Colonial Theater
123 N. Main Street,
Elmira,
NY
14901
123 N. Main Street,
Elmira,
NY
14901
1 person
favorited this theater
Showing 16 comments
Closed on September 4, 1980 with Walt Disney’s “Herbie Goes Bananas” due to lack of quality films.
I saw MAD MAX: BEYOND THUNDERDOME 1st run at the Colonial. They still had working curtains. Great theater.
This opened on September 18th, 1911. Grand opening ad in the photo section.
It is a shame that the Colonial is now a bank, but more importantly that its beautiful interior was changed “back then”…in the “boxofficemagazine” article one can see the elegant interior with the corner organ!
Sadly, this theater had been allowed to fall into disrepair, & eventually was demolished to make way for the hockey arena.
All the old links to Boxoffice articles that were posted at issuu.com are dead, and I’m gradually updating them as I come across them. Archived issues of Boxoffice are now in a section called The Vault at the magazine’s own web site.
I’ve noticed that a lot of the old links have the wrong issue dates or wrong pages. Either I made a lot of mistakes, or the magazines at issuu.com were different editions than the ones now available at The Vault (Boxoffice published a national edition and multiple regional editions, and the content didn’t always match up.)
The magazine has also set up The Vault in a way that makes it inaccessible to search engines, so I can’t always find the new locations of the articles I cited in earlier comments. The article about the Colonial is one of those I can’t find, but I have found the drawing of the proposed redesign of the theater, at the upper right corner of this page of the April 26, 1941, issue.
Joe Vogel: I looked at the Boxoffice Feb. 21, 1942 issue and couldn’t find the Colonial article with photo though I did find the Colonial article in the April 26, 1941 issue. Thanks for the Boxoffice website information as I visit it often now.
After comparing a photo of this theatre in Box Office Magazine I also see that an exterior art piece was either removed or covered over. Hope this theatre is open now.
And after viewing a photo from the 40’s and then a photo from the 80’s I see the doors were changed just like was done to my hometown theatre. Amazing! Need to know if this theatre is still at 123 Main.
This one is listed as “closed”, but I just wonder how many of the 19 DeAngelis theatres listed on his architect link as “closed” are actually “demolished”? The Granada is listed as “closed” at the moment, but will be listed as “closed/demolished” soon as demolition was sadly begun on December 30, 2009.
Joe: Once again, the Boxoffice photos of this theatre are wonderful to see. And again, the half moon windows in the front doors that make full circles when closed are exactly like the door/window design in my hometown former theatre. If you find any other theatre designed by DeAngelis, please notify.
In 1941, the Colonial got a complete Art Moderne makeover, inside and out, designed by architect Michael J. DeAngelis. There are photos in Boxoffice of February 21, 1942.
This is part of an October 1912 article from the NYT:
SULZER WINS ELMIRANS; A Big Crowd Enjoys His Speech Dealing with Labor Problems
ELMIRA, N.Y., Oct. 25. — Congressman Sulzer and Martin Glynn reached Elmira at 8:40 o'clock to-night in a special train from Binghamton, and were met by Mayor Sheehan, Alexander C. Eustace, and Frank Gannett. The party was escorted to the Colonial Theatre, where more than 2,000 persons had assembled. The meeting was large and enthusiastic. Assemblyman Bush presided, and Mr. Glynn spoke first.
The Link theatre organ from the Colonial Theatre is for sale! Who wants to buy it?
View link
All the operating theaters in downtown Elmira from the 60’s(maybe earlier) until their demise were owned by the Dipson chain of Batavia, NY. CinemaNational only leased the venues.
The last chain to operate the Colonial was Loews. It was inherited through its purchase of CinemaNational/USA Cinemas. After Loews closed it, around 1988 or so, it became an independent showing repertory product on a published calendar. After not meeting with much success, it closed for good around 1990 and sat vacant until it was demolished, about 10 years ago. At the time of its closing, the interior was deco in style.
There were two other singles that all closed in the 80’s – the Capitol (demolished), and the Heights (open again). The Elmira 1-2-3 behind the Colonial operated into the early 2000’s and has since been sitting vacant.