One of the more extraordinary things one can do with the computer is to merge two items out of time; in this case, 1937. The above exquisite photo of Trenton's Stacy Theater as it looked in 1937 when it was featuring one of those great old Dick Powell movies, "On the Avenue." A bit of extra research reveals that "Avenue" was released in 1937, ergo, the photo of the Stacy Theater as it looked back then. Out in the boondocks, we had the Gaiety theater on South Olden Avenue, along with its twin the Centre, these two could never feature "First Run" motion pictures; usually it was "Last Run." Downtown Trenton had its share of movie theaters that took the back seat to the more popular RKO Trent, Capitol, Orpheum (Later the Mayfair), the Lincoln. As I recall, the State, Stacy, Garden, and Palace theaters were among the theaters who got the movies after they were distributed to the first run theaters.
In the 40's and 50's when we were "old" enough to take a bus downtown Trenton, we had a plethora of theaters to choose from, the Lincoln, Trent, Capital, Mayfair, Stacy where we could see any movie we wanted to. But my favorite was the Strand Theater on Hermitage Ave. For a quarter on a Saturday we got a newsreel, cartoon, serial and a full length movie. And Necco Wafers for nickle. Safety was never even given the slightest thought to fights, abuse, bullying and intimidation. Just fun.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, Tony S: I loved The Strand. I liked Dots candy. And I would stop at The Artic to get a quart of hand-packed ice cream to go for a treat for my parents and grandmother that night. Hermitage Ave. was safe and a short walk to my home on Carteret. What great days they were.
ReplyDeleteThe "Palace" on South Broad near Market St, the Capital,Trent, and Lincoln were RKO (Radio,Keith,Orpheum)owned theatres in town. The other in Town Stacy,Mayfair ( formerly the Orpheum)State, and Garden Movie Houses were independently owned, much like the Gaiety,Greenwood,Prince,Rialto, Strand,Park,& Bijou neighborhood movie houses.
ReplyDeleteRKO also operated the Broad, Hamilton, and Brunswick.
Mike Kuzma
Bijou, is the one I remember the most, on those fun saturdays.
ReplyDeleteHI TOM...NO ONE MENTIONS THE B B'S ON CHESTNUT AVE. THAT WAS IN THE 20'S AND I BELIEVE ONLY SHOWED ITALIAN MOVIES. I RECALL MY MOTHER TAKING ME THERE AND IT WAS VERY BORING. CHAMBERSBURG ALSO HAD A MOVIE HOUSE ON ASHMORE OR CUMMINGS AVE. THE VICTORY ON SO. BROAD AND CHESTNUT ALSO WAS'NT MENTIONED. SO, PEOPLE IN THE BURG HAD 3 THEATRES WITHIN WALKING DISTANCE IN THE GLORY GOLDEN DAYS OF THE PAST. BEST REGARDS TO ALL.
ReplyDeleteRalph:
ReplyDeleteThe Victory was on the corner of Broad and Hudson.
The one on Ashmore and West utlimately became Landolfi's pasta factory.
Since I am Polish, I don;t recall the theatre which only showed Italian picature shows.
Use to love the Park, across from Tony Go's. You entered in next to the screen, and everyone would scream "sit down"!
Mike Kuzma