RKO Fordham Theatre

The very first post about this theater mentions it’s placement in “The Wanderers” opening credits. Now available on YouTube, which probably wasn’t around in 2004.
An interesting observation I made is, the films advertised on the RKO Fordham marquee in “The Wanderers” are “Battle Cry” & “War Is Hell”. This was obviously supposed to be an establishing shot that it was set in 1963. JFK’s assassination plays a part later in the film.
In reality though, the two films playing at the Texas Theater when Oswald was caught were “Cry Of Battle” & War Is Hell". Oddly “Battle Cry”-1955 & “Cry Of Battle”-1963 both starred Van Heflin. Was “The Wanderes” director just going from memory, or did “Battle Cry” ring with more resonance given the films gang theme? Guess we’ll hve to rent the director’s cut.

Hey Joe, I remember that well. What great times I had working at the RKO Fordham from 1961 to 1969 as an usher, Assistant Chief Usher, then Chief Usher and then was transferred to the newly renovated RKO Stanley Warner Cinerama, Penthouse and Orleans on 47th & Broadway as the Manager of the Cinerama.
But the RKO Fordham will never be forgotten. My first Chief Usher was Martin Schwabb, then Carl, then Roy and then I became the Chief Usher. I remember the uniform with the braids and I had the ushers wear white gloves and I used to check there shoes in the ushers dressing room under the stage to make sure their shoes were polished before they took the floor. Then I became the Assistant Manager under Jack Reis who was the Manager then became the District/Division Manager and I became the manager. I had great ushers Terry, Andre, Sydney, Mike, Danny and many others, the cashiers I remember was Martha, Olivia, Sylvia and Estelle, the porter Monte, the matrons Mrs Ackerman, Mrs Sharky and a mrs hudak, concession Hanna, my doorman was fabulous we called him ‘pop’ he was in his eighties and was so on top of everything. He drove to work everyday in his white car and would keep the rough necks out from sneaking by him to get into the theatre, the projection people Al, Cy and I remember they had a lounge chair on the roof and during the summer I would at times go up there to get a tan, Eddie was the electrician who changed the marquee on Tuesday evenings, Mr Gallagher and another gentleman who ran the air conditioning/heating systems they were the engineers, the two guys selling newspapers under the marquee at night and Sunday mornings, the ladies shop next door. What fun… I could go on and on and on…. I made so many friends back then. I remember as an usher carrying those heavy cans of film up to the projection booth for the projectionists. I remember the loads of and one large handle that controlled the lights backstage for intermission and we had to close the curtain manually. We had a little office in the lobby that was hidden with mirrors where we controlled the marquee lights and the concession stock room was inside there also. The managers office was on the mezzanine floor near the alcove where the telephone booths were.
I also helped out at the Colisseum a couple of times when they needed it, because Mr Reis was the DM of all the Bronx RKO’s.
Those were the days my friend… I could go on and on….

Here’s the YouTube link of “The Wanderers” opening credits featuring the RKO Fordham. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzHA1WSgm0U

Dear sjteich, Jack was in his 60’s. A tall lanky man who wore glasses and kind of reddish / brown hair. His wife’s name was Marion and adopted a son named Michael. They lived off the Concourse near Valentine Avenue. Jack was the Manager / District Manager of the RKO Fordham and and District Manager of all the RKO’s in the Bronx. He was a very nice person, always with a joke.

Pat C – Thank You so much for the information. I am 99% certain that he was related to my grandfather who was also tall and thin. I may never know for certain unfortunately. If you do have any photos that would be terrific. Ed G – would love to hear your memories of Mr. Reis as well.