Beacon Theater

A 1928 publication called The Film Daily is online at http://www.archive.org/stream/filmdaily4344newy/filmdaily4344newy_djvu.txt. In that document it lists changes of theater ownership and closings. At April 6, 1928 it writes under closings “East Orange —Brighton; Lyceum and Oxford.” So it looks like a theater named the “Brighton” closed and it also looks like the “Oxford” (which may have been in the Lyceum of the Masonic Temple) also closed.

There was also a movie theater called The Regent at 88 Main St, East Orange from 1915 to 1925 (The Strand, later called The Beacon, opened in 1925). Here is a photo and info about The Regent: http://stocktonschool.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-regent-movie-theater.html

There is a 1934 city directory on ancestry.com listed as Newark but covers The Oranges also. P 284 covers Main St in East Orange starting from the Newark Line and 129 Main St near Grove St is listed as “The Strand” Theater. So that would mean the theater wasn’t always The Beacon. I lived a few blocks from there in the 1950’s and am hoping to get more info and hopefully photos from a Kridel descendant we’ve located.

East Orange had an early cinema called the Oxford, but I have no information about it except this. In 1930, most of the Oxford’s interior was converted into a miniature golf course, and the stage area into an archery range. Presumably, there was some sort of barrier to protect golfers from stray arrows. I don’t know how long the conversion lasted, but perhaps the Oxford eventually became a cinema again under a different name?