Sumner Theatre
265 Marcus Garvey Boulevard,
Brooklyn,
NY
11221
265 Marcus Garvey Boulevard,
Brooklyn,
NY
11221
No one has favorited this theater yet
Located on what was originally named Sumner Avenue. The Sumner Theatre opened on May 2, 1914. It had the 1,100-seat Sumner Roof Garden above the indoor auditorium, which opened in June 1914. The Sumner Theatre was equipped with a Moller 3 manual/16 ranks theatre organ. Alterations were carried out in 1917 by architect Thomas Lamb.
The Sumner Theatre was closed in 1967.
Contributed by
RobertR
Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater
Recent comments (view all 9 comments)
The address listed for this theater is 285 Sumner Ave. That would have put this theater on Sumner Ave near Gates Ave. Today, this portion of Sumner Ave is called Marcus Garvey Blvd. A property search returns an invalid address so I assume that this building is gone. Modern address:
285 Marcus Garvey Blvd
Brooklyn, NY 11221
the sunmer theater in now a supermarket
i think teh building is the same
becouse ti lookes like a movie house
just a new front face
A Moller organ Opus 2606 Size 3/13 was installed in the Sumner Theater in 1919. Cost of organ was $5500.00.
The Sumner Theatre opened in 1914 with a seating capacity given as 1,000. It also boasted a Sumner Roof Garden Theatre. The address given in the Film Daily Yearbook:1926 is 265-271 Sumner Avenue, Brooklyn, NY. The seating capacity varied in later editions of Film Daily Yearbook;1930 edition=961, 1941 edition=802 and 1957 edition=930.
Today the building is in use as a children’s day care centre with an address of 265 Sumner Avenue (aka Marcus Garvey Boulevard). The former roof garden theatre space can still be seen on top of the theatre, now in use as a play area.
Sir Ken…Your right, the address was 265. Here is the seating that NYC lists in April of 1926. Main floor-986 seats. Roof Garden-991 seats. Listed as a child day care center in 1971.
The Sumner Theatre opened in early May 1914. On 20th June 1914 the Sumner Roof Garden Theatre opened with an all star revival of “The Prisoner of Zenda”. The Roof Garden occupied the entire roof space of the theatre proper and seating was provided for 1,100. These seats (not benches) were installed by the Haywood Bothers and Wakefield Co. and were built especially for comfort, with plenty of space between the rows and extra wide aisles. There were many wide entrances and exits to and from the roof which had been approved by the fire and buildings departments. The space was surrounded by many varicolored electric lights which made for a beautiful effect from within the space and when viewed from the street. The pictures were always accompanied by the Sumner Theatre Orchestra and if the weather was not appropriate to screenings on the roof, then the same performance would be held in the main theatre aditorium downstairs.
Two photographs I took of the Sumner Theatre in June 2006:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kencta/199653903/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kencta/199654261/
Are we sure that this was a Randforce theatre, as stated in the introduction? A 1949 ad shows the Sumner as part of the Interboro circuit, and it’s also listed under Interboro in the 1943 and 1959 Film Daily Year Books.
Due to the neighborhood’s predominantly black population, Interboro’s Sumner regularly advertised in African-American newspapers like the Amsterdam News. Here’s a nifty ad from April 29th, 1950, showing three program changes for that week:
View link