Leader Theater
947 Coney Island Avenue,
Brooklyn,
NY
947 Coney Island Avenue,
Brooklyn,
NY
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Me and my friends walked along Cony Island Ave from newkirk and ocean ave to Ditmas J.H.S in the area, the area was a divided line of many neighborhoods (tention) and has a great beagle shop in the area (COPS), I know in the bowling lanes were new when we dented them and there was a big video store in that lot in the late 1980’s. But the Kent was established as the Marquee theater so why go there, thats why they closed and remaind closed…
I used to bowl there back in the 70s and played bingo at the casa del rey. The marque was still attached to the building so i figured it was once a movie theatre. The 2nd floor was a bar . also there was a great chinese restaurant THE NEW TOY SUN located between the 2 places.
So noted.
The link is not expired. You have to search for the photo. Not a good idea to take photos from that site.
This is the photo that was posted on 9/8/04. as that link has expired.
http://tinyurl.com/59hw5n
The date given for this ad is September 1950.
A Wurlitzer theater organ opus 1436 style H PL was installed in the Leader Theater on 8/28/1926.
The photograph to which a link is posted above by Lost Memory was taken from the corner of Newkirk and Coney Island Avenue, just in front of the schoolyard of P. S. 217, which I attended from 1944 to 1952. I spent many hours in the Leader. There’s a bit of a reminiscence at View link
In 1959 the Leader revived the 1927 Al Jolson hit “The Jazz Singer"
View link
Here is an anti-trust suit involving the Leader in 1945:
http://tinyurl.com/2belyv
This is another recent photo of the former Leader theater building.
Before going bankrupt, William Fox purchased many New York area theatres and/or companies that owned them. In most cases, Fox paid a minimal amount of cash and the rest in promissory notes. When he went bankrupt, that left the note holders in deep trouble, and it took quite a few years of legal proceedings before everything was straightened out. Some theatres reverted to their previous owners, and others were purchased by Metropolitan Playhouses, which was a holding company formed to take over remnants of the Fox empire.
In the 1930 Daily Eagle listing for Fox theatres, posted by Warren on the Alba site, the Leader appears as a Fox house. Did Wm. Fox buy out Birkshire Theatre Corp.?
NYC shows a bowling alley at this location in June of 1960. The first floor was a bowling alley and the second floor is listed as a bowling alley/billiard and pool room.
Here are two photographs of the Leader Theatre I took in June 2006. Note the new construction which is being built ‘over’ the existing building:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kencta/199487707/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kencta/199487897/
The Leader Theatre is currently split into 3 units. At the entrance foyer and rear orchestra end is a pharmacy and retail store. The central section is currently available to rent and the front orchestra section is a large Jewish restaurant.
Currently (June 2006) the auditorium is being ‘built over’, with a new (at least 3 storey) construction being erected above the auditorium. Supporting steelwork is currently in place.
The Casa Del Rey building on the corner is available to lease or for site redevelopment.
On June 8, 1927 a C/O was issued for a new building at this address. The building was used as a 1634 seat motion picture theater. The owner was Birkshire Theatre Corp. The architect was Harrison G. Wiseman. The address was 931-955 Coney Island Avenue.
The Casa Del Ray is a Bingo hall as far as I know.
The building on the corner, Casa Del Rey, looks more interesting than the Leader. I wonder if it still exists? It was probably a nightclub or dance palace…Durante just happens to be the subject of a full-page article in today’s NY Daily News and his first name is spelled “Jimmy” throughout. It’s also “Jimmy” on his two best-selling Warner Bros. record albums, and in every reference book at hand. Theatre marquees and websites are notorious for their misspellings.
Maybe “Jimmie” was some sort of a nickname or that’s the Brooklyn spelling for Jimmy. Seriously, I found a few websites that list him as “James Francis "Jimmie” Durante".
This is one of those sites:
View link
The marquee has Durante’s first name misspelled. I’m also surprised that they listed his name instead of Frank Sinatra’s, but perhaps the latter is mentioned on another side not shown in the photo. They had only so many letters to use for an entire marquee.
Erwin…..Don’t kill the messenger, I’m just the delivery guy. (just kidding)
The photo of the Leader Theater is not from 1946, but from around April/May of 1947. The marquee reads Jimmy Durante “IT HAPPENED IN BROOKLYN” and the co-feature is “UNDERCOVER MAISIE”. Both were 1947 MGM releases with UNDERCOVER MAISIE being released on March 1st of that year.
This is a link to a 1946 photo of Coney Island ave with the Leader theater in the background. If you click on the photo to enlarge it, you might be able to read some of the writing on the marquee.
View link
The Leader Theatre was located at 947 Coney Island Ave. and it seated 1631 people.