Apollo Theater
253 W. 125th Street,
New York,
NY
10027
253 W. 125th Street,
New York,
NY
10027
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This is one of the most famous theatres in the world, the “live” musical mecca of Harlem for seven or eight decades and still operating, according to a big story in the March 30, 2004 issue of The New York Times, page E1. But I don’t know why the Apollo is listed at “Cinema Treasures,” because it was never a movie house. It originally housed burlesque and then switched to vaudeville during the Depression. Admittedly, movies were sometimes shown to fill time between the stage shows, but they were short “B” features and usually not even mentioned in the Apollo’s advertising. Some were so terrible that I think that they were deliberately chosen to empty the house before the next stage show started.
The Lower East Side Apollo was a 1,788-seat independent theatre near bustling Delancey Street that Loew’s took over in the 1930s and ran for about ten years before closing it as a substantial loser. I don’t think it ever re-opened under another management. Several years ago, I tried to find the Apollo but couldn’t. It has either been demolished or converted beyond recognition as a theatre.
I erred in noting that WurliTzer Opus #1419 was installed in the 125th Street Apollo theatre. It was actually installed in a different Apollo theatre at 126 Clinton Street, NYC. There is likewise no information on the status of this theatre that I can find.
The address above is wrong it should read 263 W. 125th Street.
This theatre once contained WurliTzer theatre organ Opus #1419, installed in 1926 and removed c. 196?. Most of this organ has been preserved and it is hoped will eventually be installed into Baltimore’s Parkway Theatre. (See www.parkwaytheatre.com))