An undated photograph of the Hollywood Theatre, 20 West Broad Street, Elizabethville, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania.
This 500 seat theatre opened on May 27, 1937 to a great deal of local fanfare.
The above as, was the first for the theatre. It appeared in the Elizabethville Echo one week before the official opening day of May 27, 1937.
Two brief articles describing the theatre and its first day appeared in the Elizabethville Echo. The first is from May 20, 1937:
FORMAL OPENING OF E’VILLE THEATRE MAY 27TH
With construction work virtually completed, the management is engaged in plans for the formal opening of Elizabethville’s modern motion picture theatre, the Hollywood, next Thursday, May 27th.
Presented as the screen feature, May 27th and 28th, will be “Personal Property,” starring Jean Harlow and Robert Taylor. Featurettes will included: “The Public Pays” and a Mickey Mouse cartoon, “Band Concert.” A special matinee for Thursday only is scheduled for 2:30 P. M. Doors will open at 5:45 P. M. that evening. To accommodate latecomers, a show has also been scheduled for midnight, Thursday.
The new theatre presents a pleasing streamline effect and was designed after the fashion of Southern California theatres. It will be operated by Mr. Bryant Wiest who has had a number of years experience in the management of west coast theatres. The theatre is so located as to afford ample auto parking facilities.
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The other article, also from the Elizabethville Echo, was from June 3, 1937:
HIGH FIDELITY MAKES DEBUT IN LOCAL THEATRE
Opening shows last week, marked the debut of the new RCA Victor High Fidelity sound system, as the new Hollywood Theatre, this place, with audiences that have been extremely receptive and appreciative.
With the new equipment, which is similar to the type recently installed in the new Radio City super-theatres in Rockefeller Center, New York, audible sounds in the range from 60 to 40,000 cycles are faithfully reproduced with all the delicate shadings of the human voice which are so distinguishable in actual speech. This “dynamic” shading of tone is just as apparent in the sonorous volume of a full symphony orchestra. In any case, however, High Fidelity reproduction gets the utmost out of the recorded film and literally recreates the sound in all its original brilliance.
Theatre patrons have been liberal in their laudatory comments on Elizabethville’s new theatre.
The last major movie shown at the Hollywood was “Where Eagles Dare,” starring Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood, a film released in 1968. It is uncertain though when the theatre actually closed. After the flood of 1972, the theatre was so badly damaged, it never opened again, and soon after it was demolished.
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Theatre photo from the Elizabethville and Area Bicentennial Book, 2017. For availability of this book, see website of the Elizabethville Are Historical Society.
News articles from Newspapers.com.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.