RKO Castle Hill Theatre

There is a recent photo of this RKO house from Jennifer Lopez's old neighborhood on forgottenny.com. Check out it and other theaters from the Bronx as they look now. As for the Castle Hill, it is now a church.

The RKO Castle Hill Theatre is located at 1320 Castle Hill Ave..

The Castle Hill first opened in September, 1927, which suggests that it had owners before RKO, which didn't exist at that time. The architect was William Shary, who used an English Tudor style throughout. Even the exterior wall above the entrance had castle turrets seemingly holding the marquee in place. After its closure in 1969, the Castle Hill's first tenant was a bingo hall.

Link to this former cinema:
http://www.crossroadstabernacle.com/home.htm

Crossroads is located in the Castle Hill section of the Bronx. The historic building, once the RKO Castle-Hill Theatre, has been transformed into a 1,000-seat, state-of-the-art house of worship. The restoration also includes new administrative facilities, a children's educational wing, and Studio on the Hill which has already been featured in various trade publications. The project was completed by the renowned Walters-Storyk Design Group and CHBO (Chris Bowman Contractors) Inc.

The exterior of the Castle Hill can be seen here...
http://www.forgotten-ny.com/STREET%20SCENES/theatresbronx/bronxthea.html

A Wurlitzer organ Opus 1740 Style E was installed in the Castle Hill Theater on 9/23/1927.

To promote his new film "The Ladies Man," Jerry Lewis appeared on stage at this theater on July 12, 1961.

As the RKO Castle Hill, the theatre had 1,454 seats, according to the records of Theatre Historical Society of America. Here's a 1953 view of the exterior, with an entrance that had obviously been "modernized" since the 1927 opening. The Wurlitzer organ was removed in 1930, no longer needed due to the arrival of "talkies": www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/castlehill.jpg

Here's a new direct link to the 1953 exterior image posted above on 9/9/07:
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/castlehill.jpg

This is a circa 1940 photo of the Castle Hill Theater.

Here is a a new direct link to the circa 1940 photo posted above on Jun 3, 2008.

I'm trying to confirm a promotional appearance at the RKO Castle Hill Theatre, of the Three Stooges, Moe, Larry and Curly Joe DeRita, to promote either "Three Stooges Meet Hercules" (1962), "Three Stooges in Orbit"1962) or "Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze" (1963).

I'm a Three Stooges Fan Club member. The Fan Club is trying to document all of their personal appearances. Any help on this, or any other PA's would be appreciated.
Thanks, Frank Reighter fereighter@aol.com

The promotional tour was almost certainly part of a tour that included a number of theatres per day. Although it may be an arduous task, the best way of confirming date and title would be to search newspaper advertising for those movies. If you have an approximate release date for those movies that includes the month as well as the year, that should make your search easier. Good luck!

On Friday January 26, 1962, the Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Curly-Joe DeRita) embarked on a three day promotional tour for their latest feature film, THE THREE STOOGES MEET HERCULES. They were accompanied by "The Herculean Giant" (almost 8 foot tall Dave Ballard) and popular DJ Clay Cole, who was one of the stars of the co-feature, TWIST AROUND THE CLOCK.

On Saturday January 27, they appeared at the RKO Castle Hill at 11:30 AM.