50 & Counting
Harry Colmer hangs a movie poster.
Harry Colmer I
f you are a long-time visitor to LBI, you may remember watching summer movies, like Jaws, at the Colonial Theater in Beach Haven or the Colony Theater in Brant Beach. If you’re a real old-timer, you may even remember free Sunday movies or a paper bag filled with an orange and candies at Christmas, courtesy of Harry Colmer, the original owner of the theaters. Both of these theaters are beloved features of the summer memories of thousands of LBI regulars, and they occupy an important place in the history of the Island The Colmer family has a long history of providing entertainment to summer visitors and year-round residents here on LBI. Harry and Elvie Colmer came to LBI from Camden, New Jersey, soon after being married in 1914. Harry had always been fascinated with moving pictures, which at the time had to be turned by hand. Nevertheless, it was not the movies that brought Harry and Elvie to Long Beach Island. It Page 78 • Echoes of LBI
was a job with the Beach Haven Water Company. Harry got his start in the entertainment business when he and his partner, Lee Cranmer, ran the Colonial Opera House in Beach Haven in 1916. For a mere fifteen cents, theatergoers were treated to a live performance and a silent film. In 1922, though, Harry decided to take a big step forward and opened the Colonial Theater in Beach Haven. Six years later, in 1928, he then opened a second theater, the Colony Theater in Brant Beach. Pianist Frieda Cranmer accompanied the silent films, and Harry and Elvie’s three children, Elizabeth, Jeanette, and Bud, worked in the family business, as well. The children ushered, hung posters, cleaned up, and sold tickets. Times were tough during the Great Depression, however, and the family business struggled to survive. In the late 1920s, LBI’s theaters took another bold step forward. In an attempt to stay current with rapidly-changing film