Embassy Theatre

Glad to see some new folks on this page: welcome, tkinz & Jack Tomai!

Robbie Dupree & I corresponded briefly on this page (and others) in 2006, but the last post of his I saw was above on Mar. 26, 2007. If he is who you say, I’ve got his “Steal Away” on a red label 45 from the summer of ‘80. Excellent track!

Like Peter, I don’t recall that Italian restaurant, but there was a great seafood place on the corner of Crescent & Fulton in the ‘70s. Their Boston Baked Scrod was su-poib!

Welcome, Jack Tomai. Yes, you posted correctly. I don’t remember the litte Italian restaurant on Fulton near the Embassy. My dad’s parents and sister lived at 169 Chestnut St. nearby from 1955 to summer 1968, and my parents and I visited them there often, but, as all but my dad are now deceased, and my dad’s memory is not all that great, I can no longer question any of them about this. I’m a Ridgewood boy myself. I DO remember a German deli near one of the corners of Fulton and Crescent, and a store nearby that had the Rolling Stones' “High Tide and Green Grass (Big Hits)” for sale, in a rack of LP’s out front.

Hope you get an answer from Robbie Dupree. Best wishes.

i have stopped trying to look at warren’s links they never work.

does anyone have a photo of the embassy ?

Since I grew up on the “other” side of Atlantic Avenue (on Sheridan), we had the choice of The Earl (or ‘The Itch") or The Embassy.

The Earl was the low-rent option… dirty, buggy, loud… sometimes birds would fly around inside the theater. Saturdays were a free-for-all.

The Embassy had an adult side and a kids' side (you had to be 14 or over to sit on the “adult” side). You could also smoke on the adult side. There was a dress code: no shorts for girls. The matrons were wicked…they’d patrol up and down the aisles with their flashlights. So funny to remember that!

Thanks, Warren. I’ve seen the Ridgewood referred to as both Randforce’s Ridgewood and Florin’s Creative Ridgewood.

LM, do you think Jack Nicholson is using the pseudonym of “robbie dupree” on CT?

Peter, I’m pretty certain I shipped the “Matinee” video to my Brooklyn casa. (Not available on DVD yet.) I’ll get it to you as a loaner, along with “Half Human” and the “Gojira” sampler. Be patient, amigo.

robbie dupree (a name ‘way too similar to Bobby Dupea, Nicholson’s character in “Five Easy Pieces”), I got “Tingled” by that electro-buzzer gimmick at the RKO Bushwick in the late '50s. Cussed like a bandit!

Embassy and Ridgewood Theaters along with the Duffield in downtown Brooklyn were run by the Randforce Circuit. Charlie C.

Pkoch- Thanks, I checked out Bushwick Buddies- Interesting site. It looks look the area is coming back! Haven’t heard back from Brian Hyland – Email did go through. Guess he has too many negative memories. Brooklyn Jim- I knew you weren’t kidding. Just thought the irony of him recording a song with that title was pretty funny. He’s a great performer. Ive always enjoyed his music. I’ll have to get some of his CDs and check out that song. Robbie Dupree- Loved your website. Youv'e done a lot of great work. I will get your CDs. I remember Steal Away- Great song. I came back to NY for 2 years 91-93 but didn’t come out to the old neighborhood. I played harmonica at the Palace Theater on Broadway in “The Will Rogers Follies” and went back to N.C. when the show closed. I play classical harmonica and do some concerts and Musical Theater work throughout U.S.A. -www.buz.zoomshare.com I remember the skeleton on a wire- OOO000! Scary! I agree with Robbie-Being a matron on Sat at the Embassy must have been like trench warfare. Those ladies should have recieved medals! I found the answer to the name of the bar on Bushwick ave with the piano player on the roof it was the A Bar.

Had I known that the Embassy was also geared for the Castle gimmick films, robbie, I could’ve saved a couple of el tokens and walked. Saw most of them at the RKO Bushwick on Broadway near Gates. Between 6/8-22/06, PKoch, Bway, Moondog and I posted a bunch of memories from that era on that page. You might have some additional thoughts on these films as well.

Charlie S., I don’t recall Mary Clayton, your grandmother, but if she sold candy at the Embassy, I probably bought it from her. LOL! Also, I wasn’t pulling your leg about that 1963 Brian Hyland hit, “I’m Afraid To Go Home.” It was a pretty strong Civil War folk song with a good soft-rock background. Not shabby at all, perhaps his best.

Peter, save yer shekels, kiddo. I can foresee some of us pooling our (eventual) retirement/Social Security resources and opening a small theater somewhere in B'klyn or Queens to revive the sci-fi, horror and schlock movies we’ve all described here and elsewhere.

“I HAVE A DREAM!” – Dr. MLK, Jr.

(…and me, too! Seriously!)

I recall seeing several of the William Castle Horror movies at The Embassy. Does anyone remember the props that were hung in the theatre to add excitement ? Castle did this kind of gimmick to add to the promo for films like The Tingler, House on Haunted Hill etc. For example, they strung a wire down the middle of the center aisle and at a given moment,vaguely cooridinated with the movie, a skeleton was pulled down the wire. It was far fron frightening. As a matter of fact, it got stuck half way down the aisle and we all began throwing candy and anything else we had at the skeleton. This kind of thing happened every saturday during the years i spent at the Embassy matinee’s from 1957-62. Robbie

Thanks Brooklyn Jim. The location seems exatly right for it being the Colinial. I thought I rememberd the entrance on Broadway but I was so young then. I do remember being in a laundromat with my mom right across the street and looking at the theater and a supermarket next door Possibly a Key Food. They were advertising Cleopatra on a giant banner across the bldg. I remember Broadway’s sidewalks were jam packed with people and all the stores were filled with customers and my brother and I used to stick our fingers in our ears everytime the trains roared overhead. I recall staring at the fake cakes in the window of an ice cream parlor and the aroma from all the fruit and veg. stands. It was sad to ride through that area on the j train in the mid 70s and see all the devastation. I agree with Robbie Dupree .It’s great we have this forum to share our memories of the old neighborhood. I heard Bushwick is trying to make a come back- I doubt it will ever be as great a place as many of us remember it. The Movie Palaces were a big part of the glue that held it all together. Anyone remember that bar on Bushwick Ave. that had a piano player on the roof?