The founder of Budco Theaters was Claude “Buddy” Schlanger (1924-1987). 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. Buddy worked as a salesman for 20th Century Fox until 1951 when he and his wife, Gladys, leased the Strand Theater at 20 E. State St. 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 lived in Doylestown and the offices of Budco Theaters were located at 423 N. Main St.
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.” Claude Schlanger sold his Budco Theater chain to American Multi-Cinema, Inc. of Kansas City, MO, in 1986 and moved to Boca Raton, FL where he died in 1987 at age 62.
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