrink leased the house to Jacob Fabian in 1927. I haven’t found exactly when Robert Roberts took over the house, but his 2002 obituary said he began acquiring theaters in the early 1980s. It might be that it was Paul Peterson who triplexed the Wellmont, before the Roberts chain took over.