Cameo Theater

I saw "Mr. Holland's Opus" at the Cameo in Brewster with my wife and two friends of ours, a married couple, in February 1996. I liked the decor of classic movie posters in the inner lobby. I am sorry that it is now closed.

The address for the Cameo Theatre was 63 Main Street, Brewster, NY. The Cameo closed in 1997.

And it had 566 seats, according to the 1957 Film Daily Year Book.

I first saw this theatre in 1995 when my wife and I were
house hunting in Putnam County.
We evidently settled in Carmel, NY.
The theatre was the only in all of Putnam until the eightplex
opened in Carmel in 1998.
It was still showing first-run movies until about 1999.
I think the very last movies was "Santa Clause" with
the actor from "Home Improvement". its still there in
Brewster, I think you can rent it for parties or other venues.

The cameo is now a church, like so many theatres have become, probably for sound quality and acoustics, i presume? There was talk not too long ago about bringing it back in the Journal-News, but who knows. The marquee is still there.

Southeast Museums
Pages From Our Past
Brewster’s Cameo Theater
By Mary Ann Taormina

The resident of Brewster were excited about a new motion picture house coming to their town. The Cameo Theatre opened its door on June 30, 1939, with great fan-fare. William I. Hohauser, Inc., a leading architectural firm in the building of theatres, was commissioned to build the Brewster Cameo. The New York firm had already built the Avon theatre at Stamford, CT. the Clinton Theater in Brooklyn, as well as theatres in Beacon and Hudson. Engineer, William V. April, supervised the work on the Brewster theatre.

The Cameo Theater is an excellent example of an Art Deco movie theater and typical of community theaters built across the country during the 1930s. Art Deco is known by it simple geometric patterns and structures using metals and plaster. Art Deco architecture lasted for nearly twenty years from 1925 through the 1940s.
The design of the Brewster Cameo was considered exceptional for the time because of the top of the line accommodations. The two-story structure was built with fire resistant material, concrete and brick with steel beams. The walls were covered with rose and gold colored tapestry and a multi-colored designed carpet cover the floors of the lobby, aisles and powder room. The beautiful blue leather cushioned seats with backs of rose velour were said to have given each member of the audience a generous amount to space.

An article in the Brewster Standard dated June 29, 1939, boast about the theater high-tech environmental system, “The ventilating system provides for air cooling and an automatic heating plant that operated when the weather indicates it is needed.” It is unlikely that the writer was describing modern-day air conditioning. The article also talks about the new and innovated automatic water fountain located in the lobby.

In the projection booth, there was a fireproof cabinet for the storage of film reels. A state of the art Motiograph projection machine and RCA sound system were the latest in audio/visual equipment.

The Art Deco exterior crowned with an eight by six-foot neon sign supports the name CAMEO in letter two feet high. The Claude Neon Sign Company of Bridgeport, CT created the design. The Cameo was the first, in this part of the country, to install a marquee with beautiful opal glass lighted by florescent bulbs flanking either side of the entrance. Since there was a down pore on opening day, there was great concern that there would be problems with the neon marquee, but fortunately, there was not.

Theaters like the Cameo, built specifically to show movies, opened in nearly every city and town in the United States. Huge movie palaces were built in the cities, but far more common were smaller community theaters such as the Cameo.

The Cameo’s modern Art Deco architectural style helped transport the Brewster audience into the fantasy world of the film. The motion picture theaters of this era were the result of technological advances, and were well suited for Art Deco's modern materials, linear edges, and zigzags. The use of geometric designed elements drew its inspiration from the mechanization and mass-production of that era.
Some movie historians insist that the Art Deco design of local movie theaters was a reaction to the glitzy décor and over-spending of the pre-Depression boom that had culminated in the 1929 bust, and mirrored the hard times in which they were built. Others say that 1930s architecture was a celebration of coming technology in modern living and American’s growing dependence machines.
More than 600 people attended the gala opening with showing of “The Young Mr. Lincoln.” Among the dignitaries attending the opening were Mayor Henry H. Wells, Mr. Sussman, the proprietor of the theatre, and Father Thomas G. Phelbin of St. Lawrence Church. According to the Brewster Standard’s account of the event in its July 6, 1939 edition, “After the school band stopped playing the audience applauded Mr. Sussman’s welcome, Father Philbin’s prayer and Mayor Wells address, before rising to sing Star Spangled Banner and settling down to the news reel, Donald Duck and Henry Fond”. The Mayor Wells said, “On this happy occasion, as Mayor of the Village, I express our thanks to Mr. Sussman and Mr. Flechsenhaar the owner and manager of the business of producing movies at The Cameo, for our invitation to the opening of this safe and most attractive theatre, …and I hope for them a most successful business venture”.

The Cameo continued to operate as an independent theatre by the Quinn family from the mid 1950’s until July of 1997. For many years, it was a safe haven to take children for family entertainment at reasonable cost. Unfortunately, the Cameo and many other independent movie theaters throughout the country were becoming extinct as giant multiplex cinemas cropped up.







Today, the resources to begin a restoration project for this historical theater have been realized. The New York Main Street Program, an innovative program designed to stimulate downtown revitalization, recently awarded $200,000 to the Putnam Economic Development Corporation. Half of this money is earmarked for the restoration of the Cameo Theatre. The hope is for the life to be brought back into this historical build and that it once again will be a premier entertainment center for the entire community.

The theater never was used as a church. Prestently it is closed.

Great news! I was told they had about $200,000 in funds coming soon to fix the Cameo and other projects. Its time has come. This link will disappear soon but here it is. http://news.newstimeslive.com/story.php?id=69802

The Cameo will open in 2 years and the cost to revitalize it will be $100,000.

That article says the Cameo closed in the early-80's which is obviously false. If you look at my photos at http://www.cinematour.com/tour.php?db=us&id=7164 you will see a movie poster still displayed there for a film that, according to IMDb, was released in late 1995.

It is also obviously false, because I saw "Mr. Holland's Opus" at the Cameo in Brewster with my wife and two friends of ours, a married couple, in February 1996. I liked the decor of classic movie posters in the inner lobby. I am sorry that it is now closed.

The Cameo is mentioned in a few articles on the web. Closing dates are given as 1997 and 1998 depending on which article that you read. One lists the Cameo as opening in the early 40's.

I did find a 1999 photo of the Cameo theater and you can see on the marquee that it says "Available". Unless that was the title of a 1999 movie, it would be safe to say that the Cameo was closed in 1999. Photo is here:
http://www.com1net.com/gallery/album07/aad

Is the Cameo a single or twin screen theater? A movie search returns the Cameo Twin Theater at this address.

Screen was originally a single, twinned down the middle. Was designed by the same architect as the theatre I book, the Avon in Stamford, CT. Both opened within a month of one another and closed down right around the same time. Hope to see it saved, however, the somewhat downtrodden strip on which it is located will make it difficult.

Screen was originally a single, twinned down the middle. Was designed by the same architect as the theatre I book, the Avon in Stamford, CT. Both opened within a month of one another and closed down right around the same time. Hope to see it saved, however, the somewhat downtrodden strip on which it is located will make it difficult.

Screen was originally a single, twinned down the middle. Was designed by the same architect as the theatre I book, the Avon in Stamford, CT. Both opened within a month of one another and closed down right around the same time. Hope to see it saved, however, the somewhat downtrodden strip on which it is located will make it difficult.

Letter to the editor re: the grant and the Cameo in the 9/28 issue of the NY Journal News. http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050928/OPINION02/509280341/-1/spider

Fix up theater or tear it down

This past summer, my wife and I drove through a number of small towns in upper New York state and Pennsylvania. Many of the towns had obviously seen better days, but they were at least trying to keep up appearances.

Then we returned to Brewster, and the first thing that struck us was the dilapidated marquee and faCade of the Cameo theater. This blot on the village says a great deal about us. It says that Brewster doesn't care about itself anymore, that it is content to allow garbage — for the Cameo is nothing more than that at this point — to litter Main Street. It says that we're not interested in attracting new business to Brewster, for what business would want to locate itself anywhere near or around the Cameo? It says our officials — both village and town — are indifferent to or incapable of dealing with this embarrassment.

Is there an elected official willing to stand up and say to the owner of the Cameo: Fix it up or tear it down — and if you won't do it, we'll do it for you and send you the bill.

Yes, I've heard that Brewster is supposed to get a grant from New York state to fix up the Cameo. I don't know if or when that grant is supposed to come through, but I do know that in the meantime we have to see this seedy hulk every time we enter the village.

Have we no pride?

AJ Vogl , Brewster

From the front page of CinemaTreasures.

BREWSTER, NY — The Southeast Museum will present as part of it’s Lecture Series ‘The History Of Brewster’s Cameo Theatre’ on Saturday November 5th at 3pm.

Professor Michael Jacobs of Berkeley College will present the lecture giving the history of this historical Art Deco theatre that opened in June of 1939 with the showing of “The Young Mr Lincoln”. More that 600 people attended the gala opening.

There will be a discussion of the many films shown at the theatre over the years and plans for the future of this unique movie house.

The Southeast Museum is located at 67 Main Street in the Village of Brewster, NY. Museum hours are Tuesday-Saturday 10am - 4pm. For further information please contact the museum at (845) 279-7500.

My parents had a summer house in Shenorock (Somers). The area was not yet suburban and was quite rural. We kids, back in the 50's, would got to the Cameo on Saturday nights. I still remember the phone number was BRewster 9-3688. Funny how memories stick with you. We also went to the movies in Carmel where the theater looked like an old quonset hut. Anybody rememeber the name of that one???

It was posted the other day. http://cinematreasures.org/theater/14143/

Hi, Karl Bernstein, good to see you here on "Cinema Treasures" as well as Paul Matus' "My Recollection" and "SubTalk" of nycsubway.org !

There seems to still be hope for this. This passage appeared as part of a larger article on Brewster day laborers in The Journal News on Dec. 3:

In recent years, Brewster has embarked on capital projects to revitalize the business community, including a massive $38.2 million undertaking to build a new wastewater treatment plant and extend sewer lines throughout the village. That project is nearing completion. This year, the village was awarded a $200,000 grant to restore the Cameo Theater and other storefront facades and for streetscape enhancements.

Thanks, Jeffrey1955. Good seeing you on this page as well.

Sadly, the friends of my wife and myself that once lived in Brewster are now divorced, the man now living across the Hudson in Ramapo, NY, and the woman re-married, and living in Perrysburg, Ohio.

Here is another photo of the Cameo Theater in Brewster.

Ow! I'm hoping the rain on the lens makes it look even more pathetic than it actually is.

Yes ! As a bearded Larry Hagman (?) once said on "Laugh-in" in 1968 :

"What this show (page)needs is more pregnant pathos !"

Thanks, Lost Memory, for posting the link to the photo.

Outside of Brewster theater to receive face-lift
By MARCELA ROJAS
THE JOURNAL NEWS

(Original publication: July 18, 2006)

BREWSTER — The restoration of the Cameo Theater, a darkened Main Street movie house, was meant to be a beacon in the village's revitalization efforts.

But for now, only the cinema's exterior and an adjacent playhouse will be renovated with state grant money awarded more than a year ago, officials said. The interior will be "warehoused" for future work, leaving the once-popular double-screen theater pretty outside but empty inside.

"The economic conditions in the movie industry and in the village are such that we, unfortunately, won't be able to open the Cameo at this time," said Robert Morini, principal of Cameo Brewster LLC. "That doesn't mean the theater won't open again."

Morini said he was unable to find a tenant, either a movie-theater operator or a not-for-profit organization, but is hopeful that one will come forward soon. Potential uses for the 6,564-square-foot site include a venue for live theater and cultural performances or a movie house featuring specialty or artistic films.

The Cameo is the anchor in a $200,000 grant presented in January 2005 to the Putnam County Economic Development Corporation by the state's Main Street Program, a division of the New York State Housing Trust Corp. The Cameo's portion was limited to $100,000, contingent upon the owner matching it with $300,000 of his own money. Morini can spend less than that and still access some of the state grant money. For every $3 he spends, the grant will give him $1.

The remaining $100,000 will provide $50,000 for rehabilitating the former post office at 20-30 Main St., $25,000 for streetscape enhancements and $25,000 for fixing the facades of several Main Street buildings. Those improvements are now in varying stages of execution and require that owners provide matching funds.

Morini said it would cost between $750,000 and $1 million to restore the entire Cameo Theater. At this point, he has hired an architect and is uncertain how much it will cost to refurbish the building's facade, including the marquee, and the Cameo Playhouse, he said.

It is expected that the playhouse, a small retail space, will be used by the village's new constabulary force for its base of operations. Constables, meant to address quality-of-life issues in the half-square-mile village, reported for duty Thursday. The office will be leased to the village for a sum of probably $1 a year, village Treasurer Michael Santos said.

"It looked to me like the entire effort was going to fail," Mayor John Degnan said at a recent Team Brewster meeting. "There were difficulties with the anchor, but we found ways to compromise with a phased renovation of the facade and using the playhouse for the constables."

The grant must be used by early 2008, said Elizabeth Duffy-Rau, the county's project coordinator.

Morini purchased the Cameo in September 2000 from Southeast resident Denise Quinn for $195,000. The Cameo was built in 1939 and was a 525-seat single-screen cinema until it was converted into twin theaters in the 1970s. The theater went dark in 1997.

Copyright 2006 The Journal News, a Gannett Co. Inc. newspaper serving Westchester, Rockland and Putnam Counties in New York.

In the mid-1970s, the Cameo was a dollar house. I don't recall how long this policy remained, but I used to drive from New Milford tp go here, and recall seeing Carrie, Burnt Offerings and Fast Break. The art deco appointments were still beautiful and in fine shape at the time, and every time I go by the Cameo it breaks my heart.

I recall the Cameo being $1 through the 70s and into the 80s as well.

I am interested in this theater and its potential in the community. Does anyone know the status of the theater and who I can contact about it?
Thanks so much

Last news was from 2 years ago in this comments section re: $200,000 to rehab it. I passed it a few weeks ago and it's still dormant.

1982 Photo

GC, don't bother."Morini purchased the Cameo in September 2000 from Southeast resident Denise Quinn for $195,000". Morini, who was also the broker at the time, rejected higher offers from buyers and groups who had plans to do great things with it for the community, but never submitted them to the owner Denise Quinn, so he could purchase it himself at a lower price. Like all the other property he owns in town, he is just sitting on it until he can profit enough from it. He's the one renting the tiny apts to large groups of day laborers that you see hanging around on the streets in town.

If you want to contact Morini, or want to tell him what you think of the abandoned theater or ask where the $100K that was supposed to go to the theater went, his website and email are here:http://robertmorini.houlihanlawrence.com/

Here is an article about the Cameo from Boxoffice magazine in November 1939:
http://tinyurl.com/ydhov4h