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Autumn Reading: The Brooklyn Theatre Index of Coney Island, Brighton Beach & Manhattan Beach

Posted in Books, Reading & Writing, tagged book review, Brighton Beach, Brooklyn Theatre Index, Cezar Del Valle, Coney Island, Manhattan Beach, theater, theater history on November 22, 2014| 2 Comments »

“Henderson’s and Inman’s still offer the cream of the vaudeville acts to be seen at Coney Island…” according to a story in The New York Dramatic Mirror back in the summer of 1898. Both music halls are long gone from Coney Island’s Henderson’s Walk and the Walk itself is now a private parking lot thanks to property owner Joe Sitt’s demolition of the Shore Hotel and the Henderson Building. Henderson’s and Inman’s are among dozens of entertainment venues in old Coney Island catalogued in the newly published The Brooklyn Theatre Index Vol III. The third volume of theater historian Cezar Del Valle’s borough-wide opus covers Coney Island, Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach.

Del Valle’s area of expertise is New York City popular entertainment between 1850 and the 1950s, including special emphasis on actual theater buildings. The book project began with listings compiled over a 25-year-period by Dario Marotta, whose interest in theater history was inspired by a photo of his late uncle standing in front of his nickelodeon in Williamsburgh circa 1912. Marotta never discovered the location of his uncle’s theater, proving the ephemeral nature of many of these venues. In 2002, he gave his research to Del Valle, who kept the information on file for use in articles, talks, and walking tours. Eventually he began adding to the listings with library and internet research of his own at the Theatre Historical Society of America’s Michael Miller Collection.

Del Valle also pored over newspaper clipping files in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle “morgue,” which is housed in over 150 filing cabinets at the Brooklyn Public Library. “Both Marotta and Miller had problems researching Coney Island. I was fortunate because more and more publications became available online, between 2010-2014, and these were searchable,” Del Valle told ATZ. “Trade publications like Variety and The New York Clipper are now available along with a staggering number of newspapers.”

Henderson’s Music Hall. Staley’s Views of Coney Island by Frank W. Staley, 1907. Cezar Del Valle Collection

The 250-page book is organized alphabetically by street name with the Bowery and Surf Avenue having the lion’s share of performing venues. Among the quaintly named places are Perry’s Glass Pavilion, a music hall and bar-room “constructed almost entirely of glass and of different colors,” and “Flynn’s Sporting House,” featuring “sparring, wrestling, singing and dancing, large balcony and ball-room on second floor.”

Some excerpts from newspaper articles give insight into the Gay Nineties, when Sunday blue laws were enforced in Coney Island and concert saloons had to close their doors or give “sacred concerts.” Female impersonators and short-dressed singers were cause for getting one’s license revoked. The index is a great resource for theater buffs and Coney Island aficionados. And if you happen to be writing a historical novel about Coney (we’ve heard from at least two people who are), it is required reading.

Feltmans’ Seaside Gardens. Cezar del Valle Collection

If only the book had more photos, though of course that would raise its cost. Our favorite among the 30 black and white photos is this rare image of Feltman’s Seaside Garden. The park built by hot dog inventor Charles Feltman eventually included an open-air movie theater, a precursor to the popular Coney Island Flicks on the Beach of recent summers. “The theatre is located on the main promenade quite near the ocean, so that the temperature will be cooled by ocean breezes at all times,” said an article in the Brooklyn Eagle on July 4, 1914. “The house has a seating capacity of 2,000. The space between the rows is exceptionally wide.”

It’s sad to realize that only a few of the mentioned venues are extant: Coney Island USA is carrying on the tradition of sideshow and burlesque in their landmarked building on Surf Avenue which once housed the Blue Bird Casino and the Wonderland Circus Sideshow. The long-vacant Shore Theater building, formerly the Loew’s Coney Island and built in 1925, is landmarked, but has fallen victim to demolition by neglect. In Brighton Beach, the Oceana Theatre, which opened as a movie house in 1934 with Dancing Lady starring Joan Crawford, is now the Millennium Theatre with live entertainment by Russian touring groups.

A book launch party with an illustrated talk by the author will be held at 440 Gallery, 440 6th Avenue, in Park Slope, Brooklyn, on Sunday, December 14 at 4:40pm.

The Brooklyn Theatre Index Vol III: Coney Island Including Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach by Cezar Del Valle. Theatre Talks LLC, 2014. Paperback, $15

New Play about Edison’s Electrocution of Topsy the Elephant

Posted in Animals, Events, history, tagged Chris Van Strander, Coney Island, David Koteles, Edison's Elephant, elephant, Metropolitan Playhouse, play, theater, Thomas Edison, Topsy on January 12, 2014| 2 Comments »

On this day in 1903, Thomas Edison’s infamous Electrocuting an Elephant was released, having been filmed on January 4th in Coney Island’s Luna Park. A crowd of 1,500 had gathered to see Topsy, billed as “the man-killing elephant,” executed with 6,000 volts of electricity. The movie is filed in my brain under “Why I Hate Thomas Edison” despite his invention of the electric light bulbs and motion picture technology on view in the wondrous “Coney Island, Luna Park by Night” filmed by Edwin S. Porter for the Edison Manufacturing Co. in 1905.

This week, Edison’s Elephant, a new play by David Koteles and Christopher Van Strander exploring the life and death of the abused and maligned Topsy premieres as part of Metropolitan Playhouse’s Gilded Stage Festival. The inspiration for the play came when Koteles, whose great grandfather worked for Edison during the early days of the Kinetoscope, learned about Topsy while watching a compilation of Edison’s short films. According to an interview with NY Theater Now, he was “horrified, but intrigued” and decided to team up with his friend Chris Van Strander to write the play.

Topsy inspired Rosie the elephant in Sara Gruen’s novel Water for Elephants (2006) and was the subject of journalist Michael Daly’s Topsy: The Startling Story of the Crooked Tailed Elephant (2013). Daly says the electrocution was Edison’s way of venting his fury over having lost the AC vs DC battle with Westinghouse, as well as his opportunity to film the first death of any kind. Although Topsy’s execution has been referenced in many films and literary works, as far as we know this is the first play.

Among the characters in Edison’s Elephant are an Edison employee involved in experiments with electricity that killed other animals prior to Topsy’s execution. His wife, who accompanies him to the execution, is the conscience of the play. “I think we’ve created a very special evening of theater. As well as a lovely tribute to Topsy,” Koteles said. The Metropolitan Playhouse festival, which runs from January 13-26, features nine new plays inspired by the leading writers and creators of the Gilded Age, including PT Barnum, L Frank Baum, Henry James, and Frederick Law Olmsted.

Edison’s Elephant by David Koteles and Chris Van Strander. Performances on January 16, 19, 24 and 25 at Metropolitan Playhouse’s Gilded Stage Festival, 220 East 4th Street, New York City. 212-995-5302

Art of the Day: Creepshow at the Freakshow Is Back

Posted in art, Events, tagged Al Capone, Coney Island, Coney Island Criminals, Coney Island USA, Dick Zigun, Halloween, Harvard Inn, Marie Roberts, Scarface, theater on October 10, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Artist Marie Roberts, whose sideshow banners adorn Coney Island USA’s facade, painted this one for Creepshow at the Freakshow in 2004. ATZ snapped this photo last October, but never got to post it or review the play since it was cancelled the very next day due to Superstorm Sandy! This year’s Creepshow, titled “Coney Island Criminals,” is opening this weekend, and Marie’s banner, which survived the storm, is once again in the window on Surf Avenue beckoning passersby to stop and buy tickets.

Written and directed by Dick Zigun, the interactive play takes its inspiration from an episode in the early career of Al Capone. The gangster got his nickname “Scarface” in 1917 after getting slashed at Coney Island’s Harvard Inn where he worked as a bartender/bouncer. More of Marie Roberts art will be seen in the show, including a painting of an Ivy League rowing club and the logo of Yale University’s secret society Skull and Bones, which is beguiling considering that the Harvard Inn was owned by a gang boss known as Frankie Yale and Dick Zigun is a Yale School of Drama grad.

The play also features CIUSA outside talker Scott Baker as Jimmy Durante, who got his start playing piano in Coney Island. Set design is by Kate Dale, the Juilliard prop shop supervisor and veteran “Best Mermaid” who has been the Creepshow’s designer for the past eight years. Since the Harvard Inn burned down long ago and even Seaside Walk, the street it was on, is no more, being in the audience at “Coney Island Criminals” and possibly getting hit in the face with spaghetti or made into the mob is as close as you’ll get to this place.

Coney Island USA, 1208 Surf Ave. Corner of Surf Avenue and West 12th Street, Coney Island. Creepshow at the Freakshow runs from October 11 through Halloween. Check website for days and showtimes. Tickets are $15 in advance or at the door.