Grand Theater

The Grand Theatre was located at 743 Grand Street and had 545 seats, according to the 1949 Film Daily Year Book.

I also remember that prior to Macdonalds taking over it was an insurance office, I believe that it was John Hancock, and later a doctors office.

Anyone have any old photos of the Grand? It closed when I was very young. I rememeber it as a John Hancock Insurance office (or was it Metropolitan Life?), then a medical center, and now a McDonald's. It was totally gutted, so there is no evidence of it ever being a theater.

Before The Grand Theatre was a movie theater, it was a vaudeville playhouse. I have a January 14, 1907 program, when The Grand featured the play "Grogan's Alley," followed by musical performances by (among others) Violet Villiers (Singing Soubrette) and Sabine and Dale, Assisted by Miss Cora Spencer, "in their laughable comedy creation, entitled 'Training a Husband,'" followed by "the electric marvel of the age," (presumably a motion picture) presenting 10 rounds of a fight between Jack O'Brien and Tommy Burns, refereed by "the world's champion James J. Jeffries." The program notes that amateur contests were held every Thursday night -- and that every Friday night was "Athletic Night."

It was what was known as a "dump" in the 1950s. Showing third run features. Saturday matinee included a triple feature, 15 cartoons, and several serials. Many was the hour I spent there. Noon to five on Saturday.

Nearby were the Graham which showed even older and less desireable features and the Rainbow - a first run theater.

Is this a photo of the Grand Theater? This was taken during the 1888 Blizzard. If not, what theater is this?

Click Here for Photo

This is a photo of the Grand Theater site in a photo I took back in 2005, but forgot to ever post here:


Click Here for Photo

I see an image of the renovated Bushwick Theatre, and nothing indicating the 1888 blizzard.

Crap, I am sorry, I gave the wrong link for my first comment about the 1888 Blizzard, this is the link I meant to post....obviously the other photo is of the RKO Bushwick in current days, haha:

Anyway, is THIS a photo of the Grand Theater, in a photo taken in the 1888 Blizzard. If not, what is this theater?

Click Here for photo

I doubt if the photo shows this Grand Theatre. It is probably the Grand Opera House, one of the leading theatres in Brooklyn in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

P.S. You should be able to find more information about the Grand Opera House in the early Brooklyn Eagle issues that are accessible through the website of the Brooklyn Public Libary.

I believe that the theatre in the 1888 blizzard photo, as well as the one mentioned by C.R. Brewster in a post above of 1/13/08 at 7:27pm, was not this Grand, but the Grand Opera House in downtown Brooklyn. The Grand Opera House was built in 1881 and situated on Elm Place between Fulton and Livingston Streets. The ground site had previously been occupied by a Congregational Church. According to newspaper reports at the time, the Grand Opera House was built of brick, with a brown-stone front. The stage was 70 feet wide and 36 in depth. The crown of the proscenium arch was 40 feet above the stage. The auditorium had two balconies and was "tastefully decorated, well ventilated and heated." Seating capacity was about 3,000, and the cost of construction was estimated at $75,000. The theatre's owners were William Barry and Hugh Fay, well-known variety actors, and Benjamin Lewis, a politician and insurance agent.

Thank you Warren, you are correct.

I have several pictures of the front of the theatre taken in the 1930s, 1940s and the 1950s. The blizzard photo is definitely not the subject theatre.

There is discussion above about the Grand Opera House in Brooklyn, which is not to be confused with this theater, the Grand. The Grand Opera House is listed under Brooklyn in the 1897-98 edition of the Julius Cahn Official Theatrical Guide. Unfortunately, there are no street addresses in this Guide. The house was managed by Hyde & Behman, the stage dimensions are similar to what Warren has posted above. The admission prices ranged from 25 cents to $1.50; there were 600 orchestra seats, 500 in the balcony, 800 in the gallery, and 100 box seats. Total, 2,000 seats, plus 200 standing spaces. There were 10 musicians in the house orchestra.

In reading the thread, two things stick out: (1) the Grand probably did not make it into the 1960's, as noted in the intro. When I was growing up in the 1950's, the Grand was always spoken about in the past tense. Thus, I doubt very much that it lasted beyond the mid-1950's. I think of it as a clone of the Nassau - the one in Greenpoint - that also gave up the ghost at around that time.

(2) I was also surprised to learn that the Grand, despite its clearly inferior location, was considered to be a superior venue to the Graham Theater, which was located on the main drag. While both were clearly secondary houses, I would have thought that the Graham would have been the preferred choice of those who would not have wanted to travel to the "good" theaters.

The "superior venue" of the Grand may have been due to the fact that the admission was lower than the Graham as The Grand ran inexpensive to rent "B" movies. This brought in swarms of kids all weekend long. The money was made from the captive audience spending all they had at the concessions. The Graham tried to run more new releases. Higher movie rental fees meant higher ticket prices and therefore fewer customers spending money at the concessions. The "B" houses are run profitably if they are run like a circus or carnival. The acts bring the customers to the side show where you get their money. With the advent of television, this business model no longer works. The TV is a cheaper "baby sitter".

Yes, I guess the "movie theater as baby sitter" function is the reason why so many of the movie houses hired matrons to supervise the kids during those endless Saturday matinees. (In case you are interested, both the Ridgewood and Madison theatre pages feature great stories about their legendary matrons.)

yes right i agree with all of you..

bedwetting in older children

I have not been back to this site for a long time, but the Grand Theater I identified in my 1/13/08 posting as a former vaudeville house was, in fact, the Grand Theater on Grand Street. The 1907 program that I have includes a seating map that shows "exits no. 1,2,3 leading to Grand Street" and "exits no. 4 and 5 leading to South 1st Street." The theater was managed by Davis & Marks. This was not the Grand Opera House on Elm.

C. R. Brewster

The Grand Theater in Brooklyn, NY was not near any "South 1st St." It is possible that the street names were changed since the 1907 program, but I doubt it.

I agree with GTB that the old Grand could not be the Opera House. It is situated no where near South 1st.

In reviewing the CT files for this community, I came up with a possible alternative. It is the Metro Theatre, which was situated at 194 Grand St. This lot backs right into South 1st. In addition, the site description notes that the Metro replaced an old vaudeville house named the Unique Theatre in the mid 1920's and that a theater had existed here since 1894. Now it is possible that the Unique was also known as the Opera House during a portion of its existence, including 1907. Food for thought.

The Grand survived well into the 60's. As noted in a comment on the Republic Theater's site, the Grand became a Premiere Showcase outlet when that venture was rolled out. It suddenly was catapulted to "first-run" status.