Graham Cinema

Hi Jim H,
My brother and I have wonderful memories of the Graham.
If you have any photos, we’d really appreciate it.

Seppy

It’s great to read all the stories about the Graham at 3171 Whitney Avenue, because my grandfather was the original owner and the ONLY owner throughout the Graham’s life as a cinema. It was in my family for over 50 years, although we did not operate it ourselves after 1960.

The building was originally a trolley car barn, which accounts for the long and narrow shape, unusual for a cinema. When trolley service disappeared from Brooklyn, the city sold off the building. My grandfather, who owned a few other cinemas in Brooklyn, bought it and turned the trolley car barn into a 900+ seat cinema. He operated it for decades. In the Great Depression, he would give away a five-pound bag of sugar for every 100th ticket. Tickets were a quarter of a buck.

After he retired he leased the Graham out to various operators in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. When the cinema finally closed, I did a walk-through to figure out what we should do with the building. Since nobody in the family lived in Brooklyn or was free to move there and run a cinema, we decided to sell the property. After we sold it a builder turned the old shell into condos by digging out the parking lot and created a few levels for the apartments.

Keep the stories coming. If I find the old family photos I will try to post some here!

The first time that I went to the Graham I was quite young. I walked with my sitter from our homes near Batchelder St. and Ave. S. It was a hot summer day — typical 1940’s weather. After we crossed Ave. U it was mostly vacant weed filled lots.
The Graham stood by itself. As I remember it there was very little else there except for PS 194 and the Brooklyn Robbins baseball field. It was during WWII. The film that we saw was British and had something to do with women training to be paratroopers. My sitter, Dorothy Ann, kept saying â€" “I could do that.” I think I must have been about seven and she was all of twelve. The place wasn’t air-conditioned but we were use to that then.
The Graham showed a lot of films that weren’t on the Century circuit. The Century chain dominated our neighborhood.
The next time that I went was later in that decade to see two films that were not on the Century Circuit and still can’t be found on VCR or DVD today. “Salty O’Rourke” and “The Man in Half Moon Street.” They were better than good!
Still later in the decade I attended a Saturday afternoon showing of “Jungle Book” staring Sabu. All the wild life was not just on the screen that day. A rat crossed the aisle about ten rows in front of me and disappeared into some vacant seats. My attention had been drawn by a laughing commotion in the effected area. We were a tough bunch of kids. Today I think the theater would have been closed and fumigated.

send me your email I will send it as an attachment for you. Mine is

This 1970 article talks about the Graham going to the $1 policy.
View link

I always knew it as the Graham Theater, but then again I was about 12 years old when it closed so my memory may be a little fuzzy. I was in the Men’s Room between the two movies of a double feature when the blackout of 1977 occured. I think the movies were “Lipstick” and “Black Sunday” with the second movie never being shown because the night turned into a black Wednesday (I think).

The Kilgen organ was installed in the Graham Theater in 1928. NYC issued a C/O to a New building at this address for a 1199 seat motion picture theater on June 29, 1928. I think this theater probably opened sometime in 1928. The owner is listed as Gerritsen Theater Inc.

The reason the new building is the same shape as the old building is because it IS the old building. I watched as they bulldozed the interior but left the outside walls standing when the new Graham Condominiums were being constructed.
As for the old ladies with the squeaky shoes, does anyone remember “Mary”?
She now works at the UA/Regal theater off Knapp Street.
I had the privelige of working with her for about two years when the new theater first opened. She still works there to this day!
She said she remembers someone riding a motorcycle down the aisle during Rocky Horror at the Graham.

I got my first hand job at the Graham “1955”(in the beach we call it the ITCH!!!

I believe the admission in the 50s for kids was about 35 cents. The lines were unbelievably long on Saturday afternoons, especially when it rained. Kids would push back and forth and that was half the “show.”

DoctorB

I have fond memories of the Sat matinees in the mid 1950’s to about 1960. All the neighborhood kids would scream and yell at the sci. fi. flicks, or the 20 cartoons, or Abbott and Costello films.
Latter my Dad was a projectionist there and I remember walking up the spiral metal staircase from the lobby, near the candy stand to the booth!

The above post is for another Graham Theatre. The one for this located should read 3171 Whitney Ave. and that one seated 951 people.