I know that there used to be 24 hour theaters in New York and L.A., but I wonder how often it was done as a way of accommodating huge crowds (The Godfather) or as a promotional gimmick, like this one?
I started going to the Victoria in the late ‘60s, and I recall that it had an unusual auditorium. The rear of the orchestra started high and then sloped downward (similar, in a way, to today’s “stadium seating”), but then raked upward again as it got the front rows, which was bizarre. Does anyone else remember the Victoria this way?
Was this the first time that patrons were told to come on time to a movie? Previously, all the ad would say was something like “Continuously from 10:30 AM. Come before 11:00 PM and see a whole show”
Interesting. I don’t recall the First Avenue Screening Room being renamed York Cinema, but I do remember a York Cinema from the 1960s a few blocks uptown, at about 64th St. (on the same side of First Avenue). That York Cinema was a revival house owned and operated by Warner LeRoy, until he used the space to expand his then-booming restaurant – Maxwell’s Plum.
RKO11 … I too remember both Davis and Crawford appearing together on stage during the “Baby Jane” run. I’m only about 95 percent sure of that, becasue I was 9 years old. I usually went to the movies on Saturday kiddie matinees, but that night my father took me first to where he was voting (November … Election Day!), then to the RKO Coliseum in Washington Heights. I also remember that it was a double bill with “Count of Monte Cristo,” which they interrupted when the stars appeared. No Baby Jane doll for me either.
Where on Broadway was this theater?
We should really bring back the word “ballyhoo”!
I know that there used to be 24 hour theaters in New York and L.A., but I wonder how often it was done as a way of accommodating huge crowds (The Godfather) or as a promotional gimmick, like this one?
I started going to the Victoria in the late ‘60s, and I recall that it had an unusual auditorium. The rear of the orchestra started high and then sloped downward (similar, in a way, to today’s “stadium seating”), but then raked upward again as it got the front rows, which was bizarre. Does anyone else remember the Victoria this way?
Was this the first time that patrons were told to come on time to a movie? Previously, all the ad would say was something like “Continuously from 10:30 AM. Come before 11:00 PM and see a whole show”
Interesting. I don’t recall the First Avenue Screening Room being renamed York Cinema, but I do remember a York Cinema from the 1960s a few blocks uptown, at about 64th St. (on the same side of First Avenue). That York Cinema was a revival house owned and operated by Warner LeRoy, until he used the space to expand his then-booming restaurant – Maxwell’s Plum.
RKO11 … I too remember both Davis and Crawford appearing together on stage during the “Baby Jane” run. I’m only about 95 percent sure of that, becasue I was 9 years old. I usually went to the movies on Saturday kiddie matinees, but that night my father took me first to where he was voting (November … Election Day!), then to the RKO Coliseum in Washington Heights. I also remember that it was a double bill with “Count of Monte Cristo,” which they interrupted when the stars appeared. No Baby Jane doll for me either.