Sunday Afternoon Talks
Sunday February 26th from 2-3:30 p.m. in the Lovell Room
Free and Open to the Public
Take an inside look at the Majestic and Poli’s Palace Theatres during the Stratford Library’s “Sunday Afternoon Talks” on Sunday February 26th with photographers/historians Jay Misencik and Geralene Valentine and their presentation, “Poli’s Palace and Majestic Theatres Memories Project”. The talk will be presented live in the Library’s Lovell Room. It is free and open to the public. The “Sunday Afternoon Talks” series are hosted by Charles Lautier of Stratford, and held from 2-3:30 p.m.
The Poli’s Palace and Majestic Theatres Memories Project, created and produced by Jay Misencik and Geralene Valentine, brings to life Bridgeport’s two magnificent and now dormant theatres. In their research the couple interviewed people who shared memories of their time spent at the theatres. Misencik and Valentine photographed former candy girls, usherettes, the last manager of the theatres, women who had their first date at the theatres with the “boy” they would eventually marry and a Stratford resident who play boxed his father on the Palace stage in 1931. They recorded all the stories these people shared about what the Palace and Majestic meant to them and to Bridgeport’s downtown.
In 2017, they published a book about the theatres and it is now a cultural heritage record featuring the social history of magical buildings. Memories hold the history, culture, and heritage of these long shuttered palaces. The theatres are listed on the National Register of Historic Places and 2022 was the 100-year anniversary of the opening of both theatres. Misencik and Valentine will augment their library talk with detailed photographs of the theatres in their glory years.
For further information visit: www.stratfordlibrary.org or call the Library at: 203.385-4162
