Talk:Warner Theatre (Morgantown, West Virginia)

Comment

How relevant is "Documentary filmmaker Xackery Irving, a Morgantown native, held the West Virginia debut of his film American Chain Gang at the Warner Theatre on Feb. 9, 2006, in a benefit for the Rape and Domestic Violence Information Center." to the theatre's history? I don't think very much. I'm probably going to remove that. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jhiner (talk • contribs) 21:23, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Remember that Verifiability and Notability need to be considered when removing information.

The Dominion Post newspaper from February 9, 2006, listed under the External Links section, seems likely related to this part of the article. The article is titled "American Chain Gang premieres at Warner Theatre." This article's title strongly suggests a connection to the information you removed. Since this information is backed by a reliable source, it aligns with Wikipedia's Verifiability policy.

However, Notability is also important. I do not have access to the newspaper article from February 9, 2006 so it is impossible for me to share my opining regarding whether there is Significant coverage on the American Chain Gang fact.

Personally, I don't think it is noteworthy in the overall history of the theater, and think it is an unnecessary detail. I support your decision to remove it, but since it has been removed, the newspaper in the External links section should also go. I went ahead and removed it. MasonJar55 (talk) 08:34, 15 January 2024 (UTC)

Who currently owns the Warner?

There are a few names and organizations that keep coming up, but I am unable to find one entity to credit as the owner.

Initially, I referenced an article from The Dominion Post because it was the earliest source I could find. It mentioned that Mark Downs and Rich Brant had purchased the theater. Mark Downs is currently the head of the Main Street Morgantown organization and is publicly known for his community involvement. There doesn't seem to be any public information about Rich Brant's background.

WBOY climes the restoration efforts for the Warner Theater are being led by High Street Holdings LLC. They report that High Street Holdings owns the building. High Street Holdings LLC appears to have an affiliation with Richard Brant, who is listed in the corporation's address in the West Virginia Secretary of State Online Data Services. Additionally, Mark Downs is listed as a Member of the organization. The names Rich/Richard Brant and Mark Downs keep surfacing in connection with the Warner Theater project. They are clearly involved, but it's challenging to what extent. A little complex, but it still makes sense. It seems that Mark Down and Rich Brant bought the Warner through an organization they lead. Here is where it gets weird. The situation gains complexity when you realize that Round Table Development LLC is listed as a members and Organizer. It appears, Round Table Corporation (almost certainly related to Round Table Development) sold the building to a entity that they are a member of. This makes me question if the building really was "sold". I am starting to suspect that there may be some sort of a partnership arrangement going on, rater than a sale.

Given the ambiguous nature of the ownership situation, I'm not entirely sure how to proceed. I am going to leave the statement about Mark Downs and Rich Brant as the owner for now, but I think this is a topic the need looked into more. MasonJar55 (talk) 08:40, 15 January 2024 (UTC)

Citations and Links Discussion

I noticed that this article had a "this article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations." banner. To address this, I've added citations and taken a closer look at the general references.

The first link is to CinemaTreasures.org, then a link to The League of American Theaters, next a newspaper article, and finally CinemaTreasures.org a second time. I explained earlier why I think the newspaper article needs to go. I also think that the The League of American Theaters should be removed. The site does not cover the warner very well (it only has name, location, built date, and capacity). Capacity being the only think not discussed on the Wikipedia page in more detail. Over all the League of American Theaters page is really surface level and not particular helpful. Most of the page is info not even related to the Warner. Considering its limited relevance, I decided to removed it. CinemaTreasures.org is a cool, fun little site. There are some delightful discussions on there and the pictures are interesting, but I really don't think we need it twice. I just took one off.

With the Link out of the way lets talk about citations. I used wvnews.com as a source three times and could have used it a fourth for the March-Westin fact, but I did want to be too overly reliant on this one article so I used WBOY instead. I marked the Don Knotts fact as needing a better source because this Wikipedia page is more specific than the source I added. For example our Wikipedia page says "he was a student at West Virginia University" the source says the more generic "in his formative years". wvnews.com does agree that it happened, but I would like to find a different source that confirms that it was during his time at WVU. wvnews also does not specify a date; this wikipedia article does. I looked for a looooong time and could not find a better source. It was actually after I gave up and stopped looking that I found wvnews.com. I keep running into webpages that were a word for word exact copy of this Wikipedia article that cited this article. I also feel that the conversion from a single bay to a multiplex could be better covered. I found this interesting web page that had more detail: https://theresashauntedhistoryofthetri-state.blogspot.com/2013/02/historic-warner-theater.html. It is clear that the author has done some research, but I hesitate to use this page for information because (I think) it's a personal website and it cites CinemaTreasures.org which (I believe) is user generated. I don't fully understand the nuts and bolts of how Wikipedia's Reliable sources policy, but I think using this page may be a violation??? Hopefully someone more experience can provide some clarification. I am also aware that Wikipedia has proceed with caution policy for magazines because this media type usually lacks a fact-checking process. Once of the sources I have used is a magazine so here is my defense: I feel that since the magazines interviewed former managers of this buisness that it can be trusted. They have first hand experience and I think can be considered experts on this topic.

With these changes, I think that this page's citation situation has improved enough that the more footnotes tag can be removed and have removed it myself. MasonJar55 (talk) 09:06, 15 January 2024 (UTC)

Film History

I feel like this page should include some (perhaps just a short summary of) information about early film history. Including the rise and fall of studio owned theaters. I feel this addition could provide valuable context for readers. Personally, I don't have enough knowledge on the topic to feel comfortable writing about it. Also, sources covering this topic seem to be scarce. Thanks in advance to who ever accepts this challenge. :) MasonJar55 (talk) 03:31, 13 July 2024 (UTC)