Broadway Theatre (II)

The 844-seat Broadway Theatre opened its doors on April 4, 1949 with Gene Kelly in “Take Me Out To The Ballgame” along with a newsreel.

The Broadway Theatre was first managed by J. Leland Young, the late-child of Dr. Jack H. Young, and had an original capacity of 844 Heyward-Wakefield spring-edged seats with padded backs, with 600 seats in the orchestra pit and 244 seats in the balcony for colored patrons, with all seats spacing 36in apart.

Some of its other original installations include cold cathode tubes concealing inside coves in the ceiling as well as a fireproof projection room made out of both concrete and steel. The original sound installations featured RCA Hi-Fidelity sound with accomplished hook-ups of multi-cellular horns. Outside the theatre is a triangle-shaped marquee.

There are two ample fire exits in each side of the auditorium and the furnace is located in the fireproof basement which is entered from the outside of the building, but what’s really interesting about the Broadway Theatre’s auditorium is that they have unique installations of fire censors. In an event of a fire, metal-plated doors were automatically closed to prevent any spread of fire, and the two ample exits leads out through a lighted corridor with panic bolts which can quickly open upon pressing them.

The Broadway Theatre last operated with 371 seats and closed for the final time on February 27, 1977 with Jeff Bridges in the 1976 version of “King Kong”.

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