Amityville Theatre
Amityville, NY 11701
Previous Names: Star Theatre, New Star Theatre
Amityville Twin
Avon Theatre
Massapequa Drive-In
The Star Theatre opened in 1913. It is listed in the American Motion Picture Directory 1914-1915 edition. It continued to be listed in the 1926 and 1927 editions of Film Daily Yearbook with a seating capacity of 400. In 1928 it was known as the New Star Theatre but had gone from listings in 1930, although it finally closed in 1936 as the Amityville Theatre.
It was replaced by a new larger Amityville Theatre, which opened on the same site in May 1936.
Contributed by Ken Roe
Ed Solero on August 24, 2007 at 11:49 am
Apparently there weren't a whole lot of telephones in Amityville back in 1928, eh? The theater's phone # is listed as "Amityville 221!" Too bad that the program doesn't even mention an intersection for the theater's location. I drove through Amityville going west down Rt. 27A before turning north on Rt. 110. The older "downtown" area seems to be along 110 (Broadway) to the north of 27A (Merrick Rd) and south of the LIRR tracks. The location of this theater was probably somewhere near the area where Broadway crosses Union Avenue – but that's just a guess.
robboehm on April 15, 2011 at 8:09 pm
A lot of the heading is in contradiction to material in the files of the Amityville Historical Society. They say that in the late 1920's it was sold to the Prudential chain. The new owners installed new equipment for talkies and changed the name to Amityville. Then in the 1930's it was deemed obsolete and suffering from competition by neighboring village theatres which had smoking loges and AC.
The theatre closed on Sunday, January 26, 1936 with the promise that a new theatre, "the finest of its type on Long Island" would open in ten weeks. The final film was a "Tale of Two Cities" with Ronald Coleman and Elizabeth Allen.
And on May 6, 1936 the new theatre opened. Since that 1936 theatre doesn't exist on CT I will create it.
robboehm on April 16, 2011 at 4:28 am
According to Amityville Historical Society records the theatre, as the Star, opened in 1913. It was a long, narrow building with a center aisle with six seats on either side. It had a rectangular shaped marquee advertising the films.
paul baar on June 2, 2017 at 11:02 am
There is something wrong with the Amityville web page.You can't access recent comments for 217 Broadway!
robboehm on June 2, 2017 at 2:11 pm
Paul-There are several Amityville web pages, for the original, the one that was torn down when Broadway was widened and the final Big A which was subsequently twinned. A lot of comments and pictures have been posted to the wrong sites. Try the others for the comments you can't find.