Campus Theatre
Lewisburg, PA
Photo courtesy Alan Culley / 2007

Here’s the eye-catching Campus Theatre along Market Street in downtown Lewisburg. The orange and blue structural glass, wraparound marquee, and tall neon CAMPUS sign give the front plenty of late Art Deco flash. Look closely above the entrance and there’s even a Bucknell Bison medallion worked into the facade. It’s a colorful old movie house that would be pretty hard to drive past without slowing down for another look. 10-07

The Campus opened on January 17, 1941, with Love Thy Neighbor, starring Jack Benny and Fred Allen. The theater was built by the Stiefel brothers, a family of Russian immigrants who operated a string of movie houses around central Pennsylvania. Architect David Supowitz gave the Campus its streamlined appearance, complete with colorful glass panels and that soaring vertical sign.

Here’s a fun bit of theater history. When the Campus opened, it was advertised as the only fully air-conditioned movie theater in central Pennsylvania. A cool auditorium, a bag of popcorn, and a movie on the big screen must have sounded mighty good during a hot Pennsylvania summer.

Campus Theatre
Lewisburg, PA
Photo courtesy Alan Culley / 2007

The Stiefel family continued operating the Campus for 60 years. In 2001, the theater was sold to a Bucknell University film professor who helped establish a nonprofit organization to keep the movies running. Bucknell University purchased the building in 2006, protecting the old theater from redevelopment while the nonprofit continued handling its daily operation and film programming.

A major $2.5 million restoration followed in 2011. The work repaired the building, restored decorative murals, improved the sound, and added modern projection equipment. Best of all, the original single-screen auditorium was retained. No maze of tiny shoebox theaters hiding behind that vintage marquee.

UPDATE: The Campus Theatre remains open as a nonprofit movie house, showing first-run, independent, foreign, and classic films along with special community events. The restored neon CAMPUS sign, colorful facade, and marquee continue to light up Market Street. 08-26

Colonial Theatre
Belfast, ME
Photo courtesy Alan Culley / 2007

An elephant on the roof of a movie theater? That ought to get the attention of anyone passing through downtown Belfast. The Colonial Theatre is already hard to miss with its bright green, purple, and pink facade, glowing neon marquee, and tall old downtown profile. Then there’s Hawthorne, the big fiberglass elephant standing above it all with his trunk raised. Movie theater, roadside attraction, or a little of both? 10-07

The Colonial first opened in April 1912, when movies were still sharing theater space with live entertainment. The original building lasted just over a decade before a major fire swept through Phoenix Row in February 1923. The theater was destroyed, but Belfast didn’t go without its movies for long. A new Colonial was designed by Bangor architect Frederick A. Patterson and opened in January 1924.

Colonial Theatre front facade close-up
Belfast, ME
Photo courtesy Paul Bauke

The 1924 building was originally more Classical Revival than Art Deco. The streamlined appearance seen here came from a large remodeling completed in 1947. Plans for the work had been prepared several years earlier, but World War II delayed the project. When the Colonial reopened, local advertisements proudly called it one of the safest, most modern, and most attractive theaters in Maine. The smooth facade and neon marquee must have looked mighty futuristic beside Belfast’s older brick storefronts.

Over the years, the original auditorium was divided into smaller movie houses. By the 1990s, the Colonial had become a twin, with the old rear auditorium blocked off and largely forgotten. Owners Mike Hurley and Therese Bagnardi purchased the theater in 1995 and began bringing back some of its lost character. They restored the neon, brightened the exterior with its familiar green, purple, and pink colors, repaired the lobby, replaced the seats, and eventually reopened access to the original auditorium.

Colonial Theatre
Belfast, ME
Photo courtesy Paul Bauke

And then there’s that elephant. Hawthorne once stood at Perry’s Nut House, the famous roadside attraction down the road in Belfast. When some of Perry’s collection was auctioned in 1997, the Colonial’s owners bought two elephants. The fiberglass Hawthorne was restored and lifted onto the theater roof, while a smaller and much heavier wooden elephant, known as Baby Hawthorne, was carried into the lower lobby. Only at an old Maine movie house would an elephant from a nut shop wind up guarding the marquee.

The Colonial became part of the Belfast Historic District in 1996, recognized as one of Maine’s relatively unaltered historic movie theaters from the first half of the 20th century. For generations it remained the place around town to catch everything from White Christmas and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang to Pulp Fiction, Toy Story, and Shrek. The movies changed, but the neon, popcorn, and rooftop elephant kept watch over High Street.

Close-up of elephant on roof
Belfast, ME
Photo courtesy Paul Bauke

UPDATE: Added additional photos of the Colonial Theatre in Belfast, ME. Check out the paint scheme as well as the elephant that sits atop one corner of the building. Many thanks to Paul Bauke for info. 09-10

UPDATE: The Colonial temporarily closed in September 2022 when its longtime owners retired. A local nonprofit, now known as the Hawthorne Arts Collaborative, purchased the theater and reopened it in November 2023. The three screens, Dreamland stage, colorful facade, neon marquee, and Hawthorne the elephant are all still part of the show. The Colonial remains open with first-run, independent, foreign, and classic films, along with live performances and community events. 08-26