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| Loew's Bedford Theatre, New York City Tax Photo, 1940 |
The New York Age, February 2, 1918:
“…there has been a growing tendency to be less liberal in the treatment of colored patrons in some theatres and public places since the court declared that a colored man has no right of recovery against a saloon-keeper who refuses to serve him.
“…there has been a growing tendency to be less liberal in the treatment of colored patrons in some theatres and public places since the court declared that a colored man has no right of recovery against a saloon-keeper who refuses to serve him.
“Two days
after word came from Albany relative to the Court of Appeals opinion the
management of the Bedford Theatre, Brooklyn, adopted the policy of excluding
colored people from the first floor, although prior to the court’s decision
colored patrons were permitted to sit in any part of the house.”
The Brooklyn Eagle, “Help
Wanted—Female,” January 10, 1924:
“Ushers wanted, light colored girls, Fox Bedford Theater, Bedford av. and Bergen street.”
“Ushers wanted, light colored girls, Fox Bedford Theater, Bedford av. and Bergen street.”
African-American Holiness
Pentecostal Movement: An Annotated Bibliography by Sherry S. DuPree, Routledge,
1995:
“On Sunday, May 4, 1952, they [Washington
Temple Church of God] moved into their present church home, the old Bedford
Theater on Bedford Ave.”
Since 1997 theatre historian, Cezar Del Valle, has conducted a popular series of theatre talks and walks, available for historical societies, libraries, senior centers, etc.
Walks also available at Local Expeditions
Del Valle is the author of the Brooklyn Theatre Index, a three-volume history of borough theatres.
The first two chosen 2010 OUTSTANDING BOOK OF THE YEAR by the Theatre Historical Society. Final volume published in September 2014.
Editing and updating the third edition of the Brooklyn Theatre Index, Volume I.
I remember the Bedford Theater. As a child I would go there on Saturday afternoon. This was the first movie that I went to at night. Of course I lied about my age at the time, maybe I was 12 or 13 or so. It was a neighborhood movie. It was sold and became a church but whenever I think of it, it is always as a movie house.
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