Loew's Orpheum Twin Theatre

FIFTY YEARS ago, when all the great LOEW’S theatres were alive and well in New York, I remember the Loew’s display ad always had this footnote: “VODVIL at ORPHEUM” (misspelling Vaudeville). It was at that time the ONLY Loew’s in New York still having live stage shows as an added attraction.
I attended LOEW’S ORPHEUM just once. They were playing EMPIRE STRIKES BACK downstairs and THE SHINING upstairs. Asking top dollar admission price of $5.00, matinee & evening, adult & child, all shows were sold out beyond capacity. So why did LOEW’S give up on it?

I grew up on 86th and York Ave. I must have gone to the Orpheum 100 times. That was a time that there were 5 movie houses within 2 blocks of each other. Us kids used to refer to the Orpheum as the “big Lows” and the Loew’s 86, just down the block, as the “little Lows”. Just across the street was another little “third run” movie house (name is on the tip of my tongue; was it the Trans-Lux?). On the other side of Third Avenue (I can still see the “El”)was a small marqueeless place that specialized in German movies. I wonder how many of the German restaurants and shops between Second and Third still survive? On the NE corner of Lexington and 86th was the RKO which rivaled the Orpheum in size. As I recall they played the Twentieth Century Fox and WB films while the Loews played MGM. There was always a double bill, newsreel and a cartoon. Movies changed on Wednesday. Kids paid 25 cents for matinees and 35 cents in the evening. I remember a pina colada fruit drink place on the NW corner of Third and 86th, a great german hot dog joint with the best sauerkraut and german style mustard on the SE corner, a Woolworth 5&10 on the NE corner with its competitor, a WT Grant store right next door. While German establishments prevailed on 86th all you had to do was turn the corner on Third, going either north or south and it seemed like there was one Irish bar right after another. Most of the people living in the area were first or second generation German or Irish and their kids always seem to be going out with others from the other immigrant background. I live out west now and haven’t been back to the old neighborhood for almost 35 years. I bet that not too much survives and the whole area has become gentrifed and very expensive.
I went to PS 30 just a couple of blocks north of 86th and Third. Hey, I’m getting completely off track here but just wanted to close by saying that, like many, I took my childhood advantages for granted and even thought of myself as a little deprived. I miss the “big Lows”, the RKO, and the “lil Lows” along with the Metropolitan Museum of Art (visited it a thousand times), the Museum of Natural History along with a dozen other museums (they were always FREE and sort of a New Yorker’s birthright), Central Park, Carl Schurz Park, John Jay pool, the Third Ave. EL and the Staten Island Ferry (both just 5 cents), the great East River bridges, Coney Island (when Steeplechase was there), Brighton Beach, and affordable theater (as little as 5 dollars). We just don’t know what we have until we are far away from it, or it is inacessible or unaffordable or just plain gone. C'est la vie.
If you are an ole' Yorkville type drop me a line at

If I recall correctly, The Childrens Place occupies the space where the old Orpheum’s entrance was. The address of that store is 173 E. 86th St.

Ah OK, I was just looking through ads and see that Paramount was using the term “Diamond Showcase” in the mid 60’s.

The Orpheum was part of this Premiere Showcase double bill of Jerry Lewis in “The Pastsy” and Sean Flynn recreating his dads role in “Son of Captain Blood”.

First film at the new Loews Orpheum in 1968 (with, as the ads said, “rocking chair seats”)was “THE DETECTIVE” with Frank Sinatra. The Loews Cine opened in 1968 with “KISS THE OTHER SHEIK”. It bombed so badly that they rushed in “HANG ‘EM HIGH”, day-dating with the Victoria, in Times Square.

I have seen old Loew’s instruction manuals that tell employees to discourage the use of “loeweez”, because the “company’s name is Loew’s, which rhymes with ‘shows’” so it would appear that then, as now, the correct pronounciation is “Loews” not “Loeweez”. The whole “Loeweez” thing seems to be a New York area phenomenon. Loew’s theaters in other cities always seem to be pronounced “Loews”.

It’s strange – when I talk about the modern Loew’s multiplexes all over Manhattan and northern New Jersey I pronounce it “Lows”, but whenever I go to the Loew’s Jersey movie palace in Jersey City, I can’t help calling it the “Loweez”, which is what I called it 45 years ago.

Dave-Bronx— In the Bronx, you might have said, “Yo, I went to ‘da Loweez” (at least since the '80s, when “Yo” took root). My wife grew up near the Orpheum. During the '60s in that neighborhood, they pronounced it “Low’s Orrrrrph'yum” (no “Loweez”). In Brooklyn where I grew up, we said, “Yeah, Oy wen’ ta Loweez” (but no “th'” or “da” with “Loweez,” at least from the ‘40s to the '60s, though “da” or “deh” with the theater’s given name if stripped of “Loew’s”). Mostly we said, “Oy wen’ teh deh Alpoyne” or “teh deh Bay Ridddge.”

Thanks for the correction, Seth; don’t know what I was thinking, typing ‘2001’ instead of 1994 in my original comment…

This Orpheum reopened in 1994…The original Orpheum I remember as a single screen seeing How the West Was Won, Major Dundee, Cat Ballou and a few others before it was twinned around 1967…the second theater Loews Cine had its entrance around the corner on 3rd Avenue out of the old balcony while the Orpheum retained its 4 aisle entrance on the ground floor…Loews eventually made it easy and renamed them as Loews Orpheum 1 and 2…Fond memories of the twin as well mutliple viewings of The French Connection, as well as Cactus Flower, See No Evil, Ryan’s Daughter on one side and The Valachi Papers and others on the other…Many years later I was able to see the end of the original Orpheum living around the block on 89th st and still enjoy pictures like Lethal Weapon 2, Indiana Jones 3, The Abyss, U2 Rattle and Hum

The theatre did have entrances on both 86th St. and Third Avenue. Last time I remember seeing it was 1989; The Abyss was playing there. There were a lot of theaters on 86th St., but now it seems the only ones are the new Loews Orpheum and a City Cinemas quad on 86th between Second and Third. Other theatres were around 86th and Lexington and Park. The new Loews Orpheum is reminiscent of an IND subway station. It has three levels—theatres on the first and third levels, and an empty middle level. This was an early 1990s construction and it features a sloped floor, but no stadium style seating. Because there are no movie theatres between 86th Street and East Harlem, 86th St. is a bit of a playground for younger latinos, and a lot of the movies that come to this theatre appeal to a teen and young adult audience, whereas the City Cinemas theatre around the corner has more “art movie” fare for the Upper East Side crowd.

I missed this theatre I’ve visited this theatre in it’s last days around 1986 or 1989 before the demolition. It was a twin at the time with two seperate entrances. Theatre one was entered on 86th street and the canervous theatre 2 was entered at 3rd ave were the now totally rebuilt theatre enters at. I like theatre 2 it was large and was the balcony section of the theatre when it was a single screen it was a shame that they tore this gem down. it mirrored the Loew’s state downtown which was also a gem.