Sun Sing Theatre

Opened as a home to both Yiddish vaudeville and motion pictures in 1911, the Florence Theatre, the exact address of which was 75-85 East Broadway, ended its existence as the Sun Sing in 1993.
A renovation in 1938 took the theatre's capacity from 980 to 916 seats (and reports from the 1920s seem to indicate that, during that decade, it may have accommodated as many as twice that number).
By 1942, the theatre had been rechristened the New Canton Theatre and featured performances of Chinese opera and variety acts. In 1950, the facility was again re-dubbed, this time as the Sun Sing Theatre, and took to exhibiting Chinese language films, sometimes with English subtitles.
In 1960, the theatre was scheduled for demolition when faced with the addition of an upper deck to the Manhattan Bridge far above. However, city engineers were able to save the theatre and the adjoining retail space, through the use of innovative bridge supports which only caused the theatre’s seat count to be reduced, this time to 676.
In 1972, the theatre began to feature a mixed program of film and stage performances. It finally closed in 1993.

The city has this theater listed at 83 East Broadway. That address should map correctly.

A Wurlitzer organ Opus 418 Style 160 was installed in the Florence Theater (Sun Sing) on 5/27/1921.

Here is a photo of the former Sun Sing Theater.

The 1934 Year Book of Motion Pictures lists the Florence as having 1150 seats.

6 rare movies that were rescued from the Sun Sing before it was demolished are being screened at the 29th Annual Asian-American International Film Festival in NYC beginning July 13th. My partner and I have 45 feature films, 60 shorts, tickets, uniforms, theatre memorabilia and close to 10,000 lobby cards and posters from Sun Sing. and a little bit of Music Palace memorabilia too. For more information please contact ic@inspectorcollector.com

The Sun Sing closed in either late '93 or 94. It was a nice theatre, compared to the Music Palace on the Bowery. They showed Hong Kong movies, all with English subtitles as well as Chinese subtitles for speakers of other dialects. All day double feature was $5, I believe.

The big stage was still there, from the theatre's vaudeville days, and the Sun Sing would occasionally have live performances of Chinese opera. It was the only one of the Chinatown theatres to do that.

This is apparently the same theatre as the New Strand, depicted in a post by Al Alvarez at a listing for the NYC Strand (#2975) on 7/23/07 at 11:41 am. I've taken the liberty of rejuvenating that photo and posting it here, together with two newspaper photos from 1960 when the Sun Sing was saved from demolition. The 1960 photos were copied from microfilm and aren't too clear, but they will have to do until something better comes along:
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/newstrand.jpg
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/sunsing1.jpg
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/sunsing2.jpg

The 1941 edition of the NY Film Board of Trade's Directory of Motion Picture Theatres lists a New China Theatre with 970 seats at 75 East Broadway, operated by New China Amusement Company. It would seem that New China was a name for the theatre between Florence and New Canton.

I think that some major mistakes have been made about this theatre's history as the result of an article published in The New York Times in June, 1960, when the Sun Sing was saved from demolition. That article claimed that the theatre was then 49 years old, which I believe was faulty arithmetic on someone's part. I suspect that it was actually 39 years old, and that the Florence first opened in 1921, and not in 1911. My basis for this conclusion is an article in The New York Times of August 27, 1920, claiming that the City of New York had leased to Henry E. Jacobs the block bounded by East Broadway, Forsyth, Market and Henry Streets, under the Manhattan Bridge structure, which towered to a considerable height at that point. The twenty-year lease called for a ground rental of $9,500 for the first ten years, and $10,450 for the second ten-year period, or $199,500 for the full term.

Gronenberg & Leuchtag, architects, had filed plans for the improvement of the East Broadway block front with a two-story store and show-room building costing about $90,000. The balance of the plot would be used for a moving picture theatre seating 1,100. The estimated cost of this structure, according to the architects, was $120,000.

Under the plan, space would be reserved on the East Broadway frontage for a lobby to the theatre. The ground width measurements were 135.8 feet on East Broadway, 175 on Market, 208.10 on Henry, and 182 on Forsyth. The theatre would occupy a plot 116.4 feet by 99.2 feet, exclusive of the strip reserved for the entrance.

The NYT further reported that the theatre had been leased by Mr. Jacobs to the Florence Theatre Corporation, which would operate it. The term of this lease was also for twenty years, at a rental which would total about $400,000 for the entire period.

Nothing in the article suggests that the ground site had been used for commercial development prior to this. What is the evidence to support a claim that a theatre presenting Yiddish vaudeville and movies existed there in 1911?

I also wonder why Yiddish vaudeville would have been presented that far downtown. I don't think that Yiddish showbiz extended much below Houston Street, and certainly not beyond Canal Street. This theatre would have catered to residents of Chinatown and Little Italy. The name "Florence" might have been in honor of that Italian city.

In September, 1925, the interior of the Florence Theatre was severely damaged as the result of an attempted robbery, according to a report in The New York Times of 9/24/25. Thieves tried to open the theatre's safe with nitroglycerin, but the explosion started a fire that quickly spread and destroyed the proscenium arch, orchestra seats, the organ console, and flooring. The theatre's proprietor, Albert Rosenzweig, said that it would cost about $15,000 to repair the damage. Ironically, the thieves fled without emptying the safe, which contained only $300.

A photo of the Sun Sing Theater can be seen here.

New Strand should be added as an aka name here.

New direct links to images described in post above of 7/30/07:
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/newstrand.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/sunsing1.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/sunsing2.jpg

Thank you, Warren.

In the mid 1920s the Florence Theater was operated by the M & S Chain. Jacobs was probably one of the partners in this extended network, so was Rosenzweig. There was no Yiddish vaudeville theater on this location in 1911. We would expect an ethnically mixed audience indeed but the owners were Jewish and they advertised for this theater in the Yiddish press.
By the way, Yiddish vaudeville did extend well beyond Houston Street, actually most of the Yiddish music halls were in the area below East Houston and north of East Broadway.

I agree with Warren's post of August 3, 2007 that this opened in 1921 as the New Strand.