Studio One

I remember going to see a movie at Lynbrook and Studio 1 had a line around the corner for the film From Mayo to Mozart Issac Stern in China". Just from seeing that line made me see the film a few days later. Thats something we dont have anymore with these mass saturation releases. Plus with advance tele-tickets you can usually walk right in.

The address for the Studio 1 Theatre AKA Arcade, was 11 Atlantic Avenue, Lynbrook, NY.

I saw a lot of movies at this little, cute theater. It was around the block from the big Lynbrook theater on Merrick Road. It tended to show more arty films especially later in it's life. One of my best movie going experienes was here: having the living crap scared out of me by "Alien" in the fall of 1979.

Nobody had to travel far to see West Side Story for it's 1968 Christmas re-release.

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a13/ChmnofBrd/WestSideStory1968re-issue.jpg

As Chuck mentioned on Sep 11, 2004 this theater was known as the Arcade Theater. A Midmer-Losh organ was installed in the Arcade Theater in 1927.

I remember this theater being around the corner from the big Lynbrook, but I don't recall anything about the place at all. My Mom took a bunch of us to the movies one day, but while everyone else saw "Rocky II" at the Lynbrook, my buddy Mike and I split off and took in "Alien" at the Studio 1. I might have also seen a late night screening of the 1970 comedy "Where's Poppa?" and "A Clockwork Orange" sometime during the early '80's.

I took a photo of the building that currently sits at 11 Atlantic Avenue, now a retail space. While it seems reasonable that a small 375 seat art house would have been here at one time and converted to retail space, I can't reconcile the location with a 1920's era movie house where an organ was once installed! Could it be that the Arcade and the Studio 1 were different structures?

Here's the photo: http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b110/GuanoReturns/Nassau%20Theaters%202005/IMG_1681.jpg

If anyone has more info and history on either the Arcade or Studio 1 (be they one and the same or not), I'd love to read it!

The link I posted on Feb 25th no longer works. Below is an updated link plus a couple of current views of the former theater's rear wall:

Former Studio 1 facade
Rear view
Rear wall

Looks like the theater ran straight back in a line from its entrance on Atlantic with the screen wall facing Broadway behind it. Anyone have any further info on the history of the Studio 1 or its predecessor the Arcade? The first photo was snapped in Feb 2006 and the latter just a few weeks back in May of this year.

Does anyone have anymore info on this theater or mabeye some pictures when it was open? I belive that I went to this theatre to see "Boiler Room" around 2001?? Can anyone confirm if this was playing here then? I seem to remember that there were some hearing impaired people working there at the time.

My father and uncle bought the Arcade Theater in 1964 and converted it into the Studio One. They had created the chain of Colony Card Shops and decided to venture into something new. This was their first theater. I was 13 and was thrilled to walk in front of the line for A Hard Day's Night (shown with How to Murder Your Wife). (!) My mother was very involved in the decorations right down to choosing the tiles for the men's room. (salt and pepper) The small lobby and auditorium went straight back. The projection room was accessed by a trap door in the lobby ceiling. They installed a fancy curtain that rose for each show. It was a labor of love. My father was proud of his creative booking. Always double features and unusual combinations. They went on to buy or run the Roslyn Theater, both the Laurel and Lido in Long Beach, the Sands Point, Greenwich Cinema, CT, Bernardsville, NJ, and a few others. They called their outfit Colonial Theaters. You wouldn't call it a chain as they tended to sell or lease the theaters after a few years.
I loved the pizza place next door. Vincent's? I had my first calzone there. They expanded across the street. Also, any appliance we needed we got at Arnee's. My father would always befrend people and get good deals.
Keith Pollack

This Newsday story mentions that director Jonathan Demme saw his first movie at the Arcade theater in Lynbrook. That would have been around 1950.

Keith... Do you have any photos of the Arcade or Studio One in your posession? We'd love to see them here on CT (at least, I would). I saw a number of films here in the very late 70's and early '80's and I'm struggling to remember the look and feel of the theater.

I posted some current photos of the building (or of what I think is the old theater building) just above on June 11th, 2006. Can you confirm if I have the right location? Is the gift shop entrance approximately where the Studio One entrance was?

The 1926 edition of Film Daily Yearbook gives the seating capacity of the Arcade Theatre as 500. In the 1950 edition of F.D.Y. seating is given as 574.

I have passed this location many times and never noticed the back. And now, poof, there's an old theater right in front of me. Thanks, Ed.

Unfortunately I haven't any photos of the Arcade or Studio One. I came to this site to find them! As far as I can tell, your photos are accurate. Especially those from the rear where my father parked his car. The marquee of the Arcade was a semi-circle with a striking 'ARCADE' on top. The new marquee reflected the "modern" early sixties. A narrow horizontal square with a vertical one above it, centered, pointing out from the building and displaying the current show. Classy. All white, as was the facade which had a big red STUDIO ONE lighted sign. The theater had an intimite feel and was reborn with new seats, wall decorations, lighting, curtain, carpet, etc. My mother being an interior decorator, she really got into it. We had all sorts of fabric samples around the house. My father said that he purposely waited until A Hard Day's Night was finished, before they transformed the place for fear of damage. I recall that the Arcade was in a pretty funky state.
I want to tell of an unrelated phenomenon I noticed when I was working at the Roslyn Theater. The film, "Wait Until Dark" had a fun gimmick. During the last 10 minutes all of the lights in the theater would be turned out for the hair raising conclusion. We received no such instructions, but having heard the ads, I got into it. I flicked off anything I could find. Including the exit signs! At this point the screen is completely black as the music swells and we wonder of Alan Arkin is really dead.
When he lunges out toward Audrey Hepburn, the violins all hitting their highest and loudest notes, I noticed something interesting. Night after night I saw an entire audience actually rise several inches and fall back in their seats, along with the screams.

Thanks for sharing the memories, Keith. No chance of any photos in your parents' posession or your uncle's? I contacted the Lynbrook library about the Arcade/Studio 1 Theater, but they couldn't really help me. I believe there is a Lynbrook Historical Society, which may be an avenue worth pursuing... I just haven't as yet found the time.

I guess you also have confirmed that the theater's proper name was "Studio One" and not "Studio 1"... The name of this listing ought to be corrected accordingly. Also... did you guys run late night revival showings? Maybe at Midnight? I'm thinking particularly of Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange" as well as Carl Reiner's hilarious "Where's Poppa?" which possibly played with the late '60's French comedy "The King of Hearts" starring Alan Bates and Genevieve Bujold. Another late-night double feature I remember seeing was the popular pairing of "Kentucy Fried Movie" and "The Groove Tube." These all would have been around 1980-1983 or so.

I see the theater was just updated, but I'm not sure what info was changed. If Bryan reads this, we need to amend the following:

Name: Studio One (not Studio 1)
Seating: 574 (based on the 1950 FDY listing as posted by Ken Roe yesterday)

Not so fast. I believe that "1" is correct. But to make abasolootely shaw, I will call my cousin, Glen. My uncle's son became more involved in the theaters while my father opened an inn and I was busy being a hippy. Perhaps he has pictures! I will post any results.

Ed Solero heres and updated link for this theatre:

http://s18.photobucket.com/albums/b110/GuanoReturns/Nassau%20Movie%20Theaters/Studio%201%20Lynbrook/

The Arcade Theartre and moive house (aka "the Itch") (Studio One) was constructed in 1913 after the Lynbrook Lyceum burned down. It had a seating capacity of 549.

History of Lynbrook, Arthur S. Mattson

"The Itch"....that is just a weird nickname...

When a theatre is nicknamed the Itch, it means that the place is so run-down and decrepit that it is probably infested with fleas and other bugs, so that when you go there you wind up itching and scratching yourself.

There used to be Itches all over the country, but with the rise of the chains and the demise of the discount houses, most Itches are now just a fond memory.

Finally a pic
http://americanclassicimages.com/Default.aspx?tabid=141&txtSearch=CATAdvancedSearch1%2c32%2c3%2c-1&catpageindex=104&ProductID=30886

I saw this film here
http://americanclassicimages.com/Default.aspx?tabid=141&txtSearch=CATAdvancedSearch1%2c32%2c3%2c-1&catpageindex=104&ProductID=30887