Visit the gallery space adjacent to the Ambler Theater to see an array of vintage projectors, posters, and other artifacts from the history of the motion picture industry. Most of the items on display were generously donated by Lou DiCrescenzo.

Film is an incredible medium, in that despite its many advances, a 35mm film printed today could still be run on a projector from the 1890s. The collection on display in the gallery showcases the successful, and sometimes unsuccessful, steps the industry has taken from the early days of Thomas Edison to the modern age. The projectors on display, some of them still in working condition, highlight the dynamic changes in moviegoing—from when portable projectors were part of carnivals and traveling shows, before cinemas existed, to the hulking Cinerama projector designed to combat the rise of television and make movies a spectacle again. There are only a handful of places in the world to see such a wide array of film projection equipment on display, and where you can see in a single glance the strides taken by countless inventors to bring moving pictures to the masses.

The Gallery is current closed for renovations and will reopen Fall 2026.

Located adjacent to the theater at 106 East Butler Avenue, the space has served a lot of purposes over the past decade. And many elements of its various past tenants have survived. The showers and locker rooms from when it was a gym, it retains the layout and infrastructure from when it was Ambler Saving's temporary home and later the sales room for a real estate developer. In order to make the space suitable for the world-class collection of projection equipment and film history we have, we are undertaking some renovations.

Phase 1 of the work is mostly structural. We are removing the locker room showers, adding new electrical and lighting, repainting the ceiling (which was shedding debris onto the exhibits, and adding new UV protection and shades, so that we can do more presentations and live projector demonstrations. This work will span the summer of 2026 and we will start reinstalling exhibits (and our administrative offices) in the fall. Phase 1 work has been supported by a grant from The Dietrich Foundation.

Phase 2 will start once the structural work is done. We are actively seeking funds to fund this vital next step. Phase 2 work includes reframing our historic movie posters with UV protective glass, the addition of new display cases, and establishing open gallery hours and educational events. Make a gift to support Phase 2 and the Gallery's next steps.

Lou DiCrescenzo grew up in Yardley, Pennsylvania, and got his start as a projectionist running weekend matinees at the Garden Theatre in Trenton, New Jersey, as a teenager in the 1960s. As a young man he learned the trade from projectionists who had their start in the Silent Era and he was trained to operate booths that still had their original sound equipment from the early 1930s, cultivating a passion for early projection technology. He joined the projectionists' union at the age of sixteen and began working at theaters throughout the region. By 1980 he had worked at 125 different theaters. He later served in various technical roles, including technical supervisor for the Ritz Theatre Group in Philadelphia.

In addition to his work as a projectionist, service technician, and technical consultant, he began collecting films and projection equipment. Over the course of his nearly sixty years as a projectionist, Lou DiCrescenzo saved hundreds of films. Before the studios saw the value in preserving their own history, Lou was saving lost silent films, Technicolor classics, and curious bits of film ephemera that were destined for the trash heap. In the 1970s, when the FBI was arresting film collectors over allegations of film piracy, Lou continued donating films to the American Film Institute under a pseudonym because he believed that saving film history for future generations was worth the risk.

Lou was also a prolific collector of motion picture technology and other artifacts that document the history of cinema, ranging from its birth in the 1890s all the way to the transition to digital projection in the 2010s. He collected projection equipment, posters and lobby decor, books and technical manuals, photographs, and more.

Lou was a longtime friend of our nonprofit theater, as a technical advisor, a mentor to our projectionists, and a frequent guest presenting films from his collection. In 2008, he donated a large portion of his collection to us so that it could continue to be enjoyed by the public. We are honored to be among the many organizations that he entrusted his collection to, alongside the Library of Congress, the Museum of the Moving Image, and the Smithsonian. Our shared love of the authentic cinematic experience inspired us to create the Ambler's 35mm Film Festival.