Photo supplied by Trudy Deflorio
The Playhouse on Randolph's Main Street is Vermont’s first purpose-built movie theater and quite possibly its oldest.
Here are some highlights from the 100+ year timeline of the movie theater that we all know and enjoy as the Playhouse Movie Theater.
1919
The Strand was built in 1919 by Mary Carr, a twice-widowed Irish immigrant (1844-1924) using E.L. Sault Construction. Promising "the best pictures obtainable at reasonable prices," its opening week was announced in the Herald and News on August 7th, 1919.
The Strand opened with A.K. Hall as its first manager. The opening movie was The Border Wireless starring William S. Hart. The first movies were silent, with Mrs. Rumrill accompanying on piano. The Chandler played free movies (accompanied by hymn singing) on Sundays because a Sunday movie ban prevented The Strand from being open.
The Strand, along with other Vermont theaters, was a part of the Black Circuit, a collection of theaters presided over by Emma Farrington and centrally booked by Alfred Black who worked out of Boston. There were also Strand Theaters in Barre and Rutland; the one in Randolph was briefly called the New Strand.
1920s - 1930s
Movies cost 35¢ for adults and 10¢ for children, later raised to 50¢ for adults and 25¢ for children. Evening shows cost more and had reserved seating. The theater also hosted traveling vaudeville shows in addition to movies. It was billed in newspapers as "Orange County's Finest Photoplay House."
The theater provided space for "Americanism Programs" sponsored by the American Legion's Randolph Post No. 9, including a patriotic singalong. Free of charge.
Mrs. Carr died in 1924 and her daughter and son-in-law Mr. and Mrs. Edward O'Brien took over ownership of the theater. The Strand started showing "talkies" in 1929 calling itself "The House of Perfect Sound." The O'Briens sell the theater to the Robbs in 1940.
1940s
The Strand officially changed its name to The Play House under owners Jack and Barbara Robb. Mrs. Robb painted murals on the inside of the theater along with many other updates including fluorescent lighting. A large sign was erected outside with the new name of the theater.
The Play House offered movie pass cards for people to purchase as holiday gifts. Eight movies for three dollars!
In 1947 Vermont had sixty-seven operating movie theaters, just under thirty-seven thousand seats.
1950s
The Play House installed air conditioning in May 1953 and advertised that it has "no commercials."
All Fresh Air Kids who are in the White River Valley were invited to the movie theater at no charge. The Play House mentions that while its property taxes have gone up 237% they have not raised the price of childrens' tickets at all. They run a charitable program where people can save their ticket stubs and use them to direct charitable donations to local organizations.
WDEV's Amateur Radio Hour is broadcast in-between the two parts of the double features.
1960s
The Play House undergoes renovations under the management of Jack Champlain including adding rubber runners on the aisles and refurbishing the murals. A movie costs 60¢ for adults and 25¢ for children. The movie theater's ads offered a free movie pass for couples who came to the movies, to give to their baby sitters. A Randolph resident remembers:
[H]e would walk up and down the aisles during the movies with a little "clicker" in this hand and if you were being a bit too noisy or perhaps if you were a teenage couple being a bit too 'lovey' he would reach toward you with his clicker and "Click Click" - and that would be your warning to stop whatever it was you were doing and get back to watching the movie!
The Champlains introduce a few special nights at the movie theater including Scouting Night and The Golden Age club which offered reduced admission for older movie viewers.
Mrs. and Mr. Champlain on Scouting night
The Play House also hosted other events including a visit from Santa during an annual Christmas party, and a "Twist Tournament" in conjunction with the showing of the movie Twist Around the Clock. The winner received an LP record from Scribner's Music Shop. There was a freckles contest, held in tandem with a showing of 101 Dalmatians, where whoever had the most freckles would win a dalmatian puppy.
Mrs. Champlain shakes hands with Santa
Jack Champlain writes a letter to the editor, concerned that if the Play House doesn't attract more older viewers playing full prices for seats, the movie theater may go dark. This may be what prompts this series of ads in the mid 1960s. Herald editor John Drysdale writes an editorial supporting the theater.
The movie theater closed temporarily in 1967. The Champlains sold the theater to Arnold and Clara Hendin.
1970s
The Playhouse is now one word. The Hendins lease it to Bethel projectionist Dave Santi for its reopening. The movie theater shows Gone with the Wind for an extended engagement (which I saw at the same theater in the 2010s!)
People queue in line for North Dallas Forty
1980s - 1990s
Cable television came to parts of Randolph in 1982. George Rich manages the theater, still owned by the Hendins. He left to open a pair of video rental stores and the Playhouse temporarily closed in 1985, re-opening in 1986. An article in the Rutland Herald calls the theater "undistinguished and somewhat forlorn on the outside." A movie cost $3 for adults and $1.50 for children and seniors.
David and Tammy Tomaszewski bought and refurbished the theatre in 1988. They do extensive renovations to both the theater and the adjoining apartment. The Playhouse hosts many events in tandem with local businesses. Free popcorn with a dinner at the Main Street Cafe.
2000s - 2010s
The Tomaszewskis begin also showing movies at the Bethel Drive-in giving them more flexibility in movie leasing. The Playhouse becomes a member-owned cooperative, the Randolph Playhouse Cooperative.
As Dick Drysdale reports: "It’s a bit more complicated than that. Dave and Tammy own the Playhouse building, and they staff and operate it, but the actual business is owned by the Playhouse Cooperative, which was formed a couple of years ago to help raise money to bring digital movies to the Playhouse." (details from the old FAQ)
The old Playhouse projector
Vermont House Concurrent Resolution 69, sponsored by Larry Townshend, Patsy French, and Mark MacDonald among others, is passed honoring the Playhouse Cooperative’s creative effort to save and operate Randolph’s Playhouse Movie Theatre.
The cooperative has 182 members as of 2016. The cooperative buys the movie theater building in 2018. The Playhouse re-opens in 2018 with manager Kevin Dunwoody and then manager Lisa Wirth. It adds improvements such as the ability to show HD and 3D movies as well as accessibility improvements for deaf and blind theater-goers.
2020s and beyond
The theater is now owned by the non-profit Friends of the Historic Historic Playhouse Movie Theatre which took over the Playhouse Cooperative in 2020. RTCC students partner with the Randolph Historical Society to create a series of interviews with local people who shared memories for an ongoing project called “Randolph Remembers.” Those short pieces play before the previews, linking the Playhouse (or the Play House, or the Strand, quite possibly Vermont's oldest purpose-built movie theater) and its history with the Randolph of today.
A movie costs $10 but there are kids $2 Saturday matinees playing all summer in 2024.
Thanks to the Randolph Historical Society for help with this post.