Novelty Theatre

Railroad Avenue,
Sayville, NY 11782

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MAY 31, 1918

This was the first Novelty Theatre to open in Sayville, NY. It was operated by Mr. Kost, and opened August 26, 1911. It was listed in the 1914-1915 edition of American Motion Picture Directory. The Novelty Theatre had 400 seats, and there was an adjacent airdome which could seat 700. Admission was 10 Cents with an additional charge of 5 Cents on ‘feature’ nights.

In August 1918, the Novelty Theatre and its airdome were destroyed by a fire which had started in an adjoining laundry building to the south of the theatre.

A second Novelty Theatre was built and opened in 1919, which was later re-named Sayville Theatre. This operated until spring of 1951, when it was demolished and a new Sayville Theatre was built and opened on adjacent land (each of these have their own pages on Cinema Treasures).

Contributed by Ken Roe

Recent comments (view all 3 comments)

robboehm
robboehm on March 24, 2013 at 8:51 pm

A reference to the Novelty Airdrome appears in a 1910 edition of the Suffolk County News. Presumably the airdome existed before the adjacent hardtop.

robboehm
robboehm on March 24, 2013 at 8:54 pm

According to 50 Years Ago in the February 9, 1967 edition of the Suffolk County News, the Novelty began showing movies 6 nights a week rather than the 4 previously. Considering the Blue Laws at the time there would be no Sunday performance.

robboehm
robboehm on October 31, 2016 at 1:51 am

In 1922, Nathan Goldstein, owner of the Unique and Palace in Patchogue, took a 5 year lease on the Novelty and was negotiating to lease the Opera House from Fred Hardgrave.

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