Liberty Theatre
61 Liberty Avenue,
Brooklyn,
NY
11212
61 Liberty Avenue,
Brooklyn,
NY
11212
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This is a reply to; priscianusjr…. Yes you are correct .. there was a theater by the name of Liberty…It was called “New Liberty”… it was located on Manhattan Av in the Williamsburg Section of Brooklyn ….. it was a place with plays and other performances and it was a Yiddish Theater at that time…. send me your email posted here and I will send you a photo..
It appears that the Liberty Theatre was open at least as early as 1918, and yes, they did show movies as well as stage productions. I was interested in the question because I was trying to decipher a poor-quality copy of WWI draft registration (dated Sept. 12, 1918) of a musician who at that time was employed at the Liberty Theater. I can’t say for sure, but it’s consistent with what I know of this musician that it was a Yiddish Theater at that time. The address is hard to read, but I’m sure it says “Stone Ave Brkyn.”
Giuliana Bruno, in her book, Streetwalking on a Ruined Map (1993),
page 124, refers to Italian films shown in the 1920s “in Brooklyn at the Liberty Theater on Liberty and Stone avenues.”
When my late father came here from Poland in December 1927, the first place he lived was 74 Liberty Avenue in Brooklyn. At that time, he told me, there was a Yiddish theater across the street. He never mentioned the name, but it was most likely the Liberty.
My father liked to go to see live comedy acts there. The manager of the theater at that time was a man named Anshel Schorr, who was very proactive in soliciting feedback from patrons such as my father. I understand Schorr was quite a prominent figure in the New York Yiddish theater scene of the time.