Regal UA Midway

Those who remember the Midway Theatre as a modernistic masterwork by Thomas W. Lamb will probably experience extreme nausea when viewing these recent images snapped by patrons. Click here

On its website, Regal lists this house as “Regal UA Midway”

Are there any photos of this place circa 2019?

Tonight will mark the 76th anniversary of the grand opening of the Midway Theatre, which was jointly funded by the RKO and Skouras circuits and debuted under RKO management. Ad displayed here

No matinees on the weekend. $13.25 for afternoon showings on the weekend, $10.25 during the week, outrageous.

I apologize for this comments length. I feel it important, though, for prior young male U.A. workers in the 70’s-80’s (for whom I worked at multiple locations at for near a decade). Esp. for people associated w/the Forest Hills Theatre, Midway or Continentals then.

Although, it is considered ill mannered to speak poorly of the departed, some cases are worthy of that breach of etiquette. Such is the case with 70’s-80’s long tenured N.Y.C. 5 boro U.A. Division Manager (whom I’ll refer to here as the cinematic molester ‘Freddie Krueger’). Regretfully this testimony may bring pain to “Krueger’s” relatives or social circle. That is sincerely not my goal. However, forthrightness & a scarred memory compels me to speak. On the surface “Krueger” was a pious, “religious” man. Twice married with kids. Underneath that veneer, he was a serial sexual predator. His prey was often teen or young adult male ushers, male candy staff or young male managerial staff.

As the sad multiple priest scandals & the Jerry Sandusky Penn State scandal show…the cliché that you can not trust a book by it’s cover is sometimes true. Such was the case here. Or actually it was not. Because “Krueger” was always vulgar, lewd & obvious to most people. His victims today show-the pain, anger or whatever residual feelings there may be that never go away completely. I am sad for all the young people who were affected by this vile, real life ‘Freddie Krueger’.'

Some were willing participants drawn by his tenured power, more were coerced or pressured. I was one person who said no adamantly. I knew one manager who said yes and unfortunately filled me in on the ugly, gory details as if he were proud of his ‘happening’ w/‘Krueger’ which happened in the candy stockroom of the (still opened today)U.A. twin theatre on Austin street in the late 80s.

It’s fair to ask, am I telling the truth. I can only answer that one Saturday late morning in ‘87 (I think), while summoned to “Freddie’s” D.M. office in the Forest Hills Midway at the time, before the theatre was open, he made his move on me. And to this day I still wish I didn’t have the knowledge of knowing that “Krueger” was uncircumcised. He dropped his trousers mentioning his hernia. Exposing everything to a shocked me. That was his way of “enticing” me in his warped mind. Later, I thought how dumb & naive of me to show up when the theatre was closed. Never made that mistake again. He often held bible meetings for young men in Forest Hills when he became a mgr. Of course these sessions were in the morning when the theatre was closed.

It was wonderful, when the “Krueger” dynasty finally came to an end in the late 80’s. He was unprepared/unable to handle the oncoming great expansion into the multiplex and computer era. A new, very smart, & fair D.M. replaced “Keueger” who was demoted to being a mgr. to a Forest Hills triplex then. Free from the yoke of being ‘blacklisted’ for not sexually complying to “Krueger”, I was free to advance on my merits alone finally. Within the first few weeks of the new D.M’s run, I was suddenly promoted. Surprised not. A year later, I confided to the new D.M. at his new office in the Sheepshead Bay multiplex, the horror of “Krueger’s” crude advances and comments to me. It was then that the long term D.M. secretary (and a former mgr. herself) there had also clued in the new D.M. of “Krueger’s” true nature & validated my words. He was just speechless. Although then, quite young, I’m happy to have been, at that moment, brave enough to be honest and not suppress the ugly truth. At that time, in the late ‘80’s, that kind of abuse sadly was just not brought up. Victims feared that they would be the guilty or labeled ones. That they had done something wrong to bring about such behavior from their sexual aggressor.

Happily now, more and more, kids and teens are encouraged and more important BELIEVED when something aberrant like this happens. And I say to any young people seeing this post who are unfortunately in any similar bad situation-say something. Please don’t suffer. You will be listened to & helped by the right services/people. In the mid to late ‘90’s, ravaged by ill health from excessive smoking, “Krueger” became a doorman at the Midway in the weekday afternoons. In ‘97, when going to see a film there, he still made a crude statement to me when I came across him. Sad. This old man at the ticket stand in the garish colored clown costume tops U.A. made their employees wear in place of the old style jacket & bowtie unis of the past. He had always been a scary looking man with his dark tinted glasses and his hard, haggard, very wizened face with the phlegm while talking. Old age rendered him even more creepy looking. From D.M. to doorman. Near him & the ticket stand was a small oxygen tank. Outside the theatre was his outdated even in the ‘80’s, old, big & ugly dark blue Oldsmobile Delta 88 car that I used to see roll into theatres when he was D.M. Am I harsh. Cruel. Yes. But if it was you or you had a child, relative or someone you knew that was affronted by a sexual predator how would you feel. His latent homosexuality isn’t the issue here. I want to absolutely stress that. It doesn’t matter. There is enough bigotry of that in the world. There is nothing wrong with that. It’s that he forced, coerced or enticed so many innocent, impressionable teens & young men that forever lingers with me. And that one regrettable Saturday when I was ambushed. I said no. I am sorry for those that felt pressured/accosted to say yes.

Saw a lot of great movies here.

The Queens Ledger-/Forest Hills Times features “Midway Theatre 70th Anniversary Benefits Alzheimer’s” by Michael Perlman: http://www.foresthillstimes.com/view/full_story/20349385/article-Midway-Theatre-70th-Anniversary-Benefits-Alzheimer-s On 9/24, patrons saw Hitchcock’s “Rear Window” (1954) & the proceeds benefited the Alzheimer’s Association (NYC Chapter). The Midway opened in 1942 & was named after WWII’s Battle of Midway. It was designed in the Art Moderne style by America’s foremost theater architect, Thomas W. Lamb. Please share & feel free to post a comment on the article link.

Used to be able to find some parking on the side streets north of Queens Blvd, paktype. But you had to be very lucky. I think this theater has been one that called for use of mass transit for many years, now – unless you live within walking distance.

Perhaps, but it may be hard to locate a showable print; in addition, the film does not appears to have been released on any form of home video to-date, which suggests that the rights may be entangled.

Thanks, Tinseltoes, for unearthing this material. Michael Pearlman may want to add this to the Midway site.

“Coming Attractions: Legendary Midway Theatre To Turn 70” in the Forest Hills Times/Queens Ledger by Michael Perlman.

Mark your calendar for a 70th anniversary celebration, likely on September 24, 2012. Let’s preserve & commemorate our Art Moderne theater designed by the great Thomas Lamb, & named after WWII’s Battle of Midway.

If you would like to share your theater memories or experiences or any comment, please feel free to post on the article link:

http://www.foresthillstimes.com/view/full_story/18969666/article-Coming-Attractions—Legendary-Midway-Theatre-To-Turn-70

A thank you to all who contributed to my article’s interviews.

I worked as an usher at the UA Forest Hills Twin on Continental in the early 80s….I’ve got a question: In my collection, I have a ticket on yellow stock, about the size of an index card, that says:

Skouras Air Conditioned Midway Theatre, In Person – On Stage, Sunday, August 26th at Approximately 5 P.M., Sensational Star of “5 Weeks in a Balloon” Fabian Extra Guest Star Peter Lorre, Plus! WINS’s Fabulous Disc Jockey Murray The K, – On the Screen – ‘5 Weeks in a Balloon’ plus Swingin' Along'

There’s no year, but imdb has 1962 for the release. Does anyone know if it was common then for the Midway, or the Forest Hills Theater on Continental, to host such live appearances? Appreciate it if anyone has any info. Thanks!

Ed, you read my mind! That’s how I also remember that it was a quad, as as a kid we would do the same thing there. I remember the ornate railing on the left that used to go up to the second floor. On the second floor landing up there, there were a bunch of video games, and I remember playing them when waiting for the movie to end prior to the time we were going. We also would try and sneak into one of the other theaters afterwards. I remember the Midway to be very clean and well kept at that time (at least next to my home theater, the Ridgewood). We would make the trek from Ridgewood on the subway to the Midway or Continental over on Austin St. While both were better kept than the Ridgewood, i think half the fun was riding over to the Midway on the subway “by ourselves”. I would usually just tell my mother that we were going to a movie at the Ridgewood.