Parthenon Theatre
329 Wyckoff Avenue,
Ridgewood,
NY
11385
329 Wyckoff Avenue,
Ridgewood,
NY
11385
6 people
favorited this theater
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There were also good science fiction movies made in the 50’s. Two of my favorites are “War of the Worlds” and “Forbidden Planet”. Both were in color and both had good special effects for their time. Although, if you look close at the spaceships in “War of the Worlds”, you can see the wires that hold the ship up. I assume that they were small models.
Alot of movies in the 50’s dealt with the effects of the A-bomb. The A-bomb woke “Godzilla” up. Some of those movies dealt with mutations from the fallout of nuclear testing. Do you remember “Them” about giant mutant ants? Were these movies making a political statement? I think that they were.
Tor Johnson was also with Lugosi, and a ginat octopus, in another Ed Wood masterpiece, “Bride Of The Monster”. The classic line about the Tor Johnson character in “Plan Nine” is :
“Inspector Clay is dead ! He’s been murdered ! And one thing’s for certain ! Someone’s responsible !”
I remember “The Black Sleep”, now that you mention it. I remember seeing a still from it in “Monster World” magazine in the spring of 1965. John Carradine was a wild-eyed fanatic shouting something about the Crusades, the Holy Land, and kill ! Johnson was an eyes-rolled-up zombie.
Today’s films are often just as bad, but in a different way.
What horror fan could forget Tor Johnson. He was an ex-wrestler turned “actor?”. In all the movies that he was in, I don’t think he spoke more than 10 lines in all the movies combined. I remember him in another “B” movie with John Carradine and Lon Chaney, Jr. called “The Black Sleep
”. If I’m not mistaken, Bela Lugosi was in this movie also. They sure don’t make them like they used to and I;m glad that they don’t make them like these anymore.
I liked “Invasion Of The Saucer Men” too. I recently identified it for another e-pal of mine. I think I first saw it on “The Big Show”, the ABC 4:30 movie, in 1963 or 1964.
I remember Gorshin as The Riddler on the Batman TV show and 1966 feature film.
Yes, “Plan 9” was Lugosi’s last film. He died during its production, so you get to see Ed Wood’s chiropractor, eight inches taller than Lugosi, and without the slightest resemblance to him, stumbling around California tract housing, with a Dracula cape up under his nose. It was dramatized in the 1994 film, “Ed Wood”.
The film wasn’t released until 1959 because for years Wood couldn’t afford to pay the photo lab’s bill for processing the film ! It features Lugosi, Vampira, Tor Johnson, The Amazing Criswell, washed- up cowboy actors, and movie-crazy Baptists, in a tale of Earth’s invasion by hubcaps and paper plates from outer space. As Criswell intones at its end :
“These are the facts, my friends ! May God help us in the future !”
Actually I kind of liked “Invasion of the Saucer Men”. There was one “famous” person in that movie. It was Frank Gorshin the impressionist who also played the Riddler on the Batman tv show.
Wasn’t “Plan 9 From Outer Space” the last movie that Bela Lugosi was in? Didn’t he die during the making of the movie?
lostmemory, thanks for the additional info on the Parthenon : for solving the “mystery” of the Ridgewood garage, and supplying the info on its “illustrious” ending. I LOVE those 50’s B low-budget chillers ! I have seen those three 50’s classics you mention. My favorite line from “Teenage Frankenstein” is :
“Speak ! You have a civil tongue in your head ! I know ! I sewed it there !”
When I saw the original “50 Foot Woman” on TeleMundo in June 2003, it was not only translated into Spanish, but converted into the metric system :
“Ataje De La Mujere De Los 15 Metros”
I wrote a review of this film for, and posted by, the Internet Movie Data Base. I’ll send it to you, if you like. I have the film on VHS, along with “Plan 9 From Outer Space”. You might also enjoy my IMDb review of “Queen Of Outer Space”.
Here is some more info for you on the Parthenon…..
The block bounded by Gates, Wyckoff, Palmetto and St. Nicholas, was 400 feet long and 200 feet wide. The prominent building on Wyckoff Avenue between Gates Avenue and Palmetto Street, was the Parthenon Theater. The theater extended about 125 feet along Palmetto Street toward St. Nicholas Avenue. The building along Palmetto Street from the rear of the Parthenon to St. Nicholas Avenue was called the Ridgewood Garage.
The Parthenon theater opened in February, 1921. It was owned by Herman Weingarten.
This theater closed in either 1959 or 1960. In the late fifties it seemed to specialize in low budget horror movies. I remember seeing the following movies there. “I Was a Teenage Frankenstein ” and “Invasion of the Saucer-Men” both in 1957. And who could forget the classic, “Attack of the 50 foot woman” in 1958. With “blockbuster” movies like those, is it any wonder this theater closed?
About a year after the theater closed it was converted into a bowling alley. I will try and get more info on this theater for you.
The marquee of the Parthenon Theater can be glimpsed in the following image :
http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?33351
It can be seen as a black-bordered white rectangle, with black letters on it, near the middle of the right edge of the image, under the el, and to the right of the trolley car. I think the image dates from the late 1940’s. The top word on the marquee looks like “FRISKY”. I can’t make out anything else.
For those present and former Bushwick and Ridgewood residents who wish to express their condolences and get-well wishes to Monsignor James Kelly of St. Brigid parish, the address is :
St. Brigid Rectory
409 Linden Street
Brooklyn, New York 11237
What was once the Parthenon Theatre can be seen in the following image. It is the half of slant-roofed frieze at the upper left corner, with the red and yellow sign beneath it reading “RIDGEWOOD BINGO” :
http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?1409
The western wall of the RKO Madison Theater can also be glimpsed in the same image, to the right of the green tower. It is a brown brick wall with the name RKO MADISON erased but with newer and bolder graffiti beginning to prevail.
The Parthenon Theatre was located at 329 Wyckoff Ave. and it seated 1503 people.