Comments from BrooklynJim

Showing 226 - 250 of 432 comments

BrooklynJim
BrooklynJim commented about Ridgewood Theatre on Aug 3, 2006 at 12:24 pm

Bilko was probably Silvers' best role ever.

Met Mickey Freeman two years ago when he was selling his (co-authored) book which summarized every “You’ll Never Get Rich” episode known to mankind. Provided some great behind-the-scenes stuff, too, especially about Maurice Gosfield (Doberman), a true real-life slob in every sense of the word. Published as a softcover edition “across the pond” in merry olde England, the book is now out-of-print and very difficult to obtain, but worth it if you can ever snag a used copy. If you contact Freeman, I’m sure he’ll have a copy or three to unload…

Columbia House sold VHS tapes of the show back in the ‘90s (at $25-per-4-episode-a-whack!), but I don’t know if they ever got around to releasing the series on DVD.

BrooklynJim
BrooklynJim commented about RKO Madison Theatre on Aug 3, 2006 at 12:10 pm

Jon Voight (“National Treasures”): “One clue just leads to another clue.”

Lost Memory (“Cinema Treasures”): “One mystery just leads to another mystery.”

Doris Day: “Que Sera, Sera.”

BrooklynJim: “ROFLMFAO!” :)

BrooklynJim
BrooklynJim commented about Ridgewood Theatre on Aug 3, 2006 at 9:39 am

Lost Memory, “auto-purging” is far less painful than having one’s lungs ripped out. LOL! Nah, it’s a simple command or keystroke (“delete”) that makes everything go “Sayonara.” It’s not like we’d be writing for posterity there.

And I do like your “Ridgewood Theatre II” (the voyage home) concept. Who out there would ever know? Or care? Classic! :)

[bTW, I found your Hatlo History over on Cinart.]

BrooklynJim
BrooklynJim commented about New Amsterdam Theatre on Aug 3, 2006 at 9:27 am

Score one for 42nd Street Memories*Jerry Kovar! In the mid-1950s, the highly-talented Frazetta did a series of covers (including Buck Rogers) for Famous Funnies Comics, a monthly 10-cents reprint book of Saturday/Sunday newspaper continuities. When in decent shape, these FF artwork gems have soared into the low four-figure category. (And that’s without decimal points…)

BrooklynJim
BrooklynJim commented about Ridgewood Theatre on Aug 3, 2006 at 8:59 am

Greetings, all you most eloquent and prosaic Ridgewood Rascals…

LM, re your 8/2 post (the 4:28 PM one), just wanted to add that with computer programming, virtually anything is possible, as we’ve seen.

1) A forum/inquiry/research page would, of course, be open to entries by all.

2) The webmeisters could program it in such a way that all contents would be auto-purged at midnight at month’s end, thus creating room for the next onslaught of questions, searches for old flames, neighborhood memories, for cussin' out malcontents and spamming hucksters, etc. If someone posted a query late in any given month and went unanswered, he/she could repost it the following month. Same goes for a lively thread.

This is the germ of an idea whose time may finally have arrived. Let’s keep pushing for this – or something like it.

BrooklynJim
BrooklynJim commented about Pabst Theater on Jul 28, 2006 at 9:47 am

More of the same, Frankie? I just left you a reply to your comments to me on the Ramona page. Again, I sincerely suggest you read Cinema Treasures' “Terms of Use” to avoid receiving this kind of flak in the future. ‘Nuff said.

BrooklynJim
BrooklynJim commented about RKO Madison Theatre on Jul 27, 2006 at 11:18 am

YankeeMike, the ones we walked through were had those expandable diaphragms and the trucks were articulated. Here’s a neat “D” photo taken below the el on MacDonald Ave. in 1975:

http://www.subwaywebnews.com/Images2/bmtd-macd.jpg

BTW, the above site is worth exploring when you have some free time. :)

BrooklynJim
BrooklynJim commented about Ridgewood Theatre on Jul 27, 2006 at 11:03 am

Lost Memory, I vote “A” for Admirable (and “C” for “Crankshaft,” the guy in the comics). And a belated kudo for your informative Jimmy Hatlo history on some other theater page that I can’t find at the moment!

Peter, a brief John Agar story from the mid-‘90s: He was about 75 when I met him at his table the Hollywood Collectors Show at the Beverly Garland Hotel. No one was paying him any attention whatsoever. Agar looked totally lost and forlorn.

So when I started up a conversation with him about all his ‘50s films (including “Brain From Planet Arous,” “Revenge of the Creature” and all the others), the man came ALIVE! His eyes flashed and he talked a mile-a-minute! We had a ball swapping stories, and at the end of our chat, I got a handshake worthy of a former Marine, not an alcoholic in recovery.

Several hours later I passed nearby, and again, no one was paying the man any attention. He looked as depressed and as dejected as he did before we’d talked. I really felt bad for the guy.

BrooklynJim
BrooklynJim commented about RKO Madison Theatre on Jul 27, 2006 at 10:23 am

The last link should be:

http://www.subwaywebnews.com/abnost207.jpg

The third one above (museum shot) really looks like the one Spike used for “X.”

BrooklynJim
BrooklynJim commented about RKO Madison Theatre on Jul 27, 2006 at 10:19 am

Rode those BMT “D” Standards many times in the ‘50s to mid-'60s, YankeeMike. They were true workhorses, even as track cleaners in heavy blizzards (see link below). What I found amazing was the grime with which they dressed up the cars in Spike Lee’s “X” – Brown Beantown Soot! (Served up with Baked Boston Scrod – I’ve got a great joke about scrod, but only Warren would get it. LOL!)

View link
View link
http://www.subwaywebnews.com/images/museumab.jpg
View link
http://www.subwaywebnews.com/images/r27ab.jpg
http://www.subwaywebnews.com/images/abnost207.jpg

From original issue in ‘27, through years of daily transit commutes, hampered by rain and snow, later retired as museum pieces, used as movie props and most eventually succumbing to old age and the wreckers’ torch, the BMT “D” and “AB” Standards were truly something else. “FWs,” as my dear departed dad used to say…

BrooklynJim
BrooklynJim commented about Vogue Theatre in Chula Vista is Officially Closed on Jul 27, 2006 at 9:39 am

S-a-S, LOL! I suspect you might be fairly new to navigating this sometimes complex website, so let’s try it again, as you were very close.

You got to my profile – so far, so good. Now look at listings of theaters from the top. Locate “Vogue Theatre” (about 10 from the top now). There won’t be any pictures until you click on it to bring up the theater’s page with all the postings about it. Lost Memory’s 6/14 and 7/23 posts have blue links to click on so that the pix you want to see will appear. Voila! Buona fortuna! :)

BrooklynJim
BrooklynJim commented about "Preserve Me a Seat" Premiere Documentary Radio Interview on Jul 27, 2006 at 8:51 am

Jim ~

First off, I wish you nothing but the best on your documentary!

Secondly, I’d like to provide you with a pair of SoCal contacts for bookings and film festival info:

Chris Principio
Landmark Theaters Regional Manager
Hillcrest Cinemas
3965 Fifth Ave. Ste. 200
San Diego, CA 92103

Beth Accomando
Curator, Film School Confidential
Media Arts Center
921 25th St.
San Diego, CA 92102
(619) 230-1938

Feel free to mention that you were referred by me, “BrooklynJim” (Greg’s dad).

Again, I wish you much success!

BrooklynJim
BrooklynJim commented about RKO Madison Theatre on Jul 26, 2006 at 2:10 pm

Lost Memory, Hart Lanes -YES! Right by the Canarsie subway station at DeKalb. And Peter is correct about the Wyckoff location of Sal Boca’s luncheonette. (Today it’s Jalapeno Restaurant? LOL! Order extra Tapatio Sauce and Pepcid!) Thx to both of you.

LM, I’m still trying to narrow down the date of Bway’s photo above, posted on 7/23. This morning I reviewed the Sunday River video in which Frank Pfuhler, Jr.’s superb movies of the Myrtle El were featured. He photographed a set of the old wooden gate cars turning left (toward Seneca Ave.) at Wyckoff and Palmetto in January, 1958, and the HFC sign, looking very new and not weatherbeaten in the slightest, is up there on the shoemaker’s building. It does not appear on the same shoe-rebuilding store in Bway’s pic (dead center, far right, top of second story by window).

Earlier, I mentioned that many streetcar/trolley lines were abandoned in stages during 1951. (Utica Ave. line, where the Rugby Theater shows up clearly: 3-18-51; Ocean Ave. line: spring, 1951; Vanderbilt Ave. line: summer, ‘51). Catenary wires were removed immediately after abandonment, but trolley tracks were either torn up or paved over up to a full year or more later, and older streetlight poles replaced with more modern ones.

So, can we safely surmise that Bway’s pic can be dated between the summer of ‘52 (no visible tracks on Myrtle) and the summer of '57 (no HFC sign)?

BrooklynJim
BrooklynJim commented about Vogue Theatre in Chula Vista is Officially Closed on Jul 26, 2006 at 10:28 am

SpAcEaGeSpY, since I don’t trust CT’s internal search engine, just click on my name above (in blue) which will take you to my profile page. The Vogue Theatre is about 8 from the top. Click on it to get that page. Lost Memory provided photo links on 6/14 and 7/23. Enjoy ‘em!

BrooklynJim
BrooklynJim commented about Whitney Theatre on Jul 26, 2006 at 9:45 am

It’s probably owner Hans Jr.’s son who runs the day-to-day store operations, as it’s been family-owned and run a long, long time. Last fall, went over to purchase some HO-scale RR stuff, and brought back a Model Railroader mag I’d purchased there in ‘74. (Was even an old ad of theirs in the classifieds!) When I gave it to him, the guy quipped, “Hope you’ll be back sooner than that this time…”

If you should contact him, ask him about the Whitney across the street as well as the March ‘06 Sopranos episode. You never know – he might even have taken a Camcorder to the event.

[“Film editors on strike! Slides at 11!]

BrooklynJim
BrooklynJim commented about RKO Madison Theatre on Jul 26, 2006 at 9:17 am

The guy at Nagengast’s had given me the exact preview location to the Spranos episode and explosion last March. It was fairly close to the el on Fresh Pond Rd., and the immediate area was to be sealed off to traffic by the 104 PCT. between 7:00 P.M. and 2:00 A.M. Call the shop for more info.

As for “The French Connection,” Sal & Angie’s luncheonette, with its name on the green and red Coca Cola sign above, was shot over on Onderdonk.

IMDB omitted one location: the corner of DeKalb & Wyckoff. A portion of the old bowling alley is at the left. I’d bowled there in several leagues from ‘62-'65, so for me it was instant deja vu.

As promised, I scanned the opening Boston scene of Spike Lee’s “X” last night. Man, oh man, between the strange-looking el cars and the suggestion of a street in Boston, they had me royally “Bamboozled!” But it was definitely “the magic of Hollywood,” as Bway wrote, at the intersection of Palmetto, Wyckoff and Myrtle!

“You ever pick your feet in Poughkeepsie?” – “Popeye” Doyle as the late NYPD Det. Eddie Egan to black suspect

“There was NO democracy in the cotton fields of Georgia!” – Malcolm X voiceover by Denzel Washington during credits

BrooklynJim
BrooklynJim commented about Aztec Theatre on Jul 25, 2006 at 3:52 pm

Enjoyed your 7/24 post, Jay, well worth the read. You’ll earn the Cameron Crowe “Almost Famous” Award yet.:)

You wrote, “Sometimes, the feature bills were totally unplanned, just randomly matched movies that by rights should never have been run back to back – "The Muppet Movie” with Charles Bronson’s “Death Wish” comes to mind as one odd pairing."

Nice to know occurrences such as this happened here on the “left” coast as well. Saw a few mismatched beauts back east, but the capper had to be Howard Keel’s God-awful ‘62 musical, “Seven Brides For Seven Brothers,” coupled with “Play Misty For Me” ('72). After sweating bullets and shuddering through the first, I relaxed and was taken in by the suspense of Director Eastwood’s efforts.

As I recall, Eastwood added a song by Roberta Flack at some point in the movie. Her version of “First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” was not bad at all, but was totally unacceptable to one old geezer up in the balcony near me. He was not impressed in the least with her style, so he threw Flack some flak. Whenever she sang “your face” toward the end of the song, he croaked out his own sarcastic imitation. Each and every time. Longer and louder. She jazzed it up and he razzed it up. She crooned. He groaned. Ya hadda be there! What a duet! What an afternoon delight for the benefit of us half dozen denizens of that local popcorn palace.

[BrooklynJim shivers at this point]

Grammy material, I swear…

BrooklynJim
BrooklynJim commented about Beekman Theatre on Jul 25, 2006 at 1:44 pm

Just clicked on the Beekman as CT’s featured theater and was sorry to learn that it had been demolished. Back in ‘71, a college buddy and I caught that strange and offbeat little movie starring singers James Taylor and Dennis Wilson, “Two-Lane Blacktop.” I’m also reasonably certain I saw “The Exorcist” there as well.

In the late ‘90s in North Hollywood, the still very trim and attractive star of that latter movie provided an 8x10 glossy of a scene from that film and signed the following autograph for my (late) son, already a movie critic at age 15 for his high school paper:

“Dear Greg,
You make my head spin!
Love, Linda Blair”

Greg’s smile of appreciation lit up the room.

BrooklynJim
BrooklynJim commented about RKO Madison Theatre on Jul 25, 2006 at 12:02 pm

The nickname of the neighborhood, as told to me by a few Jewish colleagues at JHS 93 in the ‘60s, was “Der Bund.”

With current signs such as “Delski Polski” on Forest, I think the area has been reclaimed in part. WWII is finally over. (Now if only we could bring the boys back from Iraq, but NOT one per body bag!)

BrooklynJim
BrooklynJim commented about Belle Harbor Twin on Jul 25, 2006 at 11:56 am

P.S. to micheleandanniegirl: At least the roller coaster destroyed by the Rhedosaurus during the finale of “Beast From 20,000 Fathoms” was in Coney Island, not Rockaway Park’s Playland, a bit less to fear by Queens kids.

BrooklynJim
BrooklynJim commented about RKO Madison Theatre on Jul 25, 2006 at 11:42 am

LM, the bright red & white HFC signs started appearing in the early part of the 1960s. They opened an office on the floor I worked in the Williamburgh Savings Bank Building (now the Condo Paradise of Magic Johnson), 1 Hanson Place, Brooklyn. Even dated a cute Swedish gal from Bay Ridge who worked for HFC in ‘65.

Am loving the stories about the various filmings! Have seen Malcolm X, but never suspected that some of it was shot where you said. Will scan it tonight. And even Hans Jr. (or Phil or Bob) from Nagengast’s Hardware related a few stories to me last March. I found it extremely ironic about turning some Forest Ave. storefronts (“A Stranger Among Us”) into Jewish businesses, considering the long-time ethnic make-up of Ridgewood.

Oh, and Peter, I think it was Stymie…:)

BrooklynJim
BrooklynJim commented about Glenwood Theatre on Jul 25, 2006 at 11:27 am

Need a clarification from one of you Ridgewood Regulars:

I never attended the Glenwood as a movie house, but if the bowling alley which followed was located on the 2nd floor right near the LIRR freight trestle at Fresh Pond and Myrtle, then I also bowled there between 1970-75. The map seems to bear this out, but can anyone confirm the location?

BrooklynJim
BrooklynJim commented about Vogue Theatre in Chula Vista is Officially Closed on Jul 25, 2006 at 9:36 am

Lack of attendance hurt, along with remaining a single-screen venue in competition with the bigger multi-plex boys. Lost Memory posted several recent pix on the Vogue page, along with a link to the U-T article that appeared in Saturday’s (7/22) paper. Check ‘em out, Chris.

BrooklynJim
BrooklynJim commented about Ridgewood Theatre on Jul 25, 2006 at 9:28 am

Bway, I should’ve noted that the link was 4th from bottom on my profile list. Wish I could’ve saved you some unnecessary work. Sorry.

I just posted on the July link about adding something to CT the ideas you fellows espoused for an “Inquiry” or “Research” page. Am inviting anyone here to piggyback on it in the hopes that the powers-that-be will consider employing it in the near future.

BrooklynJim
BrooklynJim commented about RKO Madison Theatre on Jul 25, 2006 at 9:18 am

Great find, Bway! I’d date the photo as late ‘50s: the R.K.O. Madison ad on the side of the theater is a bit faded in comparison to the color shots c. 1957 taken by Frank Pfuhler, Jr.

Many trolley lines were abandoned in Brooklyn and Queens in the early 1950s. Track was either torn up or paved over. My guess is that these are electrical wires used in conjunction with the Myrtle El itself or for the el’s switch tower.

Lost Memory, that shoemaker’s shop on the Myrtle-Wyckoff corner showed up quite brightly and clearly in the DVD I referenced recently over on the Ridgewood page. Time frame fits, too.