Grand Theatre
1426 Derry Street,
Harrisburg,
PA
17104
1426 Derry Street,
Harrisburg,
PA
17104
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Walter F. Yost Theatres
Previous Names: Grand Theater
Nearby Theaters
The Grand Theater on Derry Street was a kind of sister theatre to the Penway Theatre on State Street. It opened on September 23, 1915 with Anita Stewart in “The Juggernaught” & Julia Swayne in “The City Tigress”.
It was another typical neighborhood second-run theater in what was once a very pleasant residential neighborhood a little ways down from Harrisburg’s Mulberry Street Bridge.
The Grand Theatre was set almost on the sidewalk and did not have an impressive entrance or a large or overhanging marquee (like the Penway Theatre). As I recall there was a small narrow marquee for the movie titles and stars that ran along the top of the entrance and was flat against the building.
The refreshment stand was right inside the entrance and had double doors on each side that led into the auditorium. I don’t recall the auditorium itself being as large as the Penway Theatre.
I remember standing in line down the sidewalk to see MGM’s remake of “Little Women” at the Grand Theatre when I was in elementary school. (You stood right in front of the homes which were adjacent to the theater and also right on the sidewalk).
Later I also saw the remake of “Rose Marie” there, indicating that even neighborhood theaters were converted to CinemaScope by around 1954/1955.
As of March 1955 it was (like the Penway Theatre) still listed in the Screen Times column in Harrisburg newspapers. It was closed in 1957.
The Grand Theatre closed in 1955 and became a church, then a roller skating rink, and then a church again.
Condemned by the city, the Grand Theatre was demolished in the early-2000’s.
Contributed by
Ross Care
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Recent comments (view all 20 comments)
Interesting, thanks. This sounds more like a double-bill that would have played at the Rio. It perhaps indicates that the Grand was going downhill by this time?
I think I know studios like MGM and Fox but when I go through one of those books that lists every film they ever made, like you, I find many I don’t know.
And then there were studios like Monogram (and Eagle Lion)…
There were so many films being made up through the ‘50s, and, yes, many of them forgettable. I think what we see available on DVD and otherwise today may just be the tip of the iceberg.
IMDB is a great source (for almost any film ever made).
BTW Barry Sullivan’s daughter is directing plays in the LA area.
And Barry Sullivan was damn good actor, too. He was just one of those people destined to play second banana in “A” pictures and the lead in “B’s.” As such, he probably had a longer and more versatile career than many people who were bigger “stars.”
The Grand did have a modist curved marquee it overhang the sidewalk by about 4-5 feet The Entrance was recessed into the 3 story building about 6 feet. Walter Yhost owned the Grand on Derry St, Roxy on 13th St, Penway on State and the Vale in Mechanicsburg. Don’t think he owned the National, but did own or manage the Paramount Theater in Mechanicsburg in the early 1900’s. the building was demolished about 2005.
My mistake….He didn’t own the National. I knew he owned 4 theaters. I got the Grand and the National mixed up.
We started to install the level floor and turn it into a roller rink in sixty six in sixty seven we opened the grand Roller Rink,,It did well for about six months then the neighborhood bbadasses tried to take over,, Once we told them to stay out , they started to harrass the customers outside the building, then they just stopped comming, and we closed it up…
The Grand Theatre was listed in the 1922 Harrisburg city directory.
The Grand Theatre was the largest of four neighborhood houses opened in Harrisburg in September, 1914, according to an article in the October 10, 1914, issue of Motion Picture News. Originally seating 1,200, the Grand was owned by J. M. Lenney, and was his second Harrisburg movie house, the first being Lenney’s Theatre at 5-7 S. 13th Street. The Grand was a reverse theater, with the screen at the entrance end of the auditorium.
The Harrisburg papers ran a block ad for four theaters, the Penway, Grand Roxy, and Valle. I remember seeing (MGM’s) Little Women at the Grand and the remake of Rose Marie in CinemaScope. Little Women (also a remake) was released in 1949, Rose Marie around 1953, so the theater (and neighborhood) must have still been in good shape then.
One of my schoolmates lived right next to the Grand. I thought he was so lucky. I remember the unusual marquee (which a comment here mentioned). I thought it was a nice theater, rather classy actually (due to the unusual marquee). I don’t remember it being a reverse theater. Interesting.
I looked at one of those Google maps of Harrisburg a few weeks ago and was surprised to see the building that housed the Roxy (across from Christ Lutheran Church) is still there. That must be the last remnant of the Burg neighborhood movie theaters still around. (I’m in southern California now, up the freeway from where all my favorite movies were made).
The Grand opened or placed its first ad on September 23rd, 1915.
Listings for the Grand ended in 1957.