Center Theatre
1517 Atlantic Avenue,
Atlantic City,
NJ
08401
1517 Atlantic Avenue,
Atlantic City,
NJ
08401
2 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 34 comments
I am. The original ad was in the ACP on a Sunday. It showed Funny Girl Starting May 23 and Oliver starting May 29.Both shows were roadshow and had the mail in order info. They did not advertise Sweet Charity at the Virginia. I also know Sweet Charity closed August 14 and they opened Krakatoa August 15. Now it is possible that the ads for FG and Airport were incorrect. As I remember it was not on the posters in store windows either. Hamid had posters for all his 5 theaters all over AC in store windows. Doctor Dolittle didn’t play all summer. The Hollywood got Boom with Liz and Dick on August 8, 1968.Movies were a big thing to me as a kid and I loved the old theaters. Now AC, Ocean City and Wildwood are are defunct of movie theaters even though that is going to change this summer in Ocean City. The Sound Of Music opened the Ocean Theater in Wildwood in 1966 and it may have been 70MM. I don’t know that for sure. I do know they had a great curved screen with double curtains. I love the 70MM sight and glad you put the information out there.
Mikeoaklandpark: Thomas Hauerslev is the owner/editor of the In70mm .com website. I am one of the contributing editors and the one who did up the Atlantic City article we’ve been discussing here.
I will double check the ACP ads for the films in question, though it was only a few weeks ago I did the research and is still fresh in my mind whereas I’m guessing you’re basing your claim off of a 50-plus-year-old memory of looking at those ads?
There were several times the ACP showed in the ads for Funny Girl and Airport 70MM. yes, nothing showed on the marquee of either films that it was 70MM. I definitely remember the ads. So is the 70MM site yours? It’s awesome. I loved what you posted because I didn’t know WSS played the Virginia. And yes, the curved screen didn’t necessary mean 70MM. The screen at the Center was much better than the Virginia. The Virginia had no masking or curtains. The Center had both. So did the Roxy. I never understood why Hamid had the Virginia as the major roadhouse theater because the Roxy and Center were much better.
Mikeoaklandpark: The ACP did NOT include any “70mm” presentations notations for the three titles in question at any point during their run (unless you consider as evidence the “Produced in Todd-AO” credit embedded in the artwork of “Doctor Dolittle” and “Airport”). And having a “gigantic curved screen” is not necessarily indicative of a 70mm presentation. Ever notice the photo of the Center’s marquee during the “Funny Girl” run also lacks any mention of 70mm? As well, I’ve not found any evidence the Hollywood Theater was 70mm equipped at any point in its life. What’s your evidence it was so equipped? (And don’t you realize the “they” you keep referring to is me?)
MSC77 interesting. The ACP showed it in the paper that all three were 70MM.I saw Funny Girl twice at the Center and they had a gigantic curved screen. You have any clue where they get their information from?
Mikeoaklandpark: That is because “they” found no credible evidence to support what you are claiming.
They left out Funny Girl in 1969. It was in 70MM. Also, the Hollywood next door presented Doctor Dolittle and Airport in 70MM. They don’t even list that theater.
A chronology of Atlantic City’s 70mm presentations history has recently been published. The Center gets some mentions in the piece.
This opened as the Colonial on July 2nd, 1913. ad posted.
Reopened by Hamad theatres as the Center on May 13th, 1955.
Center theatre opening 13 May 1955, Fri Press of Atlantic City (Atlantic City, New Jersey) Newspapers.com
Closed or stopped its ads in 1976. Listed under the GG Northern listings late 1960’s-1972.
m00se1111… It’s unclear to me if you are being genuine or snarky. My query was not a request for tips on how to conduct research (and you’d know this if you were familiar with my hundreds of articles and thousands of internet postings). Anyway, 1962 is the year in question (not 1961). And moreover the NJ State Library does not in fact possess the Atlantic City newspaper for the relevant timeframe.
Did “West Side Story” have a roadshow run at this venue?
I think Camelot played the Shore, but I am not 100% sure
Does anyone know/recall if “Camelot” had its Atlantic City roadshow run at this venue?
The August 9, 1913, issue of Motography had this item about the opening of a house called the Colonial Theatre, but it gives a different location for it:
I don’t know if the magazine just got the location wrong, or if there actually was another, short-lived Colonial Theatre a few blocks from this one.Funny Girl was shown here in 70MM
In case we missed something —
This theater opened as the Colonial Theatre in 1914, two blocks from the boardwalk. Located at 1517 Atlantic Avenue near Mississippi Avenue, it seated 1,391. Renamed the Center Theatre in 1954. Yes, the theater was capable of screening 70mm as it was equipped with 35mm/70mm Philips/Norelco projectors and Ashcraft Super Cinex carbon arc lamps. “Greased Lightning” starring Richard Pryor (Warner Bros.—July, 1977) was the last motion picture to be seen at the Center Theatre. The lettering was still on the marquee when the theatre was demolished. The site is now a part of Renaissance Plaza, a shopping center built in 1996. A KFC/Taco Bell now stands where the Center Theatre once stood.
Summer 1969 Funny Girl was playing at the Center.I have pics but am unable to upload
This is a 1968 photo when the Center was showing adult films. In the 1970s it was showing first run films, as I recall, circa 1974-1976.
http://tinyurl.com/cmpktt
Renewing link.
I had not realized that only the Atlantic Avenue theaters stayed open in the off-season.
I was an usherette at the Center in the mid-1960s for two long-run films, “My Fair Lady” and “Lawrence of Arabia.” I believe they tried the long-runs to revitalize attendance. Can’t remember how long each one ran, but seems to me over 10 weeks each. Long enough for me to know every line of every character in each film!
The Center Theatre had 35/70mm Philips/Nelrelco projectors & Ashcraft Super Cinex carbon arc lamps. Ed Hiltner of Brigantine was the main projectoinist there. My last memory of the Center was in the Summer of 1976. I was running matinee’s at the Hollywood, next door, and Ed was showing a film called “The River Niger”. It was in the summer of ‘73 that the Center showed “The Devil And Miss Jones” for many weeks.
I was in Atlantic City in January. The area by Columbus Park has been completely redeveloped with chain stores, but no movie theater. That seems like an odd omission if you’re trying to get people out of the casinos and into the mall several blocks from the boardwalk. If the retailers are counting on the locals, they are in trouble.