Village East by Angelika

I was the manager of this venue from 1978-1985. Many plays and concerts during my time there. Best Little Whorehouse, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, etc. Talking heads, Wilson Picket, etc. Also, many films and commercials shot there. The Fan (with Betty BaCall) 3 Dr. Pepper spots (Mickey Rooney) etc.

Many superstitions in theatre, including the ghost light on stage set out overnight for roaming spirits. We set our ghost light for a couple roaming spirits, including Burt. Burt Lahr passed away about halfway through the filming of the “The Night They Raided the Minsky’s” in 1967. Light also set out for Montgomery Clift, who passed in ‘66. He appeared in “The Seagull” on our stage in '56.

Thanks, Ed. In March of this year, I returned for the 70mm screening of “Murder on the Nile” and I posted photos in the photo gallery, of this beautiful theater.

A 70mm experience at the Village East at Angelika on 30/11/201 by Howard B. Haas

please update theater name Village East by Angelika. Angelika Fil Center just phase ouy City Cinema name is being phased out by Angelika. Reading still owns the theaters

only if the governor allows the theatre to open

Open as the Louis N. Jaffe theatre in 1925-1926.

There’s a great article with a photo gallery at:

https://www.6sqft.com/the-urban-lens-inside-the-village-east-cinema-one-of-nys-last-surviving-yiddish-rialto-theaters/

The very ornate ceiling is quite amazing and unique!

The Village East can be seen in the new film “The Goldfinch” which it subs as the Bowery Theatre (on the Village East marquee) and some auditorium shots (in the balcony of the original theatre). Don’t blink, both scenes run a mere minute. The picture isn’t the bomb the critics claim it to be as I don’t read papers until I see the picture. A drama that should be seen unlike half the trash they throw at the screen these days.

I would estimate the screen size in AMC Garden State theater #15 in Paramus as 60 feet wide, which was the same size as the screen at the original Stanley Warner Route 4 down the road, which played 2001 many times. Lots of head turning was necessary from the front row, which is a good way to watch 2001. About 30 people were there for the 3:30 PM show on Sunday.

Hello-

I thank xbs2034 for replying. granted films rated PG before the creation of the PG-13 rating the fall of 1984 would certainly get a PG-13 today. but what surprised me was films with a G rating having more than one scene of bare butt nudity and in the case of the 1968 Planet of the Apes a very quick shot of everything where they’re swimming near the waterfall.

Bigjoe59- I saw The Seagull here a couple weeks ago, and was a bit funny to see the giant G rating on the 2001 poster outside, cause even while it is far from a graphic film, not what people associate with the G rating today.

But it’s a mix of there being no PG-13 rating until the mid 1980s and the MPAA starting to get much stricter during the 1990s that lead to questionable ratings one finds on some older films (as some examples of the changes look at the PG rated All the President’s Men which has language that would trigger an R now, or the formerly G rated Wizard of Oz getting a PG when it was resubmitted for the 3D re-release several years ago).

You should be aware that the Village East main auditorium has a very steep downward angle for projection. The screen which had been onstage when it was a single house was moved forward when the proscenium was bricked up to create the two backstage screens. There is a fair amount of cropping to account for the keystone. I saw a 2.2 70mm print here when the house opened and it looked as if the picture were almost 1.85. They did have lenses that shifted the image up a bit, but one of the engineers I work with has tech checked a couple of 70mm prints here and always laments the crop.

So it’s been a good long while since I’ve been to Village East and I’m wondering screen size compared between here and the Garden State AMC. This is, of course, in reference to 2001 and I get the feeling AMC might have a bigger screen though that’s only based off of the usual small screen NYC art house experience. Thoughts?

Hello-

in reference to moviebuff82’s May 21 post. many “classics” weren’t rated till they first came out on home video. 2001 got a G rating i thought at least a PG since there’s the scene where one ape beasts another ape to death. also how did Ben-Hur get a G rating with the scene where Messala gets pounded into a cube steak the horse’s hoofs. also the original 1968 Planet of the Apes likewise got a G rating. yet there is a scene when the American astronauts land on what they think is an uncharted planet they bath in a pool underneath a waterfall naked and you get a very quick glimpse of everything.