Steven Spielberg pays tribute to the NJ theater where his dreams began

A movie-lore mystery has finally been solved — and by the man himself.

In a personal letter of thanks for a Camden County marker erected this week, filmmaker Steven Spielberg confirmed that he indeed saw his first movie, The Greatest Show on Earth, at the legendary Westmont Theatre near his family’s old Haddon Township home.

“I was so surprised and equally honored to learn of the historical marker commemorating the site of the first motion picture I ever saw when I was a little boy of six years old,” Spielberg wrote to Camden County’s Board of Commissioners.

In The Fabelmans, Spielberg’s semifictionalized account of his own childhood, that initial cinema experience turned into a lifelong love affair with film. Ultimately it gave America one of its most celebrated filmmakers. The Fabelmans is nominated for seven Academy Awards, including best picture and best director and best original screenplay.

But there have long been questions about where that momentous viewing took place. Many believed it was the Westmont, a historic first-run theater. Others speculated it was the Boyd, another old movie palace in Philadelphia, or even somewhere in Camden.

With the 95th Academy Awards days away, Camden County officials decided to erect the marker recognizing Spielberg, whose family moved to Camden from Cincinnati in 1949 when his father, Arnold, an engineer, got a job with RCA. The family moved to 267 Crystal Terrace in Haddon Township in 1952 and lived there until they moved to Arizona in 1957. They later moved to California. An article in The Inquirer this week told how memories of his time in South Jersey made their way years later into some of his films.

» READ MORE: Steven Spielberg's Jersey childhood: the real story behind "The Fabelmans"

“It seems like he was very inspired living here, even if it was a short amount of time,” said JoAnn Carson, who now lives at 267 Crystal Terrace with her husband, Dan, and their three children.

Camden County officials placed the marker by the former Westmont, now a Planet Fitness but still graced by the theater’s marquee.

Spielberg not only confirmed they got it right, but he wrote a bit about what those early cinema experiences meant to him

“For a budding storyteller that theater was kind of a place of worship and when my father left RCA in Camden to join GE in Phoenix, Ariz., I sadly knew I’d be leaving the memories of so many great afternoons and weekends at that movie palace behind. When I sat down to write my semiautobiographical film there was no question where the story should begin … in the place where all my big dreams began … at the Westmont.”

Spielberg wrote that of the many films he saw at the Westmont, he particularly recalls seeing John Ford’s The Searchers in 1956.

Those who have seen The Fabelmans will remember Ford — played by David Lynch – was the director that an awestruck Sammy Fabelman got some colorful — and largely unprintable — advice from at the movie’s end.

While the Spielbergs lived in South Jersey, young Steven attended Thomas Edison Elementary School and was an avid Cub Scout. He did his Hebrew school studies with the late Rabbi Albert Lewis of Temple Beth Sholom, then in Haddon Heights, said Joseph McBride, film historian and author of Steven Spielberg: A Biography. The Spielbergs were congregation members.

Spielberg thanked the county commissioners for marking his time in New Jersey. He also added: “I will visit Haddon Township to pay my respects to your wonderful community very soon.”

Needless to say, lots of people in South Jersey would love to see him. The Carsons would be happy to show him around his old house. They say, judging from The Fabelmans, it hasn’t changed that much.