Sayville Opera House
Candee Avenue,
Sayville,
NY
11782
Candee Avenue,
Sayville,
NY
11782
No one has favorited this theater yet
The Sayville Opera House, designed by Isaac H. Green Jr. opened in 1901. The Opera House was located on Candee Avenue, south of Main Street.
It began showing moving pictures on a regular basis on May 1, 1922. The first movie shown was "The Ruling Passion" with George Arliss.
The Opera House closed in 1961, when the building was destroyed by fire.
Contributed by
Lost Memory
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 11 comments)
This is part of an article from the Suffolk County News dated April 28, 1922.
Opera House Opens Monday as Moving Picture Theatre, equipped with Radiophone
As last the Sayville Opera House is to take its place in the chain of the many first-class theatres on Long Island, as a real up-to-date moving picture house. For many years the Sayville Opera House has been known as one of the coziest and best equipped theatres on Long Island, and while many attractions have played in this theatre it never before has entered the field of moving pictures in a big way.
It is being redecorated and repainted and there are new hangings, new window shades, a new picture curtain and new front curtains of rich tapestry. Mr. and Mrs. Hargrave now residents of Sayville and well known here, have undertaken to select a series of the latest and best motion pictures, regardless of cost.
The fact that all the good effects in the pictures will be brought out is made certain because two up-to-date Simplex machines, together with all necessary equipment to show perfect pictures, have been installed.
The radiophone is similar to the one installed at the Hippodrome in New York City a few weeks ago. It is equipped with an amplifier which will transmit a message or music so that it can be heard in any part of the theatre.
This is a 1908 view of the Opera House and here is a brief story from Newsday.
Here is an undated picture of the Opera House.
I believe this to be what was called the Playhouse, or Art Playhouse theatre which mostly played drop down features from the theatre in town. That was located at the foot of Candee Av. So was the Opera House. I doubt there were two venues at that location. In that event the demolition date is way off since the Plsyhouse was showing films into the 70s.
Also, why build at this location by the water rather than in town?
There was a Sayville Playhouse on Candee Avenue but I don’t know if it was the same building as the Opera House or if it was a replacement for it.
Still a weird location right at the Great South Bay. We need to do some research on this. If the Playhouse is not the reincarnation of the Opera House then we need to put something up about it. All I know is that, sometime at the end of the Playhouse run I happened to be in Sayville and went down to the site. The building had been demolished. So that’s two theatres on the same site in a desolate location both demolished?
I have no idea why it was built at that location. Maybe land was cheap there at the time. According to this Newsday article the Sayville Opera House lasted until 1961 when it was destroyed in a fire. The 1930 date above should be changed to 1961.
But who makes the changes in the data on the face page. I’m new to this site, less than a week, but it seems that we, the users can only add a theatre, which I’ve just tried to do, or make comments about existing postings.
The cost of the Opera House was $12,000. It’s interesting that some of the data at the Sayville Library indicated the Opera House burned down in 1930. Others say 1961. There is also a discrepancy about when pictures were first shown. But one thing I did find out was that the Playhouse Theatre was NOT another name for the Opera House. It was a separate identity. And, as such, I will create a new listing. Incidentally, fires were all too common in Sayville in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s wiping out many historical buildings. At the time of it’s “passing” the Opera House was a bowling alley – quite a come down from the 1922 write up above.