Sag Harbor Cinema
90 Main Street,
Sag Harbor,
NY
11963
90 Main Street,
Sag Harbor,
NY
11963
5 people
favorited this theater
Known as the Elite Theatre when it opened in the 1920’s, the theatre was renamed Sag Harbor Theatre when it was acquired by the Glynne’s chain in September 1927, for an amount rumored to be between $35,000 and $40,000. This small town movie house was remodeled in 1936, and is best known architecturally for its vintage auditorium, white facade, and neon lettering.
The Sag Harbor Cinema is located in the central shopping district of this popular resort town near the Hamptons. Still a delightful single screen art house cinema, its chocolate covered popcorn is also not to be missed!
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Recent comments (view all 24 comments)
Great pictures. Never had occasion to be inside. Never thought it would be so sleek.
John and Drew Eberson have a listing at the Wolfsonian for a Sag Harbor Theatre dated 1936.
Boxoffice of March 28, 1936, has an item datelined Sag Harbor reading: “A new theatre will rise on the site of an old building in the Prudential Playhouses chain here. John Eberson is the architect.”
Another Boxoffice item, from October 17, 1936, says that Prudential Playhouses had spent $148,000 remodeling five theaters on Long Island, and the Sag Harbor house was listed among them, being one of two on which the largest amount, $50,000, had been expended. So the project was either a new building or an extensive remodeling of an existing theatre, depending on which Boxoffice report was accurate.
I can’t find anything in any issue of Boxoffice about there being a second theater at Sag Harbor during this period, so it’s probably safe to assume that this house is the one designed by John Eberson.
Joe, could you tell us what the other 4 theatres were. It would be interesting to see if all are on CT. Also, the remodeling note could then be added to each.
The Boxoffice item didn’t give the names of the theaters, only their locations. In addition to the $50,000 job at Sag Harbor, Prudential had remodeled houses at Amityville ($50,000), Patchogue ($28,000), Babylon ($14,000), and Bay Shore ($8,000.)
Thank you. Since they only had one location, each in Amityville and Babylon, that’s easy. They had two in Patchogue – the Patchogue and the Rialto, and two in Bay Shore – the Bay Shore and the Regent.
Saw this on my bike trip yesterday. Nice small sandwiched place. I went around back to snap pix since CinemaTour has pics but not of the rear.
The rear is far from impressive. After I saw it I was surprised what a jewel the interior it.
In 1927 the Glynne’s chain took over this theatre which I found odd since their usual venues, such as the Patchogue and Southampton were large. Saw a similar situation with Calderone and the St. James when all the rest of the theatres were large.
Starting in August, 1921, the Elite, inconjunction with the Hampton Press, issued a weekly movie guide which provided space for local advertisers. At that time the Elite program changed every day. Children were 10cents at all times. Mondays, Tuesday, Thursday and Fridays adults paid 17 cents; a premium of 28 cents for the balcony. Other days and holidays the orchestra was 28 cents and the balcony 33. Those were the days. What can one get for 10, 17, 28 or 33 cents these day?
What were the big “hits” then? How about Tom Mix in “Sky High”, Pearl White in “Any Wife” and Mary Miles Minter in “The Heart Specialist”.