Casino Theatre

The Casino Theatre was also known as the Dekalb, opened in 1911 and closed in 1947. Address was 1151-1155 Dekalb ave. Seating capacity was 2,242. As a 10 year old in 1968, I, and some neighborhood kids broke in to the theatre and it was still intact. By 1980, when I visited again, it was being demolished from the inside for use as a warehouse. The fading sign high on its wall read CASINO THEATER Latest in Screen Attractions. Under the words Latest in Screen Attractions was faintly legible "continuous VAUDEVILLE".

The Casino Theatre was also known as the Dekalb, opened in 1911 and closed in 1947. Address was 1151-1155 Dekalb ave. Seating capacity was 2,242. As a 10 year old in 1968, I, and some neighborhood kids broke in to the theatre and it was still intact. By 1980, when I visited again, it was being demolished from the inside for use as a warehouse. The fading sign high on its wall read CASINO THEATER Latest in Screen Attractions. Under the words Latest in Screen Attractions was faintly legible "continuous VAUDEVILLE" obviously "Latest in Screen..." was painted over the vaudeville sign when vaudeville was being phased out. The El station here was "Kosciusko St" where I was born in 1958. About three stations down from Kosciusko was "Gates Ave" and right in front was the RKO Bushwick.

The DeKalb was re-named the Casino after a previous Casino Theatre in Brooklyn had either been demolished or closed. During the WWI era and into the early 1920s, Loew's operated the DeKalb until building the Gates in the same neighborhood. It was, of course, known as Loew's DeKalb.

The DeKalb Theatre first opened on December 11, 1911, three months after its nearby competition, the Bushwick. Loew's had taken over the DeKalb by 1915 and ran it until building the Gates. After that, the DeKalb went through several changes of ownership before becoming the Casino on October 25, 1936. Described in advertising as the New Casino, it tried to revive the burleque shows of the old Casino Theatre in downtown Brooklyn, but ran into trouble with the police and switched to vaudeville and late-run movies. The vaudeville was soon dropped, but movies continued into the 1940s...In 1996, a news report in The New York Times said that the decrepit theatre's interior would be converted into much-needed space for the district's over-crowded public schools, but I don't know if that ever happened.

Thank you, Cinema Treasures, for adding this page on the Casino Theater in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn, of which I am a native.

If you go to www.nycsubway.org, BMT Lines, BMT Jamaica Line, Kosciuszko St. station, image 3033, you will see the Casino Theater
above the el station, or at least a sign for the Casino Theater visibly painted on a building above the el station.

Does anyone know, and can anyone comment, on the relationship between the New Casino Theater, and the store, Bargaintown, which once stood near the intersection of Broadway and DeKalb Avenues ?
The oldest of my three living aunts, who is also from Bushwick, says that the New Casino Theater became Bargaintown.

Also, re : schools : if it's any help, the USGS quad sheet for Brooklyn, NY, dated 1967, photorevised 1979, from aerial photos taken 1977, but not field checked, shows P.S. 274 as a black near-square centered on the northeast half of the large block bounded by Broadway, Bushwick Avenue, Dekalb Avenue, and Kosciuszko St., fronting on either Kosciuszko St. or Bushwick Avenue. It also shows the expansion of this school in purple tint, southeast, to border on Kosciuszko St. and southwest, to come much closer to Broadway and the el station.

MapQuest Map supplied with this page is incorrect. It is of the EKO Albee at Dekalb Avenue and Fulton St. in downtown Bklyn. Instead find 1151 or 1153 Dekalb Avenue Bklyn NY at MapQuest.

I just found 1153 DeKalb Avenue Bklyn NY on MapQuest, and it is on DeKalb Avenue between Broadway and Bushwick Avenue, the block the Casino Theater once stood on, apparently once the DeKalb Avenue entrance of the theater.

I remember being in Bargain Town only once, at age ten, in November or December of 1965, but my oldest living aunt remembers my mother (her sister) and herself, being there in 1955, to buy baby carriages for myself, and for a first cousin.

The neighborhood once teemed with theatres. I don't think that the DeKalb was ever a store, Bargaintown or otherwise. Your aunt might have confused it with another theatre. If I recall correctly, the DeKalb was situated in the middle of the block, and had no borders with Broadway.

Warren, you may be right. What you wrote is consistent with what Fernando wrote about finding the Casino Theater interior intact in 1968. As such it would not have been a store in 1955 and 1965.

Having gone through a list of Brooklyn theaters on cinematour.com in the last few days, and having seen how many Bushwick theaters were either closed or demolished, I have seen for myself how that neighborhood once teemed with theaters. It seems that television did away with many of them.

Given the demolition that followed the looting and arson in Bushwick that resulted from the July 13, 1977 blackout, some clues may be permanently gone.

Thanks guys for all the information on the Casino Theater. I am very interested in finding out more about this and some of the other Broadway (Brooklyn) area theaters. If I find out anything more, I will post it here. Some photos of either the interior or exterior would also be very welcome if anyone ever finds a link to this or some of the other Bushwick theaters.

Here is the link to the photo Peter was talking about above. It's a start from some photos, even if just of the "roof".
http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?3033

Bway, thanks for your help in posting the link to the photo I had referred to. Sometimes nycsubway.org seems like the only source of photos for so many of these theaters that are now gone. Like Loew's Hillside. Or the RKO Madison in Ridgewood, whose original sign, painted on its western wall, grows ever fainter each year, while the graffiti obscuring it grows newer and more vivid.

Perhaps Bargain Town never was the DeKalb or Casino, but was a separate building a few blocks away.

Bargain Town was a few blocks away on Broadway, in the late 60's, it was renamed Buy Rite. On the corner of Broadway and Dekalb was my father's candystore (1965-67. On the same side of the street, up the block, on the corner of Bushwick, was the Casino, and the entrance was on Dekalb.

Fernando, in what direction from the Casino was Bargain Town ? Northwest, towards Broadway and Myrtle ? Was it that three or four story building with the arched windows, that used to be painted in red and white vertical stripes, and is now painted a light gray ?
Please help. Thanks.

Fernando, in the links below you can see the building Peter is talking about. Peter and I had been trying for quite a while to figure out where the Casino Theater was until recently finding out the Casino was nearer to the Kosciuszko St El station, and we had originally mistakenly thought that that arched windowed building may have been the Casino Theater. For some reason now I have a feeling that arched building may have been "Bargintown". Although refurbished in the late 90's, into the 80's it was abandoned and painted in red and white stripes, as seen in the distance in the nycsubway.org photo: http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?4666 The Casino Theater would have been just to the right of the train in the photo.
The striped building has since been restored as seen in the "transitgallery photo":
http://www.transitgallery.com/data/02e74f10e0327ad868d138f2b4fdd6f0/47_p10409.jpg
Any information would be appreciated.

Wow! I never could imagine how my starting information on The Casino would bring out all you great people who have brought back memories of my old neighborhood! Well, Peter and Bwdy, first, the striped building with the arched windows is indeed Bargain Town later known as Buy Rite. Notice off to the distance, that's the Myrtle Avenue El station. Also judging from this photo, it was certainly taken about 1965/66. I know because that's exactly how it was painted at the time. Also, notice that to the left of the station area on the old photo you don't see that "three identical rusty brown colored building" that is visible on the more recent photo of the area, where the old Bargain Town/Buy Rite building is now light grey. The "rusty steel buiding" was the huge hospital which began to be built around 1967/68. I remember because that building took years to finish, We left the area around 1971 and I remember it still hadn't been fully completed. No, the building to the right of the train is not the Casino. Just a block before that building, on Dekalb, was the Casino. I talked to my brother on the phone about a month ago in Brooklyn. From what I understood the Casino was being used by the Board of Ed, just like the Bushwick now. I wish I was there to show you. I think the Casino's ads may have been whitewashed already I don't know. If you walk up Dekalb, on the left side of the street, walking towards Bushwick, the high building to your left, or what's left of it, just before you get to Bushwick, is the Casino.

Interesting. So what you are saying is that at least part of the Casino Theater is still standing and used for a shcool, similar to the RKO Bushwick Theater. I really have to get over there again soon one day and get some photos. I have a "semi-current" photo of the RKO Bushwick that I will post the link to in the Bushwick Theater page here. It was taken last July from the rear of a J train at the Gates Ave station. It was while they were still fixing it, but it still was not completed. I wish I had known about the Casino Theater last year as I would have tried to look for it.
As for that "rusty" building in the distance of my "current photo" (also from last July), that is Woodhull Hospital. They had torn down a good many buildings to build that in the 60's. Again, if you go to www.nycsubway.org and click on BMT Lines, Jamaica Line, and Flusing Ave, you can see both before and after photos of the block where it is now and even construction photos. Today, Flushing Ave is one of the busiest stations on that line, and they even build elevators to the elevated platform.

Thank you, Fernando and Bway ! The "huge three-towered rusty steel look " hospital is Woodhull Hospital, which was still under construction in July 1972, as one can see from images of Flushing Avenue el station on the BMT Broadway el on www.nycsubway.org

I rode by on the J last Friday about noon and glimpsed the roof line
of what once may have been the New (now so old !) Casino Theater. It's hard to be sure. One has to literally "get down" into the street, walk around, and look up !

On that same ride I caught glimpses of the old Colonial Theater, Loews Gates, and RKO Bushwick.

Dear Peter, I talked to my brother yesterday and he has told me the Casino is being used by the Board of Ed and has been whitewashed just like the old "Bargain Town", which is a Co-op now, e.g. apartments. I have an old photo, very bad quality, since it was a 110 film. It's a photo of the Casino, in 1980. I took it from the next street over from DeKalb, which was Dodworth St. From that side, in the photo, you can legibly read "CASINO THEATRE", below that "continuous". Then below in caps, "VAUDEVILLE". But faintly over Vaudeville, you can make out the letters "MUSICAL REVUES". The next street from Dodworth is Lawton St, whose corner is occupied by the Bargain Town bldg. How I wish I would have had a digital camera in those days! One more thing, I remember when Bud Abbott of "Abbott & Costello" fame passed away, I think in 1975. Anyway, I read in his obituary that as a teenager, he worked as a cashier at the Casino Theatre in Brooklyn. I always thought it was the Dekalb, but I think it was the old Casino in downtown.

Dear Fernando, thank you for talking to your brother yesterday, and for providing all this detail. I very much appreciate it. Do you think you might try to scan and post your 1980 photo of the Casino Theater ? It would be better than no photo at all, and the only other available image would be the one of the Kosciuszko St. el station from nycsubway.org that "Bway" posted the link to.

Thank you also for the info on Bud Abbott and where he once worked as a cashier. "Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein" is one of my all-time favorite films, and now, my son (age 9)has known it for several years as well.

Loew's DeKalb and the Casino are one in the same. I have photos of the DeKalb and it is the same structure as the Casino which i was in before the conversion. There were two entrances and a long narrow lobby that connected them in the front of the building. The interior auditorium still had the rake that was being leveled out. I had my camera but didn't take the pictures of the dilapidated interior as I did with the Bushwick. Sorry I didn't but got photos of the painted exterior walls showing the vaudeville and casino wording.

The original Casino Theatre was in downtown Brooklyn in the vicinity of Flatbush Avenue & State Street. I wonder if the Casino was later re-named the Oxford Theatre, which was at 552 State Street, near Flatbush Avenue? Both were burlesque houses.

I am a teacher at EBC High School, which currently resides in the building I think you all have been discussing. As far as I know, the building stood vacant for a number of years, and 6 or 7 years ago was gutted by the board of ed and turned into a high school. the original facade, i think, has been maintained. here's a link to the school's website, with a clear photo of the building http://www.altschools.org/schools/ebcb/
the address is 1155 dekalb ave.

Thank you, Matt A. Which side of the building appears in that photo ? Dekalb Avenue, I would think. You must also know that the former RKO Bushwick Theater at 1396 Broadway is now the Bushwick High School For Social Justice.

Also, there was an article in the June 27 2004 Sunday NY Daily News about a group of Bushwick H.S. students performing their unique updated version of John Milton's "Paradise Lost" at, I think, a theater in Bushwick at Central Avenue and Hart Street.

IMHO, this theatre should be listed under its original name of the DeKalb, which was famous in its day as a vaudeville-playhouse and known well beyond Brooklyn. It was only re-christened the Casino after an equally popular Brooklyn theatre of that name had closed. The name change didn't help the New Casino any, and it closed in the 1940s, well before the arrival of home TV.

I agree with Warren that there should be a listing for the DeKalb,so one can search for it by that name on this site. On the other hand, there should be a cross reference for people looking for the Casino name.

I am the one who listed the Casino because that was the only name that I knew it by and that was from afar. I used to see the theater and its name painted on the rear wall from the Myrtle Avenue el as the train went from the Knickerbocker Avenue station to the Myrtle Avenue station and on down to Bridge & Jay Street in downtown
Brooklyn.

Is there any reason why the listing cannot be Casino / Loew's DeKalb?
Some other Theaters that come to mind, which are badly in need of cross referencing are:

Adonis / Tivoli
Adonis / Cameo / Squire / Ideal
Cinemart Cinemas / Inwood / Metropolis
Embassy Five / Victoria / Gaiety

With all names listed, wouldn't the search engine be able to find the theater under either name an individual would be looking for?

I would suggest DeKalb, rather than Loew's DeKalb. Loew's did not build the theatre, nor did it run it for a long period of time.

I am having trouble finding the "New Casino" theater on this site, the one that was located at the Kosciuszko St El station on the Broadway El. I was almost certain there was an entry made for it months ago when we discussed this here. Was it known as a different name? What was it's address?

Okay, I feel like a fool now. Obviously, this is the Casino near the Kosciuszko St station.
Now I am still confused. What was the name of the Casino in Downtown Brooklyn that I can't find it? Was that "Inmann's Casino".
Also, I believe the proper name for this theater is the "New Casino" rather than Casino. Warren should be able to help us whether it should be "New Casino" or "Casino", or even "DeKalb" as he suggested. It's a tough call as I believe when it closed it's doors it was simply "Casino". It's hard to find some theaters here when you look for them under their former names.

Is there a listing at this website for the onetime Shubert Theatre on Broadway at Howard Avenue? In 1915, Marcus Loew had been presenting vaudeville and movies at the Shubert, but on August 23 of that year, he took over the DeKalb Theatre and dropped the Shubert, which apparently reverted to stage plays as Teller's Shubert. Teller's Shubert seems to have operated until the late 1920s, sometimes with movies instead of plays, but then drops from the radar screen. It was either converted to a movie house under a different name or closed/demolished. I wish that I had a more specific address than cross streets, but I don't. I imagine that the Shubert was moderately-sized, with maybe 1,500 seats.

Here's a current view of the Casino Theater building taken today.

Click Here for Link

Click Here for Link 2


The theater is now a school.

It is incorectly listed as "demolished" above.

Thanks, Bway. "Link" looks like a view towards Broadway from Bushwick Avenue and Kosciuszko Street. "Link2" looks like a view northeast on Kosciuszko from Bway to Bushwick. Correct ?

Yes Peter you are correct.
I sort of felt like a fool yesterday, but actually had trouble finding this theater, despite it's size! I was driving around in circles.The first time down the DeKalb Ave side, I blew right by it! There was a library on one corner, and I was looking in the direction of that for the theater. It wasn't until I drove around and back towards bushwick Ave that I noticed the theater in the distance from a few blocks away, then I had to laugh at myself because it's so huge! There is no entrance on DeKalb that I saw.

Anyway, do you guys think that is the original entrance to the theater in that photo? It seems too ornate not to be. Was there a similar fasade on the other side of the building on DeKalb? If there was an entrance on Bway, it's gone now.

Thanks Bway for confirming that. I realized after posting that it had to be Kosciuszko, because it's one way southwest, and DeKalb there is two-way, to permit the B-38 bus route there. It's also consistent with what my quad sheet shows : a big school building on the block bounded by DeKalb, Kosciuszko, Bway, and Bushwick Avenue.

I remember well the library at the south corner of Bushwick and DeKalb Avenues. I think it's the DeKalb branch of the Brooklyn Public Library.

Your experience of at first missing the DeKalb reminds me of my April 30 2004 attempt to observe the Colonial Theater from the rear of the Manhattan bound J train I was on. Just west of the Chauncey Street station, all I could see was the former entrance, adjacent to the Rockaway Avenue exit of the Jamaica-bound platform. As I got further away, the Colonial Theater building stood out more and more from adjacent buildings, and became more obvious, particularly the roof.

I think the original entrances were on Broadway and DeKalb Avenue. I will ask my father when I see him next Sunday.

Actually, maybe that is part of my confusion, I believe DeKalb becomes a one street, right around there. COuld I be further confused yet, and that this is DeKalb? The library is just out of view to the left in the first photo I linked to. I think that's what got me so confused to begin with. I think the Casino is actually west of DeKalb, and I had thought it was east. Or am I still confused?

I would have to walk around those blocks again to be sure. My inital thought was that was the railing around the library just out of view to the left in your first photo.

It's such a beautiful day, I'm tempted to leave my office and zoom out there on the J or Z or M just to check !

Bway, one more thought. The Casino / DeKalb's address is listed as 1151-55 DeKalb Avenue. If DeKalb Avenue is consistent with the other Bushwick and Ridgewood streets that run parallel to it, the odd building numbers would be on the northwest side of the street. If that is so, then, to front on DeKalb Avenue, the DeKalb / Casino would have to be northwest of DeKalb, between DeKalb Avenue and Dodworth Street.

Wanna drag "Where's Bargain Town ?" back into the mix, for good luck and good measure ?

Hehe. After all this, now I can't remember if that was DeKalb or Kosciuszko St! You are absolutely correct about the odd number thing. See, I was so confused yesterday when I was looking for the Casino, and now I still am! One of the biggest theaters I took photos of yesterday, seemingly the hardest to miss, and the most confusion! I think it's because I thought it was on the other side of DeKalb that confused me at first, and why I am still confused even after being there! I really felt like a fool when I rode through there, and then only noticed it from like four blocks away after going in circles!

And after all that, I forgot to even look for "Bargain Town"!

Peter, I think I figured it out. The photos of the Casino were taken looking northwest. Meaning the building faces southeast. The Casino Theater is located between Dodworth and DeKalb. DeKalb becomes a one way street driving south. I was on Dekalb not Kosciuszko. That is the old DeKalb Ave main entrance to the theater.
My confusion yesterday, and why I missed the theater, is because I thought the Casino was on the other side of DeKalb (which you probably did to, since you mentioned Kosciuszko St)!
Dekalb Ave becomes one way northbound south of Bushwick Ave.
Whew!

Thanks, Bway !

You're welcome, and to further confuse things, I meant:
"Dekalb Ave becomes one way SOUTHbound south of Bushwick Ave."

Bway, that's what I thought you meant !

So the Ridgewood-bound B-38 bus, after leaving DeKalb Avenue and crossing Broadway, must go northeast on Kosciuszko, then left on Bushwick for a short block, then right back onto DeKalb (two-way northeast of Bushwick Avenue) to continue northeast to Ridgewood.

I have a 1980 photo of the Casino, will someone give me an email address to send it to you/them, maybe they will have a better chance of emailing the photo to Cinema Treasures since I am unable for some reason. Thanx.

The Casino Theater was diagonally opposite the Dekalb Ave Library.
In the forties I remember a sign on the building stating, "Follie's
and Vaudeville".I lived on the opposite side of the street (Dekalb)between Wilson and Central in the even numbers.I don't remember this theater being open for movies at any time and I left in the middle '60's.
I went to PS 74 which is now PS 274 and I worked at the Library on
Bushwick and Dekalb in the late forties.
Now here is the best part.I never heard of the name "Casino" until
I checked out this post.

I believe "Casino" was it's name near the end (the last or current name of any theater is the name used on this site, even if it's not the name that it is most known for. This is done for consistency.)
Anyway, "Casino" was definitely it's name, it's noticable in the www.nycsubway.org photos taken at the Kosciuszko St station, linked above.
According to your account, someone familiar with the area back then, apparently it seems that it wasn't too long that it was known as the "Casino", just before it was abandoned as a theater i assume.

I just got this back from a female friend who is at least 10 years older than myself.Here she is stating that there were Italian
singing and plays.I described the theater to her and a number of other's but she is the only one to respond at this time.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Quote*
I REMEMBER THE THEATER ON DEKALB AV WELL. MY FATHER TOOK ME THERE EVERY SUNDAY TO SEE CARLO BUTI, NICOLA PIONE AND ALL THOSE DRAMATIC PLAYS THOSE WERE SOME OF MY MOST CHERISHED MEMORIES.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Well I'll await the reponse from other's.

I attended PS 74 between 1949 and 1951 when I graduated.It's possible that something was going on there before my time and I
just wasn't aware of it.

This is a great discussion about the DeKalb/Casino theatre. I hope I can add some personal memory thoughts of the years when, as a youngster back in the 1930s and 40’s, I lived in Bushwick, at the corner of DeKalb and Evergreen Avenues, two blocks away from the theatre.
In those days the neighborhood theatres of choice for our family were primarily the Lowe’s Gates and RKO Bushwick on Broadway and the Rivoli on Myrtle Avenue along with the occasional visits to theatres along Fulton Street and in Manhattan. We went to see movies frequently and caught most of the classics that were being produced during that era.

When I was about 10 or 11 years old, I got the bright idea that I ought to go to a movie without my parents tagging along. They weren’t too keen on the suggestion, but I pestered and they finally consented with the proviso that it would have to be to the theatre nearest to our home rather than to any of the ones I had in mind.

Ergo, my introduction on a cold Saturday afternoon to DeKalb/Casino. The theatre looked old and dingy, nothing like I was used to. There was no concession area, hardly any audience and the interior was bitter cold with old radiators against the wall sputtering and whooshing out wet steam to no effect. But I was there on my own and for a young kid on a solo adventure, it was a “big deal” as I sat there munching on a package of Yankee Doodles my mother had packed for me and watched on the big screen, Frank Capra’s 1937 classic, “Lost Horizon,” starring Ronald Coleman. Even though it was the first and last time I would sit in that theatre, the experience would leave a lifelong positive impression.

Coincidentally, about 4 or 5 years ago in relating this story to one of the Brooklyn Board’s memory threads I had to confess to the fact I could not remember the theatre’s name. Next day, Warren, a great movie historian, e-mailed me and clued me in to the name changes. I thank him for that and for directing me to this website.

Now fast-forward to the present and let me recall things about that theatre experience that may relate to some of the points and questions raised in the current thread:
For sure, the two photos of the theatre building that “Bway” recently posted resemble the theatre building I knew in 1940. I remember entering the theatre through the large entrance on the left as you face the building, which at that time was covered by a marquee that extended out over the sidewalk area to the curbstone. In addition, I’m pretty sure the there was also a sign, a long, vertical, impressive looking sign that rose up to the roof line typical of what you often see attached to the side of theatre buildings. I don’t remember if the sign was mounted over the marquee or at some other point along the front of the building. I suppose that both the marquee and the sign may have displayed the name “Casino” based on what has been said on this thread about the name changes. But once again, I’m just not sure.

The brick building on the right side of the theater I recall as an automobile garage that rented parking space and provided auto service—tires, gas, oil, repairs, etc. I believe it was called “The New Deal Garage.” My father, who used to jokingly call it “Used Deal Garage” serviced his used 1934 Chevrolet there but paid to park his car in an open lot either next to the garage or down the street away.

Now, on the matter of the building site on which the theatre is located and other interesting data about it. I have excerpted some information from an article from the microfilm file of the New York Times of March 5, 1911 stating that work was to begin on what would be the “Largest Theatre in Brooklyn,” that it would be known as the “DeKalb” and that it would “occupy a plot 180 by 170 feet on the north side of DeKalb Avenue about 200 feet east of Broadway.” The article went on to say that the architecture would be “Italian Renaissance” and that the front would be of “white glazed terra-cotta” and that there would only be “one balcony” but that there would be a “row of fourteen boxes, seating twelve persons each” and that the “total seating capacity will be 2,500.” It stated that the theatre was to be erected by the “Thomas A. Clarke Company, the builders of the Shubert Theatre” and that the building cost would be “about $500,000.”
I hope I’m not posting facts you already know. If not and if these figures hold true for the present structure, then they might answer some questions about how the building may or may not have been used in recent years.

The discussion about the traffic direction on Dekalb Avenue puzzled me. I believe that in the 1930s and 40s, DeKalb Avenue carried 2-way auto and trolley traffic over its entire route including the portion on which the theatre was located.

Like some other correspondents, I also attended PS 68 (through 6th grade) and PS 74 (grades 7-8). When the war began in 1941 our family moved to Stockholm Street near Central Avenue. I graduated from Grover Cleveland HS in 1948 and entered military service. I have not been back to the neighborhood since that time so I look forward for some interesting memory trips on this web site that will takes us back to the “good old days.”

DeKalb Ave. became a one way street in the early sixties. Very early, around 1961-62. I rode the B-38 bus for four years down DeKalb Ave. going to high school. For some unknown reason, I don't remember this theater. Coming home from school, the bus ran on Lafayette Ave until it came near Broadway. It then went on Kossuth Pl. for one block to Bushwick Ave. It made a left turn on Bushwick Ave and then a right turn onto DeKalb Ave where DeKalb Ave became a two way street again.

My dad says he attended the Casino On DeKalb near Broadway to see the burlesque shows with his teenage friends..mid 1930's (prior to that they went to The Star on/near Fulton-I will have to further clarify with him as there seems to be more than one Star(r)? He was there at the Casino one night when a patron wearing a raincoat caused a big ruckus and was escorted out..if you know what I mean LOL!
more later...

Dorothy From Oz, thank you for your story of "Deep Coat" !

The Starr was a small neighborhood theater in Bushwick, on Starr Street, just a few blocks southeast of Flushing Avenue. There should be a separate page for it.

If the Star was on or near Fulton Street, much more of a main drag than Starr Street, in or near downtown Bklyn, then it was much larger than the Starr Theater.

There was also a Starr Theater on Knickerbocker near Starr.

I found a couple of c/o's for this building starting in 1926. In May of 1926 a c/o was issued for a 2223 seat motion picture theater. The c/o includes the name of the theater which is unusual. It reads "DeKalb Theatre". On June 25, 1928 a c/o was issued for a 2223 seat motion picture theater. Owner was Samuel Straussburg. Architect for alterations was Berlinger and Kaufman. On January 10, 1930 another c/o was issued for alterations. One of the alterations was a new booth at rear of balcony. Owner was the Madison Theatre Corp. Architect for alterations was R. Thomas Short.

In 1930, these two old-timers in Brooklyn's so-called Eastern District were "Entirely Remodeled, Redecorated and Refurbished Throughout" by new owners. Note that one of the films advertised featured Brooklyn's own Ruby Stevens, by then better known as Barbara "Standywick" :
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/ttduo.jpg

Thanks, Warren. I suppose the Halsey Theater was the one on Halsey Street, near Saratoga Avenue, between Broadway and Fulton Street, for which a page exists on this site, and at which the young Jackie Gleason got his start in show biz about seventy years ago.

As the Depression lingered on in 1937, the Casino Theatre fought back with "Musical Revues" direct from the 42nd Street Apollo in Manhattan. Needless to say, they were really "burlesque" shows, but use of that word had been banned by the NYPD. "Swing, Baby, Swing" must have been plenty hot, since it featured Georgia Sothern, aka "The Flaming Redhead," who was the most daring of all stripteasers of that era. The Casino presented four shows daily. No doubt the two-hour closure between matinee and evening performances was needed to mop the floors and wipe the seats of any messes left by over-excited patrons: www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/casino37.jpg

Thanks for the details, Warren. The term "sulphur redhead" comes to mind, also the poem "Red Silk Stockings" by Langston Hughes.

As for the cleanup between matinee and evening performances : I'm reminded of a porno theater or peep show. I never knew the Casino had such a sexually charged past, although, now that you mention it, I suppose many theaters did. I suppose that's mostly what the Puritans had against theaters. Also, Warren, that's the most sexually explicit comment I've ever seen you post on this site.

I believe even some of the more facny theaters like the RKO Bushwick and Madison did occasionally do burlesque shows.

To the best of my knowledge, RKO theatres never presented burlesque shows, nor did Loew's. They catered to a family audience, and would not risk offending anyone. If you can offer evidence to the contrary, I would be happy to see it.

I could have sworn I have seen it in ads for at least the Bushwick Theater, but I could be mistaken. I seem to recall something on the marquee of the Bushwick Theater from the 30's saying "Women in Bondage" or something, but that could have meant something else in the 30's.

Bway, I was thinking the exact same thing myself. I think the image showed that "Women in Bondage" was on a double bill at the RKO Bushwick, along with "The Lodger", starring George Sanders and Merle Oberon, in 1942, and that the marquee also read "Burlesque every Tuesday and Wednesday evening". The link to that image must be someplace on the page for the RKO Bushwick (theater # 1322).

I remember laughing when I saw the image, because the marquee read as though the "women in bondage" appeared as the burlesque at the Bushwick on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings !

As for the cleanup between matinee and evening performances at the Dekalb / Casino, I'm also reminded what Robert DeNiro as Travis Bickle said near the beginning of "Taxi Driver" :

"Some nights I have to clean the come off the back seat before leaving the cab at the garage."

I mentioned that to a former friend, now deceased, who used to drive a cab for a living, and he said that was VERY accurate.

A Midmer-Losh theater organ was installed in the DeKalb Theater in 1921.

Thanks, Lost Memory, for getting this page back on topic in general, and back to the right type of organ, in particular !

R. Thomas Short was architect of the DeKalb Theatre, according to an article in The New York Times of April 3, 1915.

Here are two ultra-rare images of the DeKalb's auditorium in its original, pristine condition:
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/dekalb01.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/dekalb02.jpg

Check out this site for photographs of this area

http://www.topix.net/city/brooklyn-ny

Amazing how beautiful the interior of this theater was. Does anyone know if anything at all survived the conversion to a school?

Like Fenando I took the "nickleless tour" when i was about 10 years old in 1968. The largest theater I ever seen. Too dark to appreciate the decor. besides what 10 year old knows from gothic nor french revival. Spooky is what I remember most. So much space. The stage appeared to be so far away from the top of the balcony.

this place must have been some kind of business in the 60's.
I won't swear to it but I'm so certain that around the time the mets were winning the world series that place caught fire. I recall as if it were yesterday how I and a couple of pals joined in with some of the older guys from the neighborhood and went shopping through the charred remains. toys, dolls for my sisters is what I recall.

No I'm not suggesting that this was Bargaintown. I don't remember a bargaintown. And Buy Rite was on a whole different block.

I do have a tenant thats in her 80's, has been living in the same place since 1932 On Dekalb ave and she averts that yes they had vaudville shows, italian shows and it was in fact bargaintown.

Bargaintown USA was located at the intersection of Broadway and Reid Ave. see photograph at

http://www.topix.net/city/brooklyn-ny