RKO Madison Theatre
54-30 Myrtle Avenue,
Ridgewood,
NY
11385
54-30 Myrtle Avenue,
Ridgewood,
NY
11385
21 people
favorited this theater
Showing 551 - 575 of 1,251 comments
Bway,thanks for your reply concerning the door in the Madison’s balcony, just to re-cap, I did purchase some items during my recent visit, and may buy more, cal you direct me to that door,so I can visit a second time?
Mr. Tomai, when you left in 1979 was during the era of multiplexing,and many theaters were converting to stay alive.sad to say its a different world here in NYC since you left, many of the grand palaces are gone. Check out my RKO Bushwick posts, and its pictures,hope you enjoy them!
Jack Tomai, the RKO Madison was probably at its worst in April 1979, right after it burned. There are plenty of images of the Ridgewood and Madison as they are now available on their pages on this site.
A friend of mine at work graduated Grover Cleveland High School in 1965. His graduation ceremony was held at the RKO Madison Theater. Ditto his younger brother in 1972. Cleveland’s grounds were quite extensive. I’ll ask my friend why they held their graduations at the RKO Madison.
Man, I’m jealous of you guys being able to revisit the old movie theatres even though they aren’t what they used to be. We moved out of NY back in 79 so we haven’t seen what’s become of them since then. Probably for the best. I remember my cousin’s graduation from high school took place at the RKO Madison in the 60s. I guess some schools that didn’t have the facilities rented or borrowed the Madison Theatre for their school graduations!
Panzer65, Bway, I’m glad you guys are finally talking to each other on this Madison Theater page, especially about your recent visits to the Madison.
Panzer65, you might enjoy a visit to RKO Keith’s on Hillside Avenue near Myrtle Avenue, in Richmond Hill. It’s a flea market and a bingo hall, but it’s still very much recognizable as a theater inside. Bway, I know you’ve been there, and have posted about it extensively. I think it’s page # 3972 on this site.
You are quite right on the money about the exceptional quality of those old movie palaces, and what special places they were.
That’s a different door. That door with the stairway you mention was also open when I was there….there is another door though, on the other wall……
Bway, Thanks you for your reply concerning my recent first visit to the former RKO Madison.
We both had the same walk through, and the same results, but you did inspire me to do it! My apologies for not recognizing you as the person who did the walk through on a previous post. When I did explore the balcony that door you mentioned was open, I peered in and it was simply an exit staircase down to the orchestra level, I would have hoped to see the original walls in the staircase, but it was all sheetrocked. Apparently the fire that occurred in the 70’s may have been severe enough to damage Madison so much, that the new owners decided to cover the damage instead of repairing it.
Panzer, thanks so much for the comments…Those were my posts you were referring to…and you sound just like I did walking around that store. I also saw that missing ceiling tile (and only seeing dark air above, or peaking into rooms on the sides….
Did you see the door upstairs, a door that if opened I thought would look right to the stage from the balcony. Unfortunately , it was closed when I was up there…..
Your experience sounds similar to mine….I also found NOTHING of the past there, aside from the no nondescript stairway, and the curve of the balcony. That’s it.
Upon visiting the Madison for the first time last week, I asked my mother if she ever attended it, and what was it like? She replied very briefly, “oh that was a beautiful place, its a shame what happened to it”.
As a movie goer who started going to the movie palaces during their decline, I have to say that there is a difference going to them as compared to the modern theaters. The old ones have a certain charm and splendor that sets them apart from any other venues. The distinguished architecture made you feel you were in a building that was exceptional.In other words, its the atmosphere that sets them apart. My mother once told me about Jamaica’s( N.Y.) Valencia, she said it had a ceiling full of stars that twinkled through the movie,giving the impression of being under a night sky. Prior to the days of air conditioning this atmospheric effect was most likely comforting on a hot summer night.
I think the theater itself is important, to the extent that it is beautiful to look at, a special place, so that merely GOING THERE is an event, an afternoon, or night out, from humdrum, workaday reality, let alone what one is going there to see or hear. The theater is also important as a boundary around the film or live event, the special place in which it is seen or heard, that helps to separate the film or live event from humdrum, chore-burdened reality.
I can’t see today’s kids getting nostalgic about current cinema auditoriums per se, only about their boyfriends or girlfriends, and the shopping malls containing the cinemas, as a special place where they hung out with their friends.
This is an open question for all the movie fans here: do you think that attending a movie in a theatre like the RKO Madison or any of the numerous movie palaces we discuss on these pages really makes a difference to the enjoyment of the movie? Or are we just looking back thru rose-colored glasses to a youth or a time that we perceive as better? Or are today’s generations enjoying their movies just as much in, as PKoch says, “concrete bunkers in a shopping mall”? Will they look back fondly on the multi-plexes of their youth and sweetly remember seeing THE 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN or THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY or SAW III with their girlfriends? I ponder this occasionally because I love movies so much that I think where you see them is almost as important as the movies themselves. Would LA BOHEME be the same if you saw it at the Met or a tent in a carnival? Are the Rockettes just as high-stepping outside of Radio City Music Hall or is the RCMH necessary for the complete experience? Seeing the Red Sea part on the VistaVision screen of the Paramount or Gene Kelly dancing with Mitzi Gaynor across the CinemaScope screen of Radio City seemed to be enveloping to me as child. Or is it simply a child’s eyes remembering these feelings? Just curious…what do you movie fans think?
Thank you so much for your first RKO Madison Theater post, Jack Tomai. Welcome to the Madison Theater page ! Yes, that life size electric chair replica must have been impressive to you as a kid.
Wow ! Bette Davis and Joan Crawford together on Myrtle Avenue in Ridgewood ! A movie fan’s dream come true !
I remember THE ILLUSTRATED MAN at the Madison in May 1969, and the ads on the radio (WMCA), with that creepy violin music. Big spender, huh ? Didn’t go to Gottlieb’s, huh ? At least you didn’t go to that little triangular hole-in-the-wall Madison Coffee Shop, which is still there on the north side of Myrtle, close to the corner of Woodbine.
I saw BONNIE AND CLYDE at the Madison with my folks, late 1967 or early 1968. From early 1967 I remember WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF ? at the Madison and THE BOBO with Peter Sellers late Sept. 1967. I saw THE DETECTIVE at the Ridgewood in a spring 1972 re-release : “Penis cut off !”
Saw THE ODD COUPLE, THE GREEN BERETS, at the Madison, summer 1968, the latter film, instead of a Doors concert, at Singer Bowl in Flushing Meadow Park, August 2, 1968. Saw ANNE OF A THOUSAND DAYS at the Madison with my folks, spring 1970, ditto THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON’T THEY ?.
I remember Jack Zimmer’s, Kolletty’s (at the northeast corner of Myrtle and Palmetto) very well.
I agree, back then, the movie house itself was something to behold, instead of “a concrete bunker at the end of the shopping mall”.
Hi, this is my first RKO Madison post. My family and I attended the Madison from 1955 until early 70s. Beautiful theatre. We called it “high-class”. Remember seeing I WANT TO LIVE at the Madison with Susan Hayward as convicted murderess who gets death penalty. Guess what they had as a promotional feature? A life size replica of the electric chair displayed upstairs between the doors entering the balcony! I’ll never forget it. As a kid, it was pretty impressive. That was late 50s…in early 60s, I remember Bette Davis and Joan Crawford made special appearance at Madison for WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE. Can you imagine that? These two movie legends on Myrtle
Ave? My friends and I tried to go but couldn’t get in because of the crowds. Another memory: one of my first dates with my future wife was THE ILLUSTRATED MAN at the Madison. Afterwards, we walked across the street to the Madison Diner for burgers. What a big spender I was on a date. Also remember seeing at the Madison: THE PRINCE AND
THE SHOWGIRL (Marilyn Monroe),BONNIE & CLYDE, THE DETECTIVE (Frank Sinatra), ROSEMARY’S BABY, THE ODD COUPLE, ANNE OF A THOUSAND DAYS, CAMELOT, BECKET and of course, all the Hammer films from the 50s thru the 70s. Also remember shopping at Jack Zimmer’s Mens Store on Myrtle Ave and going to Coletti’s (Kolety’s??) Ice Cream Parlor often. Although I’m not one to moan about the past I have to admit that I think it’s a little unfortunate that today’s audiences don’t have the movie palace memories that those of us from the 50s/60s do. As I’ve mentioned on some other sites, seeing a movie back then was so much more of an experience because of the incredible theatres in which we viewed them. If you didn’t like the movie, you could always watch the theatre! And the RKO Madison was a wonderful theatre.
You’re welcome, Panzer65.
PKoch,
I do not know the number of the theater Commodore, but ,yes, it is the one at Broadway and Marcy, in Brooklyn ,if you go to the top of the page and perform a search of this now defunct (Ugh!) theater you will find it, and thanks for your interest.
Thank you, Panzer65. Yes, the classic theaters were the perfect venues in which to view horror films.
What # theater is the Commodore on this site ? Is that the one on Bway near the Marcy Avenue el station in Williamsburg, Bklyn, that closed recently ?
PKoch your welcome, I have finally visited the Madison!
In regards to the staircase, I wonder why one would want to desecrate
such a structure? It seemed almost as if the stairs were removed and rebuilt.Madison had mirrors? Thats a most unusual feature, especially for the concession stand! As for the movies you viewed there , especially the Dracula feature, the classic theaters were the perfect venue to view horrors, especially with the house lights down, a sort of creepy essence was appearing, thats one quality newer houses can never replicate. It always seems the first and last things you do in life are most remembered , I’m sure “Taxi Driver” holds true to this.
Read my Commodore posting about the movie “Ghost”.
I may have mentioned this already, but the last film I saw at the RKO Madison which really moved me, grabbed me by the throat, as it were, was “Taxi Driver” in May 1976.
I enjoyed your lengthy, detailed report very much, Panzer65. Thanks very much for posting it. I was just thinking of the last time I really noticed the opulence of the RKO Madison Theater : it was in January 1969, when I had gone there with a friend and fellow monster movie fan from the Ridgewood YMCA to see Christopher Lee in “Dracula Has Risen From The Grave”. I remember standing on line in the carpeted inner lobby for refreshments and noticing my reflection in the mirror behind the counter. Stairs up the balcony off to the rear, marble railings : beautiful !
..Upon checking out, taking in all I could, I noticed a ceiling tile that was removed half way, perhaps because there are several roof leaks, many tiles are stained. Ah some old glory I said..afraid not,its so dark above the ceiling,I could not see anything. I’m sure there’s Madison’s past hanging above that ceiling. Finally stepping out through the main entrance I paused to think of all the people famous and not, that passed through. It really is sad, how this venue,was built to compete, and lost , through, television, changing cultures, the ‘77 blackout, and sadly arson. A bleak ending to a historic structure,its shell remains our last reminder to it’s glorious past.Hope you enjoyed my report!
..Looking perplexed she replied “Yes it’s very big”. With that reply I wished her good day and proceed to the orchestra level. I walked to the center under the balcony, and looked 360 degrees. I could see the foyer and then the seats ,then the stage, having been to other classic theaters, I was amazed at Madison’s density and square footage. I tried peering into open rooms to the sides for a shot asome old glory..nothing!Standing in the middle of the orchestra, I could only imagine where I was standing how many people took in the opulence this builing once possesed.The cashiers are below the right hand front opera box, i knew this by seeing that 1927 photo that was shown on this page. Next post please….
Hello friends, as I have posted previously, I have visited the former RKO Madison building. Warren was quite correct,as far as the interior goes, the only remnants left are the staircase to the balcony which is really a drab modernization of a former “grand” staircase,and the outline of the baclcony’s edge.The balcony and orchestra have been leveled. I went to the balcony and it was very large,there was pretty saleslady sitting at the top of the stairs,reminding me of an usher by where she was sitting!No remnants at all, no open ceiling tiles to peer into,nothing, very disappointing!So on my way down, I spoke to her again,telling her my “mission”.I said “Did you know this used to be a theater?Your sitting in the balcony”. Next post please..
Hi my late grandfather worked at the madison as a cleaner then later an usher It was a great place
Thanks, Panzer65. The Ridgewood, RKO Madison, and RKO Bushwick, all border on Madison Street. Oddly, the marquee of the Madison was on Myrtle Avenue at Woodbine, not Madison, St.
In a nutshell, Warren, who was B.S. Moss, and what did he do for the RKO Madison Theatre in Ridgewood ?
Prior to its construction, proposals were to name this theater The Beacon, until they decided to name it after the adjoining street, and former U.S. president, James Madison.