Editor’s Note: Much of the historical information from this article comes from The Auburn Citizen

The Schine Theater was an icon back in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s in Auburn, NY. Built in 1936, the theater was a “jewel” in the Louis and Myer Schine’s empire of cinemas.

The Schine Theater was known to draw quite big crowds for movies and performances every night. After many years passed, the theater’s business and customer rates started to decrease and it was decided that the theater had to shut down. Now, sitting in Auburn, is a lonely, broken, rotted movie theater. Since it has closed, the interior has deteriorated and is rotted out but is still standing.

There’s been no one around who truly wanted to take the time and re-furnish and help the building go back to what it used to be. Seats are torn out and full of mold, the walls are in deplorable shape. Again, covered in mold and mildew. The ceiling is all torn out and rotted due to pipe leaks and also possibly caused by weather. To this day, the remainder of what’s left of the original curtains, torn and pulled apart, still hang by the ceiling.

The theater opened on September 15th, 1938. It took 2 years to build and it was a huge success for almost 40 years until it had started to lose a ton of business and stopped showing movies and closed on April 13, 1978. Ever since that year, the building has sat behind Wegmans, rotting away. At one point, Wegmans wanted to knock the building down to make more parking lot space for the store, but the idea was vetoed by the Cayuga County Historical Society. Many people find the old theater fascinating just the way it is, some people find it fascinating the way it was before. Many people like it both ways, but they also think it’s time to fix the place up and allow people to reminisce on what the building used to be and enjoy what it will look like after construction.

The owner of the building decided it was about time to open the theater back up and fix it up since it has been a somewhat big talk of the town since 2014. In 2014, there was a fundraiser called Marquee, which received its first $1,500 donation towards the fund. After a professional review of the Schine Marquee, it has been recommended that they don’t try to put a band-aid on it like they did in 2014. What they mean by this is that they tried to fix a few things up in the building and on the building just so it would stay standing. Now they have realized that the building is more than just an old theater, it’s a piece of art. They have decided it was time to completely renovate the old theater and make it almost exactly the way it was before.

When you’re a kid, it’s absolutely the most exciting thing when you get to go to the movies and get candy, popcorn, and a drink. Back then, it wasn’t as easy to just go to the theater due to transportation (many people couldn’t afford cars back then). However, some people took the lovely stroll down the sidewalk just to get there and see a movie or two.

A ton of people have many great memories from this theater, but one person that seems to remember almost everything about that building is Greg VanEpps. When he was just a kid, his Aunt took him to see Grease. “It was an art deco decor,” Greg says as he reminisces about the old theater. “It was absolutely beautiful inside, beautiful designs on the wall, phenomenal stage, great movies. The place really had it all.”

Designed by lauded architect John Eberson, ground broke in February on the 1,702 art deco movie palace, which featured four dressing rooms and state-of-the-art lighting, projection, climate control and acoustics. The movie screened on opening night was “Four’s a Crowd,” starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland. In, 1965, Schine Chain Theatres’ owners Junius Myer and Louis Schine sell their holdings to Lawrence Wien and Harry B. Helmsley. Subsequent operators included the Panther and Galaxy theater companies. Sadly on April 13, 1978, the Schine Theater of Auburn, NY, closed. The last movie to be shown there was the X-rated Nazisploitation film “Madam Kitty.” On May 31, 1978, Pentagon Realty purchased the theater, and turned it into Auburn Music Hall until 1980. Two years later on December 19, 1980, the Schine molts again into Charlie’s Nightclub. Renovations included the removal of seats from the rear of the auditorium, the leveling of its floor and the addition of a bar in 1980. The following year, more seats were removed, this time from the front of the auditorium, and a dance floor was added. The club closed in 1983. In July of 1985, John Pettigrass Jr., whose family owned the building through Pentagon Realty, and Jim Loperfido, opened “Who’s on First” Video. It closed in June 1992, leaving the Schine vacant.

Then came along the spring of 1993. As public interest in the theater’s renovation grew, the Auburn Industrial Development Authority commissioned a 1993 feasibility study by Dan Coffey & Associates on the space’s future as a multi-purpose civic and performing arts center. Coffey approximates its renovation cost to be $3 million. In September 1994, The Schine was listed on the New York State Register of Historic Places, qualifying it for grant money to fund renovations made in cooperation with the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation. During that same year, Wegmans acquired an option to buy the Schine, and in the face of community outrage at its proposed demolition, let the option expire in December.

Two years later in January of 1996, the Cayuga County Arts Council received guarantee of an $88,000 grant from the state historic preservation office toward purchase and renovation of the Schine.
Two years later on February 3, 1998, the council, led by new board president Dick Mahlstedt and a subcommittee called the Friends of Auburn Schine Theater, purchased the Schine. In the years 1998-2003, the council received an additional seven grants from the state Environmental Protection Fund, HUD, and the Empire State Development Corporation totaling more than $850,000. The money funds masonry repair, the patching of the Schine’s leaky roof and other stabilization measures.

During that time in March 2000, the council has the Schine placed on the National Register of Historic Places. In the spring of 2002, the leaky roof of the Schine was repaired by Bouley Associates. Back in 2003, Todd Gaglianese resigns as building manager of the Schine, making him the last of several FAST members to leave the restoration project following an internal debate within the Cayuga County Arts Council over whether the Schine or arts advocacy should be its primary mission.

In September 2004, this was approximately about the time when they decided to restore electricity to the Schine. The council, led by new board President Dia Carabajal, estimated the project will cost $4.3 million and be finished by 2012.

Three years later in January of 2007, the restored art deco front doors and ticket booth to the Schine were unveiled. In 2010, Loperfido became president of the arts council board, with Collin Sullivan as vice president, and Carabajal remaining a member as she joined the Auburn school board. In March 2010, the Save Our Schine advocacy was formed. In April 2013, a portion of a $50,000 Brownfield grant to the city of Auburn goes toward creating an asbestos (a heat-resistant fibrous silicate mineral that can be woven into fabrics, and is used in fire-resistant and insulating materials such as brake linings) abatement plan for the Schine.

In 2014, Project manager Todd Coleman, of Bouley Associates, spearheaded public cleanups at the Schine and other forms of outreach to both the public and the arts council’s critics. He left Bouley, and thus the Schine project, later in the year. The Schine theater would be a great opportunity for small town performers to show their talents and help their music careers get off to a good start and encourage other young performers to go after what they dream of most.

“It’s a good thing to bring the theater back because it’s a wonderful piece of history and it gives performers another place to share their art,” said Weedsport Senior Connor VanEpps.