Remembering When A Movie Theatre Chain Was Based In Doylestown

DOYLESTOWN, PA — The sad news that the Regal Barn Plaza would be closing it doors brought to mind Claude “Buddy” Schlanger (1924 to 1987) who once owned the Barn Cinema as part of the Budco Quality Theatre Chain based right here in Doylestown.

The Doylestown Historical Society remembered Schlanger during a recent Throwback Thursday on its Facebook page.

According to the DHS, Schlanger “grew up in a home dominated by the motion picture business.” His father was an executive with Universal Pictures and Warner Brothers. The family moved from New York to the Philadelphia suburbs when his father became chief operating officer of the 130
theater Stanley-Warner chain.

Archives of Doylestown Historical Society

Buddy worked as a salesman for 20th Century Fox until 1951 when he and his wife, Gladys, leased the Strand Theater at 20 East State Street in Doylestown, renaming it The County Theater. “The County Theater was the first of many theaters and drive-ins which became known as the Budco
Quality Theater chain.”

By 1952 the Schlanger family were Doylestown residents, and the offices of Budco Theaters were located at 423 North Main Street. Eventually “the couple owned nearly 90 theaters in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Florida, and Nassau.

Included in the chain were the Barn Cinema in Doylestown Township, the Bucks County Drive-In in Warrington Township, and the 309 Drive-In in Montgomeryville.

In 1986 Schlanger sold his Budco Theater chain to American Multi-Cinema, Inc. (AMC) of Kansas City, MO, and moved to Boca Raton, Fla., where he died in 1987 at age 62.

Today, AMC is the largest theater chain in the world.

Source: Archives of Doylestown Historical Society.