100 years ago in the Saratogian
Sunday, March 11, 1917
Hundreds of people brave stormy weather to go to the movies this evening, The Saratogian reports, only to find the Broadway Theatre closed on Sunday for the first time this year.
Yesterday’s paper advertised Sunday performances at the Broadway, despite the lifting of a temporary injunction that had shielded Sam Newton Jr.’s theater from police raids. The theater was ordered closed on Sundays last December following an Appellate Division ruling that movies were illegal under the state law against public amusements on the Christian Sabbath.
Due to a technicality, the Broadway opened without challenge last Sunday. As of noon yesterday, the deadline for advertising in the Saturday evening paper, he had not been served with a formal notice that the injunction had been vacated. His ad announced Sunday showings of “My Fighting Gentleman,” starring William Russell, along with a half-hour newsreel program.
Because The Saratogian doesn’t publish a Sunday edition in 1917, Newton has no way to tell the public what happened after the Saturday paper went to press.
Papers were served on Newton at 4 p.m. Saturday. Shortly afterward, the theater manager met with the chief of police, the district attorney and the city judge, and agreed not to open the Broadway tonight.
“Consequently the regular patrons who found the theater dark on Sunday night, after tramping through a downpour of rain, were disappointed,” a reporter writes, “but owing to the bad weather the number inconvenienced was not as great as it ordinarily would have been, for the Sunday night performances are usually the largest attended of the week.”
A turbulent day of weather sees thunderstorms turn to freezing rain at night, creating spectacular effects on the city’s busiest streets.
“Fireworks that excelled anything Paine ever produced were furnished by the trolley lines. The wires had become coated with ice, along with everything else, and as the trolley raced along the wire and came into contact with the ice, there was a sputtering and crackling, accompanied by vivid and steady flashes of green light that brightened the surrounding country in a manner similar to a lightning flash.”
That’s the most entertainment Saratogians get tonight. In an interview for Monday’s paper, a furious Newton complains that City Attorney Harold Corbin waited until the “last minute” before serving notice on him, causing him to waste money on advertising and film rentals.
“I had planned to conform with the law but had expected at least a day’s notice on the service of the order,” Newton protests. The manager won’t say whether he’ll try to open next Sunday until he talks with his lawyer.