Levoy Theatre

The Levoy Theatre is a 696-seat[4] operational performing arts center located in Millville, Cumberland County, New Jersey, United States.

The first Levoy Theatre filled a ten-year void left in Millville after the 1898 fire that destroyed the Wilson Opera House (once at High and Sassafras Sts.

The early silent flickering films shown in the original Levoy were often accompanied by a vocalist or piano player in the background to follow the action.

After several months of further enlargements and embellishments creating its current footprint and scale the "Theatre Beautiful" of Millville was ready for its grand reopening.

The Levoy was now at its full size: a 1,100 seat lower level, a 400-seat balcony, box seating, one of three $30,000 Lenoir pipe organs built specially for the Handel & Rovner Company (serial number #P304B), a stage-proscenium with full fly system, orchestra pit, a marble and chandelier filled lobby and mezzanine, and a very ornate classical facade that gave the impression of a theatre in a very large city.

A new neon-heavy marquee was constructed; deco-styled front doors with half moon shaped windows replaced the solid wood ones; the lobby was remodeled to create a new "eye flow principle"; the auditorium had new wall tapestries with illustrations of the earth's eastern and western hemispheres on opposing walls; the whole theatre was now "scientifically air conditioned" for the comfort of all patrons; and movies were made ever grander by the enlargement of the movie screen and the utilization of the RCA Company's new "Sound Apex" system.

The TV competition, combined with the Federal Government antitrust crackdown on Hollywood's stranglehold on distribution, caused studio profits to drop significantly.

In an effort to cut their losses, the Studios began divesting themselves of real estate and in 1952 Warner Brothers sold to Eugene Mori, owner of the Landis Theater in Vineland.

He started parades complete with elephants!, gave silver dollars out to children at Saturday matinees, created hype that the Beatles would be at the theatre during the peak of Beatlemania in 1964, and had lottery drawings for ticket stub holders.

Tiring of trying to maintain an unprofitable business, in the early 1960s Cherivtch modified the front part of the building by removing most of the lobby, the south staircase and several rows of seats in the auditorium to create two retail shops.

For the next 3 years, Mr. Diegidio took the LTPS on a roller coaster ride of joy and despair with his capricious attitude regarding the sale of the Levoy, until his death in 1998.

Eager to relieve themselves of a white elephant and gain some significant tax breaks in the process, Diegidio's survivors sold of the Levoy to the LTPS.

As new owners of the Levoy, the LTPS successfully applied to have the property listed on the State of New Jersey and National Register of Historic Places in August 1998 and began fundraising and stabilization efforts.

Joseph Pierce Jr, died in a swimming accident at Millville's Union Lake in July 2000 and the organization struggled for years to recover from the loss.

Together these groups began a campaign entitled the Levoy Renaissance Project, which was to give fuel to the capital fundraising mission to salvage the dilapidated shell of a building and bring performing and screen arts back to downtown Millville.

In spite of the economic downturn from the housing market collapse, there was enough public sentiment in favor of the project, and enough perseverance from the new leadership to accomplish what had been impossible for decades.

The next two years were spent simultaneously planning every detail of construction from seating layout and acoustics to carpet color and dressing room design, while assembling a highly complex multimillion-dollar financial package.

[3] A local group, which had issues with the building's tax exempt status as a historic place, petitioned the State of New Jersey to remove the property from its database following the 2011 collapse.

The reconstructed theater