In one of the histories of Scarsdale I read that the"Scarsdale
Picture Theater" was located at the northeast corner Of Popham Road
and Depot Place – the road leading to the Scarsdale Metro North
south bound railroad platform. It’s my conjecture that, besides the
oncoming depression of 1929, this theater’s demise was hastened by the cost and need to convert to sound movies.
The “new” 1931 theater that many of us remember was located across Popham Road and 300 feet or so going south up Garth Road, just over
the Eastchester border.
As a small kid about 1947 I remember the usherettes blouses said
“Skouras Theaters” on the pockets, which a parent told me meant the theater was controlled by 20th Century-Fox. Not for long, though, as the Studios were already under order of the Courts to divest themselves of their theaters. By ‘49 or so the place was dark until
Brecher reopened it in 1951 as “The Plaza In Scarsdale” named after his flagship theater in Manhattan. First film was “The Great Caruso"
and the place was packed!
It was the old theater, not a new one, but had been spruced up and looked good until the '60’s and '70’s when subsequent managements let the place go. Final nails in the coffin: the heating and AC systems went paws up, not meeting code requirements and that was that. A sad end, but what else is new?
In one of the histories of Scarsdale I read that the"Scarsdale
Picture Theater" was located at the northeast corner Of Popham Road
and Depot Place – the road leading to the Scarsdale Metro North
south bound railroad platform. It’s my conjecture that, besides the
oncoming depression of 1929, this theater’s demise was hastened by the cost and need to convert to sound movies.
The “new” 1931 theater that many of us remember was located across Popham Road and 300 feet or so going south up Garth Road, just over
the Eastchester border.
As a small kid about 1947 I remember the usherettes blouses said
“Skouras Theaters” on the pockets, which a parent told me meant the theater was controlled by 20th Century-Fox. Not for long, though, as the Studios were already under order of the Courts to divest themselves of their theaters. By ‘49 or so the place was dark until
Brecher reopened it in 1951 as “The Plaza In Scarsdale” named after his flagship theater in Manhattan. First film was “The Great Caruso"
and the place was packed!
It was the old theater, not a new one, but had been spruced up and looked good until the '60’s and '70’s when subsequent managements let the place go. Final nails in the coffin: the heating and AC systems went paws up, not meeting code requirements and that was that. A sad end, but what else is new?