The Music Hall and Ocean/Midway theaters were both demolished in 1976, leaving a gaping hole on the pier that was replaced with rides. New owners left a remodeled Casino theater as a replacement for the Music Hall. The pier closed in 1978 and was destroyed by fire on December 10, 1982.
OK. First of all, I wrote the definitive book called “Steel Pier, Atlantic City: Showplace of the Nation” for Down The Shore Publishing in 2009. There was no such thing as Steel Pier theatre.
Steel Pier opened on June 18, 1898 with the front building holding the Casino theater. It was a pier that offered military and light classical orchestras, minstrels, and dancing in the huge ballroom located at the ocean end.
In 1925, Frank Gravatt bought the pier and turned it into the world’s greatest entertainment complex. He expanded it, widened it, remodeled it, and built
theaters. He brought in John Philip Sousa and big stars and dance bands of the day.
This continued after George Hamid bought the pier in 1945 and continued until the pier closed in 1978. Besides the famous diving horse and water circus, Hamid brought in the Rolling Stones, the Allman Brothers, Glenn Miller, Three Stooges, Frank Sinatra, Supremes, and anyone else who was “hot”.
Here are the theaters and their approximate capacities:
Casino (front boardwalk building, second floor, no
balcony —minstrels until 1943 and movies) 2,000 seats
Music Hall (center of pier, second floor, remodeled in 1929 for vaudeville and movies) The remodeling was in an Art Deco motif and removed side balconies. When again remodeled in 1952, side balconies were once again
erected. about 2,500 seats
Ocean/Midway theater (in back of Music Hall, ocean side, no balcony)built in 1929 for movies, renamed Midway in 1953 with complete remodeling. 1,400 seats
Little theater (between Casino and Music Hall) built in 1930’s for live kid shows, no balcony) 1,000 seats
That’s basically the theater history of Steel Pier in a nutshell. My book explains much more in detail. Hope this helps.
This info is wrong. There was never anything called Steel Pier theater. I just completed “Steel Pier, Atlantic City”, published by Down-The-Shore, which is a thorough history of Steel Pier from 1898-1978. First of all, Stanley-Warner never operated any theater on Steel Pier. They did operate those on the Boardwalk and in Atlantic City proper, most of which have been listed on Cinema Treasures.
Steel Pier had THREE theatres that ran movies until the late 1940’s when that dropped to two until 1976. For one price, you could stay all day and night on Steel Pier and watch two first-run movies, see vaudeville with major stars, dance to name orchestras in the Marine Ballroom out over the ocean, see the world-famous Diving Horse and Water Circus at the end of the Pier, see top rock and soul acts like the Rolling Stones, Supremes, Ricky Nelson and the Allman Brothers. All of this might have cost you a few dollars. The likes of this will never be seen again.
The theater in the front Boardwalk building was the Casino, sat about 2,000 on one level and featured movies along with a live minstrel show until 1943. Bud Abbott & Lou Costello were unknowns in this troup, sans blackface, until they became big stars about 1940. They never forgot where they got their big break and always returned to Steel Pier even when they were the biggest stars in Hollywood.
The middle theater was the Music Hall, another that held at least 2,000 and had side balconies. The Music Hall featured movies and top-name vaudeville including the Three Stooges, Bob Hope, Les Paul, Milton Berle, the Four Seasons and many many more.
The Ocean theater, a smaller venue also in the middle of the Pier, showed movies until the late 1940’s and became the home of Tony Grant’s Stars of Tomorrow, the only theater in the country devoted to child performers. It was renamed the Midway in 1954.
Check out my book at Down-the-Shore Publishing. There’s many exterior and interior theater pictures.
The Music Hall and Ocean/Midway theaters were both demolished in 1976, leaving a gaping hole on the pier that was replaced with rides. New owners left a remodeled Casino theater as a replacement for the Music Hall. The pier closed in 1978 and was destroyed by fire on December 10, 1982.
OK. First of all, I wrote the definitive book called “Steel Pier, Atlantic City: Showplace of the Nation” for Down The Shore Publishing in 2009. There was no such thing as Steel Pier theatre. Steel Pier opened on June 18, 1898 with the front building holding the Casino theater. It was a pier that offered military and light classical orchestras, minstrels, and dancing in the huge ballroom located at the ocean end. In 1925, Frank Gravatt bought the pier and turned it into the world’s greatest entertainment complex. He expanded it, widened it, remodeled it, and built theaters. He brought in John Philip Sousa and big stars and dance bands of the day. This continued after George Hamid bought the pier in 1945 and continued until the pier closed in 1978. Besides the famous diving horse and water circus, Hamid brought in the Rolling Stones, the Allman Brothers, Glenn Miller, Three Stooges, Frank Sinatra, Supremes, and anyone else who was “hot”.
Here are the theaters and their approximate capacities:
Casino (front boardwalk building, second floor, no balcony —minstrels until 1943 and movies) 2,000 seats
Music Hall (center of pier, second floor, remodeled in 1929 for vaudeville and movies) The remodeling was in an Art Deco motif and removed side balconies. When again remodeled in 1952, side balconies were once again erected. about 2,500 seats
Ocean/Midway theater (in back of Music Hall, ocean side, no balcony)built in 1929 for movies, renamed Midway in 1953 with complete remodeling. 1,400 seats
Little theater (between Casino and Music Hall) built in 1930’s for live kid shows, no balcony) 1,000 seats
That’s basically the theater history of Steel Pier in a nutshell. My book explains much more in detail. Hope this helps.
This info is wrong. There was never anything called Steel Pier theater. I just completed “Steel Pier, Atlantic City”, published by Down-The-Shore, which is a thorough history of Steel Pier from 1898-1978. First of all, Stanley-Warner never operated any theater on Steel Pier. They did operate those on the Boardwalk and in Atlantic City proper, most of which have been listed on Cinema Treasures.
Steel Pier had THREE theatres that ran movies until the late 1940’s when that dropped to two until 1976. For one price, you could stay all day and night on Steel Pier and watch two first-run movies, see vaudeville with major stars, dance to name orchestras in the Marine Ballroom out over the ocean, see the world-famous Diving Horse and Water Circus at the end of the Pier, see top rock and soul acts like the Rolling Stones, Supremes, Ricky Nelson and the Allman Brothers. All of this might have cost you a few dollars. The likes of this will never be seen again.
The theater in the front Boardwalk building was the Casino, sat about 2,000 on one level and featured movies along with a live minstrel show until 1943. Bud Abbott & Lou Costello were unknowns in this troup, sans blackface, until they became big stars about 1940. They never forgot where they got their big break and always returned to Steel Pier even when they were the biggest stars in Hollywood.
The middle theater was the Music Hall, another that held at least 2,000 and had side balconies. The Music Hall featured movies and top-name vaudeville including the Three Stooges, Bob Hope, Les Paul, Milton Berle, the Four Seasons and many many more.
The Ocean theater, a smaller venue also in the middle of the Pier, showed movies until the late 1940’s and became the home of Tony Grant’s Stars of Tomorrow, the only theater in the country devoted to child performers. It was renamed the Midway in 1954.
Check out my book at Down-the-Shore Publishing. There’s many exterior and interior theater pictures.