Former Colonial Theater in Beach Haven highlighted in new 'Driving Jersey' episode

Steve Rogers, producer of the Emmy-nominated PBS series “Driving Jersey,” took a step back in time when he ventured to the old Colonial Theater building in Beach Haven in August to film part of a new episode dubbed “CinemaNJ.”

The last piece shot for the segment, which explores the historic aspects of film in the Garden State as well as the memories of cinema enthusiasts, delves into the past of the oldest theater building in Southern Ocean County, highlighting Roger’s brother, Christian, the local cinema’s former usher-turned-manager.

Photo by Steve Rogers
Revisiting the theater building brings back
great memories for Rogers' brother, Christian.

“My love of movies began with him,” said Rogers, who grew up in Manahawkin. “Closest to me in age, my brother and I were partners in crime as kids, going to the movies all the time. It’s what we shared most. Well, that and a bedroom growing up.

“When I think back to what got me into loving and making movies, it’s him; it’s our shared childhood love of the magic of film,” Rogers added. “So when I set out to do an episode about cinema in New Jersey, I wanted to include him as a clear, tangible human-roadmap into my route and my roots in movies.”

Replacing an older and smaller Colonial Theater on Third Street, which was still used in the wintertime when crowds were smaller, the Colonial opened in July 1922 as the New Colonial on the corner of Bay Avenue and Center Street, Rogers said, referencing Eighteen Miles of History on Long Beach Island by John Bailey Lloyd. The theater, a wooden structure constructed in the Firman Cranmer Lumber Yard across the street and hoisted up with pulleys, was opened by Harry Colmar and his partner Leon Cranmer. Though Colmar died in 1956, his family continued to run this and two other theaters until 1964, before selling. The theater was closed around 2000 and converted into Cranmer Hardware Store.

While getting into the old theater building for the filming was “tricky” since it is currently closed and up for sale, Rogers said, real estate agents at Sunset Harbour Realty in Beach Haven “made it happen.”

“The segment that includes the Colonial is very entertaining and nostalgic, and it will certainly move locals to laughter and maybe a bit of melancholy,” he added.

The episode, which premiered last week on NJTV, also explores Thomas Edison’s famed laboratory in West Orange, where the so-called Wizard of Menlo Park assisted in the development of moving pictures and “produced” some of the world’s first films. The sites of the original drive-in movie theaters in Pennsauken and Riverton, the first in the world, as well as The Delsea Drive-in in Vineland – the last drive-in still standing in the state that gave birth to the form – make appearances in the episode, too.

“Driving Jersey: CinemaNJ’ is a sweet look at the state’s place in the history of the silver screen and the memories of all the magic motion pictures have played in our lives,” Rogers stated in a press release.

The segment launched on Driving Jersey’s website on Wednesday, Oct. 1. To view the episode, visit drivingjersey.com.

The piece will also air again on NJTV as well as various PBS stations throughout the month. To find the NJTV channel for various cable providers in the New Jersey/New York/Pennsylvania area, visit njtvonline.org/about/where-to-watch.

–Kelley Anne Essinger

This article was published in The SandPaper.