Introduction
The Lyric Theater on Broadway and Newton Avenue was another house that showed both movies and live acts. In the 1920s it was one of the properties owned by the Handle & Rovner Amusement Enterprises, which in the 1920s had controlled five theaters in Camden; the Star, the New Lyric, the Garden, the Plaza, and the Colonial, and six other theaters in suburban South Jersey. Louis Rovner was one of the partners in this firm. By the early 1940s, Warner Brothers owned the theater.
Still open as late as 1947, the Lyric was gone by the fall of 1956.
Handle and Rovner Amusement Enterprises
Handle and Rovner Amusement Enterprises — Operating the Following Theatres
New Lyric Theatre • Plaza Theatre • Garden Theatre • Star Theatre • Colonial Theatre — in Camden, N.J.
Peoples Theatre • Le Voy Theatre — in Millville, N.J.
Grand Theatre • Globe Theatre — in Vineland, N.J.
Westmont Theatre — in Westmont, N.J.
Clementon Theatre — in Clementon, N.J.
Superior Photoplays — Divertisements — Novelties
Main Office: New Lyric Theatre Building, Camden, N.J.
New Lyric Theatre Program
New Lyric Theatre program, November 10, 1924.
Life’s Greatest Game • Daughters of Pleasure • Secrets
Circe the Enchantress • Abraham Lincoln
Camden High School Purple & Gold Yearbook
Lyric Theater advertisement in the Camden High School Purple & Gold Yearbook, January 1928.
At the Lyric
Camden Courier-Post —
NEW LYRIC THEATRE — Under Direction of Handle Rovner Amusement Enterprises
TODAY AND TOMORROW: MARIAN DAVIES in “THE FAIR CO-ED” — On the Stage: Miss Ted Leslie and Her DIXIE PALS — Comedy • M-G-M News
LYRIC THEATRE — Broadway at Newton Avenue
MONDAY, TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY: IRENE RICH in “THE DESIRED WOMAN”
On the Stage — Arthur H. Dalton Presents DANCES OF THE HOUR — An Act Replete with Singing, Dancing and Comedy
Wonder Dog Coming in “Jaws of Steel”
Camden Courier-Post —
LYRIC THEATRE — MONDAY, TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY: RIN-TIN-TIN in “JAWS OF STEEL” with Jason Robards and Helen Ferguson — Stage Attraction Extraordinary: STEUBING’S STRING BAND — Camden’s Own! The Pride of South Jersey
Rin-Tin-Tin, most popular dog in the world, will play at the Lyric on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Many a human actor would give half of his salary to create the ecstasy in grown-ups that Rinty does in the breasts of Young America, and not all of Young America is without gray hair and furtive bald spots. What has age to do, when Rin-Tin-Tin hurdles through space, swims roaring rivers or rescues his Master from the menace of the bad men.
In “Jaws of Steel” Rinty is shown first as the puppy pet of a little girl, going with the parents, by flivver, across the desert to prospect for gold. Rinty’s son plays this part, and topples over into the sand, as the flivver joggles on. It is undeniably Rinty himself, who, grown fierce and fanged, befriends the family later, and saves them from evil. Rinty is glorious as the hero of this exciting tale. He seems to know without being told, to sense the situation, to really feel the part he plays.
Steubing’s String Band, Camden’s own musical organization, is the stage attraction for the first three days of next week.
Victor Recording Orchestra at the Lyric
Camden Courier-Post —
Wilbur Sweatman made the first recording of Scott Joplin’s Maple Leaf Rag and is considered by many to be the first African-American to record Jazz, but he is remembered less as a jazz musician and more as a great showman famous for playing at first two then three clarinets at once. Duke Ellington, Sonny Greer, Otto Hardwick, Cozy Cole and Coleman Hawkins all played in his orchestra early in their careers.
It’s interesting to note the “Victor Recording Orchestra,” as Wilbur Sweatman released no records under his own name in the late 1920s. It would appear that this aggregation was doing session and studio work out of the Victor studios on 5th Street.
Safe in Hell / After Tomorrow
Camden Courier-Post —
LYRIC — March 29, 1932
Safe in Hell • Fred LaCosta Revue • The Giersdorf Sisters
Charles Farrell • After Tomorrow
Girl Crazy / The World and the Flesh
Camden Courier-Post —
LYRIC — June 3, 1932
Girl Crazy — Wheeler & Woolsey
The World and the Flesh — George Bancroft
Night World
Camden Courier-Post —
LYRIC — June 11, 1932
Night World — Lew Ayres • Mae Clarke • Boris Karloff • Ray Cooke • Jimmy’s New Yacht
Mystery Ranch
Camden Courier-Post —
Named: LYRIC, June 18, 1932, and George O’Brien in “Mystery Ranch”.
Secrets of the French Police
Camden Courier-Post —
Named: LYRIC, February 1, 1933, and “Secrets of the French Police”.
Marriage Ceremony Performed on Stage
Camden Courier-Post —
Following a wedding ceremony on the stage of the Lyric Theatre and reception at the Parkside Grill, Mr. and Mrs. William Schopp left last night on the first leg of their honeymoon, which will be spent at Niagara Falls.
More than 50 persons attended the reception, given in honor of the couple by Emil Muckensturm, Jr., proprietor of the grill. The ceremony was performed by Le Grand Roberts, mayor of Oaklyn.
Mrs. Schopp is the former Laura Marie Morris, of Oaklyn.
Mary Stevens, M.D.
Camden Courier-Post —
Starts TODAY LYRIC — Screen’s First Story of a Woman Doctor — “Tonight I Am Going to Forget the Advice I Have Given Others” — MARY STEVENS, M.D. — KAY FRANCIS • LYLE TALBOT • GLENDA FARRELL
Hospital Nurses Are Lyric Guests
The nurses of the West Jersey Homeopathic and Cooper hospitals will be the guests of the Lyric Theatre management today in order that their reactions from a professional standpoint may be recorded with the showing of “Mary Stevens, M.D.,” starring Kay Francis.
Whether there is any room for love and marriage in the life of a successful business or professional woman is one of the questions that arises in Kay Francis’ latest picture, “Mary Stevens, M. D.”
Miss Francis herself has very decided views on the subject. Happily married herself to Kenneth McKenna, actor and director, the brunette star holds that the woman with a career has, if anything, a better chance of “making a go” of marriage than her sister in private life.
As an eminent child specialist in “Mary Stevens, M. D.,” Miss Francis is assisted by Lyle Talbot in the role of the physician who is in love with her, and Glenda Farrell, as her office nurse and chief confidante.
At the Lyric
Camden Courier-Post —
Named: LYRIC, February 8, 1936, and Roy Mala “The Clark Gable of the South Seas”.
At the Lyric
Camden Courier-Post — June 29 – 30, 1939
At the Lyric — Broadway and Newton Avenue, June 29–30, 1939.
Movie Patrons Getting Fingerprinted
As part of the government’s plan to have an index of fingerprints of all citizens, Camden police yesterday took prints of patrons of the Lyric Theatre, Broadway and Newton avenue. Sergeant Rox Saponare is shown taking the fingerprints of Birk Binnard, manager of the theatre. Also in the picture are Patrolmen Charles Hance and Paul Jackson. —Courier-Post Photo
At the Lyric
Camden Courier-Post —
LYRIC — July 26, 1941
At the Lyric
Camden Courier-Post —
LYRIC — July 22, 1941
At the Lyric
Camden Courier-Post —
LYRIC — February 1942
500 Leave Theatre As Plaster Falls
Camden Courier-Post —
500 Leave Theatre As Plaster Falls
City Authorities Order Lyric Closed Pending Ceiling Repairs
Five hundred persons filed quietly out of the Lyric Theatre shortly after 9:30 p.m. last night after a section of plastering and metal lath collapsed under a section of the balcony.
Foresight on the part of management prevented what might have been a more serious incident.
When a small section of plaster crashed during the first showing of the picture, “The Adventures of Marco Polo,” Joseph McDevitt, assistant manager, mounted the stage and told patrons seated in that section there was no danger. He instructed them to move to the right side of the theatre. All complied.
Section Roped Off
Theatre attendants then roped off the area and the show went on without interruption.
City Building Inspector John Dziekanski after surveying the situation and examining the fallen plaster and metal lath ordered the theatre closed pending further inspection.
Brothers, owners of the theatre, said the company’s engineers had inspected the section. He also said the company will cooperate fully with city officials and that no expense would be spared to insure continued safety in the theatre.
Warner Brothers engineers said the section that collapsed measured 18x36 feet.
Conference Listed Today
The city building inspector and engineers of the theatre company were to confer today.
An unidentified person telephoned the city police department that the ceiling of the theatre had collapsed.
Battalion Fire Chief Barnes Erickson and Police Chief Frost with police radio cars and fire apparatus responded. Broadway traffic was jammed and hundreds of persons milled about on the sidewalk.
Erickson said he sized up the situation and ordered the show closed and the patrons evacuated from the theatre. The patrons left in an orderly manner.
James H. Carr, superintendent of city streets also went to the theatre. Several city detectives and patrolmen were on hand.
Dziekanski said it was “a bad job of plastering,” for which Warner Brothers or the local management could not be held responsible.
Chief Erickson corroborated Dziekanski’s opinion.
“The theatre manager and other employees did a fine job when they moved the patrons from the section where the balcony ceiling fell,” Erickson said.
Heard ‘Ripping’ Sound
Mrs. Udell’s grandson, Bertram Ellis, of 617 Broadway, said he heard a ripping sound before the plaster fell. Mrs. Udell’s husband, William, said he heard of the incident and ran into the theatre to help his wife to the street.
William Herbert, of 1000 Newton avenue, said:
“It looked to me like about 40 feet of the balcony came down with a twisting and crackling sound,” he said. “The manager spoke from the stage and told us not to get excited. I saw one of the heavy electric light fixtures crash. Some people were excited when the lights were not turned on. They kept showing the picture just as if nothing happened.”
John Nowrey, of 1388 Whitman avenue, said he was seated on the aisle across the section from where the patrons were told to move when the plaster came down.
“There was a long ripping sound,” he said. “Lots of people ran for the exits. I was showered with plaster dust.”
Constructed in 1926
The present Lyric Theatre, a fireproof building, was constructed in 1926 on the site of the original theatre bearing the same name. None of the old theatre is part of the present one. The original owners were Handle and Rovner, a local theatrical firm, which later sold the building to the old Stanley Company of America. Later Warner Brothers took over its operation.
“I was seated in the part where the plaster first started to crack,” said Mrs. Sarah Udell, of 1007 Broadway. “The manager told us to move over to the other side of the theatre, which we did.
“Some time later I heard a cracking and ripping sound and the plaster and metal fell near the place where I had been sitting with other people. Some people got excited and started running for the doors. I was scared when the plaster dust fell on the people.”
The New Lyric Theater
1944
The New Lyric Theater, Broadway and Newton Avenue, 1944.