Warner Brothers museum chief to lecture

Staff report

LIBERTY

Jerry Kern, director of the Warner Brothers Theater Museum in New Castle, Pa., will discuss the heritage, importance and rebirth of the theater as a museum in a lecture Saturday at 10 a.m. in the meeting room of Kravitz Deli, 3135 Belmont Ave.

Kern’s presentation is part of the Memories of a Lifetime series sponsored by the William Holmes McGuffey Historical Society. Admission is $6 ($5 for society members).

The event includes refreshments and a raffle to benefit the society, and music by Dolores DePietro. Reservations are suggested; call 330-726-8277.

The museum is on the site of the Warner Brothers’ first permanent movie theater, which was known as The Cascade. It opened in 1907.

The Warners were raised in Youngstown, but opened their first storefront theater in New Castle, Pa., because they could not find an affordable location in the Mahoning Valley.

They later began to produce their own feature films, and moved to Los Angeles, where they built a groundbreaking movie studio.

Youngstown’s palatial Warner Theater, now known as Powers Auditorium, was built in 1931.

The museum, located at the Riverplex, in downtown New Castle, Pa., features representations of the Cascade and the second theater opened by the Brothers – the Bijou.

The museum is open to the public Tuesdays through Saturdays, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and by special arrangement for groups, meetings and private parties. Current displays include a definitive depiction of the Wonskolaser (Warner) family’s journey from Russia to America in 1888.

Kern is founder and president of the board of trustees of the nonprofit museum, a project he envisioned and nurtured starting in 1994. He is a graduate of Grove City College, a veteran of the Marine Corps and a retired federal employee. He currently serves as paymaster of the New Castle Area Marine Corps League and is a board member of the Lawrence County Tourism office.

The McGuffey society conducts cultural and educational programs in an effort to keep the legacy of nationally known educator William Holmes McGuffey alive. McGuffey first published his famous Eclectic Readers in 1836, and they are still in print.

Educated in Youngstown, he became known as “America’s Storyteller” and “America’s Schoolmaster.” The McGuffey homestead, located on McGuffey Road, Coitsville Township, includes 78 acres and is a National Historic Landmark.

It was donated by the society to Mill Creek Metroparks in 1998, and is now known as the McGuffey Wildlife Preserve. A bridge, highway and school are now named after McGuffey, due to society efforts.

WHMHS is now conducting a membership drive. Membership levels include individual, family, organization, business, patron and lifetime.

Members have the opportunities to participate in a school based literacy program, the annual McGuffey Founder’s Day/Pioneer Award program and the monthly public programs’ committees.

For information, call Richard S. Scarsella, WHMHS chairman, at 330-726-8277.