In a move which may stir up a bit of nostalgia, the State Theatre has launched a Classic Movie Program, bringing older films back onto the big screen.
The program is now being fine-tuned using information received through an online survey.
“We started the program in order to have a film that some of the retirees might like to see from their younger days,” said Charles Haddad, president of The State Theatre Preservation Society, explaining how they reached out the Boyertown Multi-Service. “The idea was to try and have them see a movie they may have seen 40 or 50 years ago, and although they could see it on the small screen TV, seeing it in a theater atmosphere – on a large screen with the speakers we have – would be a different experience for them. The idea is to not only experience the movie, but also to share time together with each other.”
Throughout the months of October and November, every Tuesday in the early afternoon, the theater presented a classic film. The Tuesday designation may soon be changed to a different day of the week.
“Classic Tuesdays” kicked off on Tuesday, Oct. 3, with the showing of Alfred Hitchcock’s “Rear Window.” Other selections shown included: “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” “The King and I,” “North by Northwest,” and “The Sting.”
Many of the movie goers requested the show time be changed to better accommodate those with weekday, daytime jobs, according to Haddad and Shannon Anthony, manager of The State.
“For that reason, we decided to ask the public what would best suit them as opposed to us saying when they should come out and see the movie,” Haddad said.
The theater created an online survey which was shared publicly through the theater’s social media pages.
Anthony said within the first 15 minutes of the survey’s release, 20 responses had been received.
“We were surprised by the quantity of responses, plus what they are requesting and suggesting,” said Haddad. “Overwhelmingly, they have requested that is be on a Sunday afternoon at 4 o’clock.”
The survey asked about which era and genre of classic movies people were most interested in. The most anticipated survey question – “What time of day would best suit your schedule to come to a classic movie show?” – gave four options with another option to write-in a response. The four options were: Tuesday at 1 p.m., Thursday at 4 p.m., Saturday at 11 a.m., or Sunday at 4 p.m.
“It was very obvious what people were looking for,” said Anthony, explaining how 70 percent of responses indicated the Sunday time slot.
The theater would like to get a dedicated group together to focus on this program.
“There’s a whole younger generation of people out there, recent high school students today and recent graduates, that have not really experienced the golden days of movies,” said Haddad. “This will give us an opportunity to introduce them to those films and have a wider variety of films to show.”
The classic movie show time change, from Tuesday to Sunday, will begin in January.
Anthony said they put the survey out when they did, back in November, so the changes could be implemented with the return of the program in 2018.
Coming up at The State Theatre – “It’s a Wonderful Life” will be shown on Sunday, Dec. 17, at 4 p.m. For additional details, visit <boyertownstatetheatre.com>.
