Campus Theatre is an entertainment venue in
Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, United States. Opened in 1941, and located on
Market Street Market Street may refer to:
*Market Street, Cambridge, England
*Market Street, Fremantle, Western Australia, Australia
* Market Street, George Town, Penang, Malaysia
*Market Street, Manchester, England
*Market Street, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
...
, it is one of the few single-screen
Art Deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
movie houses in the country still in operation, and forms part of
Lewisburg Historic District. It is now co-owned by Campus Theatre Ltd. and
Bucknell University
Bucknell University is a private liberal arts college in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1846 as the University at Lewisburg, it now consists of the College of Arts and Sciences, Freeman College of Management, and the College of Engineering. ...
.
The theater, designed by
David Supowitz, was founded by the Steifel brothers (Oscar, Harold, Moritz (Morris) and Barney), Russian immigrants who ran an empire across New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Its opening night was January 17, 1941, when it showed the
Jack Benny
Jack Benny (born Benjamin Kubelsky, February 14, 1894 – December 26, 1974) was an American entertainer who evolved from a modest success playing violin on the vaudeville circuit to one of the leading entertainers of the twentieth century with ...
and
Fred Allen
John Florence Sullivan (May 31, 1894 – March 17, 1956), known professionally as Fred Allen, was an American comedian. His absurdist, topically pointed radio program ''The Fred Allen Show'' (1932–1949) made him one of the most popular and for ...
musical comedy
''Love Thy Neighbor''.
Moriss's son, Harold, took over the management of the theater in 1953, when his uncle, Barney, retired.
In 2001, Bucknell University film and media studies professor Eric Faden leased the theater from Jacquie Steifel, Harold's widow,
and founded Campus Theatre Ltd. as a
nonprofit organization
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
. Five years later, Bucknell purchased the building and leased it back to Campus Theatre Ltd. for $1 a year.
The theater underwent a $2.5 million renovation in 2011, including the addition of the
Bucknell Bison logo on its facade.
References
External links
* {{Official website, https://www.campustheatre.org/
Theatres completed in 1941
1941 establishments in Pennsylvania
Theatres in Pennsylvania
Bucknell University buildings