Frenchtown then & now

The Barn Theatre was built in 1939 between upper Eleventh and Twelfth Streets. It had 477 comfortable seats and a knotty-pine foyer. Its first show was Stagecoach, starring John Wayne. The photo on the left was taken in 1941. Nelverna Bellis, manager from the 1940s into the 1970s, was very strict. No feet on the upholstery, and young lovers found a chilly climate that had nothing to do with the air conditioning. It is said that Nelverna would slap the hands of hand-holders, although that’s hard to believe. In 1989 it showed its last film, When Harry Met Sally, starring Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal. Proprietor Richard Nathan, said that the Barn had been losing money ever since the 1982 opening of Cinema Plaza, a multi-screen theater near Flemington. —Rick Epstein