Qualla: Academy of Music (Atlantic City, New Jersey)

Academy of Music (Atlantic City, New Jersey): Introduction

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit DrVenkman at English Wikipedia, Public domain. Joseph Fralinger believed he was unlucky. He built three theaters in the same place on the Atlantic City boardwalk, and three different fires destroyed all three of them. The first burned down in June 1892, a few days before its scheduled grand opening. The second burned down in February 1898 along with fifty other businesses on the same city block. The third burned down on April 3, 1902, in a fire so large that it destroyed two entire boardwalk blocks and forced people fleeing the flames to be rescued by boat. Three buildings. Three fires. Three rebuilds. None of the fires actually started inside the theater - they all began in adjacent buildings and spread - but the outcome was the same each time, and after a while a pattern is a pattern. Fralinger is now mostly remembered as the man who popularized salt water taffy. The fact that he also built and lost three Atlantic City theaters is the harder story.

Image: DrVenkman at English Wikipedia | Public domain

Academy of Music (Atlantic City, New Jersey): Fralinger and the Taffy Empire

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Lisa Andres, CC BY 2.0. Joseph Fralinger is the man who made salt water taffy a national candy. He did not invent the recipe - that origin story is contested and probably belongs to David Bradley, also of Atlantic City - but he commercialized it brilliantly in the 1880s, packaged it in distinctive blue-...

Image: Lisa Andres | CC BY 2.0

Academy of Music (Atlantic City, New Jersey): The First Fire

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit User:dtcdthingy 3:30 pm 30th July 2004 (Minolta Dimage X20), Public domain. On June 22, 1892, a fire broke out in an adjacent building and spread to the Academy of Music before it had hosted a single paying performance. The theater burned to the ground. The rehearsals were interrupted. The opening was cancelled. Fralinger, Young, and McShea decided immed...

Image: User:dtcdthingy 3:30 pm 30th July 2004 (Minolta Dimage X20) | Public domain

Academy of Music (Atlantic City, New Jersey): The Second and Third Fires

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ron Miguel, CC BY 2.0. In February 1898 the theater burned again - this time as part of a much larger boardwalk fire that destroyed roughly fifty businesses on the same block. Fralinger rebuilt for a third time, alone, having bought out his partners. The new theater opened July 25, 1898, built entirely...

Image: Ron Miguel | CC BY 2.0

Academy of Music (Atlantic City, New Jersey): The Apollo and the Ziegfeld Follies

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit William Warby, CC BY 2.0. The Apollo Theatre opened April 13, 1908. Under Nixon and later his son Fred G. Nixon-Nirdlinger, it became one of Atlantic City's premier venues. It was known throughout the theatrical industry as a tryout house - the kind of out-of-town stage where Broadway-bound shows could be...

Image: William Warby | CC BY 2.0

Academy of Music (Atlantic City, New Jersey): Burlesque and Demolition

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit W. Reichmann, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Apollo ran as a movie theater for nearly forty years. In 1974 it was purchased by Al Baker Jr., renovated for $50,000, and reopened as the Apollo Burlesque Theatre. The opening show was titled Burlesque is My Thing and starred a performer billed as Hope Diamond. By 1976 the t...

Image: W. Reichmann | CC BY-SA 3.0