Adams Theatre
28 Branford Place,
Newark,
NJ
07102
28 Branford Place,
Newark,
NJ
07102
7 people
favorited this theater
The Adams Theatre presented everything from stage plays to Kung-Fu movies in its long history as one of the top theatres in downtown Newark. Its most successful period was from the late-1930’s into the 1950’s, first with “Big Band” stage shows supporting the movies, and then as a burlesque house with famous strippers like Blaze Starr, Tempest Storm, and Georgia Sothern.
With William E. Lehman as architect, the theatre first opened in January, 1912 as the Shubert Theatre, presenting Broadway plays and try-outs. In 1913, the name and management shifted to Payton’s Theatre, followed by Keeney’s Theatre, which changed the policy to vaudeville and movies. In 1931, two Greek immigrant brothers who’d adopted the family name of Adams re-christened the theatre as a monument to themselves. In addition to the Adams Theatre, they also owned the Newark Paramount and two other New Jersey theatres.
The Adams Theatre was operated by Paramount Picture Inc. in the early 1940’s but was listed as (Closed) in 1941-1943. It continued as a grind movie house into the 1980’s at least, and is still standing, perhaps just waiting for the next revival of the downtown Newark shopping and business district.
Contributed by
Warren G. Harris
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Recent comments (view all 53 comments)
stage door??? View link looking at google earth it seems like this stage door on treat place must be the Adams, which runs from halsey to treat? and the branford side is just the lobby? but what to make of the signage for victoria theater on the back in the other picture?
This is another 1981 photo.
I’m reading the autobiography of my favorite singer, Vic Damone, and he mentions having performed here early in his career while he was doing radio, records, & clubs.
perhaps the victoria theater ad references an old name for congress theate? /theaters/13122/ http://caprioconnections.com/pictures/statue1.html “Victoria Theatre, 257 S. Ornage Ave. Newark, the home of refined Italian Vaudeville and the best Italian features, every Saturday and Sunday, Week days English and best Photo Plays” here is pic of ad for vaudeville and high quality photo plays on back wall of adams
View link
[=stillimage&orderby=title&numresults=10&key=NJDH&&numresults=1&start=6]http://www.njdigitalhighway.org/search/results.php?q1=Newark&q1field=fulltext&q1bool=AND&q2field=fulltext&rtype[]=stillimage&orderby=title&numresults=10&key=NJDH&&numresults=1&start=6](http://www.njdigitalhighway.org/search/results.php?q1=Newark&q1field=fulltext&q1bool=AND&q2field=fulltext&rtype[)
There’s some nice photos of the Adams Theater on this website called NJ Digital Highway…
I found this link to be easier to get directly to three Adams Theatre images: View link
This theatre and the Paramount in NYC are mentioned in the history of the legendary musical group, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.
http://www.history-of-rock.com/four_seasons.htm
Good story Patsy.
tisloews: You are welcome. I pride myself on the theatre related stories that I find through different sources and being able to share them with fellow cinema treasures members.
This has quite a long lobby back to the auditorium which stretches from Halsey Street to Treat Place. The lobby looks like it has a clothing store.