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.