Senate Theatre
184 Rhode Island Street,
Buffalo,
NY
14213
184 Rhode Island Street,
Buffalo,
NY
14213
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Newspaper listings ended in 1957
As the Frontier, this theater played Charlie Chaplin’s first film, MAKING A LIVING, on February 21, 1914. Too bad it wasn’t fixed up for its 100th anniversary last year.
link
The link above is the obituary for the former owner of this theatre.
This small theater indeed did become both a garage and a shooting range – which was really in keeping with the theme of the surrounding deteoriating neighborhood. The last film to play here was one of the Godzilla series, as the ‘now playing’ one sheet stayed in the left showcase windowbox for quite a while after the theater went dark.
This theater is featured in Michael Putnam’s book Silent Screens. It shows the interior of the theater being used for shooting practice.
Konczakowski Theaters was headquartered at 257 Virginia Street, Buffalo in the early sixties. E.W. Konczakowski was president. Other Buffalo theaters under his command at the time were the Circle and Marlowe.
Here is a 1985 photo by Michael Putnam:
http://tinyurl.com/2v6kfq
This was a nickelodeon.
I lived diagonally across from the Senate theater for several years. It was (and probably still is) home to the Senate Gun Club. Other than repainting the marquee all brown, including the Senate name, there was seldom any activity around the building although it could be a bit disconcerting to come home at times and find the street lined with police cruisers. They were just using the club’s facilities to practice marksmanship. As far as I know the Senate closed as a theater in the late 50’s.