Warner Theatre (Morgantown, West Virginia)
The Warner Theater 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 theaters 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,about $5 million today, it featured a 50-foot vertical marquee illuminated with over 6,000 light bulbs of different colors, though the vertical marquee has since been removed, and many of the original light bulbs on the rest of the marquee were replaced with neon strips.
The Round Table Corporation purchased the theater in 2004 with the intention[1] of restoring it to its original condition, though the originally single-screen theater already became a multiplex in the early 1970s.
After 79 years of business, The Warner Theater closed on September 5, 2010.
Don Knotts worked at the Warner Theatre while he was a student at West Virginia University. On March 20, 1964, the Warner Theatre hosted the national premiere of The Incredible Mr. Limpet, a Live-action/animated film featuring actor Don Knotts.
References
- The Warner Theater (2004). "Warner Theater". Archived from the original on March 3, 2007. Retrieved December 9, 2006.
External links
- "Warner Theatre". CinemaTreasures.org.
- "Theatre Inventory; West Virginia Historic Theatres". League of Historic American Theaters. Archived from the original on August 7, 2008.
- 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
- photo of Warner Theatre ca. 2000-2010