The Final Remnant of Jerry Lewis Cinema.... Sort of
Several decades ago, long before the days of cryptocurrency pump-and-dump scams fronted by popular online personalities, there was a different get-rich-quick scheme that bankrupted many people, all because they trusted a likable personality they recognized from their TV screens. And while the celebrity-led hoaxes of today are usually only visible online, this particular one from the 1970s still has a physical remnant standing right here in New Jersey.
Just off of Route 23 in Kinnelon, New Jersey, you can find the Meadtown Shopping Center. It’s a perfectly boring strip mall containing the usual suspects, (a dollar store, tanning salon, gym, and handful of restaurants,) but at the backside of the property lies a small, lonesome brick structure. Sitting on a plot roughly 7500 square feet in size, this unassuming building hides quietly behind the other businesses and waits for the day that somebody will once again unlock its dusty doors, and step inside to make another memory inside its once-busy walls.
The story of the Meadtown Cinema goes back to 1969, when Jerry Lewis (Dean Martin’s comedy partner, and an established comedian and movie star in his own right) allowed Network Cinema Corp. to use his name as the face of their new franchise cinema chain. For just a few thousand dollars, an aspiring movie theater owner could have their very own Jerry Lewis Cinema, in a great deal that seemed too good to be true.
And that’s exactly what it was! By the early to mid-1970s, the Jerry Lewis Cinema empire collapsed, and disappeared completely by the end of the decade. Several factors led to this, most notably a combination of inexperienced franchisees, and poor training measures in place for them. The get rich quick scheme only held true to the “quick” part of its name, and the aftermath left many (Jerry Lewis included) completely bankrupt as a result. While Lewis was able to pull himself out of bankruptcy, many franchisees who had put all of their money into his business venture didn’t have the same luck.
Perhaps the Meadtown Cinema had better luck, because it never bore the Jerry Lewis name to begin with. Interestingly enough, it was built by the Jerry Lewis Cinema company, but it opened in 1972 as a separate entity, with different management and no relation to the chain. However, the building design is unmistakable, and a publicity photo even shows Jerry Lewis posing with a nearly identical architectural model. Maybe the distance from the Jerry Lewis name saved this theater, or perhaps it was just lucky enough to have experienced management. But whatever the reason, this little building was able to weather the storm and sail into the next century.
(Here's Jerry Lewis himself, posing with a scale model of his namesake movie theater. Although there were some theaters opened with different designs, the model pictured here is nearly identical to the one still standing in Kinnelon.)
The theater became, and remained, a part of the Clearview Cinemas chain from 1997 up until its closure in 2013. By this point, the Meadtown Cinema was known as Kinnelon Cinema 3, as the already small structure had miraculously been divided to fit 3 screens. Clearview operated theaters in and around New York City from 1994 until April of 2013, when it was purchased by the competing Bow-Tie Cinemas chain and promptly vanished off the face of the earth. All but six of the Clearview-owned theaters were rebranded under the Bow-Tie name, with the rest, including Kinnelon Cinema 3, closing their doors.
Today, the little movie theater still waits for some excitement to come around. Inside, it’s almost completely barren– the projectors, screens, and seats have long been taken from the gutted interior, leaving behind little more than a bathroom and some garbage on the floor. Plywood covers its broken window panes, and the glass left intact on the building is coated in a fine layer of dust. Its beige walls are broken up by patches of decay, with paint peeling back to reveal the brown brick underneath, and sections of the gate that once led viewers inside now lie broken and mangled on the ground.
Despite the sad state of the old Kinnelon Cinema 3, it’s an incredible piece of history to have in the small town of Kinnelon, NJ. Somehow, even with all of its defining features stripped of the inside, it’s one of the most, if not the most, well-preserved Jerry Lewis Cinema structures still standing today. Beyond that, the Clearview Cinemas logos emblazoned on the windows are the last examples I know of, where you can still find the Clearview logo anywhere in public. So even after twelve years of sitting alone in a backlot with no visitors, this small building is still silently carrying the torch for two bygone chains of movie theaters.
So what does the future hold for this story? Well, due to the numerous lives bankrupted by the failure of Jerry Lewis Cinemas, and on account of Jerry’s passing in 2017, it’s safe to say there won’t be any new theaters opening with his name or face attached to them anytime soon. Clearview Cinemas is also seemingly dead and buried, as their new owners (Bow-Tie Cinemas) have closed their own brand as well. The last Bow-Tie theater closed in 2024, with the remaining handful of locations rebranding as BTM Cinemas.
As for Kinnelon Cinema 3…. It’s still hanging on. There’s been no redevelopment plans, or new business proposals, as far as I’m aware, since its closure in 2013. In a small town like Kinnelon with an embarrassing lack of activities for teenagers and young adults, the space could make for a fantastic indie movie theater, or an art and performance venue, but only time will tell if that pipe dream can ever come to fruition. In the meantime, you can visit this unassuming piece of history at the Meadtown Shopping Center, just off of Route 23, where it has stood since 1972.
You can find it at these coordinates: 41.000705, -74.358
- I went to this movie theater once! I don't remember anything about the experience. Not a single thing.
- There are two other surviving theaters of the same design that I know of. They are in Richmond, VA, and Lambertville, MI. The Richmond location appears to be considerably remodeled, but the one in Lambertville still looks a lot like the model pictured at the top of this article.
