The Levoy Theatre
P.O. Box 678
126 - 130 N. High Street
Millville, NJ 08332
Office Phone: 856-327-9870
Fax: 856-327-4076
Last modified
October 20, 2006
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HandLE & Rovner's Theatre Beautiful
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For the next fifteen years the Levoy was Millville's center of entertainment for silent films and Vaudeville; its main competition came from the Peoples' Theatre just across the street, also operated by the Levoy's owners.
The famous Morris Handle and AJ Rovner leased the theatres from Somers
in April 1927 and soon decided that the Levoy was the one they were going
to invest in. After several months of further enlargements and embellishments
the “Theatre Beautiful” of Millville was ready for its grand reopening.
The Levoy was now at its full size—a 1,400 seat lower level, a 600 seat balcony, “one of the largest stages in the east” complete with a large orchestra pit, a marble and chandelier filled lobby and mezzanine, a new $30,000 pipe organ, and a very ornate classical facade that gave the impression of a theatre in a very large city.
The Levoy was “second to none in South Jersey” and the Millville citizens knew it. Over 3,500 people turned out for opening night, September 19, 1927. Silent movies were gaining a foothold in the entertainment industry, but the Vaudeville acts were still the main attraction for the Levoy crowds at the time.
It was not until the introduction and utilization of “The Talkies,” motion pictures with sound, that Vaudeville started to die out—still a very slow process with the high popularity that Vaudeville had achieved.
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