Patchogue Theatre for the Performing Arts
71 East Main Street,
Patchogue,
NY
11772
71 East Main Street,
Patchogue,
NY
11772
3 people
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Showing 1 - 25 of 82 comments found
And, by the way, that might be the highest canopy marquee I’ve ever seen on a local neighborhood movie theater!
Here’s an active link to the image moviegoer posted earlier.
Here’s an image of the Patchogue when it was still a movie house in 1983.
http://americanclassicimages.com/Default.aspx?tabid=141&txtSearch=CATAdvancedSearch1%2c32%2c3%2c-1&catpageindex=22&ProductID=30379
A New Stage for Old Theaters: nytimes
Here’s an accompanying article too:
Click here to view excerpt
JF Lundy emailed me the photo of the Patchogue Theater and I uploaded it here:
Click here to View Photo
If someone has the means to post a photo to Flickr or some other web photo album, and will provide a link to share with this page, I can send them a photo from Saturday, August 11, 1923 of this theatre.
The feature on the marquee is “Rustle of Silk”.
Contact:
Almost twenty pages of photos of the Patchogue Theatre are in the book Patchogue in the Twentieth Century by Hans Henke. The photos show the original theatre, playbills, the fire which destroyed he lobby on October 2, 1958 (a temporary entrance was set up on Oak Street), the making of the triplex, the performing arts center, etc..
Mr. Henke’s previous book, Patchogue The Early Years, has photos of the original Unique, the Unique which became the Rialto, the Star Palace and the Lyceum. None of these photos have a link.
I have attended shows at the Patchogue Theatre in the past few years and was present when then Mayor Keegan had his crew remove the interior subdividing walls and seats. I think that they restored the auditorium to as it was prior to the shoe boxing and I feel, in my opinion, that it was originally much more colorful when first opened. I am pleased with what they have done yet I wish they didn’t have to install all those lighting bridges which obstruct ones view. The main chandelier is nice but doesn’t seem to go with the adamesque interior. The NYTOS had agreed with the previous director to install a 2-10 Wurlitzer and, just as they were about to begin, a new director came onto the scene and refused to allow the installation for whatever reason. In this writer’s opinion that was a bad decision on his part. The organ would have been a wonderful addition to the theatre allowing silent film and concerts, etc. Anyway, it is wonderful to have such a theatre here in Suffolk County and the village has make a comeback around it.
As a triplex
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This theatre has been getting great use. A lot of great things have been booked here lately.
Hi. I work for the Architect that did the Restoration and New Lobby Design for the Patchogue Theatre. The Architect is local Patchogue Architect William J. Miller of WH Design Studio – located on N. Ocean Ave. right next to the Chamber of Commerce. If anyone has any questions about all the beautiful restoration/design work that Bill did please drop us a line at: Our website which includes some recent pictures of the Theatre is: http://www.whdesignstudio.com We also have a few original plaster pieces (which were beyond repair) from the theatre in our office on display. Enjoy the theatre…it’s an important piece of Long Island History!
Thanks for the information Bway !
JF Lundy, the Unique Theater was the former name for the Rialto Theater on South Ocean Ave in Patchogue:
/theaters/7421/
I think that the “Palace” was probably the Star Palace that Lost linked, but am not sure.
I could never figure out if the Palace Theater was another name for the Star Palace or if the Palace was a different theater.
Suffolk County News ads for Unique and Palace Theaters from 6 July 1923. Palace was in Patchogue and I believe the Unique in Sayville. Does anyone have more information on these two ?
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Suffolk County News ad from 6 July 1923:
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Here is an ad from 4 December 1929 for the Patchogue and Rialto Prudential Theaters:
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An ad for the Port Jefferson Theater from the same page still lists that Theater as a Glynne house:
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Here is an ad from December of 1931 for the Patchogue Theater
(Prudential Playhouses):
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The Port Jefferson Echo June 18, 1925
“Sally of the Sawdust”, D.W. Griffith’s masterpiece, will be publicly shown for the first time anywhere in the world, at the Patchogue Theatre, starting Sunday, June 21, for 4 days, matinee and evening. At the evening performance, Sunday, the following notables of the moving picture world will be present in person: D.W. Griffith, Carol Dempster, W.C. Fields, Adolph Zukor, Jesse Lasky and a great number of others prominent in motion pictures.
Until very recently a Wurlitzer Theatre Pipe Organ was slated to go into the theatre — It would have been maintained by the New York Theatre Organ Society. Unfortunately, with a change in managers the impetus was lost. The guy in charge of putting it in kept getting more and more resistance till he finally gave up.
I went to a public hearing the other day about development in Patchogue at it’s four corners, but the hearing was held in the Patchogue Theater, so while in there, I took the opportunity to get some interior photos of the place. They did a beautiful job restoring the place. It had been cut up into a multiplex before the renovations. The only unfortunate aspect is that the front stage lighting covers the top of the procenium arch, but I guess that is necessary of course for the stage productions. Other than that, a beautiful job:
Click Here for Front Main View
Front Left View
Ceiling View
Front Right View
Right and Back View
Stage View
Stage View
hey now ct members….check out web site above..seating put to rest..
you need to check out this theatre in person…better yet see
a show there….
Wally,
Thanks for the reminder about the seating. I have been very busy at the theatre and have not been able to get to this until now. I did forget exactly what you told me to do to get it posted. Call me at the box office on a Monday 12-6PM, you will be able to get in touch with me then. The box office phone number is (631)207-1313. Meantime, anyone interested in seeing the seating chart can visit the website: www.patchoguetheatre.com
Thanks,
Kelly
A Moller theater organ opus 3550 size 2/8 was installed in the Patchogue Theater in 1923 at a cost of $4500.