Morningside Theatre info

NEW YORK, NY — The following is a request for a new member, Marya Pollack, looking for information regarding the Morningside Theatre, once run by her family:

My great-grandmother ran it from about 1908-1915 and I believe other family members before her. I have a copy of the theatre license but can you help me track down any paperwork they might have filed? My great aunt used to play the piano for the movies there. I have some pictures of actors but I don’t know if they were part of this theatre. 

For over a decade all I had was Amalia Steinberg’s calling card with a fragment of the theatre name. The license gives the exact address 2135-8 8th Ave as well as another theatre at 1217 Prospect Ave.

I’d love to find out who actually filled out the request for the license as there are no first names on it. Amalia’s maiden name was Weissman (Wiseman, Weisman) and she married a Bernard Steinberg, who ran several restaurants but she is listed in the NYC Directory as “theatre owner” after he died in 1908. Much of the two families were reportedly in theatre and early film in Manhattan and “amusements” in Coney Island, but it has been a huge struggle to find anything out. Another relative, Samuel Weisman is listed as working at “Philum’s Motion Picture Studio.”

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

(Photos courtesy of NYC Municipal Archives)