The State Cinema

Eight years ago today, the State Cinema closed. It's one of those anniversaries that gets swallowed up over time. In a town that's building new apartments and rooftop bars, the closure of a second-run movie theater in 2018 seems hardly memorable.1

The State Cinema is definitely worth remembering.

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Originally built in 1927, the State Theater was a vaudeville stage and silent movie house. The first feature film shown was "Tell it to the Marines," a film directed by George W. Hill starring Lon Chaney.2 The theater transitioned to a movie-only over the years and changed its name to the State Cinema. It was during this period that the theater started its Senior Matinee pricing.

As I write these pieces, I always come across a few cool facts that are new to me about Stamford's history. In the seventies, midnight movies were a national phenomenon. Theaters filled the late slot with concert movies and cult films. The State was doing it too. Stories about Yessongs3 and A Hard Day's Night4 are shared by those who attended.5

And I can't believe that in 1976, The Song Remains the Same6 wasn't shown on that screen.

By the time the '80s rolled around, the theater was in disrepair. The Freedman family bought it and in 1987 renovated it and turned it into the second-run movie theater a generation of Stamford kids grew up in.7

Oh and in the mid-2000's, I worked at the State Cinema for a few years. It was a second job, and I worked mainly evenings and weekend shifts. Unlike the first-run theaters, you had to sell tickets/concessions, clean up the theater between showings and set up the reel-to-reel prints for the showings. To this day, I love that I got to work with actual film.

There are so many great memories from that time. I was in my late 20's when I was there and got to work with a friend from high school and his dad, both were managers of the theater. The HS and college kids who worked there were true characters. In so many ways — it felt like my own version of "Empire Records."8 Even those nights, I'd get home after making popcorn and having the smell in my clothes and hair until I took a shower are fond memories.

You'd get to recognize the people who were the regulars. And the senior matinee pricing introduced over the years was still a draw. Parents brought their kids and seniors showed up. Working a Saturday shift meant the early movie — usually an animated or kid-friendly movie. And occasionally, after a long Friday night, having a job where you could go sit in a dark theater wasn't the worst thing in the world.

In the basement, there were movies that were saved from the '70s and '80s. Classics. One night, after closing, we reeled up the original 1977 Star Wars9 and watched it on the big screen. And yes, Han did shoot first.

Every time I drive down Hope Street, I always take a glance at the old marquee, that I used to change the letters on. The doors are locked and blacked out. The scuba shop and gift shop are still there, but the heart of the building seems to be missing.

I think of a story I read about Kevin Smith and the movie house he grew up going to in Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey. In 2022, he bought it with some partners after it had closed and reopened it as SModcastle Cinemas — showing indie films and classics, and hosting podcast tapings and events. It runs as a nonprofit now. Smith has said that as a for-profit business, it would die.10

The State Cinema still sits there. The main theater with the orchestra box and stage. The ceiling — painted sky, gold molding, the medallions in the corners.

It's still there in the dark right now.

Notes

1.Barry Lytton, "Stamford's Landmark Movie Theater to Close," Stamford Advocate, June 2018, https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/local/article/Stamford-s-landmark-movie....

2.Tell It to the Marines, directed by George W. Hill (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1926), starring Lon Chaney.

3.Yessongs, directed by Peter Neal (Ellman Film Enterprises, 1975), filmed at the Rainbow Theatre, London, in December 1972 and released theatrically in the United States on March 12, 1975.

4.A Hard Day's Night, directed by Richard Lester (United Artists, 1964), starring the Beatles.

5.Tommy Davis, "Who Remembers the State Cinema on Hope St," Stamford CT The Way It Used To Be, Facebook group, September 2, 2025, https://www.facebook.com/groups/1341967336166463/posts/2605664373130080/. Details of midnight concert-film screenings are drawn from reader comments on that post; formal archival records of 1970s programming at the State are scarce.

6.The Song Remains the Same, directed by Peter Clifton and Joe Massot (Warner Bros., 1976), a Led Zeppelin concert film drawn largely from performances at Madison Square Garden in July 1973.

7."Stamford's State Cinema to Close Despite Community Support," Stamford Advocate, 2018, https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/local/article/Stamford-s-State-Cinema-t... see also "Long-Lived State Cinema in Stamford to Close," Westfair Business Journal, https://westfaironline.com/arts-leisure/long-lived-state-cinema-in-stamf....

8.Empire Records, directed by Allan Moyle (Regency Enterprises / Warner Bros., 1995).

9.Star Wars, directed by George Lucas (Twentieth Century-Fox, 1977). The Episode IV: A New Hope subtitle was added to the film's opening crawl for the 1981 theatrical reissue; the sequence in which Han Solo shoots first was altered for the 1997 Special Edition.

10.Pat Saperstein, "Kevin Smith Fights to Keep His Childhood Movie Theater Open," Variety, April 2024, https://variety.com/2024/film/news/kevin-smith-childhood-movie-theater-o... "How Indie Theaters Are Evolving in a New Era," CBS News, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/independent-theaters-evolve-kevin-smith-met....

About the Author

Paul Gerardi was born and raised in Stamford. He holds a degree in history from the College of the Holy Cross, where a Jesuit education emphasized ethical responsibility, critical thought, and the enduring principle of People for Others.

His writing is shaped as much by philosophy and history as by film, music, and popular culture — the modern myths that reveal who we are, what we value, and what happens when ethics quietly slip out of view. He is the author of The Cost of Being Human.