Brook Theatre

This site brings back some wonderful memories for myself as well; i grew up in Brooklyn in late 50’s early 60’s….fondest memories was going to the movies on the weekend when you could see a kids feature movie for 35 cents; then it was 50 cents unless it was a Disney which was 60cents! you could spend the whole day at the movie, watching the movie over and over again; in the early evening the feature movie would change – one day, my sister and I went to see a kids feature and stayed so late the feature changed to the Hitchcock movie “Marnie”; we stayed until Tippi Hedren dropped her towel – the camera panned over to her husband, Sean Connery – that was more than enough for two little catholic school girls to handle, and we scrambled out of the movie and ran all the way home… it wasn’t until i was young adult that i saw that movie again, past that infamous scene (great movie by the way). There was a pizza parlor around the corner from the Brook – you could get a slice and a coke for a quarter (yikes, i sound old!) There was a candy store across the street named I think Dave and Lou’s – two guys who wore long white aprons and always had a cigar stogie in his mouth…one of them was missing a finger, maybe the same guy who smoked the stogie….at any rate, another regular was, Joe the cop, he was either directing traffic or keeping an eye on us kids! On Flatbush Ave just north of Flatlands on the corner was a bank, i think it was Chase Manhattan (they had a beautiful wooden gate inside the bank behind which were the desks…i remember all the tellers were men) Next to the bank was a bakery, i think it was called Rutta’s and they had the most delicious Charlotte Russe…further along Flatbush walking towards Kings Highway was a 5 and ten cent store; a Keyfood, a few more stores and a pharmacy on the corner of Flatbush and Kings Highway – which was across the street from the Marine movie theater. The Marine and The Brook were two mainstays growing up in that neighborhood; I walked to the bus stop on Kings Hwy and Flatbush in late 60’s on my way to high school – saw all the great movies of the day, yes, the Spaghetti westerns, disneys – Pollyanna was one of them; as i mentioned before, they often would have a kids feature movie and then a different movie in the eveing…maybe that was just on Saturday, but that is what i remember……I tried to access the photo images but the message said they were no longer there. I see now that that message goes back to
2004 or so. Great site i will be back!

38 years ago today I saw the Anderson Tapes with Sean Connery at the Brook with my then girlfriend (now wife).

I went on an interview for an assistant manager position at the Brook. I had just graduated college and could not find a job. It was a depressing experience. There were several of us sitting in the back of the theater waiting to be interviewed (“American Graffiti” was showing at the time,) and the man who interviewed me told me that if I wanted the job I would have to shave my mustache off and go out and buy several new suits. Boy am I glad that I didn’t listen and made no attempt to go any further regarding that dead-end job.
Actually other than that, the Brook was a pretty nice theater. It was never all that crowded unless there was something big playing. I remember it drew huge crowds for “Rocky,” “Network” and “The Return of the Pink Panther.” I saw many films there including “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service,” “Clash of the Titans,” “The Deer Hunter,” “Straw Dogs,” “Zardoz,” etc. I used to pass this theater frequently. I can still remember passing by during Christmas season 1978 (I think,) and seeing the marquee stating “Gala Christmas Show” Charles Bronson in “Telefon."
As stated, this was a very nice theater with a balcony. However, due to the sparseness of the crowds, I was not surprised when it closed.

A photo of the lobby of the Brook Theatre was on the cover of Boxoffice of August 5, 1950.

I remember the unusual marquee extending past the building onto the side wall when I first moved to the Flatlands area in 1981