Vaudeville and minstrel shows were the popular entertainments offered in Washington Street theater halls until around 1915—and not only on the Avenue, but also in theaters on Hudson Street and First Street. As “moving picture exhibitions” began to gain in popularity, some theaters offered movies but retained their stages to be able to showcase theatrical performances as well. Eventually, as the audience for movies overwhelmed those seeking live performance, the theaters either became full-fledged movie houses—at considerable expense--or closed down.
Gayety Theatre program to benefit the Italian Sufferers (of an 1908 Italian earthquake), 1909. HHM Catalog # 20012370001
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Like the Gayety before it, the Fabian, at first, also juggled live acts and movies, and acknowledged Hoboken’s mix of languages and cultures. A 1930 handbill for a vaudeville performance of the Schaeffers, the Super Human Twins, is printed in three languages—German, Italian, and English—to draw the greatest possible audience.
Postcard, Gayety Theatre, 1013-1019 Washington Street, 1914. HHM Catalog # 20060340587
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Throughout the decades, until its demolition in 1969, the Fabian’s prominent downtown Washington Street marquee was frequently used for promotional photographs, including one from 1930 featuring a girl standing on the running board of a Pontiac, and another advertising a 1955 screening of On the Waterfront, with a Hoboken-specific lure: “filmed in Hoboken.”
Handbill, the Schaeffers, The Super Human Twins, performing September 18-20, 1930 at the Fabian Theatre. Hoboken’s German and Italian populations were so large, the handbill was printed in three languages—German, Italian, and English—to the greatest possible audience. HHM Catalog # 20120070053-3
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Interior photograph of the lounge at the YMCA, 1300 Washington Street, 1927.
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Black and white photograph of the Fabian Theatre, Newark and Washington Streets, advertising On the Waterfront, “filmed in Hoboken,” 1955. HHM Catalog # 20140250501
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The Gayety Theatre, 1013-1019 Washington Street, was built in 1907, replacing the Quartett Club, a German cultural society. In a sign of the rise of the Italian population in Hoboken—by 1910, they were the second largest immigrant group in the city, after the Germans—the Gayety early on created programming specifically for an Italian audience, as demonstrated by a program for a 1909 benefit for “the Italian sufferers” of a devastating earthquake.
Sepia-tone photograph of child actor Davey Lee on a running board in front of the Fabian Theatre, circa 1930. HHM Catalog # 20021760001-2
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The U.S. Theatre, 617 Washington Street, built in 1914, had a full stage and also showed movies. It eventually stopped offering theatrical performances, but old theaters were increasingly challenged by television. It closed in 1955.
One of the most outstanding and longest lived of the Washington Street theaters was the Fabian Theatre, constructed in 1928 on Newark and Washington Streets. The lots on which it was built had been used to grow tobacco well before the Civil War, and then hosted a row of houses. The theater’s cement construction was advertised extensively, as fire was still a constant hazard in wood buildings.
Postcard of the U.S. Theatre, 617 Washington Street, 1918. HHM Catalog #20060341170
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Interior photograph of the pool at the YMCA, 1300 Washington Street, 1927.
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