Southampton 4 Theatres
43 Hill Street,
Southampton,
NY
11968
43 Hill Street,
Southampton,
NY
11968
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This Colonial-style movie house was split into a fourplex years ago and is still operated by United Artists Theatres — now part of the Regal Entertainment Group.
The Colonial Theatre is a well preserved first-run theater that is popular with the area’s numerous celebs including director Barry Sonnenfeld.
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Cinema Treasures
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Recent comments (view all 10 comments)
I worked on the underrated Alan Alda film “Sweet Liberty” at this theater, which is seen in the closing moments of the film as the premiere site of the film-within-the-film, on a 7pm to 7am shoot. (For the last actor shot coming out of the theater to cheering people on the sidewalk, which was then-rising-star Michelle Pfeiffer, a black cloth had to be secured around the marquee to block out the early morning sunlight!)
As a P.A. on this shoot, i was aware that movie royalty was there, in her trailer in the parking lot behind the theater: Lillian Gish!!!! Too bad my placement was somewhere else when she did her scene. She passed away about a year or so later.
As a kid in the 60’s (now am a kid in the 00’s!) this was a beautiful one screen theater….when they mangled it by splitting it up into a multiplex (early 80’s IIRC) I swore never to go back, and haven’t. Such a shame. I wonder if the pizza joint is still next door to the right in the picture. Many years ago the Mercedes dealer was slightly to the left. Why do I remember these things?
This is a photo of the UA Southampton.
The Southampton originally had 1,102 seats, and was built by Ward & Glynne, which also had other theatres on Long Island in Babylon, Bay Shore, and Patchogue. After W&G broke up, Mike Glynne continued to operate the theatres until acquisition by the Prudential circuit, which was part of the Metropolitan Playhouses combine that also included the Skouras and Randforce circuits. All of those individual circuit names were eventually retired and consolidated under the name of United Artists Theatre Circuit. Here’s a colorful window card for Glynne’s Southampton from 1941-42):
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/shampton.jpg
This theater was often the furthest I would drive out from Westhampton Beach to see a movie. Some special movie memories include the re-release of THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK in 1981, MEDITERRANEO in 1992 and TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME; me and my friends getting completely freaked out by David Lynch’s visions.
But the best memory of all was L.A. CONFIDENTIAL in 1997 – went to see it with an old friend and in the theater, not far from us, was Roy Scheider and his wife (he’s a permanent resident of Sagaponeck, L.I.). On top of that, my friend had actually been nanny to his kids when she lived in L.A. during his SEAQUEST days. So when the movie was over, she introduced me to him outside the theater. It’s the only full-length conversation I’ve ever had with a celebrity. A great actor and a very nice man!
The quadded theatre opened on May 21st, 1996 with Mission: Impossible and opening three days later, Spy Hard and Jane Eyre. To celebrate the opening, special free weekend showings of Toy Story, All Dogs Go To Heaven 2 and Babe also ran.
And then, subsequently they added another theatre in the basement. Then they tore down everthing but the facade and constructed a new building housing four modern auditoriums. UA, the management at that time wanted to build a multiplex outside of town on the Highway but couldn’t get permission. This was the compromise. Couldn’t give you any dates on this.
This is the Southampton in 1967.
Here are two more photos from 1982:
Day photo
Night photo
Here is a recent photo.