Amboys Drive-In
Victory Plaza,
South Amboy,
NJ
08879
Victory Plaza,
South Amboy,
NJ
08879
3 people
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Showing 26 - 40 of 40 comments
Actually, his name was Ted Hawley. He was the business agent of Perth Amboy Local 379 during the time I worked at many of the local “houses”. I was involved in the installation of the film platters at the Amboy Mulitplexes when the theater was expanded from the original “6 plex” design in the mid 80’s. Up until that time, there were two projectors per theater utilizing 6000' reels instead of the normal 2000' reels. In this manner, only one change-over per showing was necessary, unless the movie ran over 2 hours. We removed one projector per theater and utilized these in the newly constructed “houses”. Then a film platter system was installed in each theater enabling a continuous run of the feature with no changeovers. Because of the platter system, an interlock system was made possible, allowing one print to be shown simultaneously in multiple auditoriums. Those always fun…..especially “threading up” the show! Fun days. :–)
That projectionist was Ted Healy,He was one of the best, very dedicated just an all around great guy. He created an interlock for four of the auditoriums at Amboy Cinemas and kept all of the projection equipment in top condition.
The Keyport Strand was a “neighborhood” theater located in the middle of Keyport. Believe it or not, I have nothing of the Amboy Drive-in! The projectionist who worked there was also the business agent for the local chapter of IATSE, the union which represented the local projectionists. After the drive-in closed and the multiplex was built, he worked there for many years, retiring in the early 90’s. He retired to Arizona and, sadly, passed away a few years later. He had some memorbilia from the old Amboys Drive-in, but I have no idea what became of his collection.
I think the Deep Throat confusion lies in the fact that
“Deep Throat II” was made for the Drive-In/mainstream crowd with an “R” rating in 1974, two years after the stir caused by the original. There was also “Linda Lovelace for President” in 1975 and “R” rated, as well. jerry the k
Jerry Kampo-
Interesting. Maybe I had my Dad’s stories mixed up or he had the details mixed up about ‘Deep Throat’. Was the Keyport Strand a drive-in theater?
Would love to see any memorabilia you have from the Amboys Drive-In if you have any.
nice photo of the marquee:
http://66.221.1.53/images/njsign.jpg
The Amboys Drive-in opened in 1959. They NEVER showed Deep Throat…that film was shown at the Keyport Strand with the manager AND projectionist being arrested almost everyday! I worked a few times at the Amboys Drive-in as a projectionist during the mid 70’s, but was a steady customer from the time I started driving in 1964.
A sad note, Tha Amboy 14 screen theatre Multiplex Cinema closed at the end of May. It may be temporary but it appears to be gone forever.
The Amboy wasn’t a twin drive in. It was a big single with a huge screen tower that was actually a building. I remember passing the back of it and seeing on the screen tower painted Amoby Drive in. Up until they redid Route 35, the water run off ditch which was directly behind the screen was still there, so it gave you a sense of how big the screen was. The Newark Drive in , it’s sister was a double screen..
This link might yield a better close-up view of the ad for the Amboys (in the bottom right corner).
Another sister drive-in to the Amboys was the Newark Drive-In, near the Pulaski Skyway on Route 1. They always had side-by-side ads in the Jersey Journal. Here is a copy of one from July 1960. Newark’s show was “Hercules Unchained” and “Terror Is a Man”, with a special midnight showing of “Attack of the Crab Monsters”. The Amboys had “The Last Days of Pompeii” and “Macumba Love” with “Conquest of Space” at midnight. Both theaters had “giant free playgrounds”.
Add Route 35 Drive-In Hazlet (now a 12 screen multiplex) to that sisters list.
I believe the Amboys Drive-In sister drive ins in NJ were the Atco Drive-In (now Atco 14 Multiplex Cinemas), the Starlite Drive-In, and The Tacony-Palmyra Drive-In.
Jerry-
You’re right. After I posted that description I looked up the movie titles on IMDB.com that were on the marquee of that photograph on the drive-ins website. Both films were released in the 50s which indicates that the drive-in was there way before 1970, and also contrary to the info on drive-ins.com it had two screens not one, also something I vaguely remember.
I also recall being stuck in traffic, going home from the Jersey shore in the early 60s, and watching a Drive-In screen from the car. I was the only one disappointed when traffic started to move.
The theater opened before 1970 but I don’t have a date for it. The date on Drive-ins.com is wrong. I have a newspaper listing showing ALFIE showing on April 12, 1967. And the image on the drive-in site shows SAYONARA a 50s film. http://www.drive-ins.com/theater/njtambo