Lafayette Theatre (Suffern) facts for kids
The Lafayette Theatre is a famous movie theater in downtown Suffern, New York. It was built in 1923. Today, it mostly shows new movies. It also hosts special events like its popular "Big Screen Classics" film shows every week. The theater is special because it has a Wurlitzer theatre organ. This organ is played before the classic movie shows.
History of the Lafayette Theatre
The Lafayette Theatre was named after Marquis de Lafayette. He was a hero from the American Revolutionary War. He fought alongside General George Washington near Suffern.
The theater's story began when the Suffern Amusement Company hired Eugene De Rosa. He was a well-known architect who designed theaters. His main design style was Adamesque. It also mixed in ideas from French and Italian Renaissance art. The theater first had a custom-made Möller pipe organ. This organ played music for silent films and live shows.
The Lafayette Theatre opened in 1924. Its first film was the silent movie classic Scaramouche. Throughout the 1920s, it was very popular. It showed both films and live vaudeville shows. In 1927, the theater was updated. Special opera boxes were added. Soon after, new equipment was installed to play sound films. In the mid-1930s, an air-cooling system was put in. This meant the original pipe organ had to be removed. The first chandelier was also taken out during this time.
After World War II, people started watching more television. This changed how often they went to the movies. The Lafayette Theatre changed too. In early 1953, it got equipment for 3-D films. Many popular 3-D movies were shown there. Later that year, the Lafayette was the first theater in Rockland County to install CinemaScope. This allowed it to show wide-screen movies with stereo sound. The first movie shown with CinemaScope was The Robe in late 1953.
The theater's popularity went down in the 1950s and 1960s. More people moved to the suburbs. Also, television became the main way people watched entertainment. However, the Lafayette Theatre was lucky. It was not torn down. It also wasn't turned into a "multiplex." A multiplex is when one big theater is divided into many smaller ones. In the late 1980s, the old stage was fixed up. The New York Theatre Organ Society installed a new pipe organ. It was called the Ben Hall Memorial Mighty Wurlitzer.
In the late 1990s, the future of the Lafayette was unclear. Then, Robert Benmosche, a local resident, bought the building in 2001. He saw its potential. He made repairs to the roof and outside of the building. This stopped more serious damage.
In late 2002, Majestic Star Entertainment Corporation took over. Nelson Page ran the company. They agreed to operate the Lafayette Theatre as a single-screen movie theater for a long time. This calmed fears that the unique building would be divided. Page and his team fixed up the inside of the theater. They brought back its fancy pre-war style. They also added modern projection equipment and snack areas. In September 2003, a beautiful chandelier was added to the ceiling. It was the first time since the 1930s that the theater had one.
Today, the Lafayette is a great example of a single-screen neighborhood theater. It is still a popular landmark in Rockland County. It continues to show new movies every day. The Lafayette also offers other programs. For example, a weekly series of classic films began in 2003. These shows happen on Saturday mornings. They bring in many film fans each week.
In 2013, JACA Entertainment took over the theater. Ari Benmosche now runs it. It continues to be a single-screen movie theater today.
The Wurlitzer Organ at the Lafayette
The theater organ is owned and cared for by the New York Theatre Organ Society (NYTOS). It is played every Friday and Saturday night. It is a favorite part of the Big Screen Classics shows on Saturday mornings. Jeff Barker was the main organist from 2002 until he passed away in 2013.
This specific Wurlitzer organ, called Opus 2095, was made on January 31, 1931. It was first installed in the Lawler Theatre in Greenfield, Massachusetts. It was the last Style 150 organ that Wurlitzer ever built. Like many small-town movie theaters, the Lawler was closed down in the 1950s and 1960s. The organ was moved to the Rainbow Roller Rink in South Deerfield, Massachusetts. There, it was rarely used.
The owners of the rink sold the organ to Ben Hall. He was a famous theater historian and film critic. In 1968, he and some friends moved it to his home in New York City. Hall died in 1971, and the organ needed a new home again.
Ben Hall's family gave the organ to the American Theatre Organ Society. The organ was sent to California. The plan was to put it in a museum at the proposed Harold Lloyd Estate. But the museum plans didn't work out. So, the organ was sent back to New York City. NYTOS installed it in the Carnegie Hall Cinema. Opus 2095 played there for over ten years. Then, Carnegie Hall was restored. The cinema was split into two smaller theaters. The organ was removed and put into storage.
Later, Al Venturini and Good Samaritan Hospital worked to fix up the Lafayette Theatre. Dave Kopp, who was the chairman of NYTOS at the time, talked to Venturini. He asked about putting the organ in the Lafayette. Everyone agreed it was a perfect place for the organ. Work began in November 1990. Many volunteers worked countless hours. Nearly $20,000 was donated. The organ was finally ready. Wurlitzer Opus 2095 played for the first time in its new home in December 1992. Since then, it has been entertaining audiences at the Lafayette Theatre. It continues the grand tradition of the American Theatre Organ.
Honors and Recognition
In January 2005, USA Today named the Lafayette one of the "10 Great Places to Revel in Cinematic Grandeur." This means it was recognized as one of the best places to enjoy movies in a grand setting. It was on the list with famous places like New York City's Ziegfeld Theatre and Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.
