The 1940's

January 1, 1940

Some of the most famous theater organists of the day played the Shea's organ at one time or another including Lloyd Del Castillo who dedicated the instrument when the theater first opened in January of 1926; Harold Ramsay, a well-known Canadian organist; Henry Murtagh who played it for several years; the renowned Jesse Crawford who played it for two weeks during the theater's eleventh anniversary celebration in January 1937 and a host of others. With the outbreak of World War II the organ ceased to be used on a regular basis, the last musician to have played it being Arthur Crosson, a well-known local organist. The last time the organ was played professionally during this time was in July of 1964 when the American Theater Organ Enthusiasts held their annual convention in Buffalo, played by Pearl White, Gaylord Carter, and Lowell Ayars during their convention.

When Shea's Buffalo Theatre first opened, Hollywood film studios sold their films to movie houses under a practice called "block booking", where a movie theater was obligated to buy all of the studio's films to show - until 1948, when the Supreme Court ruled in United States vs. Paramount Pictures, a landmark antitrust case that lead to the decline of the Hollywood studio system and forced the ownership of Shea's Buffalo to be eventually sold to Loew's theatre chain.