- Warner Theatre (Morgantown, West Virginia)
History
The Warner Theatre is a historic
Art Deco movie theater at 147 High Street in downtownMorgantown, West Virginia ,United States . Opened June 12, 1931, it was designed byarchitect John Eberson , whose theatres included the since-demolished Colonial and Astor inPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania , the Calvert inWashington, D.C. , and the Capitol inChicago, Illinois ; and the extant Cinema le Grand Rex inParis, France , the Capitol inSydney, New South Wales ,Australia , the Dixie inStaunton, Virginia , and the American inThe 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 [cite news | title = Warner Theatre | first = Warner | last = Theatre| url = http://www.thewarnertheatre.com/history.cfm | publisher = thewarnertheatre.com | date =
2006-12-10 ] 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.
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 theRape and Domestic Violence Information Center .Trivia
*
Don Knotts worked at the Warner Theatre while he was a student atWest Virginia University .References
*cite web
author=The Warner Theatre
year=2004
url=http://www.thewarnertheatre.com/history.cfm
title=Warner Theatre
accessdate=Dec 9
accessyear=2006
* [http://cinematreasures.org/theater/8238/ Cinema Treasure: Warner Theatre: Morgantown, WV]
* [http://www.lhat.org/theatre_inventory/WV.asp 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
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