The Warner Theater is a historic

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 theater at 147 High Street in downtown

Morgantown, West Virginia Morgantown is a city in and the county seat of Monongalia County, West Virginia, Monongalia County, West Virginia, United States, situated along the Monongahela River. The largest city in North-Central West Virginia, Morgantown is best known as th ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Opened June 12, 1931, it was designed by

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

John Eberson John Adolph Emil Eberson (January 2, 1875 – March 5, 1954) was an Austrian-American architect best known for the development and promotion of movie palace designs in the atmospheric theatre style. He designed over 500 theatres in his lifetime, e ...

, whose theaters included the since-demolished Colonial and Astor in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, the Calvert in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, and the Capitol in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

; and the extant Cinema le Grand Rex in

Paris, France Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, the Capitol in

Sydney, New South Wales Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountains ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, the Dixie in

Staunton, Virginia Staunton ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 25,750. In Virginia, independent cities a ...

, and the American in

The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. 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 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 Jesse Donald Knotts (July 21, 1924February 24, 2006) was an American actor and comedian. He is widely known for his role as Deputy Sheriff Barney Fife on ''The Andy Griffith Show'', a 1960s sitcom for which he earned five Emmy Awards. He also ...

worked at the ''Warner Theatre'' while he was a student at

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State College ...

. On March 20, 1964, the ''Warner Theatre'' hosted the national premiere of

The Incredible Mr. Limpet ''The Incredible Mr. Limpet'' is a 1964 American live-action/animated comedy film produced by Warner Bros.''Variety'' film review; January 22, 1964, page 6. and based on the 1942 novel ''Mr. Limpet'' by Theodore Pratt. It is about a man named He ...

, a Live-action/animated film featuring actor

. On December 28, 2021, The Dominion Post published an article revealing that The Warner Theater had been purchased by Mark Downs and Rich Brant. The new owners plan to return the venue to a single-bay theater and use the theater to host live performances.

References

External links

* * *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
{{Coord, 39.62859, -79.95718, type:landmark_region:US-WV, display=title Theatres in West Virginia Cinemas and movie theaters in West Virginia Art Deco architecture in West Virginia Buildings and structures in Morgantown, West Virginia John Eberson buildings