The Landis Theater

The Landis Theater in Vineland

It was 1937 and the United States maintained neutrality against the growing turmoil in Europe. The Great Depression was winding down in severity but the U.S. was on the cusp of a recession that would hit a year later. On March 12^th of that year Howard Hughes sent a steamy covert love-o-gram to Katherine Hepburn. Also on March 12th the Landis Theater opened in Vineland, New Jersey. Architect William Harold Lee constructed the design of the Landis Theater with the “streamline moderne” derivation of the Art Deco style. William H. Lee was a distinguished architect who in 1920 rebuilt America’s oldest theater, the Walnut Street Theatre, and was responsible for the interior design of the Royal Theater, the first black-run theater in Philadelphia. The parallel extremities of the theater contain glass block walls. The emphasis on unique glass work is particularly interesting considering Vineland’s neighbor city, Millville, is the home of the major glassware company Wheaton Industries. In 1987 the theater was forced to close its doors. It was restored and reopened in 2010, though it has struggled financially in the first two years of its return. Just a year and a half after its reopening the theater went to the city for tax credits to offset its debts. Luckily, this year Appel Farms arts organization partnered with the theater to help develop the theater and make it a vital part of the community again…hopefully to the effect of the theater being “in the black” and gaining financial stability in the near future. The Landis Theater is a major historic landmark in Vineland and a source of civic pride for Vinelanders. What began as a venue for film and vaudeville acts is now, in addition to all that, a community performing arts center that attracts local talent as well as big stars of stage and screen.

Welcome

Hello and welcome. I’m starting to become enthusiastic about history. My own mind tends toward the macroscopic upon hearing the word “history”. History is the nation, Western Civilization, feudalism, Punic War galley battles, Mesopotamia, cavemen, whatever lightning-striking-a-volcano alchemy created human life. However, there is a magnitude of history that is essentially in your backyard, and in mine. It is local history, and the relevance of the history that has occured in one’s township or county should not be understated. The history that has occured in one’s township or county is denotative of the historical trends of the nation, in many ways making local history reflective of national history. Just about every township or county in America has its old firehouses, its old courthouses, its old houseshouses. These things are landmarks. Simple objects and buildings that have escaped mundanity by virtue of still standing over the course of multiple generations. They are relics.

I stated before that I am enthusiastic about history but enthusiasm does not translate into expertise. I will be exploring historical sites and other old-looking, pretty-looking things. Along the way I will talk to people, experts in the field of history, those who have the credentials and/or wear bow ties. As I learn new information about these historical sites in my county, shortly thereafter so will you.