Princeton Garden Theatre on right. (Photo courtesy of the Historical Society of Princeton)

Historic Movie House Celebrates 10 Years as a Nonprofit

By Donald H. Sanborn III

First opened more than 100 years ago, the Princeton Garden Theatre is celebrating its 10th anniversary as a nonprofit. Subsequent to Renew Theaters taking over the management of the Princeton University-owned movie house a decade ago, NJ.com declared that it is “without question, the best movie theater in New Jersey.”

“The Garden has been a part of the Princeton fabric since 1920,” says Christopher R. Collier, executive director of Renew Theaters. “We’ve had the good fortune to be able to run the past 10 years of its operation, and we hope to continue for years to come.”

Director of Outreach Kyle Stenger observes that the theater is “a great community institution, a place that you can walk to in town.” He points to offerings that “other theaters in our region are not doing, in terms of special programming.”

Collier explains that although the University owns the building, the Garden is an “independent, community-supported organization. We are not part of Princeton University; we are a completely separate nonprofit.”

How difficult is it to find audiences at a time when viewers can stream films from Netflix and a multitude of other online platforms? Stenger replies, “I’m a devout cinemagoer; I will watch a movie in any format. Accessibility is great, but no filmmaker for most of cinematic history thought that their movies would be seen outside of a theater. So having that original intent of the creator is important to me.”

He adds that watching a movie with other people gives the experience a “different perspective in your viewing of a film. We would never get the in-depth conversations that we have or see things that aren’t streaming at all that are only available in theaters.”

(Photo courtesy of the Historical Society of Princeton)

Premiere

Thomas Meighan (1879-1936), star of Civilian Clothes (1920), the first film to play at the Garden. (Wikipedia)

The Garden is located at the intersection of Nassau Street and Washington Road. The website for the movie house explains that the name derives “from the location, where a rose garden once bloomed next to the Bainbridge House.” Built in 1766, the Bainbridge House is now home to the Princeton University Art Museum’s Art@Bainbridge.

Princeton Theater Company originally built the venue with the intention that it could accommodate both films and live theatrical events (especially the Triangle Club). A 1919 Daily Princetonian article promises, “While moving pictures will be the most common form of amusement at the theater, it is planned also to have New York companies come down to Princeton before going to New York.”

Upon opening, however, the Garden Theatre functioned primarily as a movie house. (McCarter Theatre, which opened a decade later, housed the Triangle Club and hosted touring stage productions.) The Garden opened as a single-screen venue on September 20, 1920, with Civilian Clothes, a silent comedy starring Thomas Meighan. (The website states that “the event also featured a live orchestra with palms and ferns arranged on the stage.”)

Occasionally there were special live shows presented at the Garden in its early years. In 1924 the Hospital Aid Committee of Princeton presented “a vaudeville show.” A Princetonian article prior to the event promises, “Several acts and dances will be given from the Triangle Show” and “the Jazz Band will play its most popular numbers. A fashion show and a movie starring Douglas Fairbanks will also be on the program.” And in 1927, a “pageant of tableaux” was presented to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Princeton.

In a YouTube video, The History of the Princeton Garden Theatre, Aaron Razi notes that the Garden “was built before movie theaters became truly popular.”

Razi quotes an observation made to him by the late Donald Marsden, author of The Long Kickline: A History of the Princeton Triangle Club (Princeton University Press, 1968): “In 1920, most movies … in small towns like Princeton were shown in storefronts — ‘nickelodeons’ — and not ‘theaters.’ Moreover, the Garden predates what is called ‘The Golden Age of Movies’ by at least five years.”

In the video Razi adds that in 1929 the Garden was an early adopter of “talkies” (films with sound). This notably up-to-date technological addition incurred some editorial eyebrow-raising from the publication then known as The Princetonian, which “maintained a policy of indifference toward the talking motion picture. We regarded them as a menace which the larger cities must deal with as they saw fit … we wonder if the manager of the Garden has contemplated with due seriousness the step which he is taking.”

In 1937 the Garden faced its first competition when the larger Princeton Playhouse opened on Palmer Square, “where Mediterra is now,” says Collier. “There was also the Prince, which was out on Route 1.”

“Candy Man” Harold P. “Sonny” Perrine, with Lillian Vaughn. (Town Topics)

The Garden’s “Candy Man”

The Princeton Garden Theatre had its own (unofficial) “Candy Man,” Harold P. “Sonny” Perrine (1926-1991).

According to an obituary published by Town Topics (a sister publication of Princeton Magazine), Perrine was “afflicted with cerebral palsy from birth.” He was wheelchair-bound, having been born paralyzed in both of his legs, as well as his right arm.

Perrine’s motorized wheelchair was outfitted with a canopy, rearview mirrors, and a radio. Resourcefully, he turned his vehicle into a one-person concession booth. Razi notes that Perrine sold candy outside of the Garden for decades.

Movie audiences were not Perrine’s only customers. The Town Topics obituary recounts that he “drove uptown every day in his wheelchair to sell candy in front of the shops.” The obituary remembers Perrine as a “Princeton native who knew everyone and was as much a part of the Nassau Street scene as the Tiger in Palmer Square or Nassau Hall.” Razi describes him as a “Princeton legend that everyone knew.”

From “The Pit” To “The Best In New Jersey”

Collier marvels that the venue is the “only movie theater still remaining in downtown Princeton.”

He adds, “If you ask anyone of that period which of the theaters would survive, people would never have said the Garden,” which for many years was the “runt of the Princeton movie theater community. Newspapers would actually list, ‘playing at the Playhouse, and at the Pit.’”

The Garden occasionally has been the target of pranks by university students. In 1930 the theater’s ticket booth stood in the place now occupied by an information kiosk; a group of students moved the booth — along with its electrical wires — into the middle of Nassau Street. Razi notes, “this is why they integrated the booth into part of the building during the 1930 renovation.”

Razi also recounts that in 1977, during a showing of Rocky, “students, streaking nude, invaded the theater.” Former Princeton resident Jon Negus describes to Razi another bit of raucous behavior: “people throwing things off of the balcony … at times there would be people with jelly beans or popcorn, trying to hit the person in the fifth row (or the seventh row)!” Razi hastens to add, “Today, though, students’ behavior is much more appropriate — and they actually get discounted tickets.”

A confluence of events — the increasing proliferation of television, suburbanization, and multiplexes — “caused a lot of movie theaters to fall on hard times in the 1970s and 1980s,” Collier notes, adding, that the Playhouse was “demolished in the 1980s.”

“Sameric Corporation ran the theater from 1975 through 1988, turning the facility into a twin theater in 1981 known as the Eric Garden Theatre,” the Garden’s website notes. In his video Razi details Sameric’s financial mismanagement of both the Garden and the Playhouse. The company “failed to pay taxes, rent, heat, and insurance” for both venues, “resulting in the closure of the Playhouse.”

The University threatened to evict Sameric and close the Garden if the company did not resolve its default on its lease. Razi’s documentary adds that in addition to the fact that the Garden was “constantly teetering on the edge of closure,” the venue “failed to pass basic health inspections for concessions.”

In 1988 United Artists took over management of the Garden; in 1992 that company decided the venue was no longer financially viable. “The Theater Management Corporation, which operates neighborhood theaters throughout the Northeast, began leasing and managing it in 1993,” the Garden’s website explains.

Collier specifies that the University owns the “building, but they rent it out for a separate organization to operate.” It ran as a commercial theater up until 2014, but “it was not benefiting the community; it wasn’t showing the type of films that Princetonians wanted to see. It was pandering to cheap student flicks. Based on the times that I was in there, I think they were doing a good job of keeping the ‘pit’ feel alive,” he chuckles wryly.

“So, the University reached out to us,” Collier continues. Renew Theaters “also runs three movie theaters in Pennsylvania: the Ambler Theater in Ambler, the County Theater in Doylestown, and the Hiway Theater in Jenkintown. Those theaters all are nonprofit, and have a longstanding track record of community engagement, special events, and the type of artful, innovative programming which we now have at the Garden.”

In 2000 the building was closed for a $1 million renovation. The website states that “Princeton architect George Fett was responsible for the exterior of the building. The interior was designed by New York City architect Robert Strada. General contractor Stephen Ventor, also of New York City, specialized in movie theater construction.” New bathrooms and seats were added, as well as new equipment for projection and sound. Repairs were made to the roof and electrical system.

The changes also included removal of the balconies. The Garden’s website acknowledges, “Despite the beautiful aesthetic, their first use was for segregation (although the theater’s segregation had ended more than 60 years earlier). When the theater reopened, it lost 20 percent of its 600-seat capacity.”

When Renew Theaters took over management of the Garden in 2014, the theater again was closed for renovations. Improvements included the installation of a new HVAC system and a popcorn machine, as well as new carpeting and paint.

The Princeton Garden Theatre reopened on July 4, 2014. “We opened with two screens, so we opened with Jon Favreau’s Chef on one, and the Polish film Ida on the other,” Collier says. “Ida went on to win the 2015 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Chef, I think, has largely been forgotten.”

James Stewart and Jean Arthur in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. (Britannica.com)

He adds that the Garden also presented “a number of Jimmy Stewart classics (including Mr. Smith Goes to Washington) because of his Princeton connection. We really have spent the past 10 years building community connections and relationships, to become Princeton’s community theater.”

The efforts have paid off: the NJ.com piece naming the Garden “the best movie theater in New Jersey” appeared in March 2017. Bobby Olivier writes, “We chose the theater that best serves its community, with a robust and unique programming schedule that caters to casual movie-goers, film buffs, college students, live theater aficionados, and more.” Olivier praises the venue’s “robust mix of first-run dramas, foreign flicks, Hollywood classics,” and “guest lectures.”

“That’s what we felt from the very beginning,” Collier says, adding that Renew Theaters is grateful that “other people recognized it as well. That’s always our goal: to have that classic movie theater experience, with a variety of programming that makes everyone feel welcome.”

When asked about the striking turnaround from “the pit” to “best in New Jersey,” Collier replies, “There’s a book I love, written by Barbara Wilinsky, about the history of art house movie theaters. It’s called Sure Seaters: The Emergence of Art House Cinema [University of Minnesota Press, 2001]. The reason that art house theaters were called ‘sure seaters’ was because you were sure to get a seat!

“The Garden was the second-run house in town. The Playhouse was the prestigious theater, the Garden was the one that got the B-movies, and the top-running movies after they played elsewhere. It was the place that the students went, because it was cheaper. I think that’s what gave it the nickname of ‘the Pit.’”

Collier adds, “But since we are now the only theater in town, and we are right there on Nassau Street — a prime location — we needed to erase that memory.” That entails “showing artful films” and that “we have a clean, updated theater.”

He is determined to ensure that the image of “the Pit” remains “wiped from peoples’ minds,” and that “people recognize us as one of the crown jewels of Princeton’s arts and culture community.”

Film Selection

Regarding curating films, Collier says, “Cinema is probably the most important art form of the 20th century, and it perfectly straddles high art and entertainment — and that’s what we look to do every day. To have an opportunity to engage with people who regularly attend the art museum or the symphony, but then also to bring students in for late night screenings, and just have people walk off the street because they want to beat the heat and see whatever movie we’re showing. We’re happy to serve all of those roles within the community.”

Asked how films are selected, Collier replies, “It’s a much more varied process than you would think. We have a programming team…we look for input from a variety of sources. We do a lot of research in terms of going to film festivals to look at what the best films are for our space, and for our clientele. Some of it comes down to scheduling, some of it comes down to distributor preference.”

“When a film is performing at a certain level, we’re actually obligated to hold onto that film,” he explains, adding that with two screens, “There is always a juggling act of which films do we think are going to hold? Which films have to be clean, meaning that they’re the only film that can be on that one screen?” The challenges in decision-making include adjusting screening times to allow for special events.

“There are a lot of moving pieces, but the simple answer is that we do a lot of research,” continues Collier. “We love movies, and we try our best to line up the schedule as far in advance as we can, to make sure that we get the movies we want to show.”

When asked what versions or formats of films are used, he says, “We try and show the new restorations, the highest quality that’s available. Our films are presented in a format that you can’t get at home, so that’s part of it as well. While people may have high-definition TVs, the quality of the digital cinema package that we get from the distributors is exponentially higher than what you can get on your home screen. We are always looking for the newest touched-up version of the film. Sometimes it has extended footage, sometimes it’s the original version — we will always note that.”

Reflecting on the communal experience of watching a film, Collier offers this challenge: “Watch a comedy at home by yourself — and then watch it in the theater with other people. Ditto with a horror film. It’s like a snowball effect, that when other people are laughing or screaming, you can feel it. That’s one of the things that we love in the communal aspect of coming to a movie.”

Collier says that a film like Casablanca has “many little background details that are visible only on a big screen, in the high-quality format in which we present it.”

He enthuses, “You feel the movie differently with each audience — it makes it alive. People are laughing at different scenes, you hear someone gasp when they finally recognize the importance of one moment. You also can’t pause it, change the wash, or check your phone. You’re immersed in the experience — and we love that immersion! That’s what we want cinema to be.”

Wendy Benchley (below, center), widow of Jaws novelist Peter Benchley, attends the Garden’s Jaws Fest 2024 with Julia Mahony (left), educational programs administrator, and Kyle Stenger, director of outreach. Collier says, “Benchley lived in Princeton, so it is always a special night to show the film here.” (Photo courtesy of Princeton Garden Theatre)

Educational Outreach

Regarding goals for the Garden’s future, Collier says, “We have brought on a local board of directors. We are looking to expand our outreach, and let people know about what we’ve been able to do over the past 10 years: raise the profile of the theater and bring a number of special guests and speakers to the community.”

Both Collier and Stenger are especially pleased with the launching of a film camp, the inaugural installment of which took place in July. “That is a huge 10th anniversary celebration for us, taking all that we’ve done and moving that to a new level,” says Collier. “We are excited to be offering this program as an opportunity for students to get more hands-on experience in terms of filmmaking and film appreciation — especially in this day and age where everything is visual, especially in the age of Instagram.”

Stenger notes that the course discusses “developing a story for a visual medium”; making “animations and storyboards, and learning camera techniques”; and effectively communicating “ideas and social dynamics.” Adding that the camp lets students work with 16mm film, he posits that the experience lets participants “see what a moving picture actually is at its core — which is, I think, very important, especially since social media has obscured our understanding about what moving images are.”

Pointing to the Garden’s ongoing film history programs such as the Hollywood Summer Nights series, Collier notes that the camp was “our first foray into youth education.” He hopes that it will not be a one-time event; he envisions courses that are available over the coming winter holidays, as well as “a larger summer camp program next year.” Funds also are being raised in the hope of undertaking “outreach into other communities, such as Trenton, to take the education program on the road.”

Other future goals include upgrading the theater’s projectors. Collier is eager to show films on a 35mm projector, as well as in the digital format that is now the overriding industry standard. Beyond the desire to “keep the history of film alive, and to bring the classic way of seeing films,” Collier points to “a huge backlog of 35mm films that have not been digitized, that we can’t show.”

He points out that “mostly mainstream and the more popular films” are available in a digital format. “If we can get 35mm projectors back in, that opens up access to a larger back catalog of films that we’ve been dying to program but have not had access to.”

Asked what he particularly wants readers to know, Collier emphasizes that “we’re a community-supported organization. We need the community’s help to continue bringing great films, special events, and education to everyone.”

“We are thrilled to be part of Princeton,” Collier adds. “We’re excited for the support of the community to continue bringing great films and events into the future.”