Stanley Theater (Jersey City)
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- This article is about the Stanley Theater in Jersey City, for other buildings called Stanley Theater please see Stanley Theater (disambiguation).
The Stanley Theater is a theater venue at the Journal Square in Jersey City, New Jersey. It was designed by architech, Fred Wentworth. At that time, its 4,300 seats earned it the rank of the second largest theater on the East Coast, with New York City 's Radio City Music Hall as number one. Now, if one looks at the ranking by number of seats for one screen movie theatres, the Stanley ranks number four, behind Radio City, and the Detroit and St. Louis Fox Theatres.
The theater opened to the public on March 22, 1928. Mayor Frank Hague attended the ceremonies that evening and, with the audience, was greeted on the screen by actress Norma Talmadge. An orchestral performance, a stage show called "Sky Blues," a newsreel, and a musical piece on the Wurlitzer organ, preceded the showing of The Dove starring Tallmadge and Gilbert Roland.
Long into the 1960s the theater was an elegant and poular venue. Stage shows at the theater reflected the popular culture of the times with entertainers that ranged from the Three Stooges and Jimmy Durante to Tony Bennett, Janis Joplin, Dolly Parton, and The Grateful Dead. However, during the 1970s movie attendance suffered and the theatre fell into disrepair. It became an RKO (Radio-Keith-Orpheum Pictures) grind house. By that time the once beautiful metal work throught the building was painted blue. Also, the Wurlitzer organ was removed in the 1970s. It finally closed as a movie theater April 20th, 1978.
The future and even the existence of the building was in question until it was purchased as an Assembly Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses for $18 million in 1983. At that time some basement sections of the stage area were flooded under two feet (60 cm) of water. The original work in brass and copper on doors and windows was covered by layers of paint and dirt. The picturesque Italian facade was obscured by 50 years of nicotine and dust. The seats were stained, torn, and ripped. The huge chandeliers had lost their brilliance under layers of grime. Thousands of volunteers worked over a nine-month period to renovate and clean the theater for its first assembly in August 1985. Tours of the former theater are conducted daily.
[edit] Description
A glittering copper marquee spans the entrance, overhanging the solid brass doors. Over the marquee are three large arched windows. Building materials include marble from Italy, Vermont and Texas, limestone from Indiana, and granite from Maine to face the Corinthian columns.
The impressive interior has a three-story lobby adorned with columns, a broad center staircase with trompe l'oeil alabaster handrails and balusters, lamps, velvet drapes, and stained class windows of faux "Chartre Blue" in the foyer. Allegorical paintings by Hungarian muralist Willy Pagany originally adorned the ceiling and walls.
The larger of two crystal chandeliers, suspended from the second floor, is from the New York 's original Waldorf Astoria of the 1880s; it is thirteen feet tall and ten feet wide, and illuminated by 144 bulbs that reflect onto 4,500 hanging crystal teardrops.
The grand staircase is the main feature of the three-story lobby. During the day, sunlight streams in illuminating the lobby. An immense crystal chandelier shines after the sun sets. On three sides of the lobby, stands a formation of marble columns topped by a balcony. A nearly celestial ceiling actually had machine generated clouds and points of light that twinkled like stars.
Movie palace architect John Eberson contributed the design for the auditorium. Here theatergoers enter the environment of an evening in Venice with a replica of the Rialto Bridge spanning the stage. Above the seating is an eighty-five foot ceiling that permits an open sky effect with stars and moving clouds originally effected by a projecting device called a "Bronkort Bronograph," costing $290 (in 1920's dollars). Lighted stained glass windows line the walls with grottos, arches and columns simulating the courtyard motif.
