As a long standing theater existing since the silent era of film Irvington utilized several different marketing strategies depending on the era and circumstances they were faced with. In the early years from its opening in 1924 through to the 1940s the Irvington operated with fairly minimal advertising. The theater advertised its unique organ in the early days as a unique feature of the theater. While the major theaters of Portland would take up large spaces to advertise in the paper Irvington would only occupy a small line of text in the neighborhood theaters section. Occasionally the theater would feature a more prominent advertisement when they had a major film although this was rare.
Irvington was able to advertise at a greater rate by the 1960s, they were able to score several major films of the time on their first runs like West Side Story in 1962 and the Loved One in 1966 both of which were on their first run and occupied major spaces in the paper. The 1970s saw the theater come under the ownership of Tom Moyer which meant better funding for advertising. The theater was always advertised at $1 to $1.50 per screening as a cheap form of entertainment. 1975 also saw the release of Monty Python which was promoted with 500 free coconuts to the first customers on opening night, showing the theaters more unorthodox marketing strategies. Tommy was also promoted that same year extensively including misleading promotion with a massive advertisement for Jack Nickolson in the film despite his minor role in the film. Unfortunately moving into the 1980s Irvington became far less prominent in advertising. It was no longer able to keep up with larger multi screen venues, especially those in Lloyd Center only a few blocks away from it and its last years saw just as little advertisement as its early years before it closed for good shortly after Tom Moyer sold all his theaters in 1989.
