Pink Floyd, November 3, 1971

Pink Floyd
Central Theatre
19 Central Avenue,Passaic, NJ 07055
November 3, 1971

Capacity - 2,357. No known recording.

This strikingly modern theatre was designed by John and Drew Eberson for the Fabian circuit and first opened in September, 1940, with a seating capacity for 2,400. Since the top Hollywood movies were already divided up between the city’s Capitol Theatre and Montauk Theatre, the Central Theatre’s main attraction was stage shows, with B-movies shown just as fillers. It was the height of the Big Band era, so the Central Theatre booked all the top entertainers of the time, starting with its opening bill of Charlie Spivak’s Orchestra, the Andrews Sisters, and The Three Stooges.

The Central Theatre will always been remembered for bandleader Glenn Miller’s last American engagement before he left to entertain the troops in Europe and ended up being killed in a plane crash over the English Channel.

After WWII ended, the Central Theatre continued stage shows until it could no longer compete with the variety programs that people could watch free on newfangled television. The Central Theatre switched to movies exclusively.

The Central Theatre was demolished in the 1970’s, and was replaced by a McDonald’s.

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This Passaic showplace was a fabulous Art Deco palace, and it was a real tragedy to see it demolished. It was less than 40 years old when it came down, and the construction crew underestimated the buildings structural integrity. It took several months longer than anticipated. It was certainly the most modern of Passaic’s theaters, which included the Montauk, Capitol, Lincoln (later Fine Arts), and Palace. There was also an old opera house, but that was torn down in (I believe) the 1930’s.

While the auditorium, downstairs lounge and lobby were a bit run-down from the years of black exploitation and kung fu movies, the backstage areas and balcony were in great shape. They hadn’t used the balcony in years, and it still had some of the original paintings and furniture up there.

It was also the first theater in Passaic County to install CinemaScope and 4-track magnetic stereo (for “The Robe”) and made the most of this fact in their advertising.

The Central had a huge facade, including an immense vertical sign. When they were demolishing the building, we found all of the original blueprints in a basement storage room.