Whitman Theatre
160 Walt Whitman Road,
Huntington Station,
NY
11746
160 Walt Whitman Road,
Huntington Station,
NY
11746
3 people
favorited this theater
Showing 101 - 125 of 141 comments
View link
AD FROM 1979 when the Whitman, for a few years, was a friggin' “grind house”. Does anyone else remember this?! I saw this double bill, and never laughed so much in a movie theater in my life (in that Plan 9 “so-bad-that-it’s-funny” way). Yeah, this will never happen again…http://bp1.blogger.com/_qleC7xLAvHg/Rnv60oYyNcI/AAAAAAAAAIE/GePm_p4SZnc/s1600-h/WHITMAnTheatre-AA.jpg
The York and the Whitman seemed to be “brothers”. The York was a little more “grungy”. I saw “Young Frankenstein” there. After the Whitman theater, McCrory’s and Cookies Steak Pub closed there was NO REASON to go to that mall anymore. Have you been there lately…it’s horrible! I think that was Long Island’s first indoor mall (1964).
The most mentioned movies on this site are: 1)The Sound of Music.2)Jaws.3)The Godfather. 4)the first three Sean Connery/ James Bond movies. 5)Star Wars (THE MOST MENTIONED MOVIE ON THIS SITE —and the first two sequels too). 6) the 1974 re-release of Gone With The Wind. 7)E.T. ****************************************
These hits do not get mentioned as much as they should (Block-buster-wise): Grease, Saturday Night Fever, Willard (incredible as it seems now,this was the most talked about movie in town at the time!),The Exorcist (gets mentioned once in a while), American Graffiti (never gets mentioned!),Airport(the original) and the BIGGEST movie of 1970, Love Story.
Bloop, the Commack Drive-In, I’m assuming, is “folded in” with the RKO Commack Twin page, since it was part of that theater. If you want, make a seperate page for it. You seem to have a lot of info on it. I remember the Long Island Arena and Flea Market on that site, too…
tHE YORK THEATER WAS IN THE BIG H CENTER ALSO RAN THESE TYPE OF FILMS FOR A WHILE …
I believe at one point, the Whitman was a “blind bid” theater. I remember in 1978 through 1980 or so (I was in high school), they showed super low budget 42nd Street type movies like “H.O.T.S.” “The Children”, “Screams of a Winter’s Night” (which Quentin Terantino showed at a festival in Los Angeles recently!)and obscure Joan Collins movies like “The Bitch”, “The Stud”—real garbage. These were really crappy movies that would not show anywhere else on Long Island. (But I went to see them anyway!). By 1980 or 1981 I saw “Dressed to Kill” there, and it was business as usual. I think the Big “H” Shopping center in Huntington Station was run by the same company? On another note: Long Island people: how come no mention of the Happauge Theatre? OR Commack Drive-In on here ??
have you heard anything about greenacres?
Your right and it’s days are numbered too :(
cool fact out of all the theaters in that ad in NY only GREENACRES is still open!
1966
View link
Back in the early ‘60s, c. 1964, we went to church at the Whitman. I’ll never forget those huge tragedy/comedy masks on the walls. The masks and the mass combined to scar me for life ;–).
Here is a fun summer double bill
View link
the theater stayed open for years because they were trying to get permits for a 10 plex.Century had a 100 year lease on this theater that they gave up when the town would not grant permits.
Having worked in the area in the last few years that this theater was operating, I think I know why it closed … it looked like garbage. The awful marquee sign by the roadside was literally falling apart toward the end. And the theater itself was very run-down. I was surprised that it survived the mall renovation in 2000.
longislandmovies, we may very well know each other. I worked @whitman from may ‘82 to may '84. I knew some people at Shore and York.
longislandmovies, at one point I did work for Mrs. Burns, but I spent most of my time at the Whitman working for Bruce Johnson and Jim Ward was the Division Mgr.
Let me guess, YOU’RE TIMMY REDFIELD?
after 2 weeks @ Whitman, DMDWP moved to the York to make room for ET.
There were none in the Bronx either right?
Funny i never heard talk of a Manhattan location.
According to the 1999 Loews directory, the correct address is 290-4 Walt Whitman Mall, Huntington Station NY 11746 – 1 screen – 770 seats – with a mono sound system – highest ticket at the time was $7.25 – Manager was J.P.
longislandmovies
Did the original Centurys company before the merger ever think of trying a Manhattan location?
You worked for mrs BURns?
Riboflavin i must no you …… I thought dead men played at the york .could have been a moveover..
Et played here for a year i will see if i can find more info
I have to a correction to the 56 week comment. It was, in fact, only 23 weeks.
I started work as an usher at the Whitman on May 14, 1982. “Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid” premiered that night and ran for 2 weeks, to be replaced by “E.T.” on May 28th.
It ran for 23 weeks, and was replaced by “The Missionary” (starring Michael Palin on November 5th.
I set up the Marquee for E.T.’s last day – It read “E.T. IS GOING HOME”
I used to have a list of all the movies that played there while worked there, but it’s among the missing now. I never would have thought that sometime in the future there would be websites to distribute such trivia.
And yes, I also confirm the seat count at 778.