Hanover Theater: Group dusts off one-time downtown pearl

By ASHLEY ADAMS, Evening Sun Reporter, April 27, 2008

A playhouse of unsurpassed beauty.

     Artistry of design, magnificence of decorations and furnishings, ultra-modern conception of the finest in theater building.
     In 1928, those were the phrases used to describe the new State Theatre, a pearl for the Hanover community.
     But the building on Frederick Street, now called the Hanover Theater, is a fading memory of its former beauty. Water-stained ceilings, crumbling ornamental plaster, chipping paint and cracked glass is all that is left of its original glory.
     Wearing a white hard hat, Dave Leske leans against a wall in the third lobby of the theater. His faded jeans and blue long-sleeved shirt show the brown grit of the work he has completed so far that day.
     It's dark in the Hanover Theater, with the only light coming from the sun outside. Boxes and work tools are scattered throughout the auditorium, a far cry from rows of seats that once lined the spacious room. But the twinkle in Leske's eyes tells a different story. Behind the dirt and peeling paint, Leske can see the lighted marquee, the bright screen reflecting black and white pictures and the row of seats filled with local Hanover residents.
     As Leske moves through the rooms and talks of the planned restoration and the history of the Hanover Theater, his excited voice gives hope to the old structure.
     Through a twist of fate, Leske and his wife, Stacie Johnson, stumbled upon the theater in June 2007. The couple, from Richmond, Va., but now living at the theater, are members of an organization that were looking for a theater to renovate. The Hanover Theater was perfect. So, by October, Historic Hanover Theater LLC - of which Leske is general manager - had purchased the building.
     In February, the group moved in and decided to completely renovate the structure.
     Through the renovation process, Leske hopes the Hanover area will once again be able to call the Hanover Theater a thing of beauty.

The Theater Now

     Amid the dirt and debris scattered throughout the theater, Leske and some volunteers found some treasures: old popcorn bags, usher uniforms, advertising materials and attendance sheets.
     The original safe from the York Safe and Lock Co. is still in the theater.
     But not much else survives from the once glamorous venue.
     Gone is the impressive chandelier that hung in the auditorium. Leske said it is now in the Strand Theater in York.
     Gone is the huge Wurlitzer pipe organ. Leske said it is in storage in Birmingham, Ala.
     Gone are the almost 1,000 original seats that filled the auditorium. Only one original seat was found in the basement.
     The original ticket booth was removed in a 1960s renovation, Leske said, and replaced with a booth from the Park Theater, which was once the Hanover Opera House.
     The store on the side of the theater stands empty.
     The First Lobby, under the marquee and around the ticket booth, is not the same as was originally built in 1928. The ticket booth is no longer in its original space.
     The Second Lobby, immediately after entering the front doors of the theater, has high ceilings and a stairway that leads to a balcony and provides access to the offices. A fresco of Roman scenes around the Second Lobby walls has severe water damage.
     High on the side walls of the Second Lobby are stained glass "doorways" that were covered in the 1960s renovation. The stained glass is broken. The textured ceilings are covered in water stains.
     The Third Lobby, the area right before entering the former seating area, holds the entrances to the restrooms and used to have a water fountain and a concession stand. The decorative plaster work was destroyed by the leaking roof.
     The Seating Area is filled with tarps, tools and boxes instead of rows of seats. The dome overhead is crumbling and no longer stable. The colors on the walls and ceiling are no longer original to 1928.
     The stage is no longer level and there is little left of the rigging system for moving props.
     The offices above the store, which were also used as the manager's apartment, have a lot of water damage from the leaking roof.
     The projection room still has the original control panel built in the 1920s and the projectors from the 1930s.
     An 80-year-old retaining wall is crumbling, the electrical system and plumbing are outdated and all the lighting fixtures are gone.
     "It needs help," Leske said as he stood in the Second Lobby.

The Beginning

     Fred Bitner was dedicated to the arts in Hanover.
     Not only was he the manager of the Hanover Opera House and the owner of a music store, but he was one of the masterminds behind the theater.
     In August 1927, Bitner closed his music store and dedicated his time to building the State Theater on Frederick Street.
     Bitner, along with York theater owners Nathan and Louis Appell, had purchased the former Wirt property in the hopes of building a state-of-the-art movie house for the Hanover area.
     The former Wirt mansion located on the property was removed by William J. Klunk in November 1927.
     General contractor O.H. Hostetter of Hanover began pouring the concrete for the base of the foundation for the theater on Nov. 26, 1927.
     By April of 1928, the walls of the theater had been completed and the building was under roof.
     Brounet Studios of New York City came in to do the interior design.
     The American Seating Co. supplied the almost 1,000 chairs made of laminated wood with cast steel standards, finished in maroon and brown with upholstering on back and seat of red waterwoven moleskin.
     Ornamental plastering on the walls was done by Lombard & Co. of Washington, D.C.
     A huge circular chandelier with eight different parts and artistic mounting of thousands of pieces of crystal was hung in the auditorium.
     A two-manual, eight-rank Wurlitzer theater pipe organ, which cost over $20,000, and combined every instrument of which a symphony orchestra is composed was featured in the auditorium.
     The theater also had a fire-proof projection room that controlled the entire building and contained two large, black Peerless automatic projectors from the J.E. McAuley Co. in Chicago. A green switch and dimmer board loaded with manual levers from Trumbull Electric Manufacturing Co. of Plainville, Conn., was also located in the projection room.
     Outside of the auditorium, the projection room was the most expensive room to build, costing about $50,000.
     The theater had 2,850 globes that supplied the lighting throughout. About 425,000 bricks, 128 tons of structural steel and three cars of 1,300 bags each of cement were used to build the State Theater on Frederick Street.
     A store front next to the theater was occupied by Hammond's Bootery.
     The theater had a sprinkler system and intercommunicating telephone system. And the air system provided continuous ventilation.
     The theater cost a total of $250,000 to build.
     Two weeks prior to the Sept. 21, 1928 opening, Bitner traveled to Philadelphia to select a program for opening night. The feature for the opening of "Hanover's beautiful new house of amusement" was "Excess Baggage," starring William Haines. Also shown on opening night was "Should Married Men Go Home" with Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy.
     A special feature film of "Around The Town" was prepared for opening night. It was a feature film of the Hanover area and included local officials such as Squire Lewis D. Sell in his law office and Chief of Police A. Ray Michael and Patrolman Richard Wolford on their beat.
     Opening night tickets cost 35 cents and included a 7 and 9 p.m. showing. A Philadelphian by the name of W.C. Allen purchased the first ticket to the early show.
     The theater boasted a packed house opening night and a special dedication ceremony held prior to the first showing featured E. Wayne Klaiss on the organ and Miriam Little of York singing "The Star-Spangled Banner."
     The theater was touted as "the pride of Hanover theater-goers" and "the most attractive theater in Pennsylvania and Maryland, outside of the largest cities," according to articles from The Evening Sun in the 1920s.

Throughout the Years

     Over the years, the theater changed hands and appearance. Even the name was changed from the State Theater to the Hanover Theater sometime in the 1960s.
     In the 1930s, the original projectors were updated with more "modern" ones.
     The Wurlitzer was removed in the 1940s.
     In the 1960s, the theater was renovated. The walls were covered with sound control padding and fabric and the seats were replaced. New lighting fixtures were installed and the ticket booth was replaced.
     The ownership of the theater changed hands many times over the years, but ended up as a part of the Fox Brothers movie chain in the 1980s.
     The theater was sold in 1986 to a couple from Baltimore who were antique dealers. The couple planned to turn the theater into an upscale antiques co-op. They started the conversion in the 1990s, but the project was abandoned after financial difficulties. The theater was then used as storage by the owners.
     During the conversion, though, all the seats were removed, the fabric was torn off the walls and the theater was repainted.
     The original chandelier was sold to the Strand Theater in York in the mid-'90s.
     In the early 2000s, the roof began to leak, causing major damage to the ornamental plaster. Currently, 25 percent of the ceiling in the Second Lobby has been destroyed.

The Future

    The original plan was just to do cosmetic upgrades, Leske said, but the theater needs to be saved.
     Originally hoping to open in December, Leske said the theater won't be open for another year to a year and a half.
     But, Leske said, that doesn't mean the public can't help with the restoration.
     Once the building is structurally sound, Leske said a volunteer group called Friends of the Hanover Theater will be formed. The group will help with the restoration process and operation of the theater.
    "The response we have gotten from the community so far is great," Leske said.
     The entertainment at the theater will include traditional musicals and dramas, movies, all kinds of music, dance, improv, vaudeville shows and circuses. The theater will also be available for local performing groups.
     Although they have a lot of work ahead of them, Leske and the Hanover Historic Theater look forward to the day a line of local residents will once again form outside the ticket booth.

Contact Ashley Adams at aadams@eveningsun.com.