RKO Albee Theatre

Theatre was in the beaux arts style. Architect Thomas Lamb. Opened January 25, 1925 and demolished in November 1978. Prime Brooklyn RKO house.

the site is now home of the Galleria, a troubled multi-level shopping mall.

A description of the theater as it was when opened is in the book "Mr. Bojangles", by Haskins and Mitgang.

The RKO Albee Theatre's address was 1 DeKalb Ave..

The Albee was always considered one of the most important and beautiful theatres in Brooklyn. In its first years, it played two-a-day vaudeville exclusively, but finally had to give into the competition by adding a feature movie and shifting to continuous performances. Vaudeville was finally dropped in 1934-35 when it became economically unfeasible due to the Depression. As the RKO Albee, it was exclusive first-run for all of Brooklyn, getting the movies direct from their Broadway premiere engagements. However, due to the product "split" between three other downtown Brooklyn palaces-- the Fox, Metropolitan, and Paramount-- the Albee played mainly 20th Century-Fox and RKO releases. This meant, as it did with the other three theatres, that the double-feature programs usually had to be "held-over" for at least one extra week, which was not rewarding except in the cases of the biggest hit movies. Because of its size, the Albee suffered when the New York area switched to the "Premiere Showcase" type of saturation release and the theatre lost its exclusive status. Due to a simultaneous decline in downtown Brooklyn's shopping district, the Albee's demolition seemed inevitable as the community tried to save itself with new construction projects.

Too bad it couldn't hold out longer,Brooklyn Heights is a prime location now.

I still remember all the neon and marquees lit up during the Christmas holiday season shopping trips to all the major shopping stores. This would have been between 1959 and 1972. I also remember the Fox being torn down and the Nevins Street entrance to train under scaffolding for some time. I was to young (thank God!) to feel the impact older generations might have had. The Albee's marquee was the best since I can't remember the Paramount's.

The Albee was demolished in 1976.

The End. Photo link:

Brooklyn Public Library link

Need a projectionist who worked at the Albee in 1952 to give me an answer....My father took me to the Albee, when I was 11 years old for my first encounter with "King Kong", which was reissued some time in 1952. The ads in the Daily News at that time advertised that it would be shown on some kind of new type of screen, which I believed was designed by RCA. As I also recall, when we saw the film, it was projected onto the rear section of what appeared to be a shadowbox of some sort. My question is what was the purpose and what was this type of screen supposed to do to increase the King Kong experience.
Hopefully, there is someone out there who can answer this inquiry as well as the one I posed on the Savoy (Jamaica, Queens, NY) website.

Erwin, it was called the RCA Synchro-Screen. According to a write-up in the 1952 Film Daily Year Book, the screen had side wings and a top panel which picked up and reflected diffused light from the picture, imparting a new sense of realism by making the action on the screen appear to occupy a larger portion of the patron's field of vision. It was invented by theatre architect Ben Schlanger and his associate, William Hoffberg, and marketed by RCA. The snowwhite screen fabric was made from heavyweight Firestone "Velon" plastic...If I recall correctly, some of the top RKO theatres had them. The circuit might have had an exclusive for the Greater New York area. I recall going to the RKO Keith's in Flushing to see one and left disappointed. I was expecting more of a 3-D effect from publicity that I'd read. I believe that they were all scrapped by 1953 because they were incompatible with the new wide screen projection systems.

Thanks Warren, as usual, you are indeed a source of a wealth of information about all these things. I guess these screens were a kind of synergy of the times if RCA still had an interest in RKO.
However, they were a disappointment to both of us and just did not live up to their hype. Thanks again.

This theatre only memorialized the name of Albee. He was already dead for eleven years by the time it opened, so he hardly could have built it as suggested in the introduction above.

In an issue of The Journal American the ad for Tuesday Dec 2, 1958 announces the last day for Robert Wagner and Jeffrey Hunter in "Love and War" paired with Anne Bancroft in "The Restless Breed" starting on Wed was the first NY showing of "The Spider" along with "Terror From The Year 5000". I think these were Fox films, even though they sound like AIP.

I saw the first day of the re-issue run of "King Kong" (1933) at the Albee along with "Island of the Dead" (1945 release). This was also the first day of this new type screen. I have a very negative impression of this screen. Image was lacking in contrast and as I recall I got a headache. I would not go back to see another movie on this type screen.

For the RCA Synchro Ray screen, there's a pictorial spread about it in Theatre Catalogue (1950-51) with full explanation and photos of its installation in the RKO 58 Street as the first of its kind. I remember the Albee advertising its installation in conjunction with its showing of "All About Eve" in late Fall '50. My aunt saw it there, and I quizzed her about it. It did not seem at all special. When I finally saw it for Disney's "Robin Hood," the thrill had worn off. The screen showed up at other theaters beyond the RKO chain. In upstate NY, for example, an Ithaca Journal from summer 1952 advertises it as the house special at the art-deco Ithaca Theater in an ad for "Where's Charley."

I'm very interested in the comments about the screen. The Cinephone theater in Birmingham England had one which must have been installed in the mid 1950's as it was in the CinemaScopE aspect ratio. It gave one the impression that it was floating in space!

New Year's Greetings for 2005 from Melbourne, Australia.

Michael Healy
michael.healy@australiaonline.net.au

I know the Albee was near the Kings. There is again buzz about reopening the Kings on their section of the site (1360). I see some of you were to that page, but maybe the others would like to look.

I would lived in Manhattan as a kid in the 50s, but closely followed
the bookings at the Albee since they would inevitably end up at my RKO 23rd St within a couple of weeks.

Frequently, the 2nd feature would be changed. I guess if audiences were walking out on it at the Albee, they'd try something different when it hit the rest of the circuit.

I have some copies of old NYT ads from the RKO circuit, if anyone is interested in a small list of some of the bookings for the Albee, email me.

Jerry 42nd Street Memories

The Kings and Albee were both in Brooklyn, but not near each other. The Albee was in downtown Brooklyn, while the Kings is several miles from there in the Flatbush district...The second features at the Albee were sometimes different from the RKO circuit run only because the Albee was restricted to playing RKO, 20th-Fox and some Universal releases. Albee did not have access to the Warner Brothers releases, which usually played the Fox, Strand and sometimes Paramount. So if the RKO circuit had an upcoming double of a Fox and WB movie, the Albee would have to show a replacement for the WB. It had nothing to do with movies suddenly being publled because of poor audience reactions.

Interesting, Warren. Looking at my ads, they seem to have substituted some Allied Artists releases as well. Bowery Boys features, for instance, that never made it to my RKO.

Jerry

Apparently I was wrong. I thought there was a forth theater by Erasmus. Apparently there were only the Albemarle, the Rialto, and the Kings.

Did the Albee ever play THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE in the 1960s? I think I may have saw it there.

I remember going to the RKO-Albee in Brooklyn after a film had its NYC Mid-town debut......after playing the Albee, the titles would then go to the neiborhood RKO theaters, such as the Madison & Bushwick in my old neighborhoods.........I remember in the mid-1950s, when TV was really putting a hurt on movie-attendance, the Albee ran a double bill featuring two Italian language films with English subtitles....."The Iron Crown"-1941, which was re-issued in Italy and Europe and cut down to 88 minutes from its original 125 minutes in 1946/48----the co-feature was "The She Wolf"-1951........Advertising for the double bill, it said "No One under 18 years of age admitted......I was about 14 or 15, but was tall for my age, and got in with no problem.......The Albee was plush inside, with carpeting throughout, as many of the RKO chains were.........Joe From Florida---sasheegm

I remember the RKO ALbee very well. It was a beautiful theatre. I loved going to downtown Brooklyn as a kid with my family. We kids would see a movie at THe Albee or Fox,while my mom & grandmother shopped at A&S,Martins and Mays department stores.Later,we would go eat at Juniors. I recall seeing the old Beach Party movies there.

Went to all of the downtown theaters Rob.......We took the old Myrtle Ave El to get there.....and Namms was a big Dept Store....I think Mays took them over......I moved to Long Island in 1959...great memories.....Joe From Florida...sasheegm

Christmas of 1960 The RKO Albee and RKO Palace were both presenting "Can Can". The ad said 1st time at popular prices and continuous performances.

Until saturation release took hold in the 1960s, the Albee always played ahead of the rest of the RKO theatres in Brooklyn. However, due to the product "split" in downtown Brooklyn with the Paramount, Fox, and Loew's Metropolitan, the Albee did not show all of the movies that landed on the RKO circuit, and was limited to 20th-Fox, RKO and some Universal releases. "Can-Can," of course, was a Fox release. While I was on my first trip to Los Angeles in 1959, I was lucky enough to visit the set and meet Frank Sinatra and Shirley MacLaine. This was only a few days prior to the more celebrated visit by the Soviet premier, Nikita Khrushcev, and Mrs. K.

Warren,

How exactly did the "product split" work in Brooklyn? I noticed in the ads from the 50s, the Albee usually played the same "A" film that hit my RKO 23rd St immediately afterwards but that the Albee frequently had a different "B" picture. I also noticed the the Allied Artist Bowery Boys series always played Brooklyn but never my Manhattan RKO/Loew's theaters.

The "split" in downtown Brooklyn was usually 20th-Fox, RKO and some Universal releases at the Albee; MGM, UA and some Universal at Loew's Metropolitan; WB and Columbia at the Fox, and Paramount at the Paramount. For about 10-15 years, the Fox and Paramount were both run by Fabian, so sometimes a WB film would open at the Paramount and a Paramount release at the Fox. The second features at these four theatres tended to be from the same distributors as the main features. A second feature at the Albee, for example, had to be from Fox, RKO, or Universal. When the main features went on the circuit, RKO could choose from more studios, so it didn't have to use the same combination as at the Albee, though sometimes it did...I'm not an expert on the Bowery Boys, but their films were always scorned by the NYC critics and usually didn't play either the Loew's or RKO circuits unless there was a product shortage. They usually opened at the Rialto or New York, and then went straight on to the lesser "nabes" in the boroughs. And sometimes they were part of double features of programmers that ran for two days early in the week at Loew's and RKO nabes. Some of those theatres could not sustain a full week of the same program, so they would run it for five days (Thursday through Monday) and then show the "B" movies for two (Tuesday & Wednesday).

Thanks, Warren. Speaking of the "two-day bills", I'm looking at an ad from 1959 where the RKO's (except Albee, Palace)all played a new double feature (of revivals) for 1 day only!

Ad reads "TODAY ONLY...TAKE YOUR CHOICE....54 GREAT PICTURES * 27 DIFFERENT SHOWS"

Unfortunately my RKO 23 got Brigitte Bardot (bad news for a 9 year old) paired with Pork Chop Hill. Now that I think about it, I guess the two films did go together. j

Here is another Bardot flick at the Albee under "Adam and Eve". Bardot was hot in the late 50's after "And God Created Woman". I wonder if this film was made before that one and released to cash in on her fame?
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a13/ChmnofBrd/NakedTheDead.jpg

The theatre description says the Albee closed in 1973 but this ad for "Coffy" shows it open as of 1974.
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a13/ChmnofBrd/Coffy.jpg

The Albee was one of the most lavish theaters in Brooklyn. As a young teenager I remember being overwhelmed by the size and the beauty of it. Even if the movie you were seeing was not very good the thaeater was always a thrill. A few films I remember seeing there include: Assault on a Queen, Tony Rome, Masque of Red Death, Tickle Me, and Beach Blanket Bingo

To Gustavelifting re your Feb 7, 2005 comment:" I thought there was a fourth theater by Erasmus. Apparently there were only the Albemarle, the Rialto, and the Kings". My response: Yes there was a fourth and a FIFTH too: add the Kenmore which was on Church Avenue and the Astor which was right next door.

Just thought of a SIXTH: the "Flatbush" on Church Av going the other way from the Kenmore

Here's a 1931 image, with Bela on screen and Bernice on stage:
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/139-3993_IMG.jpg

A Wurlitzer organ Opus 870 Style 260SP was installed in the Albee Theater on 8/5/1924.

"The Pleasure of His Company" moved to the Albee from Radio City
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a13/ChmnofBrd/Movie%20Ads/pepe.jpg

"Carnal Knowledge" opened in RKO's all over Brooklyn
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a13/ChmnofBrd/Movie%20Ads/CarnalKnowledge.jpg

I recall the beautiful crystal chandeliers when I went with my dad to see "Titanic" with Barbara Stanwyck & Clifton Webb at this theatre. In those years, the movie palaces around DeKalb avenue made the area exciting.

This photo of the RKO Albee is supposed to be from the 1960's.

The RKO Albee was one of the most sumptuous movie palaces that I ever had the pleasure of going to in Brooklyn. It was one of my very favorites for grandeur It really looked like a palace once you walked in there.
I recall seeing many outstanding double-bills notably "A Night to Remember" about the Titanic and "The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker" with Clifton Webb, among many others including "Imitation of Life" with Lana Turner.
After I moved away from Brooklyn in 1969 and later got the news that the grand theatre was destroyed, I was heartsick.

JoeB

Dear lovetheoldtheaters
I saw Pillow Talk with Doris Day and The Rock at the Albee. What a wonderful movie theater. And the Big Sign all light up at night, called ALBEE in lights was great.Then on to Juniors Resturant for a bite. Great memories. Anniegirl
posted by noeleanniegirl on Apr. 29 2006

Annirgirl, it was always a nice experience when we went to the RKO Albee in downtown Brooklyn.
I also remember Juniors (it's still there and in business) and was across from the Paramount Theatre. That had yummy cheese cake.
Do you recall a Chinese Restaurant that was located above the some stores on Fulton St.? It was on the same side of the street as EJ Korvettes. We use to dine up there and the vegetable soup was terrific. We use to take home a quart.
Those were the days.

Yeh I do but i forgot the name my Aunt had her Wedding Shower and Baby Shower there I will ask my Aunt if she remembers the name. It was on the same side as Mays Department Store EJ Korvetts was the old Oppenheimer and Collins Store. MY Aunt's used to get their hair permanants done at Oppenheimer and Collins. The store was located west of Martin's department store Anniegirl.
posted by noeleanniegirl on May 1 2006

EJ Korvetts was across the street from BONDS Clothes and the Metropolitan Theater Block. Anniegirl.
posted by noeleanniegirl on May 1 2006

I graduated in 1969 from Franklin K. Lane High School in Brooklyn and our graduation ceremony was held at the RKO Albee, such a majestic theatre! Needless to say, we all got a bit of stage fright when we had to walk up to that stage and pick up our diplomas!

The Albee was one plush Brooklyn theater, reeking of class and the fragrance of fresh popcorn. As a very young kid, I was always familiar with it because my first dentist, a wizzened old gent by the name of Bruder, had his office in the Albee Building. (He always stocked his office with super Dick Tracy comics, probably worth a small fortune at today's inflated prices!) The Dime Savings Bank Building was directly across the street, and Browning & King, an upscale clothing store for boys and young men, was also close by.

Brooklyn's downtown area of the late '40s and early '50s was accessible by many city streetcar lines (the DeKalb Ave. trolley stopped right in front of the Albee), elevated lines (Myrtle Ave. el), buses and autos, though parking was always poor. My mom would drag me around all day to Abraham & Strauss (A&S) Department Store, Namms, and McCrory's (a 5&10-cent store when nickels and dimes had a semblance of value for kids), but it never occurred to her to drop me off at the Albee, the Fox or the Brooklyn Paramount.

By the summer of '57, the lure of real and C-O-O-L air-conditioning (the Peerless on Myrtle Ave. only had a couple of cheap fans!) seduced me to part with a dime and ride the el two stops to the end of the line at that time, the Bridge-Jay St. station, and then take a fairly long walk over to the Albee. Some films I saw were on double bills such as "I Was a Teenage Werewolf" and "Invasion of the Saucer Men," and "The Delicate Delinquent" with Jerry Lewis, but I cannot remember what it was paired with. I didn't attend many movies there, as my family moved to another part of Brooklyn in '58, but I was always fond of this theater.

P.S. to klass, who graduated from Franklin K. Lane HS in '69: You were a few years behind me, so you may not remember a pop singer who also attended Lane, Brian Hyland ("Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini," "Sealed With a Kiss"). A lot of guys used to smack him around after school c. 1962 or so. No respect. Last month, I was at a buffet an Indian gaming casino in San Diego when I met a Lane graduate and his wife from that era. Asked him about Hyland. His reply? "We used to beat him up about once a week." LMAO!

I enjoyed reading your recollections of Fulton St., BrooklynJim. I remember the stores that you mentioned including May's although E.J. Korvette was my favorite. It was affordable.
I lived on Stockton St., off Tompkins Ave. and the Myrtle Ave. El was around the corner from me. I recall passing the Peerless Theate on my way to Fulton St. but never went in there. It looked like a 'dump' although I am a 'dump' fan. Frequented many in my day.
However, the RKO Albee was the cream of the crop and I'll always remember those enjoyable days I spent there.

JoeB

ps to BrooklynJim-I very well remember Brian Hyland, since we grew up on the same street (78th Street in Woodhaven) His house was directly across the street from P.S. 65 where I went to school in fourth grade. Brian was a bit older than me but his brother Bruce was the same age as me and we were in the same grade. I also recall him having another brother Barry. (I think all the kids were named after the letter "B".) I remember meeting Brian at the home of my friend who's brother and he were good friends. He gave me his autograph. Once Brian became famous, the family moved to Long Island. Last I heard, Brian was living in California.

Aha, so Brian is now out here in La La Land, eh? Looks like I'll hafta smack him around on THIS coast, klass.. Ha!

And to lovetheoldtheaters, I forgot Mays. Dang. I shouldn't have, but I did. I knew there was at least one missing. Tough to get old.

Hey, if you like "dumps," you would've enshrined the Peerless on your all-time Top Ten Dive list. But like you, I'm rather fond of it myself. It was my Roots de Cinema. So call up that movie house on your PC and check out some of my comments there. Wished you'd have gotten off the el at Washington or Vanderbilt just once way back then. I mean, I used to get off at Tompkins. Worked for the summer of '70 at a poor Spanish mission on Tompkins & Vernon, probably a block in the other direction from you.

P.S. to LTOT: E.J. Korvette's showed up somewhere between '55-'56 or so. Used to buy my hardcover (w/ dust jacket) Hardy Boys books there for a whoppin' 88 cents! And LPs were sold at a decent price in the early '60s, like $2.94 each. Not too shabby fo' us po' folk...

Now, here's the big 64-cent question of the day: Did that above-named store's name stand for "Eight Jewish Korean Veterans?"

BrooklynJim, you might find this interesting:

E.J. Korvette was founded in 1948 (two years before the Korean War) by a Jewish World War II veteran named Eugene Ferkauf. Ferkauf explains the nomenclature thusly:
“I had a name picked out for the store, E.J. Korvette. ‘E’ is for Eugene, my first name, and ‘J’ stands for Joe Swillenberg, my associate and my pal. As for ‘Korvette,’ it was originally meant to be spelled with a ‘C’ after the Canadian marine sub-destroyer, simply because I thought the name had a euphonious ring. When it came time to register the name, we found it was illegal to use a naval class identity, so we had to change the spelling to ‘K.’”

So there you have it. E.J. Korvettes does not stand for Eight Jewish Korean Veterans, not does it stand for Eleven Jewish Korean Veterans.

JoeB

That's what my grandfather told me, BrooklynJim... but this is something of an urban myth. The first paragraph in the following archived 1961 article from Time Magazine spells out the origins of the discount store's name quite nicely:

http://time-proxy.yaga.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,826963,00.html

The article also reveals that the very first Korvettes opened in Manhattan in 1949... before there was even a SINGLE Korean Veteran (Jewish or otherwise).

Neat-o! I learned something today, courtesy of JoeB & EdSolero, who will each split the 64 cent prize when I get back to NYC later this year. (Well, at least a cuppa coffee...)

I'll take a slice of cheese cake at Junior's, BklynJim.

Y'know, on my next trip back, hopefully later in the year, mebbe some of the guys like you, PKoch, robbie, JoeB, Bway, 'Tonino, etc. could get together at Junior's or some good eatery over in Ridgewood. (There goes my bella figura!) Let's give it some thought, movie fans...

During the planning stages (July 1920) for the theatre it was to have been called the Orpheum Theatre. The theatre closed on Sept. 21, 1978 and was razed in Nov. of 1978.

The real Orpheum Theater was located nearby at 578 Fulton St.

I am putting up pictures of souvenir programs and other nice movie material that relates to theatres especially in new york city.
here.
http://s110.photobucket.com/albums/n94/irajoel/

Most of the items are for sale and you can see these and more than 5,000 other items for sale at my website
www.cinemagebooks.com
please feel free to email me at irajoelirajoel@yahoo.com
this is a great site, I can get lost on it.
I have many fond memories of the Albee Theatre as I went there when I was a kid. It was always there when my mom took us shopping downtown Brooklyn, and some of the films seen were invasion of the body snatchers, bernadette, blue denim and others that I can't recall at the moment.

My parents met and were married while working at the Albee in the early 1930's. The ushers all wore uniforms (dark blazers, white pants). My father was head usher and inspected his "troops", military style, each day. Every week during the depression there was a sizable raffle, which filled the 3,200 seats of the Albee as well as the other RKO theaters in town. There was an impressive bit of theatrics with telephones ringing from the other RKO theaters and my father would announce the winning ticket number from the stage.

When advertising a new movie they sometimes had a convoy of cars down the avenue. One car had loud speakers promoting the film. And, in at least one case a pretty woman (my mother) was the cheesecake interest.

I found a small item in the NY Times' online archives dated October 1st, 1922, concerning the plans for this theater. As William posted back on June 13th, the theater was to be called the Orpheum, even though it was intended "as a memorial to the late B.F. Keith, founder of the Keith Vaudeville Circuit." It seems that Keith Circiut President Edward F. Albee had announced that the plans for the new theater and ten-story office building were complete and that the project would cost some $3 million tp construct. Ironic that the theater would come to be named after Mr. Albee in the end, despite the planned Orpheum moniker and intention that the house would memorialize Mr. Keith!

Just to give some historical perspective on the subject of conservation, the article also mentions how difficult it was to assemble the site for the project. "There were sixteen old buildings on the plot, all of them Brooklyn landmarks."

By the way, great photo from Lost Memory back on November 11, 2005, that seemed to escape comment from anyone. Lost comments that the shot is from the 1960's, but the place is already shuttered with the marquee referring passersby to the RKO Kenmore and displaying a sign for the Albee Square Mall that would replace the building. We know the theater was open as late as 1974, thanks to RobertR's posting of the ad for Pam Grier's "Coffee" on July 4, 2005, so the photo must be from the mid-'70's. Does anyone know exactly when the theater closed and when it was demolished?

Furthermore... the introduction above should be corrected. Edward F. Albee did not die in 1914. Nor was he born in 1867. It was Benjamin Franklin Keith, Mr. Albee's partner, who died in 1914 (having been born 1846. Mr. Albee, born in 1857, survived until 1930, long enough to see the company he co-founded with Mr. Keith merge with Martin Beck's Orpheum Circuit to form Keith-Albee-Orpheum which would quickly lead to partnership with RCA with the formation of RKO (Radio-Keith-Orpheum) in 1928.

RKO Wishes You and Yours a Merry Christmas (1952):
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/rko52.jpg

A rare view of the auditorium. The Albee was one of three large theatres in downtown Brooklyn designed by Thomas W. Lamb, preceded by the Strand and Loew's Metropolitan:
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/bkalbee01.jpg

"Closed for alterations". They weren't kidding.

1, 2

Warren, that interior shot of the Albee auditorium looks very similar to the auditorium of the RKO Palace in Cleveland. Check out the Palace and see what you think.
http://s18.photobucket.com/albums/b123/dave-bronx/Cleveland%20Theatres/RKO%20Palace/

Although stage revues originating at the Capitol Theate on Broadway usually moved on to Loew's Metropolitan in downtown Brooklyn, "Rio Rita" (with Kitty Carlisle in the title role) was an exception. It ran instead at the Albee, since RKO had put up $12,000 towards the revue's production to secure bookings for some of its key theatres across the country. While "Rio Rita" rented for $5,800 per week, RKO got a reduction of $1,000 per week until it earned back the advance paid to Loew's. During that summer of 1932, the "Big Four" palaces of downtown Brooklyn were in the midst of a price war, with weekday tickets reaching an all-time low of 25 cents until 2PM, 35 cemts to 5PM, and 50 cents thereafter (all only slightly higher on weekends and holidays). According to Variety, "Rio Rita" and the film "Night World" grossed about $20,000 for the week's engagement at the RKO Albee. At the Capitol, which had a higher price scale, "Rio Rita," with "Huddle" on screen, had registered $66,000 in a single week booking.
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/kittyalbee.jpg

Nice Clipping Warren and interesting article-----As a youngster I went to all "5" in Downtown Brooklyn-----I always included the Strand along with the Albee, Paramount, Fox,& Metropiltan when looking to see what was playing in the area------Now I own video of "Night World"--1932(Great little film)& of Bebe Daniels in "Rio Rita"-------Thanks for the article----Joe From Florida

Two views of the closed theatre before demolition can be found in a depressing new article about the current Albee Square at www.forgotten-ny.com

The introduction should have an "Also known as" for E.F. Albee Theatre, which was the original name of the theatre. It became a cinema by default, and was described at opening as "The World's Masterpiece Among Playhouses." In its first years, the E.F. Albee presented vaudeville only, on a two-a-day policy with the biggest stars, ala Keith-Albee's flagship Palace Theatre on Broadway in New York City. Larger and more elegant than the Palace, the Brooklyn theatre was named in honor of E.F. Albee, who was then head of all the Keith-Albee enterprises. The theatre first opened on January 19th, 1925, with this as its inaugural program:
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/albeeopener.jpg

In August, 1929, Radio-Keith-Orpheum, the recently named successor to Keith-Albee-Orpheum, canceled plans to build five large theatres in Brooklyn and sold the land sites, most of which had been purchased by the B.S. Moss division of KAO. RKO had decided to concentrate all of its resources on improving its existing theatres rather than building more. Some of the sites already had buildings which would have been demolished to make way for the theatres. The sites were:
1)-30,000 square feet on the west side of Nostrand Avenue at the intersection of Flatbush Avenue and Germania Place;
2)-28,000 square feet at the NE corner of Kings Highway and Ocean Avenue;
3-38,000 square feet on Eastern Parkway between Ralph and Howard Avenues, running through to St. John's Place;
4- 40,000 square feet on the east side of Fifth Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets;
5- 38,000 square feet in the block bounded by Marcy Avenue, Havemeyer Street, South Fourth and Fifth Streets.

P.S. to my previous post. Site #1 is near the Brooklyn College campus. Germania Place is now called Hillel Place...#2 would have been competition to the Kingsway Theatre...#3 near Loew's Pitkin...#4 in Sunset Park...#5 in Williamsburg.

Here's a link to the Albee Square article on the Forgotten NY website that Warren mentioned above. If you scroll about 2/3 of the way down, there is a large vintage B&W image of the cobblestone Flatbush Avenue Extension which depicts a marquee at far right that reads "Photoplays"... What theater is this? I believe it to be a glimpse of the old Subway Theater.

In July, 1959, RKO Theatres, by then a subsidiary of Glen Alden Corporation, sold the Albee and four other large theatres to a real estate syndicate called Theatre Realty Company Parnership, according to reports in The New York Times and Variety. No purchase prices were disclosed, but as part of the deal, RKO leased back management of the theatres for a term of 20 years, with options to renew. In addition to the Albee, the theatres sold were the Fordham in the Bronx, Proctor's 86th Street in Manhattan, and the Madison and Keith's Flushing in Queens.

Here is a 1922 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/3xgytd

Here is a newspaper ad for Disney's "The Three Caballeros" (1944).

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r90/athardy/athardy%202/RKOAlbee.jpg

Joe B.

Hey Joe B... what happened to the photo? Did you post the wrong link or is this the record for quickest deletion of an image from a Photobucket account?

This link provided background on Keith's history:
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9902E0DE153CE633A2575AC2A9629C946396D6CF

Here's a new direct link to a rare image of the auditorium:
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/bkalbee01.jpg

It certainly was majestic. I remember it well.

Joe B.

Tempus fugit! Albee Square Mall has been demolished and will be replaced by City Point, "a five-story open-air mall with 500,000 square feet of retail space," according to an article in yesterday's NY Daily News. The story noted that downtown Brooklyn draws 100,000 shoppers daily, and has some of the highest retail rents in all of NYC.

This wonderful 1940 view of the downtown shopping district and Fulton Street elevated line was kindly contributed by JF Lundy. The Albee's marquee can be seen at left. Although the Albee was considered RKO's "flagship" in Brooklyn, it did not get all of the movies shown at the RKO neighorhood houses in that borough. This was due to a downtown "product split" with the Paramount, Fox, and Loew's Metropolitan. The films at the Albee were mainly from 20th-Fox, RKO, and Universal. Both films represented in this photo were from 20th-Fox. When they reached the RKO neighborhood theatres, "Earthbound" became a second feature to RKO's "My Favorite Wife," and "I Was An Adventuress" was support to WB's "It All Came True":
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/rkoalbee.jpg

Many of you will probably know of this already (I hope I'm not repeating a reference to it from somewhere in this wonderful though voluminous thread), but there is an excellent book titled "When Brooklyn Was The World 1920-1957" by Elliot Willensky, published in 1986. It has amusing and informative text and a wealth of fantastic photos (including some of theatres). I actually was looking up the Albee here at Cinema Treasures as it was mentioned fleetingly in the book...didn't realize I'd come upon such a treasure trove of info about Brooklyn in its heyday! I highly recommend the book to all who are interested in the history of Brooklyn and/or U.S. urban history generally.

My ex-wife was a asst manager at the Albee in the 70's and I have some great memories of this great theater from being there every night to pick her up. One of my favorite places in the theater was the projection booth as the long time projectionist whose name escapes me right now had the coolest collection of old movie posters. The Albee also was where I attended my first concert on my own...Kool and the Gang and others. I also attended my first x-rated movie "Sweet Sweetbacks BadAsssss Song...I was 17 at the time but the usher consulted with security guard and let me and my friends in but said he would keep an eye on us. Does anyone remember that there was a 50 room hotel behind the stage and each room was named after a state. The cops would always be hanging out in the rooms playing cards and drinking. The rooms had gold fixtures on the sinks and tubs and were very nice. More memories to come...

Another great memory from the Albee was watching the Ali-Frazier "Rumble in the Jungle" fight. The line was wrapped around the corner and almost down to Flatbush Ave Ext. I spent many nights at the theater cleaning up, popping popcorn, or just watching the same parts of the same movie night after night waiting for my wife to get off work. Me and my friends always felt exclusive because we would watch the movies by ourselves on the balcony when the movie wasn't full and the balcony was closed. We had free reign of the soda from the upstairs concession stand. How I miss the old style movie houses...they really need to make a comeback along with drive in theaters.

The year given for these photos is 1970.


Photo1

Photo2

Photo3

Photo4

Photo5

Passed by the site the other day -- a big hole in the ground. What a waste to tear this down for a tin and glass mall that lasted less than 30 years. Good grief.

Would that be called progress or stupidity?

The year given for this photo is 1971.

I just happened to be the unit publicist on "The People Next Door," which was produced by Herbert Brodkin for Joe Levine's Embassy Pictures in late 1969 and early 1970. Most interiors were shot at a studio on East 126th Street. Exteriors were filmed in Westchester County except for a few at a high school in the outskirts of Great Neck, Long Island:
http://americanclassicimages.com/Default.aspx?tabid=141&txtSearch=albee&catpagesize=25&ProductID=30626

That's interesting but that photo has already been linked to on this page. "Photo5" posted on Apr 14, 2009 at 5:58pm.

Warren, why are you doing so many duplicate links, what advantage is that to CT?

Accidents happen. Give a brother a break.

Oh what a beautiful theater this was. The large chandelier, the plush carpeting. Of the 4 golden-age theaters in downtown Brooklyn, The Albee, The Paramount, The Brooklyn Fox and the Loews Metropolitan, the Albee was my favorite. They must have had distribution deals with American International since I saw several Vincent Price Poe films there: "Masque of the Red Death," "Haunted Palace" as well as Vincent in "The Last Man on Earth." Also numerous Universal films: Hitchcock's "The Birds," Brando and Niven in "Bedtime Story," Sandra Dee in "I'd Rather Be Rich,"Tony Curtis in "Wild and Wonderful," etc. I also saw Heston in "55 Days at Peking" and Richard Boone in "Rio Conchos" at this great theater. The first time I ever took the number 2 train alone, from my home in East New York, was to see Troy Donohue and Connie Stevens in "Palm Springs Weekend" at the Albee in 1963. During much of the early to mid-'60s, my friends and I would go to the Albee or the Loews Met, then hit the record and book departments of Korvettes and A&S nearby. There was also a Howard Johnsons across the street. I remember eating there with my father and staring out the window at the Albee. (I believe it was showing Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine in "Irma La Douce.")
I remember being Downtown Brooklyn in the early to mid-1970s and seeing that the Albee had degenerated into showing Kung-fu and Blaxploitation films. Very sad.
Not long afterward, they tore the Albee down and put up a rather poor mall. Now I've heard they they tore that down as well.
However the Albee, like so many other theaters of my childhood, lives on in my memory.