The Strand Theater - Sunbury Pa

 
The Strand Theater, 315 Market Street Sunbury Pa

The Strand originally opened in 1910 as the People’s Theatre.  In 1919 it was purchased by the Commerford chain and renamed the Strand. The theater was remodeled and enlarged in November 1928, and  in 1950.

In 1953, a large CinemaScope screen was installed for the movie “The Robe”.

The theater closed June 12, 1980

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The Location before the theater was built

1927

The April 21, 1928, issue of Motion Picture News contains an article about the Comerford chain’s plans to rebuild the Strand in Sunbury. 

Organ from the Strand Theater, when in a private collection.  The organ no longer intact, if I understand correctly, it has been parted out, the pipes were donated to a church.

The Strand doubled in size installing the Moller OPUS 5214 organ and had its Spanish architectural style when it closed and re-launched November 12, 1928

Strand poster on the trolley

1934 advertisement

The image on the left is art by Strand Theatre artist Walter R. Fuge for “Hold Your Man” in 1933.  Fuge a clarinetist, arranger, and composer, played in the Shamokin Our Band, and was affiliated with the Comerford Amusement Theater.  He managed the Savoy theater in Northumberland for 26 years.

During the 1936 Flood

" When built the Strand had only 20 feet of street frontage at the inside corner of the square. The entrance lobby when built was only 15 x 15 feet and the mezzanine served as public space. The auditorium was less than 45 feet wide and 250 feet long, so deep that in the 60’s the screen was moved forward 100 feet."

1942

Here Comes The Navy was a 1942 Film

Description of the Navy sign

c. 1944

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Claremont Zimmerman

Projectionist

And The Strand Ghost Story

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Clermont Zimmerman was one of the early projectionists in our area.  

" The safety precautions associated with nitrate required 35mm film prints to be shipped in reels no longer than 1,000 feet (approximately 15 minutes at 16fps). In order show a feature-length film without interruption while the following reel is laced up, two projectors focused on the same screen were used, with the projectionist 'changing over' from one to the other at the end of each reel. 2,000 foot 'double' reels were gradually introduced from the early 1930s onwards (approximately 20 minutes at the standardized sound speed of 24 fps). Until the conversion to sound, electric motors were relatively uncommon on 35mm theater projectors: most were hand-cranked by the projectionist. Contemporary accounts suggest that hand cranking at a consistent speed took a considerable amount of skill."

Clermont was a Sunbury Projectionist for more than 40 years.

Projectionist at the strand

Clermont died of a heart attack while working at the theater.  According to one commentor in the Cinema Treasurers Forum:

"I forget the year, but i went to the Strand one night with a date and right after reel 2 the screen went white. After a few minutes I went and told the manager, and offered to help. I said I was a projectionist, he & I went up to the booth to find the projectionist had died. I ran the rest of the show and they didn't bother to run the 9 o'clock show. I don’t recall but I think his name was Harry was a great little theatre."  

The Ghost Story

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Now please know that I am simply telling you the story that is posted on other forums.  I cannot vouch for it's accuracy.

"The one projectionist named Whitey had died in the upstairs booth. For years after that you would feel icy cold air and get a blast of fresh cigar smoke.. He had smoked cigars all his life… One day his long time friend came by to visit me, when all of a sudden the air got cold and you could smell a strong odor of cigar smoke.. I was rewinding a 40 minute reel of film and Whitey’s friend said WHITEY if that’s you turn off the rewinder… You could see the switch go into the off position and his friend who was very old and took forever to get up there made it down to the lobby and out the front doors in seconds. He himself died 2 weeks later."

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"The Strand originally opened in 1910 as the People’s Theatre.  In 1919 it was purchased by the Commerford chain and renamed the Strand. The theater was remodeled and enlarged in November 1928, and  in 1950."

After the 1950 Remodeling, the Strand ran regular ads, listing all of those businesses which had been used in the remodel.  They included Magee Carpet, the architect Michael J. De Angelis, Ridon Glass Company, and more.

In a 1952 "modernization", an expansive new lobby was added to the theater.  Around the new lobby was added a massive marquee  -  120 feet around two sides of the building .  It included the 40 foot waterfall chasing neon upright sign with 3 foot tall STRAND letters stacked vertically, all adorned in stainless steel trim.  Etched plate glass doors were also added at this time.

1953

Bob Fleming and Pat Dooley won a contest through the Strand Theater to meet the 4 original Mouseketeers in Scranton.

1962

[Note to self - search for postcards of Rosenblums for more photos, and possibly a better copy of this photo]

November 1968

Rosenblums and Bob Newman's destroyed in a fire - the photo shows The Strand & Hoovers beside the fire

About 1977

[Pete's Dragon is the first movie I ever saw - we lived in an apartment over the Watsontown Laundromat, and my mom and I walked to the Watson Theater to see it. ]

The Jerk starring Steve Martin was released in 1979

Balcony Seats

June 1980

The last feature shown at the Strand was "Foxes"

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Where The Movies Played

An Index Of Old Movie Theaters

In & Around The West Branch Valley

https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2024/07/where-movies-played-old-movie-theaters.html

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READ MORE

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This advertisement has a number of errors, including the date of the name change.  The Rialto was listed as such as early as 1933, years  before the flood. 

1985

T-shirts Designed for the Kix returning to Sunbury in 2014

In 1981, KIX, a Maryland-based band, came to Sunbury for the first time. Referred to as “The Dirty Boys of the Underground,” the rock and roll band played at the legendary Strand Theater on Market Street, Sunbury.  They returned to the Strand in 1986, and then again to Sunbury in 2014 , playing at the Hummels Wharf Fire Company.

Emory Malick the pilot and Clermont Zimmerman the projectionist [for 40+ years, in Sunbury - died while working in the Strand] were second cousins. One was one of the first pilots in our area, the other was one of the early projectionists of our area, from a time when running a movie projector was a skill.

Clermont M. Zimmerman 1910-1970
Son of Minnie Tressa Malick 1867-1952 & Martin L. Zimmerman
  Grandson  of Daniel Reeser & Mary Jane [Zartman Malick] 1841-1897
      Great Grandson of John Peter & Mary Catharine Malick 1790-1863

Emory Conrad Malick 1881-1959

Son of Darius & Lizzie Malick 
   Grandson of Daniel & Lavinia Raker
        Great Grandson of John Peter & Mary Catherine Malick