RKO Madison Theatre

During this week in war-torn 1943, the Madison and most other RKO theatres in Brooklyn and Queens were showing Walt Disney’s Technicolor cartoon, “Der Fuehrer’s Face,” as a bonus to the 20th-Fox B&W double bill of “The Meanest Man in the World” (Jack Benny) and “Chetniks”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iumEGAUceDg

Here is perhaps one of the best interior photos of the former palatial lobby of the RKO Madison that I have seen to date. It just boggles the mind that they decided it would be a good idea to destroy this beauty in the 1980’s:

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Click below for the full page on the Madison:

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Whoa! GREAT shot!

Thanks, Jayar1. I just finished exploring the Brooklyn photo album on Topix.

Thanks, Lost Memory, Tinseltoes and Bway !

The Madison, Ridgewood, and other theatre buildings in the area are pictured in part three of this article about Myrtle Avenue: View link

Here’s a great photo looking up Myrtle Ave from the Myrtle Ave and St Nicholas in I guess the 20’s or 30’s:

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The date given for this ad that includes the Madison, is 5/27/62.

My mom told me that my dad helped restore the organ back in the early or mid 60s and even got a chance to play it before a movie showing once.

WOW. That’s all I have to say. While the 1986 photo is sad, it gave me chills seeing it again, as I remember walking past there all the time when i was a teenager at that time, and that is EXACLY how I remember it….with the Woolworth still next door, the Carvel, and yes, of course, Odd Lot. Panzer, I agree, from my memory, the auditorium of the Madison was still somewhat intact when that photo was taken. I do remember the Odd Lot, and the outer and inner lobbies were already ripped up, and used as the store, and perhaps part of the auditorium, but there was a fake wall through the building, and I think they still used the auditorium for storage. The store probably only occupied the part of the auditorium under the balcony, and the inner and outer lobbies.
It was about 3 or 4 years later, when Odd Lot closed, that the theater was destroyed when the new owners that got it ready for the Busy Bee Flea Market Compartment stores destroyed the place. When it was Odd Lot, I also still remember the floor somewhat sloping. That wasn’t leveled until about 1989 or 1990 either.

Thanks Dave. That means that the year given for that photo is most likely correct. The flea market that did most of the damage to the interior of this building moved in about two years after that photo was taken.

Can anyone read the sign on the front of the building in this 1986 photo? I’d like to know what store what located here in 1986. It might be Odd Lot but I’m not certain.