Bland Theater

The Bland Theater had the least known information about it.  The building was located at 831 High Street near Chestnut Street, formerly part of Sutton’s Furniture storage warehouse before it was turned into a movie house in late 1942.  It was part of the Jewish Lichtman movie chain out of Washington, D.C., of which Solomon Soroko ran the theater during the early 1940s.  The Bland and Capitol were owned by the same movie chain and shared workers.  These “split shift” employees would work mornings to afternoons at the Capitol, take a one or two hour break, then went to work at the Bland to finish out the night.  The Bland showed “B” class movies, mostly westerns at 25 cents.  It was not as large as the Capitol and not as well patronized, but it managed to fill its 500 or so seats from time to time.

This picture was probably taken in the 1950s because parking meters were not implemented in Portsmouth until the 1950s.  From the Emmerson Collection.  Courtesy of Portsmouth Public Library.


                 Lichtman Theatres
                 Extend Wishes for A
                 Prosperous and Happy
                 1942 to Everyone

                 Start The Year Off Right
                 See A New Year’s Show
                 At a Lichtman Theatre

               -----NEW YEAR’S DAY ATTRACTION-----
___________________________________________
                              BILL ELLIOT – TEX RITTER
REGAL.                 “King of Dodge City”
___________________________________________________
                             FRED ASTAIRE – RITA HAYWORTH in
BOOKER-T.                “You’ll Never Get Rich”
____________________________________________________
                               ABBOT – COSTELLO
                                         “In The Navy”
CARVER.                  Also – Action Drama
                                     “Citadel of Crime”
____________________________________________________
                                    ANN SOTHERN as
                                     “Ringside Maisie”
MANHATTAN.         and  “Law of the Wolf”
                                        with Rin Tin Tin Jr.
________________________________________________________________
                                    GENE TIERNEY
                                 LOUISE BEAVERS in
CAPITOL.                    “Belle Starr”
                                 Filmed in Technicolor
________________________________________________________________
                                 DEAD END KIDS in
BLAND.                       “Hit the Road”
 

Norfolk Journal and Guide.  Saturday January 3, 1942, page 20. 
This advertisement viewed the movies that would be shown for New Year Weekend.  The Capitol Theatre, the most prestigious of the Black theaters in Portsmouth, did a showing of one of the
first technicolor motion pictures.  It also showed the first movie bill for the Bland Theatre.
 

 

Bland Theater 2001
Photo by Author

The Bland Theater was part of what is now Meyers and Tabakin Furniture store, seen here.  This picture was taken from the front corner of Chestnut and High Street, where the High Street Lyric was.

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