Sun Sing Theatre

The Florence opened on May 13, 1921 with Pauline Fredrick in “The Mistress of Shenstone.” The under-bridge structure was a multi-purpose addition to an existing building of which the Florence Theatre cost $120,000 to build. Purportedly, the name “Florence” was chosen to mesh with the Italian-centric venue’s clientele. Early ticket sales led to unwanted clientele. The 1,200-seat Florence Theatre was consistently robbed and lots of unsavory activity, to boot. The worst such case of robbery was its fifth in two years on September 23, 1925 when nitro blew a hole in the theatre causing $15,000 and a closed for repairs sign. The most brutal crime was that of patron Herman Kellerman who was gunned down exiting the theatre. That was said to be a gang-related hit in retaliation for the Johnny Spanish gang-related murder in which Kellerman was acquitted… but had a price on his head after leaving the courtroom, according to reports.

The Florence was wired for sound to remain competitive. It had a confectionery selling all forms of candy as the Florence’s de facto concession stand. The theatre booked Paramount Studio productions in a block booking arrangement. The Florence closed during the Depression - likely 1934 - with the neighborhood decidedly Asian. And Italian and English-language films just weren’t cutting it. The trade press purports that Toy Kin-Lee took on the venue renaming it as the New China Theatre in 1935 and then it was purportedly renamed as the New Canton Theatre in 1942. The latter mixed in live Chinese music and live plays, as well.

In 1950, Sun Sing Chinese Theatres Inc. took on the venue on a new leasing agreement with Kung Dee King ordering a major refresh that took seat count from 1,200 to under 1,000. It also came with a name change to the Sun Sing Theatre. In 1953, the venue played 3D films - notably The Gold Hunt / Fortune Hunters (Taojin ji) and A Woman’s Revenge (Yunü Qingchou). In 1954 the Sun Sing went widescreen to present 1.85:1 films with Kin-Lee apparently back operating the venue.

The venue thrived in the chopsocky era of the 1970s. It had its last wave of dollars with the Hong Kong New Wave lasting into the 1990s. It was the site of a major riot in October of 1976 in which - it was claimed in court - that there were more gang members than non-gang patrons. Seems highly possible. Based on nothing other than leasing, the theatre may have closed in 1995. The building was definitely demolished in 1998 but, when the walls collapsed during that project, three workers were trapped inside and injured.

The September 4, 1920 issue of Real Estate Record and Builders' Guide had a short article saying that the City of New York had granted a twenty year lease on a plot of city-owned land under the Manhattan Bridge to developer Henry E. Jacobs.

Jacobs planned to erect a two-story store and showroom building along the East Broadway frontage, which would include an entrance for a moving picture theater that would occupy the remainder of the plot. The entire project was being designed by architects Gronenberg & Leuchtag. The theater was to be leased to the Florence Theatre Corporation, also for a term of twenty years.

Does anybody know anything about the Smith or Seeburg-Smith theatre pipe organ that used to be installed at the New Strand Theatre in New York City?

inspectorcollector, do you know anything about this organ?

According to “The Encyclopedia of the American Theatre Organ” by David L. Junchen, pg. 630, the “New Strand Th.” had a Smith theatre pipe organ installed in 1916. No other details (such as size of the organ, blower info etc) were known at the time of the book’s publication. The only other info given in the entry is that the theatre was “Located at 78 East Broadway” and so must have been this same theatre.

Does anybody know more about this organ and where it (or its parts) is/are today? Thanks!

FatMan, if you read previous posts you will find your answer.

I read an article in the December 3 1923 New York Times that the receipts were stolen by two “Highwaymen”. The receipts were from the Florence theater on West Broadway and the Atlantic Gardens theatre on the Bowery. They hijacked the taxi cab which was carrying the couriers to deposit the money in the safe at the Delancey Street Theater on Orchard Street.

http://www.collamer-jones.com/tang/Nychina.html

I worked on this film in 1981.We shot inside the Sun Sing and a year later saw the movie there.

In the mid 1920s the Florence Theater was operated by the M & S Chain. Jacobs was probably one of the partners in this extended network, so was Rosenzweig. There was no Yiddish vaudeville theater on this location in 1911. We would expect an ethnically mixed audience indeed but the owners were Jewish and they advertised for this theater in the Yiddish press.
By the way, Yiddish vaudeville did extend well beyond Houston Street, actually most of the Yiddish music halls were in the area below East Houston and north of East Broadway.

New Strand should be added as an aka name here.

6 rare movies that were rescued from the Sun Sing before it was demolished are being screened at the 29th Annual Asian-American International Film Festival in NYC beginning July 13th. My partner and I have 45 feature films, 60 shorts, tickets, uniforms, theatre memorabilia and close to 10,000 lobby cards and posters from Sun Sing. and a little bit of Music Palace memorabilia too. For more information please contact

Opened as a home to both Yiddish vaudeville and motion pictures in 1911, the Florence Theatre, the exact address of which was 75-85 East Broadway, ended its existence as the Sun Sing in 1993.
A renovation in 1938 took the theatre’s capacity from 980 to 916 seats (and reports from the 1920s seem to indicate that, during that decade, it may have accommodated as many as twice that number).
By 1942, the theatre had been rechristened the New Canton Theatre and featured performances of Chinese opera and variety acts. In 1950, the facility was again re-dubbed, this time as the Sun Sing Theatre, and took to exhibiting Chinese language films, sometimes with English subtitles.
In 1960, the theatre was scheduled for demolition when faced with the addition of an upper deck to the Manhattan Bridge far above. However, city engineers were able to save the theatre and the adjoining retail space, through the use of innovative bridge supports which only caused the theatre’s seat count to be reduced, this time to 676.
In 1972, the theatre began to feature a mixed program of film and stage performances. It finally closed in 1993.