Regun Theater

NY Times November 10, 1936

FOUR HURT IN MOVIE AS ROOF SHED FALLS; Plaster Rained on Audience by Crash of Weakened Outdoor Projection Booth.

Four persons were injured about 1 P.M. yesterday when pieces of plaster fell from the ceiling of the Regun Theatre, a movie house at 60 West 116th Street, near Lenox Avenue. About 150 persons who were watching the show stampeded from the auditorium, frightened by a crash resulting from the collapse of a heavy projection booth on the roof of the one-story building.


I don't know how bad the building was damaged and if the theater opened again afterwards.

This article from July 11, 1938 about Walter Winchell mentions the Regun Theater:

"The car tracks where he was run over while he was playing ball in the street have been taken up, but further up the block toward Lenox the Regun Theatre still stands. It used to be called the Imperial. There he got his first job—as a singing usher—and played his first professional engagement. It was a song & dance act billed as "McKinley, Stanley & Lawrence" and it was composed of Winchell, George Jessel and one Jack Wiener. All were under twelve".

I guess there should be an aka name of Imperial Theater.

The Imperial Theater is listed as operating in the 1914-1915 edition of American Motion Picture Directory. By the time the 1926 edition of Film Daily Yearbook was published it had been re-named Regun Theater, with a seating capacity given as 1,000.

Still listed as open in 1950 (with 867 seats), it has gone from listings in 1957.

The building located at 60-62 West 116th Street that houses the Regun Theater still stands today - albeit completely gutted and altered for retail space - and is listed with a build-date of 1913.

Here is a local.live.com view of the block, looking towards the north side of the street. The building is on the south side just to the left of that structure with the rainbow colored roof. You can't really get a good image of the 116th Street facade because the mid-rise apartment building across the street blocks the view.

The NYC Buildings Dept site has a C of O issued July 25, 1917, that lists an "existing theater" on the 1st floor and mezzanine and a "roof garden" with occupancy not to exceed 950 persons "at one time in the entire building." The building's owners are listed as Jacob Feuchtwanger and Jesse Ehrich of 31 Liberty Street.

There are numerous alterations noted (but not available for view) throughout the 1910's and into the 1940's as well as a number of "unsafe building" reports over the decades. The next available C of O is from 1986 for a Retail Store on the 1st floor with an accessory office in the mezzanine. In 1998, the retail store was carved up into three commercial units - it seems multiplexing caught up with the Regun after all those years anyway! The building today cuts all the way through the block, with frontage on 115th Street. Not sure if that's the original configuration or if the building was extended over time. That sure would have made for a long and narrow auditorium!

The 1917 c/o reads "a fireproof 1 & 2 story theater". The Regun probably had a roof theater for summer use in its early days. The NY Times story mentions "the collapse of a heavy projection booth on the roof of the one-story building". Maybe 1936 was the end of the roof theater and the Regun Theater operated only as an enclosed theater after that.

A recent deed to this property gives the following addresses: 60-62 West 116th Street and 75-79 West 115th Street with a build date of 1913. I haven't found anything that tells me if the theater used the entire building as it stands today, or was the theater building extended over the years to its current size? Maybe a photo will surface to solve the mystery.

Don't put your research tools away just yet. I found two other theaters mentioned for West 116th St. One was the Jewel Theater at 11 W 116th St and the other was the Grand Theater at 9 W 116th St. I don't see these theaters listed on CT. Since the two addresses are so close, I wonder if these two theaters are actually one in the same theater operating at different times.

The 1914-1915 edition of American Motion Picture Directory has a Grant Theatre, 11 W. 116th Street. The 1926 edition of Film Daily Yearbook has the 800 seat Jewel Theatre listed at #11. By 1930 the seating capacity is listed as 751 and by 1941 seating is listed as 700. Then back up to 751 seats between 1943 and 1950. The Jewel Theatre has gone from listings by 1957.

Nothing is listed for 9 W. 116th Street so the 'Grand' you found must be the 'Grant' of 1914-1915 vintage (although that could be a mis-print).

Incidently, checking the 1914-1915 A.M.P.D. more closely I notice that the Imperial Theatre is also listed as the Regan Theatre(their spelling) at this same address, so that must have been the period of name change.

Thanks Ken. The name Grand Theater and the address of 9 West 116th Street comes from a 1920 NY Times story. Their information could be wrong. I'll add the Jewel Theater and use Grant as an aka name.

A photograph I took of the former (much altered) Regun Theatre building in July 2003:
http://flckr.com/photos/kencta/532355979/

Sorry, here is the correct link to the above:
http://flickr.com/photos/kencta/532355979/

You didn't happen to take photos of the other side of west 116th street did you? I believe the Jewel Theater was across the street from the Regun Theater and to the east. Maybe Ed can post an aerial photo for 11 West 116th Street on the Jewel Theater page.

In the first comment on this page, I posted the free portion of the November 10, 1936 NY Times article. Here are some of the details contained in the full article.

The roof of the building was formerly used as a summer open air theater. The outdoor projection booth collapsed and damaged the ceiling in the rear of the theater a few feet from the indoor projection booth. The license of the theater, owned by the Belle Theatre Corporation of 62 Delancey Street was suspended, but the theater may be re-opened the police said, after repairs are made.

CROWD RAIDS THEATRE PROTESTING MOVIE; 100 From Harlem Colony See Reflection on Latin American Womanhood--Five Are Seized.

NY Times June 25, 1930

Five men, all Latin-Americans, were arrested last night and locked up in the West 123d Street station charged with disorderly conduct when they tried to storm the Regun Theatre at 60 West 116th Street following a demonstration outside against the film "Under a Texas Moon".

"Lost Memory," you seem to have missed a very funny story about the Regun Theatre published in The New York Times on July 12, 1923 (with a follow-up on July 13). The owner of an adjacent apartment building threatened legal action against tenants who were congregating on the roof and bringing friends (as many as 200 at a time!) to watch the movies being shown at the Regun's open-air venue.

I did see that one. I wasn't going to post it but since you mentioned it, I'll post the July 12, 1923 headline. The free preview headline reads as follows:

BRINGS SHIT TO KEEP TENANTS OFF ROOF; Crowd Watching Film Show Next Door Damages Buildings, Landlord Says. 100 TO 200 GATHER NIGHTLY Supreme Court Asked for Injunction -- Complaint Alleges 15 Defendants Refused to Get Off.

There must have been a typo because the full article has this headline:

BRINGS SUIT TO KEEP TENANTS OFF ROOF.

The first headline might have been the better idea. :)

Hilarious, Lost. Thanks for the laugh!

My 1967 FDY has the following listing:

Harris Theaters (Agent)
251 W. 86th Street, NYC
Harry A. Harris, General Manager

Theaters (5): New York - Regun, San Juan, Sunset. Brooklyn - Amor, Broadway. If this is accurate, the Regun was still open as late as 1967.

Other then the possibility of the Regun Theater being open until 1967, what does the rest of that information have to do with this theater. Maybe you can explain it to me.

It explains who ran the Regun Theatre at the time, and also shows that it was related to other cinemas in the Greater New York area.

It seems like we have an exhaustive list of theaters in NYC and Brooklyn. However, I looked for the other four theaters in the Harris chain on CT and didn't see any of them under their current or former names. I saw a Sunset Theater in Brooklyn but not NYC. There was also the Loew's Broadway in NYC, but I wasn't sure if that was the one that Harris was running in 1967. I'm not familiar with NY theaters, so if someone could fill me in I would appreciate it.

The San Juan should be listed here as the Audubon Theater. I don't see the Sunset Theater listed here although it might be here under another name. The address should be 316 W 125th St. I never heard of an Amor Theater in Brooklyn.

Thanks. I see that you mentioned the San Juan aka back in April 2005, but it wasn't added as an aka. You also mentioned the Beverly Hills as an aka for the Audubon.

Nobody listens to me. I don't get any respect. No respect at all. :)

You should add the Sunset Theater. If it turns out to be a duplicate, it won't be your fault.

Sure thing, Rodney. "I told my wife I wanted her to talk to me during sex. She said OK. Next night, she called me from a motel". Ba dum bum.

Would that be considered "phone sex"?

I don't if the Sunset Theater had other names, but a theater building was located at 312-322 W 125th St since at least 1924.

I added the Sunset at the 125th Street address.

On the silent theater list, there is a Sunset (W. 125th) Theater which means that the name might have always been Sunset. I just find it odd that it wasn't listed here already. Good find.

It's a team effort.

There is a Broadway Theater aka Loew's Broadway listed on Cinema Treasures for Brooklyn. That might be the Broadway Theater that you found in the FDYbook? Still nothing on the Amor Theater in Brooklyn which sounds like a porn theater. :)

It could be Loews Broadway, but I have no way to check. You may be right on the porn theater. It could be a new aka for some older house in Brooklyn. Probably not one of the storefront porno places if it was part of a chain.

A rare view of the Regun Theatre's marquee can be found in the background of this photo copied from a 1930 trade journal. "White Cargo" was a British import based on the 1923 stage hit about a jungle seductress named "Tondeleyo." Hedy Lamarr would later play the role in MGM's 1942 version of "White Cargo," which might also have played at the Regun Theatre, but I can't say for sure. www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/nycregun.jpg

Listed in the 1960 Manhattan yellow pages. Phone number was Enrght 9-9878.

Curious to know why that information is considered necessary, especially the phone number. Have you tried calling it? If so, what answer did you get?

Love those mnemonic devices they used for phone exchanges years ago. That sort of charm has been lost to antiquity. Thanks ken mc. Might not be necessary, but a fun tidbit nonetheless. Warren, please re-post a new link to the photo you originally posted on Feb 8th.

The Regun appears in a December 1922 ad for TESS OF THE STORM COUNTRY so it was no longer the Imperial by then.