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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My mistake on the vintage image – it is an undated photo, labeled only “early 20th Century.”
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.
Ken….New Singer must be an earlier name for the Reo Theater. They both have the same address. Thanks.
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).
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.
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?
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.
I don’t have any records in my documents for a New Singer (or Singer) Theatre operating in Manhattan as a movie theatre.
No idea. Doesn’t ring any bells.
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?
Intriguing. I never came across an Astor theater on 2nd Avenue in my sources (mostly Yiddish press of the 1910s). To whom would they have catered? The 1914-15 year + 600-seat capacity suggest that is was built under the city’s new building code of 1913 (Folk’s Ordinance).
I’m trying to find a “home” for the M&S New Law Theater in the 1922 ad. So, Astor was a previous name for the St. Marks Theater?
In the 1914-1915 edition of American Motion Picture Directory the Astor Theatre is listed at 133 Second Avenue.
The New Law Theatre and the St. Marks Theatre are both listed under their respective addresses in the 1926 edition of Film Daily Yearbook.
I checked my 1921 Bromley’s map once more. The St. Marks theater had the lobby/entrance at 133 Second Avenue (next to the Public Library), but the theater was actually located around the corner at 35-37 St. Marks Place (E 8th Street).
Thanks Ken. I wonder if the M&S New Law Theater was an earlier name for the St. Marks Theater.
The St. Marks Theatre is listed on this site here:
/theaters/11089/
The 1926 edition of Film Daily Yearbook lists the St. Marks Theatre (600 seats) at 133 Second Avenue.
The Department of Buildings issued a certificate of occupancy for a 590 seat motion picture theater in July of 1925 for a building located at 133 Second Avenue. The last c/o that I can find that shows a motion picture theater at 133 Second Avenue is dated January of 1978. Seating at that time was 560.
Which theater was located at 133 Second Avenue?
I’ve looked again at the ad for the M&S New Law Theatre in the September 3, 1922 issue of The New York Times, and the address now looks more like 133 Second Avenue than 139 Second Avenue. If anyone wants to examine it for themselves, please contact me privately at .com, and I’ll send them a copy of the ad.
A photograph of the New Law Theatre building that I took in October 2007:
http://flickr.com/photos/kencta/1890178878/
A c/o was issued to an existing building at this address on November 29, 1930. Purpose of building was a museum on first floor with a balcony on the second floor. Owners name on the c/o was Worlds Circus Museum. From that info, I would assume that this theater was closed by 1930.
Judith, the Paramount bookings at the New Law Theatre were not first-run. In fact, they might have been last-runs. In those days, the new movies opened only in one theatre in the Broadway/Times Square area, and then gradually reached other theatres, depending on their size and importance. The 1922 ad that I mentioned took up a full page in The New York Time and included many theatres, not just the New Law, which was listed less prominently than some of the others.
On the Bromley’s Atlas of Manhattan of 1921 there is no theater at 139 Second Av (139 is right next to the former German Dispensary — a red brick building which is still there and part of the NY Public Library, if I remember well). The address I have in my files (conveyances, records of the bureau of building) for the New Law Theater is 23-27. 23-29 is the location on the 1921 map
What is a bit surprising is that the New Law advertises for a recent Paramount picture (The Dictator). In the late twenties, the M & S circuit did no longer have good access to mainstream Hollywood productions. Their programs mainly featured B-films from small production companies (including many Jewish-theme films).
The theatre was advertised in The New York Times of September 3rd, 1922 as the M&S New Law Theatre, with an address of 139 Second Avenue, which is a different building number from the introduction above. Which is correct? At the time, the New Law was participating in the national “5th Annual Paramount Week” by showing Paramount’s “The Dictator,” to be followed two days later by “The Loves of Pharaoh.”
The New Law Theater opened in 1913, just after the introduction of a new building code that regulated the construction of movie theater in New York City (hence its name). It was one of the first theaters operated by the M & S chain of Mayer and Schneider. The architect was Louis Sheinart.