Century's Morton Village Theatre
998 Old Country Road,
Plainview,
NY
11803
998 Old Country Road,
Plainview,
NY
11803
2 people
favorited this theater
Showing 26 - 41 of 41 comments
You could take a movie upto 11:59, but if it ran even to 12:01 the projectionist got an hour overtime.
Here is Jerry opening on Premiere Showcase at Morton Village in the 60’s.
View link
It is true running past midnight with Century was a nono
Here’s an interesting factoid I just discovered â€" this theater and the adjacent shopping center, take their name from the fact that they were originally built to serve the residents of the Plainview neighborhood of Morton Village, which is directly opposite them on Old Country Road. The neighborhood, in turn, is so named because the main loop road is Morton Road.
It seems as though neighborhood names in Plainview have long faded from common usage â€" maybe they are still used by real estate agents and no one else. Does anyone still say “Morton Village†in reference to the actual village and not the shopping center?
And at that time running past midnight was still time and a half for the projectionist. Meanwhile you would more then make up for it from the concession profits. When the show is starting people run right for the seats and skip refreshments.
My main memory of the Old Country Theater from the early 80’s is that it had a really nasty old man for a manager – yes, the only theater that could compete with the Westbury for obnoxious management. One time we were there to see a 9:30 showing of “Blue Thunder” and the theater was obviously running behind schedule. The manager ordered the projectionist to start the FEATURE while the line was still moving into the theater. As irate film goers started yelling at him that for $5 he should at least wait till eveyone is in the theater before starting the film, he offered this lame excuse – “we had to start now or we wouldn’t get out till after midnight.” Huh?
The theater just down the block on the Southside of Old Country Road was the Old Country theater. They sold odd candies like Lemonhead and Boston Baked Beans and I was thrown out of there with my sister and some of her friends in 1966 because Alfie was an “Adults Only” film! Saw Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, Hot Millions and Journey to the Beginning of Time there in the late ‘60’s. Great old creaky house!!!!!!Miss it! Jake J.
Drove by last week – it is now a Blockbuster Video outlet.
longislandmovies:
Okay – I’ll buy 1985 as the closing date – guess I wrote this one off a little early.
Two questions, if you or anyone else knows:
What year did this become a second-run, bargain theater?
What was the name of the twin theater located across Old Country Road and to the east, near Manetto Hill Rd – it’s the only one of the four Plainview theaters not yet listed here.
i think this closed around 1985
This became a bargain theater in the mid ‘70s – for a while the admission price was the year in cents – i.e., in 1977 you paid $0.77 and so on – probably went up to an even buck before closing around 1983. I agree that this place was as “no frills” as they came. Still, sadly, one of four(!) Plainview theaters to close within a few years of each other in the early '80s. Ironically, I believe the building now houses a video store.
no 70 mm
LI Movies,
Do you remember when this theater opened and if it was equipped for 70mm. Thanks.
Every thing was wrong with this house lobby ugly , candy stand ugly,no bsns for years i am shocked it lasted as long as it did.
longislandmovies
What was so bad about this house?
this was the worst of century theaters , i had to work as a manager
here one night and i wanted to cry.