Century's Floral Theatre
250 Jericho Turnpike,
Floral Park,
NY
11001
250 Jericho Turnpike,
Floral Park,
NY
11001
6 people
favorited this theater
Standing in Floral Park on Jericho Turnpike at Park Place, this once-elegant Century movie house had a balcony. The Century Floral Theatre closed sometime in the early-1980’s and was converted into a catering hall, known as Floral Terrace.
A small stage theater still exists in some part of what was once a theater.
Contributed by
philipgoldberg
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Recent comments (view all 82 comments)
I just updated the photo of the theatre. Hope you all like it. Is there a way to add more pictures?
All the references to the curtain are interesting when, as a usual patron of the Bellerose, the projectionist did some amazing things to create a theatrical experience – on a 20th Century Fox picture he would only have the sound on for the drum intro and only open the curtains for the swell of the music, particularly effective since the speakers were behind the curtain. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. No picture, but you could hear the Nautilus, then project the image on the curtain, like water. The guy was a phenom!
Sounds like my kinda projectionist robboehn Unlike the Floral and Bellrose most of the Century houses did have curtain controls in the booth and we would always perform what was called a Delux. After the trailers, shorts, what have you, we would close the curtain and reopen them for the feature. We never showed the masking moving in a change from flat to Scope which was done while the masking was covered by the moving curtain. Some of the theates did not permit “cutting rcords” which meant when it was time to start the show you were not permitted to cut the record or fade it out the music it had to finish before starting the show. That was not the case everywhere but most Century theatres. Do you also remember we ran the Star-Spangeled Banner before the first show on all holidays?
In those days when you worked for Century you put on a show.
This is one case where the “Street View” from Google Maps is better and more detailed than the “Photo” displayed. Be sure to click on the “Steet View” option.
Never experienced the national anthem. Did do God Save the Queen in Toronto and London, England, not Ontario.
Vito, as a person of knowledge, can you tell me something about screen sizes. I always thought that the wide proscenium at the Bellerose might have given it an advantage since every bit of the opening was filled with the Cinemascope screen. Were they standard or was there some sort of formula involving distance from the projection booth? I’m sure some of the theatres couldn’t have had too wide a screen because of structural limitations.
Although our dialogue is taking place on the Floral my home port was the Bellerose which was a block and a half away. Oddly enough if I were venturing out of town it was usually to Queens Village rather than Floral Park. When I got wheels it was everywhere since I wanted to experience as many theatres as possible.
Yes robboehm, there is a formula for determining proper lens size We have a slide rule type tool that gives proper lens size determined by distance of lens from screen and screen size. Putting the screen size and projection throw into the tool will give the proper lens size to use for 1:85 and scope. Done properly you avoid cropping and “creative aperture plate cutting” to fit screen. Once the screen and proper lens is installed an SMPTE loop run thru the projector will give proper aperture cutting instructions for all formats,this should never be done with just a white light projecd onto the screen. First step is to deterine the exact center of the screen which can be marked with some sort of tape that can be seen from the booth then the projector can be centurned properly,once that is done th loop can be run and apertures cut. In days when we had movable masking a set of tape marks was put on he screen to mark proper width of flat/scope image to enable techs to properly set open close settings of the masking motor.
Interesting. I may be imagining it but I thought I could sometimes see tape thinking there was a repair. Do you know if the Bellerose had a larger screen than the Floral? I seem to remember the proscenium of the Floral being narrower.
The tape I refered to was removed once final installation was completed and used only to mark center and ratio settings, sorry if I confused you on that. I do not recall screen size Floral/Bellrose
I suppose I should also clarify that the tape was placed on the bottom masking and not the screen. It served as a guide for the masking people to set the proper stops and for the tech to establish dead center on the sheeet.
I saw my very first movie at the Floral when my Mother took me and my sister to see “The Sound of Music.” It really was beautiful inside…my favorite of all of the local theaters. Nassau Drugs (now a computer/fax store) was a pharmacy directly across the street from the Floral (you can see it on street view). At Christmastime, the owners would give free tickets, to kids, for the Floral Theatre. I remember my first Christmas movie was “The Ghost and Mr. Chicken.” The Stacks were the owners of the pharmacy