Madison Theater
1036 Madison Avenue,
Albany,
NY
12208
1036 Madison Avenue,
Albany,
NY
12208
3 people
favorited this theater
Opened as the Madison Theater in 1929, the theater was part of the Stanley Warner chain until 1975.
It was taken over by a owner in 1994, renamed the Norma Jean Madison Theater, and split into five auditoriums.
Two more screens were later added, made from former retail units.
The Norma Jean Madison, one of Albany’s oldest movie houses, finally closed in December 2001 after failing to pay its creditors.
The Norma Jean hadn’t shown a movie since early November and owed its distributors and vendors tens of thousands of dollars.
One of those groups, Boston Concessions Group of Cambridge, Massachusetts, took over the theater in Spring of 2002, and it was closed in 2003. After standing empty a while, an independent group took over and it re-opened on May 20, 2005.
The other Norma Jean theater, located just outside Canandaigua, was also closed and sold two months ago after the owner went $67,000 in debt.
Contributed by
Cinema Treasures
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Recent comments (view all 29 comments)
There was a fire in 1996, if the reference is to this Norma Jean. Am I correct in that there was only one Norma Jean in the city of Albany?
http://tinyurl.com/2wdsbq
There was only one theater by that name in Albany (thank God) and the fires did superficial cosmetic damage so the owner could close the building. Currently it’s up and running.
This is a recent close-up of the Madison Theater marquee.
Does anyone here know anything about the former theater on Clinton Ave? For a brief time during its recent rebuilding a bit of the modest spanish/moorish facade reappeared. Now it’s housing a black community organization and a SEFCU branch. I think it might have been a Paramount theater.
Eric- estott at localnet.com
Just felt I had to make a comment here.
I have been going to the Madison since I was a little kid. Saw many movies there and remember the original interior.
Since 1998 I have been the technician for the projection and sound equipment. First for Paul Feidler, who chopped it up and gave it the name Norma Jean. I rehabbed the equipment for BCG when they took it over.
When they left all the equipment was pulled.
In the spring of 2005 I was working on a booth install in California and got back with less than two weeks to get the new equipment running in one theater for Star Wars.
We then went on, one screen at a time getting them open. All 7 screens have been open for over a year.
I must confess that I am also one of the partnership that owns the theater and as of the summer of 07, the manager too.
The building has suffered from quite a bit of neglect over the years. With it open I hope to continue the improvements as the business will permit.
We have digital sound on 3 screens with the possibility of more as my time permits. Another dream is to get the 70mm sound working. Iâ€\m really just short a lens and the time.
We may not have all the state of the art wiz bang that the malls have to offer but I promise that you will enjoy yourself with a personal touch as everyone is appreciated.
Oh yea and I noticed that my head projectionist has already posted a while back too.
The new web site is www.madison-theater.com
My email is if you canâ€\t reach me through the web site.
Jay
The name of this theater should be changed back to Madison Theater. The Norma Jean operation has been disassociated with this theater for some time.
jay pregent came into my theater today and gave me his card so i looked up the madison. very cool
Here is a recent night view of the Madison.
Not the Madsion theatre I was looking for.
I loved going to the “Madison” while attending Albany College of Pharmacy in the 60’s. It’s design was plain ,but it was clean and spacious. It looked Quite elegant in it’s neighborhood setting. When attending “ Von Ryan’s Express” starring Frank Sinatra ,a power outage resulted in issuance of free pass to everyone attending. I remember this since such has never happened to me before or since. Just lucky I guess. The film turned out great! Ray , Charlotte NC