Autumn Years Winter 2023/24

culture and refinement” and a structure of “lavish beauty,” the theater contained 2,000 “luxuriously comfortable seats.” Beginning in the late 1960s, it suffered from low attendance; rather than being carved into a multiplex, it simply closed in 1973. Owing to the efforts of local citizens under the leadership of John Harms, the theater came back to life as the John Harms Center on October 10, 1976. Today it is Bergen PAC (Bergen Performing Arts Center). With the 1920s roaring, three more theaters opened in 1927. The Rex Theater opened on Park Avenue in East Rutherford. It was not huge (1,100 seats), but it had marble columns, imported silks and velour drapes with ivory and gold decorations. By the 1950s, the theater had become a furniture warehouse and was torn down in 1967. In September 1927, the Leonia Theatre opened. Moviegoers to the

In May 1926, the Oritani The atre opened in Hackensack. The huge 2,200-cushioned-seat theater had a tent-like dome ceiling covered with fireproof fabric and large lounges for men and women covered in silk bro cade tapestries. By 1951, this extremely popular theater had sold 25 million tickets. As ticket sales diminished, the theater was ultimately divided into a “triplex” in 1978. The carved-up theater closed in 1983. Then in November 1926, the Plaza Theatre opened on Van Brunt Street in Englewood. Described as “the home of

1,080-seat theater were entertained with a pipe organ, and a central dome in the ceiling was decorated with painted clouds. A 1936 strike by union theater workers caused the Leonia Theatre to close. The building was then converted into a roller-skating rink, and today Leonia uses the building as a community recreation center. The Park Lane Theatre in Palisades Park opened in December 1927. The 1,500-seat theater was described by The Record newspaper as the “most magnificent playhouse” and a “luxurious temple of motion picture.” No details were given as to what made the theater so great, but it did have a “Vitaphone sound system.” With this early sound system, the soundtrack was not printed on the film, but rather issued separately on phonograph records. The Vitaphone record player was physically coupled to the projector motor that synchronized the sound while the film was projected. The first movie considered a “talkie” was The Jazz Singer (1927), and it used the Vitaphone system. The Park Lane Theatre closed in 1986 and was converted into stores.

Bergen PAC interior (former Plaza Theatre), Englewood.

44 AUTUMN YEARS I WINTER 2023/24