Ritz Theater

46 Washington Avenue,
Carteret, NJ 07008

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This theater is listed in the 1944, 1951 and 1956 Film Daily Yearbooks.

Any additional information on this theater would be greatly appreciated.

Contributed by tc

Recent comments (view all 12 comments)

markp
markp on January 9, 2008 at 7:11 pm

My father was Joe Pusillo and was the projectionist at the Ritz for many years. The older gent refered to as Hitchcock was the owner. My dad used to tell me many stories about the Ritz. My dad worked there from the end of WWII till its closing around 1967. After this theatre closed, he went to work at the State in Woodbridge, until it closed in late 1971. He would return to Carteret as a projectionist in 1972 to open the brand new Jerry Lewis Twin Cinema.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on June 27, 2008 at 2:44 pm

There is a bakery at the address now. No way to tell if the bakery is in the old theater building, though.
http://tinyurl.com/5jhnp3

lostmemory
lostmemory on June 27, 2008 at 3:54 pm

Wouldn’t it better to find out if its the same building before posting information that could turn out to be worthless?

Warren G. Harris
Warren G. Harris on June 28, 2008 at 7:14 am

Speak for yourself, Ken. You do the same thing, frequently.

lostmemory
lostmemory on June 28, 2008 at 8:10 am

I didn’t know that your name was ken mc, “Warren”. Still clicking on his profile and mine each day to see what we each posted? Another cheap, toss away comment from you. Nothing ever changes here.

hondo59
hondo59 on June 28, 2008 at 8:48 am

If you look at the address using Google Earth satellite, you can see that this is a theater building.

lostmemory
lostmemory on June 28, 2008 at 10:22 am

How old is the satellite photo? Some of those photos are five years old. I don’t dispute a bakery being at this location. I’m asking if the bakery is located in the former theater building, or is the bakery a new building?

markp
markp on July 23, 2008 at 12:09 pm

Hi Lost, Movie534 here. I live about 4 miles from this former theatre, and I can tell you without a doubt, that a bakery and cookie outlet do indeed occupy the space. A lot of my relatives live in town, and my dad was a former projectionist here. (see above posts)

mikef
mikef on April 28, 2011 at 12:27 pm

the front of the building has the name ritz on it proof enough? It is a cookie bakery now

acherepo
acherepo on December 30, 2011 at 5:51 am

I grew up in Carteret and have fond memories of spending many a day at the Ritz theater, where you could see cartoons and a double feature for 35 cents. Instant babysitting, where our mom could drop us off for a good part of the day and not have to worry about us. I want to say the bakery caty corner and about half a block east of the Ritz was originally called Uhlman’s Bakery, where you could smell the baking from blocks away, and the candy store next to the Ritz was Harrigans, and a door or two down was another sstore where we sometime got candy but always got our comic books was Jakee Klien’s (not sure about first name spelling). As I recall, the movie was either owned or run by a Mr. Spewak or Spevak (again, not sure about the spelling). The young usher guy someone said reminded him of Lurch reminded me more of someone from Terry and the Pirates, or those guys who put a stocking over their heads and pull it back to draw their face back. He was freaky to us kids. I also recall sticky (from spilled sodas and gum) concrete floors, and seats covered underneath with bubble gum, kids throwing jaw breakers at the screen, and my favorite candy from the machine were Boston Baked Beans, They would also hand out a little bi-fold flyer telling you what movies were next, and it would be great if someone had one they could scan and post, as it would bring back lots of memories. I also recall the red plastic seats, the blue-lighted neon-like Flieshman’s clock up front on the right side, and I want to say they may have had a small balcony on each side near the front, but I am not sure.
I want to say they would typically show two of the same sort of movies, like two westerns, or two sci-fi movies. My mom would tell us about the earlier movie theaters in the area, as back in the 60s, the remains and sign for the old Majestic up the Hill in Carteret, could still be seeen along Roosevelt Avenue. The Majestic in Pert Amboy was one of the old, grand type theaters, much larger than the Ritz. I also recall the Woodbridge Drive-in, and they had a mock-up space ship up near the Woddbridge Circle, where you sat inside this cigar-shaped rocket ship, they would raise it up at an angle, it would shake, and you would get out on the other side in a soryt of lunar landscape, and could pick up what we thought were moon rocks, and buy ray guns at the store where you got your tickets. Fun times for a space-race Cold War kid in those days.

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