Apollo Theatre
180 S. New York Avenue,
Atlantic City,
NJ
08401
180 S. New York Avenue,
Atlantic City,
NJ
08401
4 people
favorited this theater
Related Websites
Apollo Theatre, Apollo Theatre
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Frank Theatres
Architects: William Harold Lee
Previous Names: Academy of Music, Nixon's Apollo Theatre
Nearby Theaters
This theatre began as a legitimate theatre. Helen Hayes performed in “Clarence” and “The Golden Age” in Nixon’s Apollo Theatre in 1919. The theatre was also used as a dance hall in the 1920’s. The front door was located on S. New York Avenue but the side was along the world-famous Boardwalk.
It eventually was converted to a movie theatre and is listed in the 1951 Film Daily Yearbook as the Apollo Theatre. It was operated by Apollo Theatres and it closed in August 1968. From 1970 it was operated by Frank Theatres who closed it in August 1972 with a roadshow run of “Last Tango in Paris” starring Marlon Brando. In 1973 it opened as the Apollo Burlesque which closed as an adult movie theatre in October 1977 with “Sexual Ecstasy of the Macumba”.
Contributed by
tc
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Recent comments (view all 45 comments)
The Apollo can be seen at the bottom of this postcard:
http://tinyurl.com/24lqfza
Many thanks residents for the above URLs and informative posts. I’d like to share with site visitors a web page regarding one European (actually German) vaudeville act called the Six Rockets that passed through Atlantic City on a couple of occasions. The page here: View link links up many vintage photos from the Act’s two visits there, although sadly none are from inside any theatre itself and rather reveals what an act was up to when not on the stage.
However, I would like to take this opportunity to enquire whether CT readers may know whether some theatres more than others among Atlantic City’s vaudeville houses may have hosted German or European acts (if that’s a possibility at all). A number of the city’s residents claimed German ancestry, so would some houses like the Apollo perhaps have catered rather more for the German speaking community? From the German Programm that the girls can be seen reading here: View link it would appear so.
Any suggestions or thoughts are more than welcome. Thank you very much in advance and I trust this post is useful to visitors.
This theater was the site of Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman’s disastrous 1930 first out-of-town tryout for their eventual smash hit comedy Once in a Lifetime, their first collaboration.
Howard B I wonder if we knew each other as we grew up the same tim ein Atlantic City. I saw some of the same movies you mention in a 2005 posting.
DavidZornig’s Easter photo made me think of Clifton Webb.
When I first was in Atlantic City Odd Couple was at the Apollo while it was playing at Radio City in NY. When I went again in ‘71 Shaft was playing. AC had already changed enormously in those few years. It was if at the end of the 60s the middle class suddenly stopped going there.
vindanpar We spent summers in AC from 67-78. They played the Dirty Dozen all summer of 67. Memorial day weekend 68 they had Guess Whose Coming To Dinner and a few weeks later opened The Odd Couple which played all summer. They also installed a new screen between 67 and 68 summers. The 1.85 ratio for Guess Whose Coming To Dinner was much more of a square block than The Dirty Dozen was. Scope for The Odd Couple was great. The next few years the theater went down hill big time. They closed in mid August with Last Tango In Paris which was roadshow. Frank Theater chain choose not to renew the lease. The following year Charlie Tannenbaum purchased and renamed it the Apollo Burlesque after he closed the Capitol.LTIP moved to the Margate non roadshow
Taken over by Frank theatres in 1970 from Apollo theatres and became an adult theatre in 1974 and closed or stopped placing ads in 1977.
The synopsis is incorrect. The theater closed in August of 72 when the Frank’s did not want to renew the lease. They had the roadshow engagement of Last Tango In Paris which moved to the Margate. The following year Charles Tannemabum turned it into the Apollo Burlesque when he closed the Capitol.
Opened April 13th, 1908.
Apollo theatre opening 12 Apr 1908, Sun The Sunday Gazette (Atlantic City, New Jersey) Newspapers.com
The Apollo closed in October 1977. Ad:
Apollo theatre last ad 09 Oct 1977, Sun Press of Atlantic City (Atlantic City, New Jersey) Newspapers.com