Loew's Fulton Theatre
1283 Fulton Street,
Brooklyn,
NY
11216
1283 Fulton Street,
Brooklyn,
NY
11216
3 people
favorited this theater
This elegant theatre in the area now known as Bedford-Stuyvesant first opened as the Fulton in September, 1908, presenting stage plays and vaudeville. In 1915, Marcus Loew purchased it for his burgeoning circuit, dropped plays and added movies to the programs. Loew’s Fulton Theatre was so successful that by 1927, the company had taken over two more theatres in the neighborhood, the Brevoort and the Bedford.
With the arrival of the Depression, that proved at least one too many, so the Fulton Theatre, being the oldest and most outmoded, was closed in 1930.
Contributed by
Warren G. Harris
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 45 comments)
Iterestingly, the sketcher of the sketch that warren posted of the Fulton Theater’s facade forgot one important thing! if that was from 1908, they forgot to “draw” that the building was obliterated by the Fulton Elevated, as the Fulton Elevated was built in the 1880’s or 1890’s, so it was there already when the theater was built. But that’s nothing new, I have seen photos of the Loew’s Valencia in sketches in which they “forgot” to draw in that it too was obliterated by the el in front of it. I have even seen photos of the Valencia, RKO Bushwick, etc where they have actually airbrushed the elevated sturcture out of photos!
Such images were intended to show off the theatre in its fullest glory. The el would have obscured some of that view if taken with a camera. I suspect that the Fulton artist removed “distractions” from the left and right of the theatre as well The theatre looks like it was built in the middle of parkland, which I doubt. Fulton Street was one of the busiest and commercial in Brooklyn.
The Fulton was still operating as a theatre at least as late as 1927. I found an ad for it in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle of April 3, 1927. By that time, it was no longer under the Loew’s banner and had a resident stock company called the Fulton Players. The current stage play was “A Man’s Man.” On Sundays, the Fulton Players rested and were replaced by continuous vaudeville and a feature movie.
I can’t find a listing at CT for the Banco Theatre, which in 1966 was advertised as being at 1298 Fulton Street. Despite its name, the Banco was apparently a mainstream cinema, though it might have once been an Hispanic showcase. I suspect that the Banco was originally the Fulton Auditorium, which had about 600 seats. However, the only address that I can find for the Fulton Auditorium is in early FDYBs, which give an address of 1288 Fulton Street…In 2006, 1298 Fulton Street seems to be the overall address for the Fulton Street Mall, which suggests that the Banco has been demolished. Someone once told me that the Banco was converted into a food warehouse after closing as a theatre.
In January, 1924, Loew’s Fulton’s vaudeville headliners included Berlo’s Diving Girls, “Five Shapely Daughters of the Sea in an Exhibition of Beautiful Poses and Dives.” On certain nights of the engagement, diving contests were also held for local youngsters, with prizes to the winners. One wonders what the Fulton used for a swimming pool: www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/lobk24.jpg
During 1950 and 1951,I often took the Nostrand Avenue trolley from the Myrtle Avenue EL stop at Nostrand Avenue south to its end at Avenue U, I recall seeing a theater on Fulton Street to the east side of Nostrand, on the south side of Fulton, several stores down. The marquee attraction board was quite high but no name was on it that I can recall. The policy was to show 3 and some times four features, always old movies, action, war or westerns. I always looked to see what was playing.
The Fulton Street EL was torn down in 1941.
This is a new direct link to a vintage image previously displayed above:
View link
It looked like it was a pretty imposing building. Too bad it was demolished.
First I have heard of this Loews.
Relinking to see if anymore info.