[3] The brothers built up a successful enterprise, acquiring several movie houses which they managed until the outbreak of World War I, when attendance dropped off enough for them to end their interests in the theater business of New York City.
This new enterprise prospered under his management and he soon decided that Hempstead and the surrounding villages of that part of Long Island retained great promise for an expansion of the movie theater business.
He, along with several other Long Island theater owners, were indicted for breaking the law and showing movies or theatrical performances on a Sunday during the spring of 1923.
A few years later, local municipalities on Long Island began using their power to let theaters show movies on Sundays - which was allowable under the parameters of the state law.
[7] By 1927, the Calderone chain operated more than half-a-dozen theaters in Nassau County, including two in Hempstead, one in Lynbrook, one in Valley Stream, one in Glen Cove, one in Westbury, and one in Mineola.
[4] During the period of Salvatore Calderone's management of his theater chain (called during his day the 'Calderone Theatre Circuit') he aggressively promoted films and vaudeville acts.
"[10] Salvatore Calderone had been having health problems before he suffered a heart attack in the early morning of Sunday, February 10, 1929, at his home at 80 Terrace Avenue, Hempstead, Long Island.
His son, Dr. Frank A. Calderone (1901 - 1987), who was an expert on preventive medicine and a leading early figure in the World Health Organization, continued to operate many of the theaters created by his father until around 1980.
Named the "Calderone Theatre," it was designed by William Lescaze (1896–1969) one of the pioneers of modernism in American architecture and cost $2 million and seated 2,500 people.
[16] Performers who played at the hall during the 1970s and 1980s included Santana (at least four times),[17] Fleetwood Mac>, ZZ Top, Aerosmith, Jerry Garcia, Gentle Giant, and Rainbow.