By R. Kurt Osenlund

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Once left for dead, today, the County Theater continues to buck industry trends and inspire a community’s support. The story of the County Theater’s rocky road from a modest upstart to a seemingly abandoned building to the Doylestown cornerstone it is today, spanning 70-plus years, has all of the ingredients of a crowd-pleasing epic — a humble beginning, rising action, romanticism, near-devastating developments, triumph of will.

Another chapter is being added to the County’s inspiring legacy. Major renovations are in motion, the first in over a decade, at the two-screen, independent theater. The inner lobby will be refinished and the entrances will be restructured so as to better seal the County’s two screening rooms from outside noise, according to Jim Sanders, the director of development for Closely Watched Films, the nonprofit that owns and operates the theater.

“We have two screens, not 22, so we pride ourselves on the ability to stay on top of everything and provide as good an experience as is expected,” Sanders says.

The unlikely savior
The building that houses the County, at 20 East State Street, was erected in 1938, and literally replaced the existing Strand Theatre as Doylestown’s premier movie house. For the next two decades, this gleaming beauty of art deco design saw a golden age that ran parallel to the one in Hollywood, serving as both motion picture venue and cultural mecca.

The decline set in in the 1970s, prompted by an onslaught of commercial development and the proliferation of the multiplex. The theater hung on through the eighties with a barebones existence before ultimately closing its doors in the early 1990s.

At the time, Closely Watched Films was a small society of cinephiles that showed obscure, artsy movies in and around Doylestown. That it was in any kind of position to take over a theater of its own was absurd thought. Until that thought became a reality in 1992, when Closely Watched assumed the operation of the County, reopening it the following year after some modest — and necessary — updating.

Perhaps the organization’s smartest move was, from the start, encouraging the surrounding community to be an active participant in shaping the theater. The interest was immediate, and after successfully fundraising, Closely Watched bought the theater on April 1, 1997. The following fall, it initiated a head-to-toe restoration — made possible by funding from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (PCA) and public donations — that lasted nine weeks.

“It was a total makeover,” Sanders says. “New screens, new seats, new concession stand, new projection booth equipment, new wiring, new roof – everything.”

Small-scale changes followed over the ensuing years. The signature neon tower was refurbished in 1998 and a digital sound system was installed in 2000, which was covered by revenue from the theater’s membership program.

Then, in 2007, Sanders and Closely Watched Films began staging a series of focus groups as a quality control measure. Two major complaints registered again and again in the feedback from both the focus groups and annual patron surveys. One was amendable. The other was not.

“The two areas of concern we received were [the need for additional] parking in town, which we have no control over, and the infiltration of light and sound into the auditoriums,” Sanders says.

Function and fashion
The two County screening rooms are separated from the concession area by a single door each that let light and noise pour in every time they swing open. At opposite ends of the concession area, double-door vestibules are being built, which will provide a buffer from any outside interference.

“The main thing we’re trying to do is soundproof the [screening rooms],” says Steve Arnold, an assistant manager at the theater. “The new doorways will vastly improve the audio quality of the films and the sheer experience of seeing them.”

They’ll also improve Arnold’s working conditions. The old layout of the inner lobby provided little space for County employees to carry out their duties, and even less room for communication, as staff interactions during screenings could contribute to disruptions.

The second half of the remodeling plan will involve updating the lobby, an undertaking that’s been a long time coming. Since the County’s reopening in 1993, about 1.2 million people have walked through the theater’s doors, according to Sanders, which makes replacing the carpet an act of function more than fashion.

Interior designer Celeste Callahan, who fashioned the space’s art deco look in 1997, will handle the re-design. The floral-print rug will be replaced with one featuring a more deco-friendly sunburst design. And the shale-and-yellow walls will be painted a deep red. The alterations should bring full circle an aesthetic that began with the theater’s inception.

Recession-proof
The entire renovation is expected to take 10 weeks to complete. It began in mid-April and should be finished by the end of June. The theater will remain open during that time, but it will be forced to operate with a single screen for two months. A month was allotted for the construction of each vestibule. Only the screening room on the opposite side of the theater from the construction will be in use then. Though the construction will take place primarily during the day, the film schedule will be reduced.

The screening room on the left side of the theater — also known as Theater One — will not sit completely dormant when that time comes. New lighting and state-of-the-art digital projection equipment that will, according to Sanders, make the room more suitable for guest speakers and special events will be installed.

The total budget for the project is $300,000. A portion of the budget, according to Sanders, is being covered by the Bucks County Foundation, a local charitable trust, as well as the PCA. A “good chunk” of the funding was raised through the membership program and donations from friends of the theater, Sanders says.

The renovation was unveiled last August, just before the worst news on the economy began to surface in September. That the fundraising moved forward, relatively unfazed, Sanders says, is a testament to the support the County enjoys today.

“The amount of help we received during this time shows just how truly supportive this community is,” Sanders says. “We’re a membership-based organization and we belong to the community. They came out to support the theater that they love.”

Seems like the makings of a happy ending — or, perhaps, a new beginning. (Comeback stories open the door for sequels.)