Savoy Theatre

The Savoy Theatre was the first new-build 1,000 seat movie theatre in downtown Syracuse joining the Crescent Theatre which opened as a 1,000-seat theatre in an existing building on S. Salina Street the same year. The new Savoy Theatre opened on a 20-year lease at 314 S. Warren Street in downtown Syracuse in 1909 for T.G. Thompson. The theatre was known for ten cent shows that had both live entertainment and motion pictures. The theatre was many steps ahead of the store-show nickelodeons and was a foreshadowing of the first generation of larger movie palaces that would be built just five years later.

With the first generation of movie palaces built including Syracuse’s Temple Theatre and Regent Theatre both in 1914 and the Strand Theatre in 1915, the Savoy Theatre aged quickly and poorly. But in 1916, the venue received a major refresh becoming the New Savoy Theatre and concentrating on film more than live shows. New and better built Downtown Syracuse theatres included the Keith Theatre in 1919 and Palace Theatre in 1920. The operators didn’t give up on their ten year-old New Savoy Theatre venue closing it for two months and a second major refresh that included a $10,000 pipe organ. The New Savoy Theatre relaunched as the (Really) New Savoy on a first-run policy Pauline Fredrick with “Madame X” on October 20, 1920.

The New Savoy Theatre scuffled with the newer movie theatres getting the top bookings. The New Savoy Theatre went to popular pricing, then to double features and, finally, as the New Savoy was nearing end of lease in 1926, it was repositioned as the only burlesque venue in Syracuse – not exactly the programmatic policy of a theatre with a future. Further, the theatre remained without a sound system seemingly concretizing its race to the bottom rung on the theatrical ladder. The Crescent Theatre closed at the end of its twenty year lease closing in June of 1929 and the Savoy Theatre appeared to be following the same path as the Crescent Theatre.

But the Savoy got a huge break when the Temple Theatre was displaced by what would become the new home in Syracuse for the Paramount Theatre. The Temple Theatre moved into the Savoy Theatre for its booked shows and a decision was announced late in 1929 that the New Temple Theatre would be housed in the Savoy Theatre with a top of the line sound system and a major refresh. Meanwhile, the Paramount Theatre opened in the former Temple Theatre’s home on December 5, 1929; but a decision was made shortly after the Temple Theatre bookings ended to discontinue use of the Temple nameplate and the Savoy Theatre building. The Savoy Theatre was converted for retail purposes in March of 1930. The entire building was demolished decades later.

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