Academy of Music (Atlantic City, New Jersey)

The Academy of Music was the name of three theatres located in Atlantic City, New Jersey at 180 S New York Ave on the Atlantic City Boardwalk. The various theatres were all destroyed by fires in 1892, 1898, and 1902. The first Academy of Music was built by Joseph Fralinger and his partners in 1892. The original structure of the theatre was destroyed by fire on June 22, 1892 before it ever opened to the public. It was rapidly rebuilt and opened on July 16, 1892. Over the next six years, the theatre predominantly served as a venue for variety theatre but also offered performances of plays, operas, and other public events such as lectures. The theatre was one of many buildings destroyed in a large fire in Atlantic City on October 8, 1898; a blaze which destroyed approximately 50 businesses.

Alone, Fralinger rebuilt the Academy of Music following the 1898 fire. This new structure opened on July 25, 1898 on the same site as the old theatre. It too presented a variety of entertainments, extending from operas and musicals, to burlesque, vaudeville, and straight plays; including productions that came to the theatre from Broadway. An even larger fire destroyed this theatre along with many hotels and other businesses in and around the Atlantic City Boardwalk on April 3, 1902.

In September 1907 construction began on a final theatre, the Apollo Theatre, on the 180 S New York Ave property. It opened on April 13, 1908. As with the other theatres, this structure was built under the leadership of Fralinger, this time with financial backing from theatre magnate Samuel F. Nixon. While Fralinger owned a primary interest in the theatre, it was leased by Nixon who operated the Apollo until his death in 1918 when his son Fred G. Nixon-Nirdlinger succeeded him. Nixon-Nirdlinger remained in charge of the theatre until his death in 1931. Under their leadership the theatre was known as Nixon's Apollo Theatre, and during their tenure it became an important tryout theatre for plays and musicals in development prior to their Broadway runs.

The Great Depression put an end to the Apollo Theatre's use as a legitimate theatre. It became a movie theatre in 1934 and operated in that capacity until July 1973. It re-opened as the Apollo Burlesque Theatre in June 1974. It presented live American burlesque shows in conjunction with screenings of X-rated films through 1977. In 1978 it briefly operated as a movie theatre called Charlie's Picture Palace before a fire caused by arson led to its permanent closure in September of that year. The building was demolished in 1985 not long after a piece on the forthcoming demolition was published by the Press of Atlantic City in the April 21, 1985 edition of the newspaper. Members of the newly created Atlantic City Historical Museum were given permission to remove items from the theatre in April 1985 shortly before the theatre was torn down.