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Comerford Theater
today, now a performing arts center
Photograph by and courtesy of Robert Janosov
Historic image of
the Comerford Theater
Photograph courtesy of the F. M. Kirby Center
for the Performing Arts
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The Comerford Theater opened in 1938 as Wilkes-Barre's
largest, best-equipped, and most modern movie palace.
Designed in a Deco-Moderne stylized ziggurat composition
the theater is faced with terra cotta tile and green
marble. Interior features include a foyer paneled in
walnut, an auditorium and loge finished in walnut and
translucent marble panels, and ornamental plasters and
bronze throughout. The Comerford Theater is the only
survivor of the city's three movie palaces. The modern
American Movie Palace, as it evolved in the early 20th
century, rapidly became a fixture in the medium to large
city. Important as a means of affordable entertainment
and a recognizable part of the urban cityscape, the
Movie Palace was a major part of the Movie ideology,
coming from Hollywood, California, which made the American
cinema more than a pastime. The architecture of the
Movie Palace was lavished with an abundance of eclectic
ornament, making new reference to historic architectural
styles as well as the latest Art Deco forms. The Deco-Moderne
architecture of the Comerford is rare in the Wyoming
Valley and its significance as the major architectural
legacy of depression-era Wilkes-Barre is related to
the city's unique history and reliance on anthracite
for the economy. Opened on August 18, 1938, to considerable
press coverage, the theater was founded by M. E. Comerford,
a native of Larksville, a township less then two miles
from Wilkes-Barre. Since he grew up locally, Comerford
was regarded as one of the city's "own." It was fitting
and proper, at least in the public's eye, that the Wilkes-Barre
Theater should be the most luxurious of the area, outdoing
those in Scranton, Hazleton or other northeastern Pennsylvania
towns. In 1949, the Comerford Corporation was subject
to an anti-trust suit and had to divest itself of a
number of its theaters, and on September 2, 1949, the
Comerford became the Paramount, which was the first
in the region to use air-conditioners. Some local residents
created S.T.O.P. (Save The Old Paramount) when it was
faced with destruction, and their efforts were successful
in having the old Comerford Theater added to the National
Register of Historic Places in 1978. The theater was
rehabilitated after being damaged in Hurricane Agnes
and is now a performing arts center. The Comerford Theater, now the F. M. Kirby Center
for the Performing Arts, is located at 71 Public Sq.,
in Wilkes-Barre. Please call 570-826-1100 of visit the
Center's website
for information on upcoming events, membership information
box office hours and ticket purchases. |