Broadway Theatre (Toronto)

The Broadway Theatre was a burlesque live theatre and cinema in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.[1] The theatre was opened under the name of Globe Theatre, in 1918. It was renamed the Roxy Theatre in the early 1930s and assumed its final name, the Broadway Theatre, in 1937. It was located on the southwest corner of Bay and Queen streets at 75 Queen Street West.

The Broadway Theatre, on Queen, the vacant lot across Queen would become Nathan Phillips Square.

The Broadway was initially a traditional Burlesque theatre.[1] In 1933, it was renamed the Roxy and offered girlie shows. In 1935, the theatre's manager was murdered in his office.[1][2][3] $378 appeared to have been stolen, but, according to author and cinema historian Doug Taylor, Toronto Police did not believe robbery was the motive. The shooter was never identified.

Taylor wrote that when New City Hall was to be built on the north side of the street politicians felt that the Broadway, and the Casino Theatre, another Burlesque theatre, just five doors west, and pawn shops and the block's other businesses were inconsistent with civic dignity, and the whole block was expropriated and demolished, in 1965.[1] The block is now the site of the large Sheraton Hotel.

References
  1. Doug Taylor (2014). "Toronto Theatres and the Golden Age of the Silver Screen". Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 9781625849823. Retrieved 2018-10-14. In 1937, the name of the theatre was changed to the Broadway, which conjured images of the fashionable theatre district of New York City.
  2. "Queen and Bay /Then and Now". Lost Toronto. Archived from the original on 2018-10-17. In 1935, the manager was murdered in his office and his son-in law, Murray Little took over the management.
  3. Chris Bateman (2015-09-26). "A snapshot of Queen and Bay in the 1960s". Blog TO. Archived from the original on 2019-01-11. Retrieved 2018-10-17. Previously named the Globe and the Roxy, the Broadway specialized in vaudeville and b-movies. In March 1935, the manager, Abraham Appleby, was fatally shot inside his office, becoming one of six murder victims in Toronto that year. No-one was charged with the crime.

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