Colonial Theatre (Phoenixville)

The Colonial Theatre is located in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania at 227 Bridge Street. Built in 1903, the "Colonial Opera House" became a preeminent venue for movies, traveling shows, and live entertainment throughout the 20th century. The three-screen venue consists of the original 658-seat ‘vaudeville house’ and two newer additional theatres in the adjacent National Bank of Phoenixville building (c.1925).

Originating as a Beaux-Arts style renovation by architect, Harry Brownback in 1903, the Colonial Theatre was first home to traveling vaudeville acts, live stage shows and musicals. The first stage show, "The Beauty Doctor", debuted in 1903 starring, Fred E. Wright. In 1915, Mary Pickford visited the theatre and Harry Houdini held a performance, freeing himself from a safe in 1917. Silent films, usually accompanied by a live piano, were shown at the theatre from 1903 until 1928, when The Jazz Singer, the first "talkie" debuted.

Pipe organs

In 1917, a Wurlitzer organ was installed and used mostly for recitals before news reels. A restored 1929 Kimball pipe organ was installed in the theatre in 1975. Famous organist, Larry Ferrari, once played the organ, calling it a "magnificent instrument." In 2005, the Kimball organ was sold to the Chicago Historical Society and replaced with a Wurlitzer (Opus 585) pipe organ, which was originally installed in Shea's Hippodrome Theatre in Buffalo, New York in 1922. After years of restoration work by The Theatre Organ Society of the Delaware Valley, the first concert with the refurbished Wurlitzer organ was held at The Colonial on September 15, 2012.

"The Blob"

In 1958, the classic science fiction movie, The Blob, starring Steve McQueen, was filmed in Phoenixville, Downingtown, Chester Springs, and Royersford. The Colonial Theatre was featured in a pivotal scene of the movie as the creature starts to attack the town. A commemorative plaque is located on the rear wall of the balcony in honor of the film's projection-room scene, in which The Blob oozes through the projection openings. The plaque reads:

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