Loew's Brevoort Theatre

I now believe that I may have erred on this one. The theater I talk about is actually the Lincoln. The Breevort was located further north on Bedford Avenue, not far from the Bedford. The Breevort might have also been a theater showing Negro movies.

The Loew's Brevort Theatre is located at 1272 Bedford Ave. and it seated 2036 people.

The correct spelling is BREVOORT, named for the nearby street.

You're probably thinking of Loew's Bedford, on Bedford Avenue, which is now a church. Loew's Brevoort was the original Loew's in that neighborhood. When Loew's later acquired the Bedford from Frank Keeney, it kept the Brevoort as a second-run house. The Brevoort was eventually demolished.

I grew up on Brevoort Place. The Loew's Brevoort Theater stood on the corner of Brevoort Place and Bedford Avenue,with its main entrance on Bedford Ave, In the early 1960,s it began to rival the Apollo Theater in Harlem by showcasing some of the greatest Rhythm & Blues acts in the history of music on the weekends: Sam Cooke, James Brown, Jackie Wilson, Otis Redding, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, The Four Tops, The Temptations, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, The Supremes, Same & Dave, Dionne Warwick, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Pattie LaBelle & the Bluebells, The Manhattans, and so many more. The theater was demolished in the early 1970,s.

Here is a 1957 ad from the NY Times:
http://tinyurl.com/2bqjj6

Jailhouse Rock with Elvis Presley and Judy Tyler was released in November of 1957.

Chalk up yet another credit for architect R. Thomas Short, whose work on the Brevoort Theatre was featured in the May, 1918 issue of Architecture & Building Magazine. The publication date suggests that the Brevoort opened either that year or late in 1917. Since Short seems to have been the favored architect of pioneer exhibitor A.H. Schwartz, I suspect that Schwartz owned and ran the Brevoort for a time, and then sold the operating lease to Loew's to gain first-run status for the area. Note in the first image, the horse-drawn milk wagon at the right. The photo must have been taken early in the morning, since the sidewalks are deserted:
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/brevoort01.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/brevoort02.jpg

While searching Brooklyn Eagle microfilm yesterday, I found an opening date for the Brevoort of May 1st, 1918, with the patriotic film spectacle, "My Own United States," as the premiere attraction. As I had suspected, the Brevoort was built and managed by A.H. Schwartz, who sold the operating lease to Marcus Loew in November, 1919. At 1918 opening, the Brevoort was described as Brooklyn's largest theatre showing movies exclusively, with 1,500 seats on the main floor and 700 in the balcony. A symphony-sized orchestra provided music during the shows and intermissions. When Marcus Loew took over on November 24th, 1919 (with "The Miracle Man" as the first attraction), he retained the orchestra for the peak matinee and evening shows, but added a $25,000 pipe organ to provide the music for intermediary performances. Here are two opening ads:
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/brevopener.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/lobrev.jpg

I believe Schwartz had some sort of special connection with Loew's as they seemed to trade theaters more than what would seem normal. See Vogue, Avalon, Prospect(twice) and perhaps others. Perhaps Warren could comment on this ?