Monroe goes to the movies

| 12 Dec 2012 | 12:38

MONROE — Before movies came to Monroe, entertainment here included plays, touring entertainers, local bands and church plays. Popular locations for this entertainment were Konnight Hall on North Main St., Goff’s Tavern or in the basements of local churches. The exact date of the first films shown in Monroe is unknown, but I would estimate that by 1906 movies were shown in our town.

Early theaters

The main location for the early viewing of films in Monroe was Konnight Hall, later to be called the Monroe Opera House. The Monroe Opera house was located on North Main St., now the site of the senior citizen apartments. It was purchased in the early 1920’s by a group of local citizens and became the center of community activities. It was renamed the Monroe Community House, and used for many years by most local groups. Plays were performed there; Boy Scouts, the Civil Air Patrol and other groups met in the building.

The Monroe Free Library was located in the Monroe Community House for many years until the new library was built on the Mill Pond Parkway. A bowling alley was located in the basement and basketball games were played in the second floor auditorium.

Another location for movies was the Fireman’s Opera House, which was located on Stage Road, and is now Flynn’s Funeral Home. Besides the fire equipment, it also housed the jail on the lower level, with the entertainment being held on the second floor.

In the early Twentieth Century, Monroe did not have a movie theater; this was customary for most small towns. Movies were provided by exhibitors who traveled from town to town with their equipment and films.

In May 1908 it was announced that Hadley’s Moving Pictures would be the next attraction at the Fireman’s Opera House. In July of that year it was announced that the New England Moving Picture Co. would be showing its movies at the Monroe Opera House. They had a very good write-up in the paper, apparently by the company itself, using their motto “Strive to please the public.”

Apparently they did not live up to their motto because the following week the Ramapo Valley Gazette apologized for an awful showing and said “The van-de-villians were bad enough, but the New England Picture Co. far worse. The best part of the entertainment was the brief time taken to run the films through when the operator finally got things running right side up.”

Silent films

Since this was the era of the silent film, music was provided as the background by local bands and piano players. My dad, David W. Nelson, and his sister Sadie both played the piano to provide the music during many of these shows.

In the early history of the movies in our town, there were a number of these film companies with such names as Empire Picture Co., Wilson’s Moving Picture Co., The Crystal Moving Picture Co., Golden’s Moving Picture Show, Edwin J. Hadley’s Moving Pictures, Ryerson, Vion’s Motion Pictures, and West’s Perfect Pictures.

Vion’s Motion Pictures was owned by Charles Vion; his wife was a cousin of George M. Cohan, and they resided in Osseo Park. These silent movies cost from five to twenty cents and sometimes they added other entertainment including dancers, tight rope walkers, sword swallowers, minstrels and vaudeville acts.

In 1908 the charge for the movies was 10 and 15 cents.

A theater comes to Monroe

On March 1922 it was announced that the people of Monroe would have their own movie theater, to be named the Colonial Theater. F.E. Bolton, who was the manager of the Monroe Opera House, teamed up with Fred Kistler of Brooklyn as business partners.

Mr. Kistler was a building contractor with much experience in the trade; he oversaw the construction of the theater The building was 110 feet by 35 feet and seated 478 people. The building was designed by W.I. Hall, a local architect who lived in Monroe.

Although it was not air conditioned, it had an eight-foot typhoon fan.

The second floor was a large ballroom.

You cannot say construction was slow in those early years, since ground breaking took place in early April of 1922 and progressed steadily. Although a number of small details were not yet completed, the grand opening was held on July 31, 1922, at 8:15 p.m.

The opening of the theater was a big affair for Monroe. The State Theater Concert Orchestra under the direction of Prof. G. R. La Bounty provided music not only for the opening night, but for the entire week. Mrs. Clifford Miller was engaged as the soloist for the opening night. The first movies to be shown on opening night were “The Dictator” with Wallace Reid, and “The Boat” with Buster Keaton.

The cost of tickets for the opening was $1, with regular prices to be fifteen cents for children and thirty cents for adults with the exception of special attractions.

Movies on Sundays

In May 1923 the Colonial Theater began offering movies on Sundays. The films were scheduled in the evening so they would not conflict with church services.

They did not charge admission, but placed a box in the lobby to allow patrons to donate towards the expense.

This was because charging admission on Sunday was illegal. It appeared that the opposition to the Sunday showings could not be overcome, since on May 17, 1923 it was announced that they would no longer have movies on Sunday until further notice.

In 1926 the Masonic Lodge purchased the Colonial Theater building. They moved their lodge rooms to the second floor of the theater and continue to rent the theater out. Frank W. Relyea, who had operated the theater since 1926, continued to run the theater.

In Dec. 1929, Relyea announced that he was looking into the installation of equipment to show talking pictures. In Feb. 1930, the first talking picture arrived at the Colonial. It was “Welcome Danger” with Harold Lloyd.

After that, the programs announced that the pictures were talking, except for silent cartoons and silent newsreels.

Though talking pictures were now shown, I suspect the sound equipment being used was inferior, since Mr. Relyea announced on May 8, 1930, that he had contracted with RCA Photophone, Inc. for the installation of sound reproducing equipment.

The theater closed for two weeks while the new equipment was being installed and reopened on May 17, 1930, showing the movie “The Shannons of Broadway.”

In Nov. 1933 Frank W. Relyea sold his interest in the Colonial Theater to Rudolph Stravitz of New York City. Mr. Stravitz had 22 years theatrical experience before coming to Monroe. He made extensive renovations to the theater in July 1936, including new seats, carpets and other interior improvements.

It was in March 1934 that the voters of Monroe went to the polls to see if movies could be shown on Sundays.

Both Monroe and Warwick were deciding these questions at the polls. The New York City papers devoted considerable space on these votes.

The ministers of the Presbyterian and Methodist churches were very much opposed to the Sunday movies and spent time telling their parishioners of their opposition in their sermons and with letters to the editor.

Sacred Heart Church did not oppose the Sunday movies and left it up to their parishioners to vote according to their conscience.

The vote was one of the largest in the history of the village, with 419 registered voters turning out.

There was also a vote for village trustees, but both candidates ran unopposed. The result: 281 people voted in favor of Sunday movies and 138 against, which allowed movies to be shown starting at 2 p.m.



Next week: One thousand people attended opening night of the Monroe Theatre on March 10, 1949, including Metropolitan Opera and Broadway star Helen Gleason, who sang the “Star Spangled Banner.”



By James A. Nelson

Monroe Town Historian