St. James Theatre
300 Cookman Avenue,
Asbury Park,
NJ
07712
300 Cookman Avenue,
Asbury Park,
NJ
07712
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The New St. James Theatre was opened in 1917 and was designed by architect Thomas Lamb. Later this theatre had a Todd-AO projector.
It was demolished in 1974.
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tc
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Recent comments (view all 19 comments)
Yes the St. James did have two, Todd-AO 35 70mm projectors in the booth backed by two Ashcraft arc lamps. The house projectionist was a man by the name of George Clark. In the early 70s the projectors where removed and shipped to the Kings theatre in Seattle Washington was the story I was told. The projectors for the Brielle Drive inn where installed in the St. James booth. I was there for the tear out and install of the projectors. The projectors from the Drive inn ran in the St. James till it’s demolition in 74.
The theatre was originally named the Rosenberg Theatre.
When the 35-70 projectors were installed, a new booth was built over the balcony directly under the original (on stilts in the front of the new booth!) Word has it that the original booth, the floor or other structural matters would not allow the 35-70s to be put in the original booth.
Summertime and right about now until the 60’s the biggest roadshow movie of the previous autumn season would open here on a reserved seat basis for the tourists.
A day on the beach and then in the evening dinner and 70mm showing of South Pacific, WWS or MFL. Then after the movie a walk on the Boardwalk and maybe a belgian waffle.
The CineMiracle production “Windjammer” did have a short 3-week run here. It opened July 1, 1959 with two shows daily at what was advertised as “popular prices,” one week after the roadshow run of “The Diary of Anne Frank” had ended. According to the Asbury Park “Press,” the installation included a wall-to-wall screen measuring 60 feet across by 25 feet tall, somewhat small for a CineMiracle showing, and full-seven-track sound. Nonetheless, it concluded its run July 22, to be followed by “The Nun’s Story.” Installation of the tri-projector equipment took two days; dismantling only one day.
The first sentence of the introduction doesn’t make sense. If the theatre opened in 1917, why is it necessary to mention that it was listed in the 1951 FDYB, and in the same sentence as Todd-AO, which made its debut in 1955?
There’s a source with information that calls into question the claim that this theater was originally called the Rosenberg. Page 89 of “Asbury Park’s Glory Days: The Story of an American Resort,” by Helen-Chantal Pike, says:
Also of note is this item in The Moving Picture World of August 5, 1916:I don’t see why the St. James Theater Company would open their new house as the Rosenberg Theatre when Walter Rosenberg had already adopted the surname Reade by the time it opened. Also, in the whole wide Internet, this page of Cinema Treasures is the only place where the name “Rosenberg Theatre” appears. I’m not sure that Cinema Treasures is the most reliable source of information. ;–)The theatre opened, according to CCMPRI archive records and Walter Reade files, on Thursday, August 23, 1917 as the New St. James Theatre and the opening attraction was “The Flame of the Yukon” starring Dorothy Dalton.
Henry Rosenberg was the father of Walter Rosenberg (Walter Reade, Sr). Walter’s name change was in 1916.
“After Walter and Frank Storrs (originator of the Playbill programs who lived in Deal during the summer) became partners, Frank advised Walter to change his name. The time was 1916 and Frank explained, ‘We are at war with the Germans and, since your name is German and, we can never use it as a trademark, it would have no appeal on a marquee and difficult to use in public business.’
Our son (Walter, Jr) had just been born in December of that year, so Frank said ‘Do it for your son, it will make his life easier.’
So that is how Rosenberg became the easier-to-pronounce Reade. Frank was right."
NOTE:
Joe Vogel,
There are hundreds of historical and/or data errors on the Cinema Treasurers website and I will be reviewing several local theatre and supplying accurate data.
By the way, there are many errors in publications and books relating to local (Monmouth County) theatres, especially the Arcadia Publishing series of local municiplaties.
A deadline or rush to print does not give on time to do exhaustive research.
Unfortunately, when history is rewritten on flimsy data and is published, people believe it to be fact. Thus data errors become a false history.
My research is very through (1974-1992) and I will state something as possibly happening in a particular time frame (oral history versus written facts) where needed.
Addition:
I knew a Vogel that had a residence on Clinton Place, Red Bank in Summer of 1959 and saw “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” at the Baronet, Long Branch at the Friday, November 24, 1961 matinee that started at 2:10 p.m.
Related?
DEFG: I’m a native Californian, and don’t share a surname with any of my eastern relatives. My New Jersey cousins are mostly Clarks.
We can always use more help correcting errors. Reliable sources are hard to find on the Internet, and even print sources, such as many of the Arcadia Publishing Company books, are often unreliable. I try to dig up the earliest sources I can find, though many of those are periodicals, and thus also subject to the hazards that come with deadline pressures.