Levittown Theater

I went to this theatre several times when I was a kid in the sixties on Long Island. The ones I can recall are “Planet of the Apes,” “Ice Station Zebra,” “Romeo and Juliet,” a re-issue of “The Sound of Music” and one that my father took me to, even though it was kind of too adult for a nine-year-old, “Last Summer.” I saw “Apes” there on June 29, 1968. I know that because I saved the ad from the time. It was “Apes” second run after playing the first run theatres in April. The ad said, “Welcome back, Dr. Zaius. We missed you.” Anyway, the Levittown was one screen back then. I don’t recall it as any kind of special theatre, but it wasn’t bad. It was one of the smaller, second-run theatres on the Island. I’m surprised it operated as long as it did.

Use to go there in the 50’s and 60’s. Saw Day the Earth Stood Still, Godzilla, Rodan, Them, Day of the Triffids, Crawling Eye, and every Hammer Horror film ever made. They even had Flash Gordon serials between shows. The place was a babysitter for the neighborhood on Saturdays. Poor ushers! It was like the premiere scene from Ed Wood, with hails of Jujube’s and Good & Plenty’s flying through the air at the poor schmuck unlucky enough to have the flashlight. The bathrooms were foul, but the popcorn had real butter. I also miss Jahn’s ice cream parlor next door to the old Meadowbrook theatre. That was the site of everyone’s first date. If you could finish the humongous “Kitchen Sink” ice cream extravaganza, you didn’t have to pay the $6 it cost. It came in a cardboard sink. people ran outside in a hurry if the sink began to “back up” barf-wise. Levittown kids were blessed in all departments back then. So many things to do, and cheaply too. It was a different America in many ways. It was WAAAAAY better for kids in a lot of aspects. We all ran wild in the asphalt streets without worrying about kidnappers, molesters, gangbangers or crackheads. I used to skateboard all over the May’s Mall area with my buddies from Division Avenue. Gilgo Beach surf-rats one and all.

Don’t forget the RKO Hollywood

I was an usher for almost two years starting in June of ‘75. It was more quaint then sleazy in those days. One summer we had the Disney festival and babysat every kiddie in Levittown for six weeks. And all were wearing Fonzie t shirts. Had great runs of “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” and “Blazing Saddles”. We would trade free tickets with the Chinese resturaunt down the street. We had to turn away the single patron who showed up to watch the last showing of “Benji” two nights in a row. Almost got fired for wording the marquee out front from “Three Days of the Condor” to Three Days of the Condom". Thursday night was the porters night off and the ushers would clean the theater. So we would get drunk and spend four hours doing a one hour job. Ah, those were the days.

Did anyone else notice that the ad posted here for the movie “Volunteers” misspelled Tom Hanks and made him “Tom Hawks”?