In 1982 I worked the XXX Beach theatre (union job) in Atlantic City. One night, I got I got up to make a change over (no reel end alarms) I looked out the porthole, & I thought I was at a drive-in on a foggy night! I smelled smoke! I called down to the cashier Told her to call 911. The shoe store next to our entrance, it was on fire! The flames had already burned through the ceiling to the vacant apartments above! I turned on all of the house lights I released the chain to close the port holes stopped the projector (Brenkert) I went out the fireproof corrugated door into the smokey hallway across from the apartments. The steps that lead down to the balcony were already on fire! As I was descending the burning steps, a brave Atlantic City fireman was coming yelling for anyone. … It was muti-alarm fire. Outside, I told one newspaper reporter the “They Were Showing Smokers in there”! … Several months later, the two stores were boarded up. the apartment widows, above the marquee were boarded up. the facade was very charred. I went up to the booth (yes, they reopened it!) The old apartment doors were open & the electric & water shut off We used the toilet (local 310 guys) in one of them. I opened the booth door, & lo & behold; everything was in pristine condition! …Dumb old me had saved the theatre! …However, a year later it permanently closes because of the VCR craze. The good news is that I believe that (2024) it’s all still all there!
As the Charles, The balcony remained, but the projection booth went all the way across. … 2 Simplex E-7 projectors & 2 Peerless carbon arc. Also RCA tube sound.
The pipe organ was to the left. The orchestra pit was on an elevator. 3 Super-Simplex & Ashcraft carbon arc lamps. W.E. & RCA tube sound. The mezzanine rest rooms had matrons in 1971.
I worked there as a union projectionist from 1973-1984. I also lived in the top floor Apt. on Weymouth Ave., in 1974-75. I have one of the old Western Electric 35mm sound projectors in my garage. When the Franks twinned it in 1979, I became manager/projectionist.
I worked at The Brunswick in 1973. Bob Barker was the manager. Other operators were Don Reynolds & Bill Smith, from down south. Super Simplex & Peerless Magnarcs. RCA tube sound. One of my favorite booths!
Hello Jim! I remember when you graduated from high school, & you got a new car, a Dodge Dart Swinger! Your Dad, Walt was my mentor! He always used the say “If you aunt had balls, she’d be your uncle!” He smoked those small plastic tipped cigars, up in the Lincoln booth. I almost dropped lens in the balcony, out the porthole, one night!
My friend Don Dingler, (deceased)use to play the big pipe organ after show! Bill Foley, the doorman with the hand, let’s us do it before he locked up the theatre. The other doorman was MR. Marsh. He told me that he was born in 1890. He gave out the Vomit Bags for “Mark Of The Devil”. ..I loved your dad & I believe he passed around 1979. I read it in my IA Bulletin.
I remember you working at the Lincoln & the Trent. Around the same time, I was breaking in a young guy named Sammy, at the Greenwood.
The Simplex XL heads from the Mayfair, are still in use at the Pike Drive-In, near Williamsport, PA. I’m retired from the US Postal Service, where I was a rural letter carrier for many years. My wife & I have Crazy Bob’s Harvest Moon Drive-in between Williamsport & Jersey Shore, PA. on US RT. 220. Come visit sometime!
Our Double Feature Ticket Prices are 5.00 for Adult, General Admission, & 1.00 for 12 & under. We will keep these prices in place for the 2012 season Come have dinner in our Monn Cafe. ..LET’S EAT! http://moondrivein.com
In 1982 I worked the XXX Beach theatre (union job) in Atlantic City. One night, I got I got up to make a change over (no reel end alarms) I looked out the porthole, & I thought I was at a drive-in on a foggy night! I smelled smoke! I called down to the cashier Told her to call 911. The shoe store next to our entrance, it was on fire! The flames had already burned through the ceiling to the vacant apartments above! I turned on all of the house lights I released the chain to close the port holes stopped the projector (Brenkert) I went out the fireproof corrugated door into the smokey hallway across from the apartments. The steps that lead down to the balcony were already on fire! As I was descending the burning steps, a brave Atlantic City fireman was coming yelling for anyone. … It was muti-alarm fire. Outside, I told one newspaper reporter the “They Were Showing Smokers in there”! … Several months later, the two stores were boarded up. the apartment widows, above the marquee were boarded up. the facade was very charred. I went up to the booth (yes, they reopened it!) The old apartment doors were open & the electric & water shut off We used the toilet (local 310 guys) in one of them. I opened the booth door, & lo & behold; everything was in pristine condition! …Dumb old me had saved the theatre! …However, a year later it permanently closes because of the VCR craze. The good news is that I believe that (2024) it’s all still all there!
It is earmarked to reopen in 2024. Joe Furruggio has owned it since 1978 & plans to run himself.
Those machines (& Peerless Magnarcs) went to the Ventnor theatre in 1974.
In the past, The Point, Mahoning, Pike, & ‘Port aka: Moon, Gem. Had the same landlord.
As the Charles, The balcony remained, but the projection booth went all the way across. … 2 Simplex E-7 projectors & 2 Peerless carbon arc. Also RCA tube sound.
The Beach.
The “BEACH”
I managed & projectionist in 1985. Still used Ashcraft Super Corelites Carbon Arc lamps & Century 35mm heads.
This was the way it was when I worked there in 1973. we had Western Electric tube sound & a dc generator in the booth.
Looks like a Century machine?
Saw the front of the Capri & Riviera Theatre on “the Beverley Hillbillies”. They were having a silent film festival
Egg Harbor Twp. (Cardiff). Not Egg Harbor City.
Ted has sold the SEA Theatre in 2020.
This looks like some of the theatres I worked at in the 1970s! (Mostly Atlantic City.)
It was still there in the very early 60s.
The pipe organ was to the left. The orchestra pit was on an elevator. 3 Super-Simplex & Ashcraft carbon arc lamps. W.E. & RCA tube sound. The mezzanine rest rooms had matrons in 1971.
The “GEM” marquee is now on the old “MOON” drive-in, in Linden, PA, after a drunk driver demolish the Moon/Port’s marquee in Dec. 2011.
The theatre was located in Egg Harbor TWP., not Egg Harbor city. The theatre had a Pleasantville address, because EHT had no PO at that time
I worked there as a union projectionist from 1973-1984. I also lived in the top floor Apt. on Weymouth Ave., in 1974-75. I have one of the old Western Electric 35mm sound projectors in my garage. When the Franks twinned it in 1979, I became manager/projectionist.
Hi, Jim! I sent the request tonight! I haven’t looked at this page since 10/1.
Find us on Facebook! http://www.facebook.com/pages/Crazy-Bobs-Harvest-Moon-Drive-In-Theatre/370804528377?sk=wall
Jim, you or anyone can send a friend request on FB: http://www.facebook.com/crazybobdj
I worked at The Brunswick in 1973. Bob Barker was the manager. Other operators were Don Reynolds & Bill Smith, from down south. Super Simplex & Peerless Magnarcs. RCA tube sound. One of my favorite booths!
Hello Jim! I remember when you graduated from high school, & you got a new car, a Dodge Dart Swinger! Your Dad, Walt was my mentor! He always used the say “If you aunt had balls, she’d be your uncle!” He smoked those small plastic tipped cigars, up in the Lincoln booth. I almost dropped lens in the balcony, out the porthole, one night!
My friend Don Dingler, (deceased)use to play the big pipe organ after show! Bill Foley, the doorman with the hand, let’s us do it before he locked up the theatre. The other doorman was MR. Marsh. He told me that he was born in 1890. He gave out the Vomit Bags for “Mark Of The Devil”. ..I loved your dad & I believe he passed around 1979. I read it in my IA Bulletin.
I remember you working at the Lincoln & the Trent. Around the same time, I was breaking in a young guy named Sammy, at the Greenwood.
The Simplex XL heads from the Mayfair, are still in use at the Pike Drive-In, near Williamsport, PA. I’m retired from the US Postal Service, where I was a rural letter carrier for many years. My wife & I have Crazy Bob’s Harvest Moon Drive-in between Williamsport & Jersey Shore, PA. on US RT. 220. Come visit sometime!
Our Double Feature Ticket Prices are 5.00 for Adult, General Admission, & 1.00 for 12 & under. We will keep these prices in place for the 2012 season Come have dinner in our Monn Cafe. ..LET’S EAT! http://moondrivein.com