Virginia Theatre
935 Boardwalk,
Atlantic City,
NJ
08401
935 Boardwalk,
Atlantic City,
NJ
08401
1 person
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 71 comments
The Virginia opened on February 14, 1914, not in 1916 as the overview states.
Added new photo today
A chronology of Atlantic City’s 70mm presentations history has recently been published. The Virginia gets several mentions in the piece.
Vindanpar Just saw you comment from 2021. I don’t think the Embassy was a roadshow theater except for Dr. Zhivago. It was like the Charles had 1 The Lion In Winter and the Apollo had Last Tango In Paris. Except for the Roxy most of Hamid’s other theaters had roadshow engagements. The Virginia was so plain and boring, no masking or curtains. The Roxy was a show palace. Why that wasn’t his roadshow house still has me scratching my head. I wish someone from his family was on here and could explain that logic. The only reason this closed after the 73 season was the government bought the block and building and would not let him open which was crazy because others on the block did.
The Virginia theatre opened on February 14th, 1914. Grand opening ad posted. It was taken over by the Stanley Company of America in 1918.
So how many roadshow theaters did Atlantic City have? Virginia, Embassy, Shore, Center,…any others? That’s quite a few. I’m surprised the Virginia did not get Oliver! or Funny Girl the two big roadshows of summer ‘69.
Vindanpar It was painful to see all the theaters in Philly AC and NYC demolished. AC slowly died once the casino’s came in. The Virginia closed at the end of 73 and didn’t reopen because the government bought the block. I never understood that because everything else stayed open for years on that block. The only thing I can think was Hamid’s lease ran out, but he also closed the Roxy too. The Apollo closed in mid August when their lease ran out with the roadshow engagement of Last Tango In Paris. It was moved to the Margate but not roadshow.
Mikeoaklandpark so I imagine you got to know the theaters of Atlantic City and Philadelphia quite well perhaps with a side trip to Manhattan? Lucky you. It must have been painful watching the Randolph come down.
Vindanpar I am sorry I just saw your comment from January 2020. I saw Dolly originally in Philly at the Randolph when it was a roadshow engagement. The Randolph was a Cinerama theater so it had an amazing curved screen and gold curtains. The next film to play after Dolly was the than x rated I A Woman. They than got Tora Tora Tora another roadshow engagement and 6 months later it was demolished for a parking lot. So sad
Mikeoakland park it seems you went a few times to see Dolly at the Virginia. You should have traveled up to the Asbury Park St James to see it there. A very classy elegant large screen, borders, curtain 70mm roadshow house. As I’ve said I was only there once but had I been older I would have gone probably several times to every roadshow picture there. If I were a billionaire I would rebuild it as a revival house.
I had a friend who was a big fan of Sabatini. He much preferred the Ramon Navarro Scaramouche to the Granger(I love it but I’ve never seen the silent.) He went to look it up at the Lincoln Center library and came back to show me a copy he made of an ad for it. It was for the St James. I thought that was pretty cool. Who needed Granada when they could have had Asbury Park?
Vindanpar, for the main Roadshow theater in the Hamid chain It had no curtains or masking. The Roxy was double the size of the Virginia had curtains and masking and a stage. One of the screens from the Virginia was moved to the Music Hall at the Steel Pier. When the screen was lifted up you could see on the bottom where it said Virginia Theater. I was only in this theater several times for Hello Dolly. Honestly I was not impressed. David Zornig than you too for the photos. I had no clue that South Pacific played there. The only early films I remember there before 67 were the SOM and It’s A Mad Mad Mad Mad World. There was a post card in the 60’s that showed the Virginia had The Carpetbaggers but no clue what year that was. It was an exception for a boardwalk theater to be open during the winter. Hamid only kept the Hollywood and Center open during the winters. The Shore stayed open all year in 1969 after Oliver closed.
Thank you David Zornig for these great 60s photos of the boardwalk. I didn’t get there until the latter part of the 60s but it still looked pretty much the same. It’s like I like to remember it. Visited one more time in ‘76 and the blight had taken over.
But I’m dismayed to say the least that people claim its premiere 70mm roadshow house the Virgina was during all those years a run down dump. So it’s been said.
Funny how still in ‘67 the newly posted picture could be from the 50s except for the film and the women’s clothes. In a matter of only a few years this was sadly going to drastically change. And films on the boardwalk would be movies like Klute and Shaft.
Happened at the Paramount in Asbury Park as well. I assume this is the only time in Jersey shore history a film played through the autumn and winter through to the following summer. Even the other biggest roadshow hits like South Pacific(surprisingly,) WSS and MFL were gone by the autumn while they continued their big city engagements.
It was the summer of 1967. That was out first year in AC. Prior to that they had The Sound Of Music for two summers. George Hamid kept the theater open all winter because business was so good. That was rare for a boardwalk theater.
Virginia had the 70MM roadshow version of GWTW so this would have been the time period of Camelot. I remember all the display photos outside the theater walking by it in the summer of ‘68. Above the theater was a faded billboard of Thoroughly Modern Millie which might have played there summer of '67.
It definitely wasn’t here at the Virginia.
Does anyone know/recall if “Camelot” had its Atlantic City roadshow run at this venue?
I watched this beautiful theatre get demolished; it was around 1980. It was still furnished…chandeliers, curtains…maybe even chairs. All the buildings around this neighborhood (Virginia to Connecticut, Boardwalk to Atlantic) were demolished for an urban renewal project which never materialized…but this building and the boardwalk stores leading up to Maryland Avenue remained standing until 1980. I think I saw “Fiddler on the Roof” here…maybe 1972?
Great picture rivoli157. I remember it well. It opened August 15 after Sweet Charity which was basically a flop. Many theaters that showed Charity ended it and opened with Krakatoa East of Java.
just uploaded a pic of the theatree when KRAKATOA was playing there
Summer 1969 I saw Krakatoa East Of Java at the Virginia. I have pics of the theatre then but am unable to upload. Film was show in 70MM-Stereophonic sound.
Some other summer 1969 info, the Ice Capades were getting ready for their engagement at Convention Hall, and Gary Lewis and the Playboys were the Headliners at the Steel Pier
Here is a photo from May 1978:
http://tinyurl.com/6hmpo3r
There is a picture of the closed Virginia Theatre here; scroll down to see it: http://www.steel-pier.com/
No place to put this one, but a nice photo nevertheless:
http://tinyurl.com/2bgj6mk