Virginia Theatre
935 Boardwalk,
Atlantic City,
NJ
08401
935 Boardwalk,
Atlantic City,
NJ
08401
1 person
favorited this theater
Showing 26 - 50 of 70 comments
Ed, I live on the west coast-was just visiting my mom for a few days. I appreciate the invitation though.
500 Club was on Missouri Avenue, I think on the north side west of Atlantic Avenue. It burned down years ago.
Ken, Any chance you want to meet me Wednesday in A.C. and do the walking tour of the Boardwalk theaters and the Atlantic Avenue theaters with me? Lunch immediately afterward before I leave town.
Contact me at if interested. Will give you a phone number to finalize arrangements if you’re available.
Also, any idea of the address of the old 500 Club where Martin & Lewis started?
It was on the Boardwalk, not on Virginia Avenue itself.
Can anyone pinpoint for me, please, which side of Virginia the theater was on? North side or south side?
Ken
The V over the center of the marquee disappeard in 1968. The original name Virginia was in green letters on both sides of the marquee. The V was also green. The new letters were white background with red letters.
Here is a 1931 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/mu33d3
I never saw the V on the marquee as my first recollection of the Virginia is in the early 1970s.
Renewing link.
Here is a 1941 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/35dmsc
According to THS’s Marquee issue of 1980 (v. 1), the Virginia was built in 1915.
Crazy Bob
The Virginia got rid of the V in 1968 when they put up a totally new sign on top the marquee. I old sign was green letters and was much betterthan the new one installed which was whire with red letters. I did not know Hamid owned the Stadium theater in Phila, I can’t imagine they had Todd Ao at the Virgina.The only time I was in the theater was to see Hello Dolly and the screen was small, no curtains or masking. For a roadshow theater, the Virginia was tacky.
The Virgina had 35/70mm Cinemacanica Victoria projectors. I saw “The Sound Of Music” there in the mid sixties and the marquee said TODD A-O. I was once visiting the booth about 1972, and saw a sign on the wall that said “NO LARGE V ANYMORE” I asked the operator what it meant? He said That there use to be a large neon V on top of the marquee in the forties. The sign was to remind them that they didn’t have to turn it off any more. I think that it blew down in a storm. I worked at many AC theatre that had the marquee switches in the projection booth. I remember the Virginia having no balcony & a tin ceiling. They told me that George Hamid used to take the 70mm projectors up to his Stadium Theatre in South Philly during the Winter.
Howard
I wonder if we know each other? I was in AC from 67-78 fro the summers and I remember it well. The Strand was indeed the last theater to operate on the boardwalk. The Apollo’s last season of operation was 1977.Charlie Tannenbaum was a customer of mine at Atlantic Bank and he told me they auditoium was condemmed. The front part through the lobby was used the following year, but burned. Eventually a men’s clothing store opened there. The last year of operation for the Strand was 1978. After that the front was kept and used for bike rentals. The auditorium was knocked down.
I recall the Strand Theater, which was located between the Virginia
and the Apollo, remaining open through the winter in its' last year of operation as a second run house. I saw an odd double feature of
“The Last Detail” and “Lightening Swords of Death” there during what I am sure was not the summer season. I believe the Strand may have been the last of the boardwalk houses to close in AC. The Apollo may have lasted a little longer as a burlesque/porn house. Man I miss those AC theaters. Grew up in AC during the 60’s and 70’s and attended those theaters on a regular basis. AC was a small town with
nine large theaters (plus two on Steel Pier) five of which would qualify as palaces. They were not always the most well maintained places, but they all had “charactor”.
Wow that was unheard of for Atlantic City having a boardwalk theater open in the winter months.
I remember an old post card that had a picture of the Virgina and one summer they played The Carpetbaggers. Does anybody know which year this was. I don’t think The Carpetbaggers was a roadshow engagement. I also seem to remember them playing It’s A MAd MAd MAd World at the Virginia.
“TSOM did move to the Shore but I am not sure if it was April 66 or 67.” (Mikeoaklandpark on May 22, 2006)
“Does that mean that SOM played from May ‘65 until '67 at the Virginia and then moved to the Shore?” (Vincent on May 22, 2006)
It definitely was not in April of ‘66. “The Sound Of Music” played exclusively at the Virginia on a reserved-seat basis from spring '65 through the fall of '66. The Shore engagement would not have been with reserved seats nor would it have been a move-over.
I remember the Glenda Jackson movie playing there in 1973, but nothing after that. The Strand was nearby. There was a large burlesque house, name unknown, further down Virginia Avenue, by Morton’s Hotel.
Millie couldn’t have played there until the spring of ‘67. Does that mean that SOM played from May '65 until '67 at the Virginia and then moved to the Shore? Was this all on reserved seats?
As I’ve written above on my first visit to AC GWTW was playing at the Virginia in the summer of '68. There was a billboard above for Mille which they hadn’t bothered to change.
When I was on the boardwalk in the summer of '76 the Virginia was still there but boarded up.
Does anybody have any interior and exterior photos of the Virginia?
Amazing that SOM was selling out everywhere in that summer of '65.
Michael
The theater didn’t close until 1973. TSOM did move to the Shore but I am not sure if it was Aptil 66 0r 67. It was whatever year Throughly Modern Mille played at the Virginia. I was not aware that the Virginia stayed open for the winter with TSOM. Can anybody confirm this?
From VARIETY (July 20, 1966):
‘MUSIC’ PROBABLE FINALE FOR ATLANTIC CITY SITE BEFORE URBAN RENEWAL
“Sound of Music” (20th Century-Fox) continues to draw remarkable crowds to the Virginia Theatre where it shortly will go into its 900th consecutive showing, the longest run of any single motion picture in the history of the resort.
It opened last season on May 27, 1965 and played throughout the summer. George A. Hamid Jr., theatre operator, decided that it would draw during the winter months also, and kept the house open when all others on the boardwalk closed.
In fact, it may be the last motion picture to ever play there, as the theatre is due to be razed in the resort’s massive urban renewal program which will clear 10 city blocks bordering on the boardwalk.
So did this theatre not actually close in late ‘66 as the article suggested?
Film Daily Yearbook – the #1 source. You can find them at a good university library or quality used bookstore. I personally think that eBay is overpriced but they sell some at times.
TC
I see you have posted on most of the AC theaters that it lists in the FDY as GG theaters.What is FDY? George Hamid leased the theaters to a company called GG and they ran them until 1973. I think the last year for the Shore was 1971.
Listed in the 1970 FDY as part of G.G. Theatres.
Moviejoemovies
I hope you got to see those movies at those theaters, I sure would have loved to.
“My Fair Lady” played at the Center Theatre in the Summer of ‘65. “Sound of Music” was at the Virginia and “Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines” played at the Shore. In the Summer of '71, “The Love Machine” played at the Beach Theatre, not the Shore. This Theatre was further up Atlantic Avenue on the other side.