Langley Theatre
8014 New Hampshire Avenue,
Langley Park,
MD
20783
8014 New Hampshire Avenue,
Langley Park,
MD
20783
1 person
favorited this theater
Showing 26 - 46 of 46 comments
My Father does remember you, Steve. I forwarded him this site today.
Thanks for the clarification.
SG
As Ron’s sister and Marvin’s daughter, I feel I am in a position to know what their feelings were and are with relation to having sold the chain.
I believe I said “nearing 90”. As my father has reach 90 and I always felt that Marvin and Dad were of similar age…I figured Marvin was nearing 90. It appears that he is 86…I’m not too far off. I clearly meant no disrespect to either Marvin or Ronnie.
The “chain” upon which you refer to is just a single location in Calvert County.
As to the reasons they sold off most of their theatres…that is a matter for Ronnie to clarify, if he is so inclined.
SG
One would assume that the writer of a “review” on a certain theater chain would do such requisite research that he would correctly get the name of the company( KB as in Kogod Burka) and would interview the principles before blogging. The Goldman family is indeed still in the theater business with a small, profitable chain in Maryland owned by Ron Goldman. Marvin Goldman, a past president of the Theater Owners Association of America, is widely held as a visionary in his field and set the stage for chains operating today. Mr. Goldman, who, by the way, is hardly a 90 year old man as stated in a previous post, decided to retire due to the lack of quality films and the corresponding decrease in the movie going public. It remains his ethic that if he could not offer quality to his customer, he would rather leave the business and his son is similarly inclined.
Here, here,and here are photos from February 2008 of the former Langley Theatre.
All right, I did a search under KB Theaters and just KB but nothing comes up under “ALL” categories, forums, blogs or stories. What am I doing wrong? :)
KB Theaters was the last of a dying breed of independent chains. KB’s ultimate refusal to sacrifice the “Motion Picture Experience” for the sake of profit became its undue-al . For more information regarding this chain, please visit www.set2stun.com . The “would have been” heir to the KB dynasty delivers up a hefty serving of spite as he reminisces of his families then Theater Empire.
Yes! In fact, both the MacArthur and the Langley had “cry rooms” on the second floor. The Langly had a lounge upstairs too in addition to the rest rooms. The layouts of the Langley and the MacA were VERY similar. A notable difference from upstairs was that the MacA could exit from up there too since it was set into a hill.
SG
Okay okay. Come to think of it, the floor space that is there now could well have massive storage space behind and beyond it to where the actual seats and screen were. Much like the KB MacArthur/CVS layout is today.
I’m wondering if this theater had a second level that was large enough to have a small balcony like the MacArthur eventually had when it was triplexed in ‘83.
You’re right, Steve – and a phenominal deli, at that! As an aside, when the Godfather came out, the air conditioning for the theatre was in the process of being overhauled, as the original compressor had totally locked up (something about a staffer going into the compressor room and resetting the oil failure switch numerous times while standing in the oil from the compressor!) Anyway, as part of the work, we had to cut out and replace several pieces of piping which was located next to the return air duct – – so, as to not disturb those watching the movie, we simply waited until the next “shoot-em-up” scene started, then cut away merrily – – talk about your “supplimental sound effects!”
Don’t be fooled by how the theatre sat. There were always businesses next to the Langley. I seem to recall a deli next to it when I worked there. The lobby of the theatre took you BEHIND the businesses before you turned right and entered the rear of the auditorium
Drove by what was the theater and it’s totally vacant with a “for lease” sign. Its hard to visualize what was the theater but the adjacent 2 or 3 store, to the right, would be where the seats and screens were. How time has passed.
From what I can tell…The was not a lot of money around for the Harbour when it was built…mostly of existing equipment in the projection booth. It has traditionally been a busy theatre though it is tough being 2nd bannana behind the Mall.
The Calvert 5 does not have really big theatres…one is in the 300 seat range. They are marked by as steep a slope as one could build in its day (you couldn’t do it today for ADA reasons). The sightlines are great.
As to how the Goldmans would run things with their theatres today is just speculation. It is a family business but Marvin has to be nearly 90 and Ronnie isn’t that young anymore either. I don’t believe Ronnie’s children have any desire to run the business so I think that would limit how they would decide to run a larger chain. The era of the small family run chain has past (with few exceptions). The Kogod and Burka families still own real estate.
Okay, I stand corrected Kogod and Burka. I never knew! Thanks again for the history. I wonder if the family had continued operating their chain how things would be different today. I can understand the sale of business during that time given the building of the multi and megaplexes in the later years.
I"ve been to the Harbour 9 and its not much to write home about even with the new seats. BowTie needs to do a better job with that place. Calvert 5 is too far south for me to visit, but I suspect its just a bunch of shoebox theaters.
It is Kogod and Burka…
The families still exist but they have nothing to do with theatres. The Goldman family married into the Kogod family. K/B was really a reality company that got into the theatre business on a forclosure, as I recall (The Princess Theatre). Anyway…Marvin Goldman married into the Kogod family. They formed Fremar Corp (based on the names FREd Burka and MARvin Goldman). If you looked at any of our paper work, we were Fremar Corp, Trading As K-B Theatres. I came into the company as the Burka family was exiting. At that time David Burka was still around but it was clear that Marvin’s son, Ronnie was coming up and taking over the day-to-day. Marvin and Ronnie ran/owned the company for my tenure there with Marvin handing over the reins just about completely by the time I left.
K-B did not sell to Cineplex though I can understand the confusion. K-B theatres sold to Ron Nadler’s company but they kept the K-B name enough (it wasn’t exactly the same…something like K-B Theatres Inc or LLC or something like that…it was a different company though…no more Fremar Corp). They bought most of what was K-B at the time except for the Annapolis, Calver, and oddly enough, the Aspen Hill. Not being with the company at the time, I have no idea about the politics behind what got sold and when.
The Goldman family formed Apex Cinemas. I have to think they were paying homage to their former crown jewel, the Apex theatre in Washington, DC (before my time as a projectionist but I did see films there as a yute…last film was Logan’s Run in 70mm…those projectors found their way to the K-B Cinema…but I digress).
The Apex theatres continued on until Crown Theatres bought all of them, except the Calvert. Crown closed the Aspen Hill and then built a new Annapolis Mall theatre and subsequently closed the older 4-plex that was built during my time.
Apex Cinemas continues to this day with the Apex Calvert…still owned and operated by the Goldmans
There is a good book on Washington DC theatres by Hedley (he also did one on Baltimore theatres) that will let you see the history of the theatres and the movie men in the Washington DC area.
SG
Thanks Steve for the technical and historical information. I can’t begin to imagine what projectionists went through during those days, pre-platter and computer automation, to ensure the curtains opened and closed at the right times and the picture and sound ran smoothly and perfectly.
As my posted experiences have indicated, I will always cherish those memories as the probably the standard for excellence in motion picture exhibition.
I remember back in the day when venues with Dolby Stereo was my preferred one. The Post had that iconic Dolby with the box and the theaters in it. The same was with 70mm and the wide lines to signify the widescreen format. Today, the current movie directory don’t do ads to indicate what venues have digital (SDDS, DD, DTS, -EX or even DLP).
Whatever happened to the Kogad/Burga duo? I know they sold to Cineplex Odeon in the 80s. Are they still alive? Is there some written history about them and their history in DC/MD Cinema exhibition? I’m thinking back that the last two venues they opened were the 11 screener in Wheaton Plaza and the Harbour 9 in Annapolis and, possibly Calvert 5 before they were sold off. Or those venues not part of the Cineplex Oden sale.
First off…it is Kogod Not Kogat that was the K in K/B theatres.
As to the sound…sensaround was installed and removed in a great many theatres as they were often leased systems. Other K/B theatres had Sensaround as needed too.
K/B was not an early user of Dolby Stereo. Obtaining Dolby products was not always an easy thing. It is tough to judge a market that, in 1979 was just beginning to embrace the optical stereo concept. Even in the early ‘80s (prior to 1985) only about 20% of films were released in Dolby Stereo. Dolby only produced but so many units based on anticipated sales…which only come seasonally. When K/B would try to buy Dolby processors (in the early days) one might not be able to guarantee getting a unit (CP50 in those days for non-70mm venues). As such K/B had a number of EPRAD Starscopes in their theatres. In fact, the World Premiere of Star-Trek at the K-B MacArthur played on an EPRAD StarScope.
K-B outfitted their existing 70mm and 35mm magnetic theatres to be able to play optical stereo films by installing jackfields and switches. We then had optical stereo racks built up (complete with sound processor, monitor and amplifiers) that could be quickly plugged into any of those theatres. In this manner K-B could buy only a few processors and have them always working playing stereo movies. Outfitting a theatre for Dolby Stereo was not necessarily a cheap proposition and for but only 20% or less of the product you were going to run. If we ran out of enough racks to cover the films out in Dolby Stereo…we added more racks. It was really quite efficient for the day.
I bring this up because it is more than likely that Star Trek played in EPRAD stereo in the Langley. It would have been on one of our plug in racks though. As Dolby Stereo became more an more a standard, K-B had Dolby versions of those mobile racks too and in fact they became the predominate version.
Someone mentioned Kintek…yes K-B had Kintek. In the early days it too was in a mobile rack (separate boxes, KT-21, KT-22, KT-24 plus amps). This rack definately saw time at the Langley because I showed movies with it in place. I seem to recall showing a Dolby Stereo film via the Kintek rack because that was what was available (in the K-B stereo rack arsenal). I recall showing Hanger 18 at the Langley with the Kintek rack. Note, we normally used the line “Kintek-dbx” in the newspaper ads. The dbx name was better known with consumers than Kintek and at the time the companies were related. The K-B Cinema was the other popular theatre to get the Kintek rack if a stereo film was not playing there. The K-B Cinema though never had to share its sound system…since 1980 until closing, it had its own CP200 system that was part of the first batch of them from Dolby for “EMPIRE”…I want to say it was serial #25 or so.
As someone that projected at both the MacArthur and the Langley, yes, they were very similar in layout though not identical. The way they loaded in/out was the same and feel of them was quite similar.
Thinking back, I do recall that this movie theater had been outfitted with a Sensaround system because after Battlestar Galactica (the original 1978 ABC series) premiered, the two hour movie was theatrically released touting that kind of sound experience and was booked here. That being the case, maybe this theater showed Earthquake also in that sound format several years prior.
For many years the LANGLEY was the finest neighborhood theater in the Maryland (Washington DC) suburbs. Certainly no Cinema Treasure, it was all the same special in its grand size, huge curved screen, and the magnificent red screen-curtain first installed when they played SOUTH PACIFIC. KB Theaters targeted the upper middle class audience and favored quality over action. This is why it was chosen as one of 3 theaters to first run THE GODFATHER in 1972 which did not get booked into Washington’s deteriorated downtown, wrecked by the Martin Luther King riot 6 years prior. When the LANGLEY opened and for 20 to 25 years later it was fortunately located in a low crime yuppie neighborhood. But when the middle class moved away, the theater had problems with crime keeping customers away, as well as endless problems inside the theater with trouble-minded customers. The manager/owner told me they were glad to be getting out —– as similar problems doomed other KB Theaters such as the ATLAS, SENATOR, NAYLOR, FLOWER, ONTARIO, et cetera. Many thanks to KB for running high quality theaters for many good years.
This was quite a nice theater when it was a single screen venue. My first movie seen at this theater was “Star Trek: The Motion Picture.” It was my first film event experience as it was opening weekend. The temperature was in the frigid teens and the line went all around the block and onto University Boulevard, as it usually does when this moviehouse is sold out. At the time, this theater showed great showmanship in the way they made sure the curtains opened and closed when they were supposed to and the sound was appropriately adjusted and the movie was projected to fit the screen and not outside it.
This was my first experience watching a movie that had an overture (Ilia’s Theme) at the beginning of the show. I had read that some of the older movies had them and I think this was probably one of the last films (that I have seen in its original release) to have it. I don’t understand why movies don’t them anymore. They set the mood for the movie and add to its enjoyment.
The late show that I saw, on the Saturday evening, of its opening weekend, started even later as we were told that there were film problems and that the show would be delayed another 2 hours! I think the movie started around 1 or 2AM! The only movie preview shown was for “Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back” and, at the time, the brief shot of the AT-ATs brought much oohing and ahhing from the audience.
From red hues of Vulcan to Stephen Collins' deep blue eyes, the film was something special as the presentation was so clear and the colors quite sharp. I remember reading about how this film was rushed to print for its Dec 7 opening but this didn’t detract from my enjoyment one bit. The film was advertised, on the marquee, as being in Spectrum Stereo. The font resembled that of the Dolby Spectrum stereo logo of later years. Come to think of it, I do recall seeing Kintek Stereo somewhere, if it was on the ticket booth window, or maybe on one of the speakers in the theater. I believe the KB Theater chain did use Kintek sound systems in a lot of their theaters. The last one this chain built, the one at Wheaton Plaza, now Loews Wheaton, had Kintek, which is a pretty decent sound system.
I always thought that this theater was almost identical to the MacArthur theater in DC. I don’t think this theater was ever 70mm capable as I don’t recall ever seeing it advertised on the marquee or in the Post.
The second film I saw here was Superman II. The presentation was quite decent but it seemed that audience attendance at this theater was on the decline. Also, the neighborhood saw increasing crime and gang related activities.
The last film I saw at this theater was Gremlins. The theater had been twinned and you could see that they put up a dividing wall right smack, in the middle, of the center aisle. It wasn’t what it used to be even though there was stereo sound. It was a shame to lose this theater to yet another retail store.