Warner Theatre (Morgantown, West Virginia)
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[edit] History
The Warner Theatre is a historic Art Deco movie theater at 147 High Street in downtown Morgantown, West Virginia, United States. Opened June 12, 1931, it was designed by architect John Eberson, whose theatres included the since-demolished Colonial and Astor in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the Calvert in Washington, D.C., and the Capitol in Chicago, Illinois; and the extant Cinema le Grand Rex in Paris, France, the Capitol in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, the Dixie in Staunton, Virginia, and the American in The Bronx, New York City. Built at a cost of $400,000, it features a 50-foot vertical marquee illuminated with over 6,000 light bulbs of different colors.
The Round Table Corporation purchased the theatre in 2004 with the intention[1] of restoring it to its original condition, though the originally single-screen theatre at one point became a multiplex.
The 1941, 1943 and 1950 editions, at least, of The Film Daily Yearbook listed the Warner Theatre as having a 1,300-seat capacity. The League of Historic American Theaters listed it in the mid-2000s as 700 seats.
The Warner Theatre is also home to StoneBridge Church of Morgantown, which worships every Sunday morning at 10AM. Documentary filmmaker Xackery Irving, a Morgantown native, held the West Virginia debut of his film American Chain Gang at the Warner Theatre on Feb. 9, 2006, in a benefit for the Rape and Domestic Violence Information Center.
[edit] Trivia
- Don Knotts worked at the Warner Theatre while he was a student at West Virginia University.
[edit] References
- The Warner Theatre (2004). Warner Theatre. Retrieved on Dec 9, 2006.
- Cinema Treasure: Warner Theatre: Morgantown, WV
- The League of Historic American Theaters
- Wolford, Michelle. "'American Chain Gang' premieres at Warner Theatre". The Dominion Post (Morgantown, West Virginia), Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News, 9 February 2006, p.3
