Bellmore Movies & the Showplace

According to the current signboard affixed to the front of the theatre the name should be Bellmore Movies. On the destroyed marquee it read The Movies. However, the original, antique marquee read Bellmore. When the old marquee was in place the facade of the building was so rustic that I felt that they should have had a hitching post rather than parking spaces, seriously.

A double bill
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RCDTJ… I realize this, of course. It just seems to me that if a theatre is going to run such a rare and important engagement as THE JAZZ SINGER that they would make sure to have the proper aperture plate on hand. Apart from the recent showings at the Loew’s Jersey, this was the only showing of the film’s restored print in the NYC area. What a shame they couldn’t present it properly.

You have to realize that most theaters only have a 1.85 and 2.35 plate and lens. It’s very rare that they would have to run 1.33 or 1.66

Was at the screening of the “Jazz Singer”. While the print was OK for some reason it was screened as a “wide screen” film. When Jolson sang the projectionist had to lower the film on the screen because Al’s head was cut off. After the film there was a Q & A session hosted by the President of the “Al Jolson Society” which was very imformative.

Mickey Rooney and his wife appeared in their touring show here recently.

Both. The union operators became managers so it IS still a union booth.

Bellemore has a century head and RCA soundhead. 3000Watt Kniesley lamphouse. Christie platter. Smart ModVI no surrounds. They also run video. Also has century on century backup with 1600Watt lamp. They run a lot of live shows too.

longislandmovies, I agree with you. I wonder when the Roslyn was built. I worked the house in the late early 60s for a while, it sure was creaky, The curtain went up and down and squeeked going up and squeeked even louder coming down. But it had a lot of charm back then, with a couple of older dedicated employees like the candy lady who was in her 70s and always gave me free soda with a wink like, don’t tell the boss.

Long Island and Ed, What about the ole Roslyn by the clock tower?
That might be rather old. Unfortunatly it’s no longer a single screen.

At some point, the theater space must have been refurbished into a simple unadorned box. As I wrote previously, there was no obvious sign of any ornamentation or detail work in the auditorium or small lobby. It looked like it could have been carved out of retail space sometime in the ‘70’s.

I have a freind whose cousin was involved in a movie that was accepted for the Long Island Film Festival that played here last year. I was in attendance and all of the films were projected from digital media (like DVD, etc). I didn’t notice an overhead unit in front of the screen, so I assume there was a video projector in the booth. The movies themselves (one feature and several shorts) appeared to have been shot on 35mm, but there was some tell tale “letterboxing” and at one or two points a blue screen with a digital counter in the corner was projected for a few seconds before and after some of the films.

Anyway, I didn’t get the feeling that this was a very old theater at all. The auditorium is a long and narrow rectangle featuring a two aisle configuration, dividing the seating into a central main section and two smaller side sections. There is no decor to speak of, just plain, flat, unadorned walls and ceiling. The lobby space is similarly plain with a low ceiling and small candy counter to one side. I got the feeling there might have been another auditorium running parallel to the one I was in, but I might be mistaken – I was too preoccupied with congratulatory conversations to make much note of the theater’s layout.