New Law Theatre
23-27 Second Avenue,
New York,
NY
10003
23-27 Second Avenue,
New York,
NY
10003
2 people
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Any information about this motion picture theatre, which was in operation from 1913 through 1930, would be appreciated.
Contributed by
Damien Farley
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Recent comments (view all 32 comments)
I’m not trying to change the subject but, while searching for information about the New Law Theater, I found another theater mentioned called the New Singer Theater. No location given. Was that a movie theater?
No idea. Doesn’t ring any bells.
I don’t have any records in my documents for a New Singer (or Singer) Theatre operating in Manhattan as a movie theatre.
I just checked a silent era theater list which is here and there is a New Singer Theater on the list. That list supposedly is based in part, on information from a 1926 Film Daily Yearbook. Unfortunately the borough isn’t given. Maybe its a misprint.
Perhaps there was more than one theatre, the first one called the Law Theatre, and a later one called the New Law, not necessarily at the same location?
There is a New Singer Theatre listed in the 1926 edition of Film Daily Yearbook, located at 375 Stone Avenue, Brooklyn (600 seats). It is listed until at least 1930.
Warren: I don’t think so in this particular case. The New Law refers to the new building code for moving pictures. When this bill was passed in July 1913, many 300-seat nickelodeons (mostly storefronts) were demolished and replaced by 600-seat theaters. Usually the adjacent plot was bought to do this because the standard lot size in Manhattan was too small for a 600-seat theater. Some of the newly opened theaters got new names (e.g. Essex Street Theater became the Palace Theater) others kept their old name but the word new was added (e.g. New Delancey Street Theater).
Ken….New Singer must be an earlier name for the Reo Theater. They both have the same address. Thanks.
There is a vintage image on this page, dated April 1910 (scroll down just a bit) that shows several theaters at the lower end of 2nd Avenue. On the lower left side of the photo, one can make out the marquee for the Woolworth Theatre, which is listed here as the Majestic Theatre, and just a bit beyond that on the next block one can see the marquee for the New Law – with the word “Photoplays” spelled out.
And still further beyond the New Law, there is another marquee that appears to be advertising “Tickets” and which I believe may belong to the 2nd Avenue Theatre.
My mistake on the vintage image – it is an undated photo, labeled only “early 20th Century.”