Brooklyn's historic Prospect Hall is slated for demolition. In 1908, the hall and its outdoor gardens were also the studios of the Crescent Film Company operated by Herman Kolle (brother of hall proprietor William Kolle) and Fred J. Balshofer.
Excerpts
from One Reel a Week by Fred J. Balshofer and Arthur C. Miller, University of
California Press 1967:
“Next
to and in connection with the dance hall was an open air summer beer garden. On
warm summer evenings neighborhood families would sit around at the separate
tables, drink nickel schooners of beer, and watch second-rate vaudeville on a
stage raised about seven feet above the ground. A screen rolled down from the
arch over the stage and this was used to show movies.
“A song plugger sang popular tunes, accompanied by a piano, while the hand-colored lantern slides on the screen changed according to the lyrics of the song. There was only enough business to warrant operating on Saturday and Sunday evenings. If it rained, people would move into the dance hall and the show would continue there.”
“We
used one corner of the summer garden for our open-air studio and, as in the
early days of Lubin, daylight was our only source of light for photography. We
arranged a tiny laboratory under the stage and bought a used Pathe field camera
that had seen better days.”
