Autumn Years Fall 2023

Strand Theater, Ridgefield Park.

York booking agency. Before 1912, V. Van Buskirk opened what he called The Casino in his former carriage and har ness shop on Broadway in Westwood. Another Casino Theatre opened in Du mont in 1914 and was located in a con crete-block building on East Madison Avenue. Closter’s first theater opened around 1914, but closed when the Nemo Theater on Durie Avenue opened in 1917. The Nemo Theater closed by 1935 because the owner refused to switch over to talkies. (Many thought it was a pass ing fad). The Regent Theatre on Fort Lee Road in Bogota not only showed movies but was also a venue for local produc tions by civic groups.

Opera House, Ridgewood.

Numerous towns had theaters in the early 1900s. Many were small, and some were in converted commercial buildings. In Ridgefield Park, the Strand Theater opened on Main Street before 1910. The Criterion Theatre opened in 1911 on Ames Avenue in Rutherford; in addi tion to movies, it hosted vaudeville acts that were arranged through a major New

was Ridgewood’s first movie theater. And in 1913, it became a full time movie theater. The Western was al ways a popular genre in movies; art and life

collided when Chief Two-Guns White Calf (purported to be the model for the Indian Head nickel) and three other Blackfoot Indians came to Ridgewood in 1921. They were on tour for the opening of the film Bob Hampton of Placer, which ended with a depiction of Custer’s Last Stand (they had roles in the film). The theater closed in 1928 and was demol ished in 1932.

Casino Theatre, Dumont.

The Casino, Westwood.

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FALL 2023 I AUTUMN YEARS