PeterApruzzese, if they are removing the seats, they will also be leveling the floor. What I read in that email is they’re going to turn the Lafayette into a multi-use live venue. I suspect movies will no longer be the featured item.
bigjoe59, I believe William Fox bought his first “theatre” in 1904, a 146 seat nickelodeon in Brooklyn. By time the Halsey was built in 1912, he operated quite a few theatres.<
The Ditmas operated an airdome on the lot directly behind the theatre during the spring and summer months between 1917 and 1919.
While matinee performances were still presented in the theatre, the evening shows were held outdoors, except when the weather wasn’t agreeable. There was also a special entrance to the theatre: in case of a sudden rainstorm, the entire audience could be moved indoors in a matter of minutes to continue the show.
When construction of the Airdome started in April 1917, the Perth Amboy Evening News ran an article giving a brief description of the new venue; it would have an inclined floor and 1000 seats facing the theatre building, where the screen was mounted high enough on the rear wall to afford an unobstructed view from every seat. There were two entrances, one on State Street where the theatre entrance was, and the other on King Street, where the Airdome had its frontage. Uniformed attendants were at either to park vehicles. Decorations were themed green in the “idea of a summer garden”, with “rustic arbors, plants and flowers”. Each patron was supplied with a cushion for their seat, there was a check room for personal items and of course a refreshment stand. A full orchestra accompanied the films and on occasion would present a concert as part of the entertainment. Special events and Saturday nights offered the option of catching the show either in the Airdome or theatre.
An ad for the 1917 opening night has been uploaded to the photo page.
THE Smith Street Realty Company was formed in the spring of 1916 by property owners located on Smith Street, between High and State Streets in downtown Perth Amboy. The sole purpose of the Company was to build a theatre on their block, to attract foot traffic and increase business.
The West Furniture Store was purchased for the street frontage, it was announced the new theatre would be ready by the fall of that year. However, the property was too small for what the investors envisioned and the next several months were spent purchasing additional properties and contracting an architect and builder. Work finally started in December, the original West building was gutted and partially razed, with portions incorporated into the new structure at the discretion of the contractor. The architect engaged was Joseph Duke Harrison of New York, the general contractor in charge of construction was Ira R. Crouse, a local fellow.
The following July, it was announced that Willian J. Counihan and Michael L. Shannon, who had built and still operated the Majestic Theatre a few blocks away, had leased the new venue, to be named the Strand. They claimed it would be operated “along the same lines as the Strand theatre in New York City, running big feature photoplays”.
Originally scheduled to be ready in mid-September, The Strand opened on October 22, selling out three showings of “The Honor System”, a 10 reel feature from William Fox.
A full page article in the December 1st issue of the Motion Picture News described the Strand as occupying a plot 61 feet wide by 166 feet deep, its frontage composed of glazed white brick and marble with a small retail space on either side of the lobby entrance. The lobby itself was done in stucco and paneled, each panel having a picture of one of the stars of the day displayed. The auditorium contained an orchestra and balcony seating 1,300 total, the walls had panels with murals. There were eight boxes, four on either side of the stage, each seating nine people. The stage itself had elaborate scenery surrounding the screen, which would be changed from time to time. The orchestra pit ran the length of the stage and the Strand employed an orchestra of 20 to fill it. The ceiling was of decorated steel, in the clear rising 28 feet. Two Simplex machines were used for projection.
In May 1924, Counihan and Shannon sold the Strand, Majestic, and their theatre in Plainfield to Walter Reade, who took over operations on June 1st. His announced plan was to remodel/build the Strand, nearly doubling its capacity. This didn’t happen, instead the Majestic got the upgrade. The Strand was still showing movies in the spring of 1957, and still operated by the Reade organization.
An ad for its 1917 opening has been added to the photo page.
Joe Vogel, B. F. Keith’s wasn’t razed in 1927. However, it closed on February 4, 1928 for 3 weeks while an organ, modern projection booth and new marquee advertising “B.F. KEITH’S PHOTOPLAYS” were installed. The house itself did get remodeled in 1932. Nice article from the Cincinnati Enquirer published in 2016 can be read here.
The organ by the way, was Wurlitzer opus # 1834; a three manual 13 rank style 240, installed on February 3 according to the opus list.
Royal was the 4th name this theatre held: previously, in reverse order, it was the Crescent, Liberty and City. These changes came in its first three years. Here’s short recap of its beginnings…
Built in 1916, it was part of the Raritan Building, a 4-story structure located downtown at the corner of Smith Street and Madison Avenue, it was to have 72 offices, 2 retail spaces, and the city’s first passenger elevator. Excavation started in November of 1915, but it wasn’t until the middle of March that plans were announced to add a theatre that “will be used for the production of vaudeville and moving pictures”. Modified plans were handed over later in the month by John Noble Pierson and his son Aylin Pierson, the credited architects for both the building and theatre.
The new theatre was to be operated by the City Amusement Company and called the City Theatre. City Amusement was supposedly composed of several New York men, but an earlier article mentioned the company was backed by “local capital”, most likely David Snaper and William Brown of the Royal Theatre Company, operators of the Royal Theatre 2 blocks east on Smith Street. Snaper’s involvement was hinted at in an article announcing the contract signing in March: an article closer to opening day mentioned Brown, along with Snaper were the directors of the new theatre. Initially planned to open July 1, The City wasn’t ready until September 2, opening sans the balcony, which hadn’t been completed.
The City’s lobby originally took up the frontage to the right of the building’s entrance, replacing one of the two planned retail spaces and measuring approximately 40 feet long by 25 feet deep. It was finished in marble, mahogany, white enamel and tile. The ticket booth was movable, in pleasant weather it sat in front of the theatre at the property line, moving into the lobby in inclement weather. Stairs led to the balcony from either side of the entrances to the auditorium, which measured approximately 45 feet wide by 125 feet, including the stagehouse. In the clear, the ceiling was 28 feet high, the proscenium arch measured 32 feet wide by 25 feet high, the stage was 20 feet deep from the plaster line to back wall. Only the rear 25 feet of the auditorium were in the Raritan Building, the remainder was an added structure on a part of the property that had been left vacant.
A final comment on the original theatre configuration, the projection booth was originally off to house right, resulting in severe keystoning of the image. I asked Mark Pusillo (last house projectionist) if he was aware of this. He hadn’t known, but mentioned that the exhaust from the old carbon arcs was vented straight out the west side of the building rather than up through the ceiling, the result of there being two floors of offices above the booth. Mark mentioned his father was a projectionist there when they still used carbon arcs and said the one flaw of this exhaust system was that on windy days, the fumes would blow back into the booth and balcony.
The City went dark for the first time at the end of 1917, the last ad appeared on December 29 announcing the show for that day and the next, which would be a Sunday when shows weren’t permitted by law, so most likely December 31. An ad in February offered the piano from the “now closed” City Theatre for sale.
On April 22, it was announced that the management of the nearby Ditmas Theatre had leased the City, which was undergoing renovation and alterations, it would open in the near future. Motion pictures would be the attraction, although it was probable stock companies and the occasional boxing matches would be booked.
The City reopened on May 6th, with a week-long run of “The Kaiser, The Beast of Berlin”, a popular World War 1 propaganda movie. Afterwards the City and Ditmas would advertise together, changing the bill daily and alternating theatres, starting first at the Ditmas before moving to the City. This continued until July 13, when the last films under Ditmas management were presented. On July 15 a Stock Company took up residency, presenting a new play weekly. This went on thru August 28 when their “season” ended. The following three days featured a show by the soldiers at Camp (now Fort) Dix to raise money for their Battalion Fund, after which the City went dark again.
The following March it was announced the City was going to re-open, not only with a remodeling, but a new name: The Liberty Theatre, which would still be be locally owned.
The remodeling included adding two retail spaces, decreasing the length of the lobby by 20 feet and relocating the stairs to the balcony into the auditorium itself. the projection booth was also moved from house right to the center of the auditorium.
The other notable addition was a Wurlitzer costing $10,000, according to pre-opening promo material and opening ads. The Wurlitzer opus list doesn’t have an installation in Perth Amboy in 1919, nor is there a record of an earlier organ being moved there, so opus and size are unknown at present.
The Liberty was short lived, opening on April 25th, its last advertisement was for a show on July 31. It may have remained open longer but after the first few weeks of operation, their newspaper advertisements were sparse.
On September 13th, it was announced in the local paper that a Mr. Kuhn had taken over operation from local interests and, after some touchups now taking place, would open the following week with a new name: The Crescent. While the paper did not give a first name, this was Samuel Kuhn, who had spent the previous 8 years working for the Loew’s circuit, managing its Avenue B and 116th street Theatres.
The Crescent opened on September 19, the feature that day was “The Test of Honor”, starring John Barrymore. Kuhn left the Royal in late 1920.
While operators changed several times, The Crescent kept its name until the early 1950’s when it again fell under the management of David Snaper. Snaper had, over the decades, built his own small circuit of theatres in the Middlesex County area and Staten Island. He changed the name to the Royal, the name of his first theatre in 1911.
Snaper died in 1956 and his son Wilbur took over operation of the Snaper Circuit which, according to the 1955 Film Daily Year Book, consisted of a dozen venues. According to Mark Pusillo, Snaper got rid of at least 3 of his theaters, the Royal being one of them, in early 1969. The new operator according to Mark, was Fernando Bravo. Bravo eventually moved on, the last operator was Howard Green.
I’m uploading a few ads from the Royal, under its previous names.
The operators of the Raven announced this week they will not renew their lease, which expired in June. Negotiations had been ongoing, but no deal could be reached to make it viable for them. This was reported in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat earlier this week.
Plans to reopen the Bellevue were announced last January, an article in the Montclair Local laying out plans can be viewed here. The plan calls for adding 2 screens bringing the total to 6, but with 400 less seats total than previously, to accommodate an indoor/outdoor bar on the first floor and a restaurant on the second. In addition, more restrooms and an elevator will be added. Theatres will range from 42 to 106 seats. Six of the seven partners in the project are from Montclair, currently plans have not finished working their way through the zoning board.
last week the Local ran an article mentioning the current status of the project.
The developers do have a website for those interested:
I found an article dated last Thursday (August 27) in the Montclair Local which deals with the movie scene there. What I found interesting was the “no comment” by managers when asked if the Clairidge was permanently closed and the building’s owner saying their lease had “at least another year to go”.
The article also talks about the local film festival and their plans for this year’s event, and ends with an update on the nearby Bellevue Cinema 4, which will be reopening with 6 screens at some point after the pandemic ends.
A quick correction to the recent update to the overview based on my previous post: This theatre re-opened in 1934 as the Ohio. The name change to include “New” probably happened around the time of the article I linked to, in January of 1955. It is still listed in the 1955 Film Daily Yearbook as the Ohio Theatre.
Operated as the Lyric Theatre from at least 1914 thru at least 1932. It was first mentioned in advertisements run in The September 12, 1914 issues of the Motion Picture News and Moving Picture World by Alco Film Company, as a purchaser of one of their screens. The Lyric was also listed at this address in the 1915-1916 city directory and in the Film Daily Yearbook between 1926 and 1935, seating 350. The Picture with signage identifying this as the Ohio Theatre from Christmas season 1934 shows that the 1935 edition used the former name, more below…
By 1932, the Lyric had not converted to sound and was used as representative of rural theatres that never converted in the “Last Silent Picture Show” by William M. Drew. According to Mr. Drew, the Lyric closed on August 13, 1932. An ad ran in the local paper saying the closure was only temporary but, according to the author, it never opened again. The September 28 issue of the Film Daily did carry a one sentence item that the Lyric had reopened, but I haven’t found anything to back that up, the 1933 and 1934 editions of the FDY list it as closed.
The Lyric’s next appearance in the trades came in 1934, when the September 21st issue of the Motion Picture Daily ran a front-page article, “More Houses are Reopening Over Country”. The article was continued inside the paper and mentioned that Carl Moore had taken a 5 year lease on the Lyric, which was being redecorated and having new equipment installed prior to an October 15th reopening. The lease agreement was also mentioned in the September 25 issue of Variety, and finally in the November 17th issue of the Film Daily, which also listed the Lyric under recent openings. It fails to mention the name change however, though that would have happened with the re-opening.
Finally, the January 27, 1955 issue of the Motion Picture Daily (top right column) mentions the theatre was by then called the New Ohio Theatre and having only 267 seats.
I couldn’t find anything to backup the claim that this was called the Auditorium at some point.
Joe Vogel, Dreamland is mentioned in the February 14, 1914 issue of the Motion Picture News, the “Universal Ike” article. Ancestry.com has a few city directories from the1907-1914 period that would most likely supply an address and perhaps name of the operator. Too rich for my humble retirement income, but anybody here who subscribes to that service could perhaps add a little more life to this theatre.
You have to use html code. That’s why cutting and pasting links gives you a link you can’t open unless you cut and paste it. A hassle, but a little searching will show how. I’d show you here,but they wouldn’t show up:-). There are about a dozen keystrokes to make a working link, and only a half dozen to italicize. Hope this helps.
The pipe organ advertised on the marquee was installed by Hinners Organ Company of Perkin, Illinois in 1910. Hinners manufactured over 3,000 instruments, but less than 50 were installed in theatres, most of those in Illinois. A list of theatre installations shows this organ had 5 ranks, but did not supply information on the console.
The picture currently on the overview page can be dated to 1914, the year the movie on the marquee (Little Gray Lady) was released.
This is most likely the same theatre the Motion Picture World mentioned in its December 18,1909 issue, an item that Joseph Stein was preparing to open a new moving picture theater in the McCarthy building on Chestnut Street in Dunmore.
Dunmore is not a section of Scranton, it’s a borough that adjoins it. Prior to 1949, the Orient was listed as being in Dunmore in The Film Daily Yearbook. While the listing changed to Scranton, in the listing of circuits, where it was listed as part of Cummerford Publix Theaters, it’s location remained Dunmore. Perhaps the person who listed the Orient looked in a post 1949 FDY. Regardless, Dunmore is still a borough, complete with a mayor, city council, police department, etc. I am also adding two pictures from shortly after it opened.
David, the Orient does have a page on CT, the person who listed it said it was in the Dunsmore section of Scranton, which is the city next to Dunsmore. I discovered that this afternoon when I went looking for this venue, was going to list it until one search on Google led me to its page here on CT. I'm currently writing a bit to put there to get a correction, along with how this mistake was probably made and a couple of pictures from around the time it opened.
I couldn't find anything about the Happy Hour in a search covering 1910 thru 1960, so far.
This theatre was listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory as the "New Cozy Theatre", Kelley Blk., N. W. Public Sq. This location is confirmed by the 1914 Sanborn map, which gave the exact address. The New Cozy was later listed as the “Cozy” in the Film Daily Yearbook from 1926 until 1954. Starting in 1931 it was listed with 200 seats. Seating expanded to 285 in the late 1940’s.
Video on the 5pm news show the fire at the back of the auditorium, so hopefully further damage to the murals will be minimal.
PeterApruzzese, if they are removing the seats, they will also be leveling the floor. What I read in that email is they’re going to turn the Lafayette into a multi-use live venue. I suspect movies will no longer be the featured item.
bigjoe59, I believe William Fox bought his first “theatre” in 1904, a 146 seat nickelodeon in Brooklyn. By time the Halsey was built in 1912, he operated quite a few theatres.<
Article from the Asbury Park Press dealing with the closing.
Article from the Asbury Park Press dealing with the closing.
A little more about the Ditmas…
The Ditmas operated an airdome on the lot directly behind the theatre during the spring and summer months between 1917 and 1919.
While matinee performances were still presented in the theatre, the evening shows were held outdoors, except when the weather wasn’t agreeable. There was also a special entrance to the theatre: in case of a sudden rainstorm, the entire audience could be moved indoors in a matter of minutes to continue the show.
When construction of the Airdome started in April 1917, the Perth Amboy Evening News ran an article giving a brief description of the new venue; it would have an inclined floor and 1000 seats facing the theatre building, where the screen was mounted high enough on the rear wall to afford an unobstructed view from every seat. There were two entrances, one on State Street where the theatre entrance was, and the other on King Street, where the Airdome had its frontage. Uniformed attendants were at either to park vehicles. Decorations were themed green in the “idea of a summer garden”, with “rustic arbors, plants and flowers”. Each patron was supplied with a cushion for their seat, there was a check room for personal items and of course a refreshment stand. A full orchestra accompanied the films and on occasion would present a concert as part of the entertainment. Special events and Saturday nights offered the option of catching the show either in the Airdome or theatre.
An ad for the 1917 opening night has been uploaded to the photo page.
an update for the Strand…
THE Smith Street Realty Company was formed in the spring of 1916 by property owners located on Smith Street, between High and State Streets in downtown Perth Amboy. The sole purpose of the Company was to build a theatre on their block, to attract foot traffic and increase business.
The West Furniture Store was purchased for the street frontage, it was announced the new theatre would be ready by the fall of that year. However, the property was too small for what the investors envisioned and the next several months were spent purchasing additional properties and contracting an architect and builder. Work finally started in December, the original West building was gutted and partially razed, with portions incorporated into the new structure at the discretion of the contractor. The architect engaged was Joseph Duke Harrison of New York, the general contractor in charge of construction was Ira R. Crouse, a local fellow.
The following July, it was announced that Willian J. Counihan and Michael L. Shannon, who had built and still operated the Majestic Theatre a few blocks away, had leased the new venue, to be named the Strand. They claimed it would be operated “along the same lines as the Strand theatre in New York City, running big feature photoplays”.
Originally scheduled to be ready in mid-September, The Strand opened on October 22, selling out three showings of “The Honor System”, a 10 reel feature from William Fox.
A full page article in the December 1st issue of the Motion Picture News described the Strand as occupying a plot 61 feet wide by 166 feet deep, its frontage composed of glazed white brick and marble with a small retail space on either side of the lobby entrance. The lobby itself was done in stucco and paneled, each panel having a picture of one of the stars of the day displayed. The auditorium contained an orchestra and balcony seating 1,300 total, the walls had panels with murals. There were eight boxes, four on either side of the stage, each seating nine people. The stage itself had elaborate scenery surrounding the screen, which would be changed from time to time. The orchestra pit ran the length of the stage and the Strand employed an orchestra of 20 to fill it. The ceiling was of decorated steel, in the clear rising 28 feet. Two Simplex machines were used for projection.
In May 1924, Counihan and Shannon sold the Strand, Majestic, and their theatre in Plainfield to Walter Reade, who took over operations on June 1st. His announced plan was to remodel/build the Strand, nearly doubling its capacity. This didn’t happen, instead the Majestic got the upgrade. The Strand was still showing movies in the spring of 1957, and still operated by the Reade organization.
An ad for its 1917 opening has been added to the photo page.
Joe Vogel, B. F. Keith’s wasn’t razed in 1927. However, it closed on February 4, 1928 for 3 weeks while an organ, modern projection booth and new marquee advertising “B.F. KEITH’S PHOTOPLAYS” were installed. The house itself did get remodeled in 1932. Nice article from the Cincinnati Enquirer published in 2016 can be read here.
The organ by the way, was Wurlitzer opus # 1834; a three manual 13 rank style 240, installed on February 3 according to the opus list.
Some updates for the Royal….
Royal was the 4th name this theatre held: previously, in reverse order, it was the Crescent, Liberty and City. These changes came in its first three years. Here’s short recap of its beginnings…
Built in 1916, it was part of the Raritan Building, a 4-story structure located downtown at the corner of Smith Street and Madison Avenue, it was to have 72 offices, 2 retail spaces, and the city’s first passenger elevator. Excavation started in November of 1915, but it wasn’t until the middle of March that plans were announced to add a theatre that “will be used for the production of vaudeville and moving pictures”. Modified plans were handed over later in the month by John Noble Pierson and his son Aylin Pierson, the credited architects for both the building and theatre.
The new theatre was to be operated by the City Amusement Company and called the City Theatre. City Amusement was supposedly composed of several New York men, but an earlier article mentioned the company was backed by “local capital”, most likely David Snaper and William Brown of the Royal Theatre Company, operators of the Royal Theatre 2 blocks east on Smith Street. Snaper’s involvement was hinted at in an article announcing the contract signing in March: an article closer to opening day mentioned Brown, along with Snaper were the directors of the new theatre. Initially planned to open July 1, The City wasn’t ready until September 2, opening sans the balcony, which hadn’t been completed.
The City’s lobby originally took up the frontage to the right of the building’s entrance, replacing one of the two planned retail spaces and measuring approximately 40 feet long by 25 feet deep. It was finished in marble, mahogany, white enamel and tile. The ticket booth was movable, in pleasant weather it sat in front of the theatre at the property line, moving into the lobby in inclement weather. Stairs led to the balcony from either side of the entrances to the auditorium, which measured approximately 45 feet wide by 125 feet, including the stagehouse. In the clear, the ceiling was 28 feet high, the proscenium arch measured 32 feet wide by 25 feet high, the stage was 20 feet deep from the plaster line to back wall. Only the rear 25 feet of the auditorium were in the Raritan Building, the remainder was an added structure on a part of the property that had been left vacant.
A final comment on the original theatre configuration, the projection booth was originally off to house right, resulting in severe keystoning of the image. I asked Mark Pusillo (last house projectionist) if he was aware of this. He hadn’t known, but mentioned that the exhaust from the old carbon arcs was vented straight out the west side of the building rather than up through the ceiling, the result of there being two floors of offices above the booth. Mark mentioned his father was a projectionist there when they still used carbon arcs and said the one flaw of this exhaust system was that on windy days, the fumes would blow back into the booth and balcony.
The City went dark for the first time at the end of 1917, the last ad appeared on December 29 announcing the show for that day and the next, which would be a Sunday when shows weren’t permitted by law, so most likely December 31. An ad in February offered the piano from the “now closed” City Theatre for sale.
On April 22, it was announced that the management of the nearby Ditmas Theatre had leased the City, which was undergoing renovation and alterations, it would open in the near future. Motion pictures would be the attraction, although it was probable stock companies and the occasional boxing matches would be booked.
The City reopened on May 6th, with a week-long run of “The Kaiser, The Beast of Berlin”, a popular World War 1 propaganda movie. Afterwards the City and Ditmas would advertise together, changing the bill daily and alternating theatres, starting first at the Ditmas before moving to the City. This continued until July 13, when the last films under Ditmas management were presented. On July 15 a Stock Company took up residency, presenting a new play weekly. This went on thru August 28 when their “season” ended. The following three days featured a show by the soldiers at Camp (now Fort) Dix to raise money for their Battalion Fund, after which the City went dark again.
The following March it was announced the City was going to re-open, not only with a remodeling, but a new name: The Liberty Theatre, which would still be be locally owned.
The remodeling included adding two retail spaces, decreasing the length of the lobby by 20 feet and relocating the stairs to the balcony into the auditorium itself. the projection booth was also moved from house right to the center of the auditorium.
The other notable addition was a Wurlitzer costing $10,000, according to pre-opening promo material and opening ads. The Wurlitzer opus list doesn’t have an installation in Perth Amboy in 1919, nor is there a record of an earlier organ being moved there, so opus and size are unknown at present.
The Liberty was short lived, opening on April 25th, its last advertisement was for a show on July 31. It may have remained open longer but after the first few weeks of operation, their newspaper advertisements were sparse.
On September 13th, it was announced in the local paper that a Mr. Kuhn had taken over operation from local interests and, after some touchups now taking place, would open the following week with a new name: The Crescent. While the paper did not give a first name, this was Samuel Kuhn, who had spent the previous 8 years working for the Loew’s circuit, managing its Avenue B and 116th street Theatres.
The Crescent opened on September 19, the feature that day was “The Test of Honor”, starring John Barrymore. Kuhn left the Royal in late 1920.
While operators changed several times, The Crescent kept its name until the early 1950’s when it again fell under the management of David Snaper. Snaper had, over the decades, built his own small circuit of theatres in the Middlesex County area and Staten Island. He changed the name to the Royal, the name of his first theatre in 1911.
Snaper died in 1956 and his son Wilbur took over operation of the Snaper Circuit which, according to the 1955 Film Daily Year Book, consisted of a dozen venues. According to Mark Pusillo, Snaper got rid of at least 3 of his theaters, the Royal being one of them, in early 1969. The new operator according to Mark, was Fernando Bravo. Bravo eventually moved on, the last operator was Howard Green.
I’m uploading a few ads from the Royal, under its previous names.
The opening date was May 6, 1918
This theatre has closed.
The operators of the Raven announced this week they will not renew their lease, which expired in June. Negotiations had been ongoing, but no deal could be reached to make it viable for them. This was reported in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat earlier this week.
Plans to reopen the Bellevue were announced last January, an article in the Montclair Local laying out plans can be viewed here. The plan calls for adding 2 screens bringing the total to 6, but with 400 less seats total than previously, to accommodate an indoor/outdoor bar on the first floor and a restaurant on the second. In addition, more restrooms and an elevator will be added. Theatres will range from 42 to 106 seats. Six of the seven partners in the project are from Montclair, currently plans have not finished working their way through the zoning board.
last week the Local ran an article mentioning the current status of the project.
The developers do have a website for those interested:
https://thebellevuemontclair.com/
I found an article dated last Thursday (August 27) in the Montclair Local which deals with the movie scene there. What I found interesting was the “no comment” by managers when asked if the Clairidge was permanently closed and the building’s owner saying their lease had “at least another year to go”.
The article also talks about the local film festival and their plans for this year’s event, and ends with an update on the nearby Bellevue Cinema 4, which will be reopening with 6 screens at some point after the pandemic ends.
A quick correction to the recent update to the overview based on my previous post: This theatre re-opened in 1934 as the Ohio. The name change to include “New” probably happened around the time of the article I linked to, in January of 1955. It is still listed in the 1955 Film Daily Yearbook as the Ohio Theatre.
Operated as the Lyric Theatre from at least 1914 thru at least 1932. It was first mentioned in advertisements run in The September 12, 1914 issues of the Motion Picture News and Moving Picture World by Alco Film Company, as a purchaser of one of their screens. The Lyric was also listed at this address in the 1915-1916 city directory and in the Film Daily Yearbook between 1926 and 1935, seating 350. The Picture with signage identifying this as the Ohio Theatre from Christmas season 1934 shows that the 1935 edition used the former name, more below…
By 1932, the Lyric had not converted to sound and was used as representative of rural theatres that never converted in the “Last Silent Picture Show” by William M. Drew. According to Mr. Drew, the Lyric closed on August 13, 1932. An ad ran in the local paper saying the closure was only temporary but, according to the author, it never opened again. The September 28 issue of the Film Daily did carry a one sentence item that the Lyric had reopened, but I haven’t found anything to back that up, the 1933 and 1934 editions of the FDY list it as closed.
The Lyric’s next appearance in the trades came in 1934, when the September 21st issue of the Motion Picture Daily ran a front-page article, “More Houses are Reopening Over Country”. The article was continued inside the paper and mentioned that Carl Moore had taken a 5 year lease on the Lyric, which was being redecorated and having new equipment installed prior to an October 15th reopening. The lease agreement was also mentioned in the September 25 issue of Variety, and finally in the November 17th issue of the Film Daily, which also listed the Lyric under recent openings. It fails to mention the name change however, though that would have happened with the re-opening.
Finally, the January 27, 1955 issue of the Motion Picture Daily (top right column) mentions the theatre was by then called the New Ohio Theatre and having only 267 seats.
I couldn’t find anything to backup the claim that this was called the Auditorium at some point.
Joe Vogel, Dreamland is mentioned in the February 14, 1914 issue of the Motion Picture News, the “Universal Ike” article. Ancestry.com has a few city directories from the1907-1914 period that would most likely supply an address and perhaps name of the operator. Too rich for my humble retirement income, but anybody here who subscribes to that service could perhaps add a little more life to this theatre.
https://deadline.com/2020/08/rockettes-annual-christmas-show-at-nycs-radio-city-music-hall-canceled-by-covid-19-1203003416/
You have to use html code. That’s why cutting and pasting links gives you a link you can’t open unless you cut and paste it. A hassle, but a little searching will show how. I’d show you here,but they wouldn’t show up:-). There are about a dozen keystrokes to make a working link, and only a half dozen to italicize. Hope this helps.
The pipe organ advertised on the marquee was installed by Hinners Organ Company of Perkin, Illinois in 1910. Hinners manufactured over 3,000 instruments, but less than 50 were installed in theatres, most of those in Illinois. A list of theatre installations shows this organ had 5 ranks, but did not supply information on the console.
The picture currently on the overview page can be dated to 1914, the year the movie on the marquee (Little Gray Lady) was released.
This picture can be dated to 1914 when the movie on the marquee, “The Little Gray Lady” starring Jane Grey, was released.
This is most likely the same theatre the Motion Picture World mentioned in its December 18,1909 issue, an item that Joseph Stein was preparing to open a new moving picture theater in the McCarthy building on Chestnut Street in Dunmore.
Dunmore is not a section of Scranton, it’s a borough that adjoins it. Prior to 1949, the Orient was listed as being in Dunmore in The Film Daily Yearbook. While the listing changed to Scranton, in the listing of circuits, where it was listed as part of Cummerford Publix Theaters, it’s location remained Dunmore. Perhaps the person who listed the Orient looked in a post 1949 FDY. Regardless, Dunmore is still a borough, complete with a mayor, city council, police department, etc. I am also adding two pictures from shortly after it opened.
David, the Orient does have a page on CT, the person who listed it said it was in the Dunsmore section of Scranton, which is the city next to Dunsmore. I discovered that this afternoon when I went looking for this venue, was going to list it until one search on Google led me to its page here on CT. I'm currently writing a bit to put there to get a correction, along with how this mistake was probably made and a couple of pictures from around the time it opened.
I couldn't find anything about the Happy Hour in a search covering 1910 thru 1960, so far.
This theatre was listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory as the "New Cozy Theatre", Kelley Blk., N. W. Public Sq. This location is confirmed by the 1914 Sanborn map, which gave the exact address. The New Cozy was later listed as the “Cozy” in the Film Daily Yearbook from 1926 until 1954. Starting in 1931 it was listed with 200 seats. Seating expanded to 285 in the late 1940’s.
The Page Organ Company didn't assign opus numbers, but their list of installations does include a 3 manual 12 rank instrument at this theatre in 1924.