Farmingdale Theater

This is a 2009 photo of the building.

The main floor now houses a law office among other things. I’ve been told that the balcony is still intact including the seats. This was another theatre that didn’t have a signboard marquee – the alan and lindenhurst are two others which come to mind.

I remember both Mrs Burns, Mr Lopes & Mrs Vitale, who was one of my favorites. There was also a ditzy woman manager named Yvonne there for awhile who I could go on about for several paragraphs. She was married to one of the UA “big-wigs”. And to Jason W: Yes, I knew stuff went on there after hours. I could tell that light switches etc were not the way I left them the night before when I’d come in somtimes. I wasn’t trying to trip anyone up. I just had a “system” in the way I did things and I could tell when things were not the way I had left hem. But you guys never caused me any problems so I never said anything or complained. The staff at the theater I’m at now unplugs cables or TOTALLY screws up my sound & light settings sometimes and that kinda pisses me off now that I’m getting old & cranky! hahahaha

This is a photo of the building from 1999.

No. Mrs Vitale was in 80 and then Mr Lopes 81.

I was an usher there from 1980 to 81. My friends all worked there at the same time. We had the best time of our lives there. We used to leave the upstairs balcony door unlocked and come back into the theater with all our friends after it closed for the night!! We had major parties with music (from the house sound system) and free popcorn. Surprise Jim! Bernie, Scott, Phil, Jeff, me and sometimes the ticket girls (Patty, Debbie). So many memories from that old building. I hope one day someone has the money to restore it to its old glory…..

The Farmingdale theater became the office for the law firm of Grey and Grey. There is a small photo of the building at this link.

What became of the space or building which formerly housed this theater?

Say JimC just in case my email is Do you remember Maurene Fullam? George? The assistant manager for a short while Rhonda? The police car that landed in the emergency exit? There is so much more. So many stories attached to this theater. All happy memories all good times. We won UA’s award for the best maintained and improved theater in the circuit while I was there, distributed the prize money with the whole (theater) family.. Are there any other family members out there? It would be cool to have a reunion know where we all moved on to… I live in Virginia now just outside Charlottesville. Write soon!

I was the projectionist at The Farmingdale theatre from 1974 through 1982. The booth had Simplex E-7’s with Ashcraft lamps powered by a motor generator set. It had an RCA sound system, and it also had an old rack of AMEPX amplifers left over from a 1950’s stereo magnetic sound system that I was used as a back up sound system. Despite the age of the equipment it had been very well maintained. The Farmingdale had a very interseting air conditioning system. There was a huge air chamber in back above the stage in back of the screen. Huge blowers moved air over a network of pipes that contained cold water pumped from an underground well that was located under the theatre. The water then went to a very scary room located in the sub-basement of the theatre where it drained into what looked like a swimming pool. The there was no bottom in the pool (just dirt) so the water would eventually seep back underground to the well.

The auditorium ceiling was very high. The light bulbs in the fixtures above the auditorum were changed “from above” by accessing them from a network of catwalks. A lot of bats lived up in that ceiling! I was often the first one to arrive at for work at the theatre, and when I’d first go in and turn on the lights, the bats would fly out of the auditorum and back into the ceiling. In all the years I worked there, I only saw one fly out into the audience once during a show. They’d occasionally surprise me by unexpectedly flying around the projection booth. Never caused me any problem. I didn’t bother them, and they didn’t bother me.
“JimC”

Would you have taken Mae West there like you did at the RKO Madison?

Well, the count is a 150 seat difference. Not much when you consider the overall count. I remember this one as being very large, fairly but not overly ornate. What was cute about the place was where it was located. The village area was very nice and this theater had a prime location in the heart of it.