Claremont Theatre

That YouTube clip is terrific! Looks like it was a packed house for those Edison photoplays. Would have hated to be seated behind some of those ladies hats that were seen parading out in the clip. Also noticed a couple of baby-carriages being strolled out the door – I guess bringing infants to a movie theater isn’t such a recent development after all! Although, I’d forgive the parents in this clip since I’m guessing cinema-going etiquette may have yet been fully established at this point.

Nice long shots of the building at the end, also.

Here’s a link to the video that should work.

thanks to Al A. for his learned assessment on the subject. in fact your reply prompts an additional question on my part. as i understand it the golden age of movie palace building was approx. 1910 thru say 1941? now of all those theaters it would be interesting to find out of the three reasons listed below percentage wise which caused the most movie theaters to close.

a)the Depression or b)t.v. sucking the life out of the movie biz or c)the neighborhood “changing”

certainly a quite attractive theater at least the exterior. one simple question- the theater closed in 1933 long before the advent of television which sucked the life out of the movie business or the “changing” of the neighborhood. so why did it close after only 19 years?

A scene from the recent Denzel Washington/Russell Crowe movie “American Gangster” was filmed inside the Claremont Theater. Seeing as the story it set back in 1970’s Harlem, all filming locations were set up to mimic the time period. In the particular scene featuring the Claremont, Frank Lucas (played by Denzel) and his mentor/boss Bumpy Johnson (played by Clarence Williams III) are having a conversation while walking down to the corner of 135th and Broadway (the Claremont’s entrance). They then enter the Claremont (set up to be a circa-‘70’s electronic store with old-school TV’s and furniture) through double glass doors. That’s all I saw from the preview unfortunately. Looks like they decked up the inside of the Claremont real nice to film that scene, but I never caught when they were filming it. Subsequently the Claremont was obviously shuttered again and returned to being used as storage space.

Here are two photographs I took of the Claremont Theatre in June 2006:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kencta/190807270/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kencta/190807717/

An interesting observation I note in the Edison film, is that almost all the audience departing the theatre are turning to their right to go uptown. Only a few turn left.

Here’s the direct link to the NY Times article. Not sure if that link will work for you if you don’t have an account (whch is free, by the way). Unfortunately, only the current photo accompanies the online article. The print version included a vintage shot of the theater as well. I’ll see if I can get a good scan and post it here.