Alba Theater

I’m just glad that we finally have a few photos of the Alba (thanks to those who supplied them).
I saw the movie “The Window” at the Alba and I recall when they displayed a big wood crate outside when they were promoting “The Thing” in 1951.
Those were happier days for me.

JoeB

All this is gone. Now there is a hospital, Woodhull Medical Center. There were so many movie theaters in this area and they’re all gone. I have to take the train into Manhattan to see a movie. When I hit Lotto I plan on purchasing the old Rainbow Theater on Graham between Messerole and Montrose and show old movies, cartoons, present live shows.

I was reminded after seeing a vintage movie poster in a Vermont drug store, that local theatres would often not advertise their features in newspaper ads. Instead they would print two-color, simple lettered posters announcing what was playing for the week. These posters were then distributed among local merchants who would display the placards in their shop windows, probably in exchange for a few movie pases. Probably a very inexpensive form of advertising.

As often as has been noted that the Randforce circuit did little to advertise their theatres it should be considered that during the depression the regular purchase of a newspaper was often a luxury in most households. Added to that, despite the acculturating influences of movies, many immigrants were not able to read in English. I suspect that the major form of “advertising” was along the elevated subway circuits. What better way to know what was showing than to ride the BMT Jamaica line along Broadway from the Williamsburg Bridge to Eastern Parkway and grab a glimpse of all the theatres marquees along the way. A ride along Manhattan’s Third Ave. el must have served a similar purpose at major stops such as 14th St. & 86th St.

The only time in my life that I took the Jamaica El to lower Manhattan, was as a special treat, being a Long Islander. The only thing I remember from that trip is being on the left hand side of the train and seeing the old marquee from the Alba. Obviously, I was a theatre nut, afficianado, at an early age. Thank goodness for the internet, I can spend my waking hours with other kindred souls and remember the long, lost theatres (rather than spending an arm and a leg to go to some glorified cubicle.

I think that photo is incorrectly dated, and was probably taken in 1948, when that same double feature made the rounds of the RKO, Radndforce, and Skouras circuits. You can see it displayed on the marquee of the Skouras Corona Theatre in a 1948 photo that I recently linked on the Corona’s CT listing.

Only management can place photos in the introductions. You should send a request to Ross or Patrick or both @ cinematreasures.org. Good luck! Many theatres more important than the Alba don’t have photos displayed, even though some are available.

I agree that the marquee and vertical sign are probably the original. However, the white glass background and black silhouette letters on the attraction board would be a “modernization” done in the late 1930s or just after the end of WWII.

Warren, try the Brentwood theater in LA. I think there was a photo posted there yesterday.

I’ve scanned the above for the posting by “a new member named ‘misterboo’” and I can’t seem to find it. Could someone please give a date and time?

Piracy at the lowest level permeates this blog. Many thanks to misterboo for the marvelous photgraph. I must concur with Astyanax that the surrounding neighborhood was also part of the theatre experience. One should not be forced to separate the two.
George

Here is a 1946 photo from a new collection of Life Magazine images on Google:
http://tinyurl.com/6bccld