General Cinema Essex Green I-III
5 Rooney Circle,
West Orange,
NJ
07052
5 Rooney Circle,
West Orange,
NJ
07052
3 people
favorited this theater
Located behind the Essex Green shoping center, off Prospect Avenue in West Orange, the cinema had three screens.
A standard General Cinema style design, its main auditorium featured THX and an enormous screen (in the “picture screen” style). Two other theatres (Which, I presume were add-ons) were directly to the right of the large house. The roof proudly displayed the ‘CINEMA’ sign that was GC’s signature.
The location closed a day before their all new location, up the hill, actually in the center of the outdoor shoping center opened, the Essex Green 9.
Contributed by
John J. Fink
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Recent comments (view all 15 comments)
My favorite theater when I was a kid. I’ll always remember seeing my first movies here.
I grew up in Maplewood and Roseland and remember going to the GCC Essex Green Cinema on many occasions. In particular, I remember going to a James Bond movie marathon there during the 1970’s and seeing the original Superman there during late 1978 or early 1979. It was just down the hill from Stern’s Department Store (now a Macy’s). Once the old theatre was demolished and moved to it’s new location up the hill, a new Shop Rite Supermarket was built in the area where it was situated.
The original Essex Green Cinema opened as a single screen house seating about 1000 in 1966. The October 10 issue of Boxoffice that year ran a brief article about the new General Cinemas house. It said that Maurice D. Sornick was the architect.
The April 10, 1972, issue of Boxoffice reported that the theater had been renamed the Essex Green Twin Cinemas on the opening (March 29) of a second auditorium accommodating and additional 800 seats.
The June 4, 1979, issue of Boxoffice said that General Cinema’s Essex Green was slated to reopen as a triplex on June 15. The conversion was accomplished by splitting the second auditorium in two. The original main auditorium remained open during the conversion.
Correcting my comment above: The 1966 issue of Boxoffice used a variant spelling of the architect’s name. It should read Maurice D. Sornik.
I was employed by the GCC Essex Green Cinemas from September 1987 to September 1988 and enjoyed working with a lot of the people there. BTW does anyone happen to know what became of our two projectionists Jimmy Heckle and George (I can’t remember his last name).
Right across from where Essex Green was (now a shop-rite) its successor will become a fork and screen theater.
thanks Bill Great 2001 ad.My friend Nick in Tampa sent me a copy like that from the Tampa paper.don’t see ads like that anymore,Heck don’t see ads much at all and quite frankly most movies stink today anyways.
Just a where are they now moment, John Monsport the longtime manager of the Essex Green I-II-III and his wife who was the manager at the Rusty Scupper restaurant (now a Courtyard by Marriott hotel) now run the AmericanPlace Movies on Route 202 in Flemington.
and BTW the Essex Green I-II-III address was not Rooney Circle, at least when I worked there all our mail came to a Prospect Avenue address.
Head projectionist Jimmy Heckel, opened up the booth at the new location. I worked with him for about the first year. I don’t know where Jimmy went to after that. I opened that theater as a manager and stayed until after AMC took over.