Oxford Theater
552 State Street,
Brooklyn,
NY
552 State Street,
Brooklyn,
NY
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philipgoldberg
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Recent comments (view all 11 comments)
The Oxford had 800 seats, according to the 1926 Film Daily Year Book. I’ve often wondered if it was a conversion of the Casino Theatre, a longtime burlesque house that was always advertised as being on State Street near Flatbush Avenue. It might have been re-named Oxford to enable “Casino” to be moved to the DeKalb Theatre. I’ve never been able to find a specific building # for the Casino on State Street.
Warren in my past studies I have the Oxford listed as AKA Casino so you might be right about the name change. I also have the Casino as the same address at 552 State St. I wasn’t sure if the original Casino was demolished and the Oxford built in its place or if it was just renamed. I couldn’t find anything on that.
Thanks, Charles. I’m sure now that the Oxford was formerly the Casino, which had about 1,250 seats. They probably closed off a balcony when converting to movies. As the Oxford, it was never more than a late-run situation, one of probably too many in the downtown Brooklyn area. There would have been no sense in demolishing the Casino and replacing it with a new theatre.
Both the Oxford and the Casino are listed in Trow’s Business Directory for 1912 (under Theatres and Places of Amusement). In the Brooklyn Eagle—November 14th, 1915—there is an ad for the Casino (“Rose Sydell and the Famous London Belles”) and under Motion Picture News a brief paragraph on the Oxford. In the Brooklyn Eagle—September 23, 1928—there is a listing for the Oxford under “Feature Films Showing Today”. Next to these listings is a small ad for the Casino (“Stock Burlesque” with “Runway Chorus of Beautiful Girls”.
The opening of the Casino can be found in the Brooklyn Citizen in September 1909. There is an article “24 Theatres Will Open Their Doors This Month” dealing with the new theatrical season in Brooklyn. It states “The new Casino is almost completed and will be ready for its opening sometime this month.” The theatre seems to have always been a burlesque house—I have not come across a film listing yet.
While both the Oxford and the Casino often give Flatbush Avenue and State Street as an address, the Casino is sometimes listed as 98 Flatbush. It closed in 1929. At some point in the 30s, the oxford turned to burlesque which could be why its license is listed as “revoked” in 1938. Perhaps there is some connection between the closing of the Casino and the Oxford’s switch to burlesque. Anyway more research is needed for the Oxford in the 1930s.
Harry Abbott, of the Columbia Burlesque Wheel, got his young son Bud a job at the Casino as “assistant treasurer” (dates vary 1911 or 14). This was the Bud Abbott’s first job in burlesque. Bud and/or his biographers often exaggerated the importance of this theatre.
Ralph Monti’s book,“I Remember Brooklyn”, has a photo of the “Oxford Follies” located on State St.west of Flatbush Ave. It was a vaudeville theater.
Gin
A Wurlitzer organ Opus 1227 Style D X was installed in the Oxford Theater on 12/17/1925.
The Oxford and Casino were seperate facilities as seen on Plate 34 of the Brooklyn 1912 E. Belcher Hyde map. The Casino was located across the street and to the west of the Oxford on the triangle wedge between Flatbush and State officially at 98 Flatbush. The Casino was a bowling alley by the end of World War II and the Oxford was destroyed in a fire on July 14, 1951.
If you can paste this entire link, it will show a 1940 photo of the Oxford from the New York Public Library.
View link
Although it is listed with 800 seats in Film Daily Yearbook’s;1926 & 1927 editions, the Oxford Theater is listed in 1930 with a seating capacity of 648. In both the 1941 & 1943 editions of F.D.Y. it is listed with 685 seats and is (Closed) in both these editions.
The Brooklyn Daily Eagle Almanac for 1916 lists the Casino as being on Flatbush near State Street, seating 1687 and C.W.Daniels as manager and the Oxford as being on State near Flatbush, seating 774 and O.Muller as manager.
Here is an excerpt from an article in the NYT dated 4/20/37:
Three armed bandits held up the manager of the Oxford Burlesque Theatre, 552 State Street, Brooklyn, yesterday and escaped with $1,100 in week-end receipts.