Bremen Theater
1929 Bremen Avenue,
St. Louis,
MO
63107
1929 Bremen Avenue,
St. Louis,
MO
63107
2 people
favorited this theater
One of several theaters opened by Orrin T. Crawford which made up the St. Louis Amusement Co. and later Franchon & Marco Chain and then Arthur Theaters.
The Bremen had 600 seats on the main floor and 200 in the balcony. It was located on the edge of a North Side city park.
The theater was later operated by the Kaiman family. There was a big stink with the stagehands union and the owners and picketing of the theater. The courts ordered the union to prove that a stagehand was needed since the theater only showed movies.
The theater also suffered some in a family fued that led to a suicide of William Kaiman. His wife and son operated the theater until it’s closing in 1968. During it’s last few years in operation, it was open on weekends only.
Contributed by
Chuck Van Bibber
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Recent comments (view all 9 comments)
O.T. Crawford is the same man that made the ‘Gayety Theatre" from the moved out 1st Presbyterian Church at Loust and 14th street, now a parking lot.lding to now put on vaudeville acts. BertLahr appeared there.
JamesGrebe
Theatre opened in 1910. Architect listed on the building permit was W. A. Cann. Reliable sources list the capacity as 1145.
Theatre was not one of the Crawford houses, nor was it later connected with St. Louis Amusement/Fanchon & Marco/Arthur.
Theatre’s primary operators over the years included Joe Mogler and later, the Kaimann family.
Theatre stands today…barely. The local alderman is attempting to turn the area into an entertainment district but, so far, unsuccessfully.
The “North Side city park” referred to is Hyde Park. I have a picture somewhere depicting the theater in the 1940’s that I got from somewhere…I’ll try to add it to this page next time I stop by.
Theatre closed in November 1967.
A group called Sun Ministries has launched the Isaiah 61 Initiative, with plans furnished by Architects for Humanity. They have had youth groups come in and clean debris out of The Bremen,the next step is some deconstruction and rehabbing. Google it for more info and pictures….
Chuck2131 and digitalcool, I visited the Bremen Theatre sometime in 2006-7 and wondered when it would demolished. The building is falling apart. I had walked around from the rear and located the Exit door. One can see clearly on a sunny day the seats and the screen area, but the rest in shrouded in darkness. The Bremen is located in a very dangerous place and I was fearful to enter the building as I was alone. When I was a kid living in Jennings, I saw movies here and it is hard to believe how this old theatre is going to be re-habbed. Nearby is the crumbling Bethlehem Lutheran Church. Patrick
Patrickgenna, as a Northsider I was raised in that area, and don’t have too much of a problem whenever I’m in “the hood”. I do keep my wits about me I’ll admit, lol. For those unfamiliar with that area, caution is the keyword. Next time I go up that way, I’ll grab some newer pics of what’s going on…
Hey digiitalcool, an update on the Bremen building’s condition would be nice,…so images would be great. PatrickGenna
My grandmother owned the Bremen. My mom, sister, and I lived with her, and I remember going there with my sister as kids in the 60’s. We weren’t allowed to mingle with the public as we were both under the age of 10, so we sat in the balcony, which at that time was closed to the public. Sometimes the projectionist’s kids were there, too. I remember the projectionist would let us come into the booth and rewind the film reels by hand. He’d also let us peek through the little windows for the projector and watch the movie from there. We weren’t allowed to use the public restroom either, so we had to walk all the way down the aisle to the door to the left of the screen and use the bathroom back there. I always thought it was so spooky back there I usually asked my sister to go with me, even though I’m the elder! I also remember how the screen had been slashed at some point, I think in the lower right corner, two parallel horizontal cuts maybe twelve to twenty-four inches long, about two to three inches apart, with a short vertical cut that connected the two, I think towards the left end of the slashes. North St. Louis was already a pretty dangerous place, even almost 50 years ago. Good thinking on Grandma’s part to keep us away from that! On Monday mornings we’d ride down to the “picture show” as she always called it, to pick up the weekend’s receipts and deposit them in the bank. She’d always let us pick a candy bar from the case and sometimes a soda from the machine. It was the type where you put your cup under the nozzle and push the button to choose your flavor; you could press multiple buttons and mix the flavors – cherry/orange/Coke is yummy stuff for a nine year old, lol! I was sad when she sold the show, but she was already well into her seventies by then, and selling the theater allowed her to pay off her house. Long afterward there were still reminders of the old place; we had the usher’s broom and long-handled dustpan, the ticket-taker’s chair from the ticket booth, at least a gallon sized can of Popsit Plus popcorn oil, and she must have had several dozen pads of theater schedules which we used as note paper for grocery lists, etc., for the next ten years.