Ridgewood Folly Theatre
Myrtle Avenue,
Ridgewood,
NY
11385
Myrtle Avenue,
Ridgewood,
NY
11385
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Showing 26 - 50 of 88 comments
Lostmemory, they don’t even have it narrowed to Ridgewood, just Queens! At the very least, at least we know it was “somewhere” in Ridgewood.
Where art thy folly face west count two turn right it will bring music to thy ears
You are so very close to the answer look one block further with a ‘view’ and you shall find your reward the folly will appear for all
And this is all I am going to say about this, because I come here to read about theaters, not “gossip”, however:
This may not prove the information is wrong (it may be right, or it may be correct), however, the webmasters have also discovered something is wrong. Apparently, they have voided the account of FastEddie, RidgewoodBill, Sally G. Sally G.. and S G Cogan If you click on any of those, the accounts are voided.
Although the alternate accounts: Sally-G, Sally. Sally Genova S.G.Cogan SG Cogan S-G Coglin S.G.Cogin. and SGCogin are all still active accounts, so didn’t catch those yet.
Why would two different people make the exact same mistakes of having multiple accounts each time they post, and all the accounts are variations in the same way for both names, by the same exact method of adding a period, dash, or taking out spaces.
Now, back to the movies….
The Crescent Film Company was not an outdoor theatre but a short lived movie studio operated by Fred J. Balshofer and Herman Kolle. It is well documented in Balshofer’s book “One Reel a Week”.
The Crescent was based behind Prospect Hall, an old amusement hall (will explain if need be)at 263 Prospect Avenue. It used the space underneath the outdoor beer garden’s stage for a lab.
Herman’s father owned Prospect Hall and his older brother William D. Kolle was the manager.
Starting in 1906, the beer garden offered vaudeville and movies free with food and drink. The ads are the first that I have been able to find for regular performances of motion pictures in Park Slope. In July 1910, the garden was given a neo-classical look and renamed the Venetian Garden. This officially became an airdome in 1914. “The Prospect Hall Venetian Garden” presented “high class motion pictures and vaudeville every evening from 8 to 11 o'clock."In 1916 it became the Prospect Hall Garden under the management of Rudolph Sanders. Prospect Hall also operated for a brief time a movie theatre next door called The Idle Hall. Prospect Hall still survives and has had a long and interesting involvement with motion pictures and other forms of entertainment.
I thought someone would bring up the Marquee article. If you check the Brooklyn newspapers in the late 1890s and early 20th century you will find ads for the Gayety at Broadway and Troop. Also ads for the Unique at 194 Grand Street. There is a nice drawing of the interior of the Gayety in the Brooklyn Eagle August 1896. The accompaning article gives the address as Broadway & Troop. There is also an article on the Gayety in the Brooklyn Citizen for June 7th, 1908. It mentions the Broadway address for the Gayety. The 1912 business directory lists the Comedy Theatre at 194 Grand and the Gayety at 18 Troop Avenue. The Gayety opened on November 7th, 1892 and closed in 1933. At one time it was operated by Hyde & Behman. Back to Al Jolson, he appeared at the Unique in 1900 and again in 1904 (twice). In March 1903, he performed at the Gayety. By the way, according to the 1908 Brooklyn Citizen article, the Gayety Theatre was the best place in the Eastern District to “see shapely young women in tights”. I leave it to you to decide if and where a mistake was made.
The Metro was built on the site of the old Unique Theatre, a vaudeville/legit house that had opened on Aug. 18th, 1894. It was known locally as “Da Bum”. A young Al Jolson’s first Brooklyn appearance took place at the Unique Dec. 10-15 1900. Taken over by William Fox as a movie house the Unique became the Comedy (aka The Comedy, aka Fox’s Comedy Theatre). It was demolished in 1923.
The Metro opened around 1926 with an advertised seating capacity of 1,200. However the Film Daily Yearbooks place capacity at 990. It closed in the late 1940s (47?). It is still listed under the name Metro in the 1947 Film Daily Yearbook.
Just noticed another “if” in regards to one of my entires. As stated there was a Boardwalk Theatre listed in the Film Daily Yearbook. It is one of two mentioned under the Arverne heading. However no addresses are given. The address may have changed or Cinematours may be in error. There are a few errors on that site just as there a few on this one.
By the way, the earliest movie exhibition, I have been able to find for Knickerbocker Avenue is at 326 for a theatre operated by Louis Plaut from 1907-1909. No name is given for this theatre and it might not have had one.
If there was a Knickerbocker Casino? Anyway the earliest mention of this theatre that I can find is 1911. Under Moving Picture Exhibitions in Trow’s Business Directory (1912) there is a movie theatre at that address listed under the name Robert Horsley who must have been the owner of the theatre. The theatre name is not given. The Casino is not listed in the American Motion Picture Directory (1915).
As concerns the Knickerbocker Airdome, I can only find one year listed—1914. Was it a fly-by-night operation that opened in an empty lot one summer and than vanished? I don’t know.
Yes I am familiar with the Starr. There were quite a few theatres along Knickerbocker at various times.
Hmm, let’s try that again:
I will one day see if I can find anything out about the 274 Knickerbocker Ave site. I entered current photos of both the Starr Theater now a supermarket (As well as many of the Bushwick-Ridgewood theaters – check them if you like), and the Willoughby theater, now a Spanish Church. Actually, the Starr theater was on the opposite side of the street from the Willoughby theater. However, if there was a Knickerbocker-Casino, it would be only doors from the Willoughby theater
I will one day see if I can find anything out about the 274 Knickerbocker Ave site. I entered current photos of both the [url=/theaters/8018/Starr Theater [/url]site, now a supermarket (As well as many of the Bushwick-Ridgewood theaters – check them if you like), and the [url=/theaters/8019/]Willoughby theater[url], now a Spanish Church. Actually, the Starr theater was on the opposite side of the street from the Willoughby theater. However, if there was a Knickerbocker-Casino, it would be only doors from the Willoughby theater.
With 585 seats, the Boardwalk Theatre was located in Arverne in Far Rockaway. In the 1920s it also advertised the Boardwalk roof (no capacity given). The theatre is still listed as opened in the 1947 Film Daily Yearbook.
I also believe there was a question concerning the Knickerbocker Theatre. There were two in operation briefly during the 1910s in Brooklyn: the Knickerbocker Casino Theatre which gave 274 Knickerbocker Avenue as an address and also the Knickerbocker Airdome at Knickerbocker & Halsey
where was this theater located it has a real cute name
While I have not been to this theatre myself I have heard of people that attended it it was a small theatre which used kitchen chairs for seats seems like it has drawn quite an interest here
I have returned with a compilation of all the facts as known to date. Perhaps this will put an end to the misinformation given earlier. I am using facts from my own record searches and have included input from Stanley. The Ridgewood Folly theatre was owned by Mr. Schubert and built in 1909 and operated under that name until 1914 when it was sold to the Goodman Entertainment Company. The theatre was renamed to the Grandview theatre due to its location. This rather small theatre did a brisk business until 1925 when plans for a larger theatre were drawn. The original Ridgewood Folly theatre was demolished and the new Grandview theatre built on the exact location where the Folly theatre stood. The larger Grandview theatre opened in the spring of 1927 and remained a fixture on Grandview avenue until 1956. An address of 959 Grandview would be correct for both theatres. I have written this in story form in the hopes it will end all confusion.
Perhaps my previous message was too harsh towards some individuals. I meant no offence to anyway. I did not complete my posting previously as I was interrupted by prior engagements possibly the reason I was rude before. The Evergreen Theatre suffered major damage in a storm I am informed that it was a rather large snowstorm which caused the roof to collapse resulting in major interior damage. With all the questions being fired upon myself no one has asked the type of theatre the Folly was. Have you not observed the lighting in the photo indicating the Folly had no roof making it an open-air theatre. Do not lose sight of your goal lostmemorie you will find your answers as you are the most inquisitive amongst us continue to be so.
S.G. Cogan
Queens Genealogy Workshop
And for anyone interested, here’s a photo of the VG Nichols (Triangle) Furniture building taken today. If it was intended for a theater, we have yet to determine, but it is still a dance hall on the third floor.
Click here
Here’s a current view of the site of the Ridgewood Folly Theater taken today.
Click Here for Link
The theater Grandview theater (the funereal home) is located at 663 Grandview Ave. The Ridgewood Folly was probably where the parking lot is now, to the left of the Grandview Theater (funeral home), which is located on the 659 and 661 Grandview Ave lots.
I will clarify the dates for the confused amongst us. Sally misquoted the (1918) Folly Theatre date. The Folly Theatre was sold in (1914) to Goodman Co renamed to Grandview Theatre for a brief tenure. The theatre closed again in (1918) was demolished and rebuilt in the (1920s) All four Theatres were owned by the Goodman Co as I previously stated. The confusion exists because people cannot read correctly and compute dates accurately. I have given you the story of the Grandview Theatre use it as you see fit.
S.G. Cogan
Queens Genealogy Workshop
Isn’t this because the Ridgewood Folly was on the Grandview property and operating until 1918? I don’t think the Grandview building that survives today was built until the 20’s.
Where was this movie house at I never heard of it before
Thanks SG. I assume the closed Evergreen Airdrome that was dormant in the 20’s was then bought by the Bank that built the Chase Manhattan Bank building (now Banco Popular) on that site. (I guess this should really be talked about in the Evergreen Theater section, but since we brought it up here). What I never understood is why when the city auctioned off the property that the Evergreen theater was on around 1930, the new buyer decided to raze the building, and then build the non-descript one story store building that now houses CTown on it’s site. Was the Evergreen theater building in that bad a shape that they couldn’t convert it to stores? Why tear down a more substantial building to build a one story store? I could see them tearing it down for a more profitable building, even a store under apartments, but never understood why they spent money to tear down a large building, and then just replace it with a non-descript one story building, unless the Evergreen structure was in such bad shape (after only 15-20 years old) or burned or something.
You do seem to ask many questions. I will tell all that I have discovered. The Evergreen Theatre was built in 1913. The Grandview Theatre was built in 1914. The Wyckoff Theatre was built in 1915. The Air-Drome was not purchased by Goodman as he already owned the Grandview open theatre.
The Air-Drome lay dormant for most of the twenties until the land was sold. The Evergreen Theatre did poorly due to incorrigible employees skimming money. Goodman was unable to save this theatre with the receipts of his other holdings and I believe he chose not to save it. The debt mounted and taxes went unpaid until ultimately the city auctioned off the property around (1930). I am currently working on a book telling of the unsavory land deals in Queens with Ridgewood being a chapter unto itself. I will return from time to time with updated facts as I discover them.
S.G. Cogan
Queens Genealogy Workshop
I have no agenda so I am not trying to mislead anyone. The Grandview Theatre was owned by the Goodman Company who also purchased the Evergreen Theatre with the intention of operating a chain of theatres. Yes Louis Berger played a key role in the building of Ridgewood. Ridgewood had its share of scoundrels and underhanded dealers as many other communties had. I will convey your thoughts to Sally and perhaps I can persuade her to return here to help in your endeavors.
S.G. Cogan
Queens Genealogy Workshop
I am not upset at all. Actually, I want to thank Sally for her input. Your last post explains the Triangle furniture Building too. I would never have learned that unless Sally posted about that location. I have always thought that building was “different” and now I know why. This explains the high ceiling.
And the mystery of the mysterious Ridgewood Folly has also been solved. This is all good.