American Theatre

American Theatre

circa 1912 (name changed to Family Theatre by 1930)

Address: 149 E. Seaside Avenue

Capacity: 450 seats

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Balboa Films 23-24: In this new theatre, a player piano had been installed, and as advertisement for the theatre, an enormous electric rendering of the American flag was placed on the front of the building.

Balboa Films 26: Not only was Long Beach producing Edison films, but the city was also the fashionable place where movie fans could see some of the newest releases before anyone else in the country. For example, one of the last movies produced by Edison in Long Beach, The Dances of the Ages, premièred at the American Theatre, a film considered quite original for its special effects, “The most spectacular ever turned out at the local studio.” The Long Beach newspaper called it “poignant” and “delightfully” executed (Daily Telegram, Apr. 12, 1913).