Mt. Morris Theatre

This theater shows up on a 1925 silent theater list. The following is a real estate report for this property. The build date is given as 1912 so this theater could be that old.

1421 5 Avenue, East Harlem, New York 10035

Block & Lot #: 01622 - 0001
Building Class: Church, Synagogue, Chapel (M1)
School District: 5 map/schools
City Council District: 9
Police Precinct: 25 (Crime Statistics)
Political Contributions: search
BUILDING CHARACTERISTICS
Zoning R7-2
Building Size (F x D): 88.00ft x 110.00ft
Lot Size (F x D): 100.92ft x 110.00ft
Building Height: 42
Total Gross Area of Building:
Year Built: 1912
Historic District?: No
Corner Lot?: No
Has Garage?:
Number of Floors: 5
# Units: 0
FAR as built: 3.00
Allowable FAR: 3.44

TAX INFORMATION
Estimate 2005/2006 Taxes (est.): $5,237
Tax Billing Address:
Apostolic Faith Inc
Att Deacon Junius Jones
1421 5th Ave
New York Ny 10035

Tax Class: 4
Tax Rate: 11.58%
Total Assessed Value: x $45,228

Annual Property Tax (est.): = $5,237
Quarterly Property Tax (est.): = $1,309
Monthly Property Tax (est.): = $436

MARKET VALUE1 HISTORY
Jun 01, 2005 $1,907,000
May 01, 2004 $754,000
Apr 01, 2003 $750,000
Mar 01, 2002 $750,000
Feb 01, 2001 $700,000

That's a very interesting document lostmemory, thanks for posting it. There is a remarkably big jump in the market value in this past year. Is this due to a renaissance of the area?

Built in 1912 would make this a legit or vaudeville theatre to start with, it certainly looks like one. The Mike Rivest 'Ultimate Movie Theatres and Drive-in's List' has it listed as operating from 1930-1940 which coincides with it not being listed in the Film Daily Yearbooks from 1941. What use befell it after 1940 until the current church took control I wonder?

I really don't know why the value has jumped so high on this building. There must be some plans in the works for that area. On the 1925 silent era theater listing, this theater appears as the Mount Morris theater. It might have opened as a vaudeville theater, switched to silent movies then "talkies" and back to legit theater in the 40's.

Yes, the astronomical jump in value can be attributed to the development of the area... Just across the street, a new middle class building went up... Looks much better.

The Mount Morris was one of the first NYC theatres to specialize in Spanish language films and vaudeville. In the early 1930s, the name was changed to Campoamor and later to Cervantes. On August 19, 1937, it was re-named Teatro Hispano, with an opening bill of the Mexican film, "Esos Hombres," and Spanish vaudeville. This policy continued to at least 1953. The Lincoln Center Performing Arts Library has no clippings for the theatre beyond that year.

Minus marquee and fire escapes:
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/mtmorris.jpg

Two exterior views from July 2003:
http://flickr.com/photos/kencta/142204641/
http://flickr.com/photos/kencta/142205068/

Here's an undated B&W shot of the 116th Street facade showing the balcony fire escapes still intact:

Mt. Morris fire escapes

The shot was taken by Matt Weber who hosts a site at www.urbanphotos.com featuring his excellent photography of all sorts of NYC street scenes. He was kind enough to let me grab a handful of his theater shots for use here. Some of his images were also used on the recent forgotten-ny.com page on 42nd Street.

I forgot to mention that it appears the theater had two balcony sections, judging from the view of the fire escapes. And this aerial view from the local.live.com indicates considerable fly space:

View to the East

You may have to close the welcome box at the left of the page to get a proper view.

I should have written "two balcony levels" rather than "balcony sections".

This theatre is mentioned in Rogelio Agrasanchez, Jr.’s excellent book MEXICAN MOVIES IN THE UNITED STATES.

It was inaugurated as the Campoamor on August 10, 1934 by Argentinian tango singer Carlos Gardel (currently known as the composer of the song VOLVER) plus a variety show and the film CUESTA ABAJO. The film was a New York production starring Gardel himself. The theatre thrived with a string of Spanish language melodramas designed to make the audience cry. The Jorge Negrete feature UNA CARTA DE AMOR was granted standing ovations.

It was the CERVANTES by 1936 and then the HISPANO and was briefly known as the RADIO TEATRO HISPANO from 1940.

A photo as the TEATRO HISPANO is available in the book mentioned above.

According to a New York Times June 1991 article this was designed by Hoppin & Koen.

This Mount Morris was already showing movies in 1911 according to the NYT. It is still listed in the Film Daily Yearbook for 1947 as the Teatro Hispano with an address of 1 West 166th street.

The comedian Milton Berle, in a profile interview by Arthur Marx (Groucho's son) for Cigar Aficionado Magazine reflected on a interesting experience he had at Harlem's Mt Morris Theater.

'A man named Schoenstein heard Milton and hired him to sing at the Mt. Morris Theater on 116th Street and Fifth Avenue in Harlem the following Thursday night.

Thursday at Mt. Morris was "songwriters' night," when composers of pop tunes were encouraged to get up and plug their newest "standards."

Because Berle was under 16, the rules of the Gerry Society prevented him from performing onstage at night. The organization had been founded to curb the exploitation of child actors by greedy parents. But Schoenstein got around this obstacle by having the young Berle sing while standing in a box at the side of the stage.

The songwriter that evening turned out to be Irving Berlin, who was there to introduce his latest song, "Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning," which was the big number from his army show, Yip, Yip, Yaphank. Berle sang it while wearing a Boy Scout uniform.'