Comments from Ed Solero

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Ed Solero
Ed Solero commented about Embassy 49th Street Theatre on Apr 15, 2011 at 9:10 pm

Forgot to add, that 2nd photo also clearly shows that once you got past the turnstile and revolving door, you had to take at least 1 flight of stairs up to the screening room. Maybe there was a ballroom up there or something that allowed easy conversion.

Ed Solero
Ed Solero commented about Embassy 49th Street Theatre on Apr 15, 2011 at 8:43 pm

Back in September 17, 2007, I posted images and asked about another World Theater that was located on the south side of W. 49th just off B'way, next door to the RKO Warner video store that was on the corner for a few years. I figured it may have been a new location carved from office or former cabaret/dance hall space when Rockefeller Center evicted the operators from the original World and changed the name to New Embassy 49.

I found a few images on the excellent American Classic Images site:

Night shot Oct 1983

Entrance at night Oct 1983

Erotic Angels May 1986

Looking at the first pic, the sign hanging under the marquee reads in part “The Nations #1 Adult Premiere Theatre,” which leads me to believe this was run by the managers of the old World Theatre and they were looking to carry the brand right down the block with them. Is anyone able to confirm that or know anything different about this “other” World?

Ed Solero
Ed Solero commented about RKO Keith's Theatre on Apr 15, 2011 at 7:08 pm

It was fortunate for the Kings that it didn’t have a malevolent owner who basically hired construction workers to rape and pillage the building’s interior. I’ve heard that gaping holes were punched through the floors in the mezzanine lounge area, exposing the rear rows of the orchestra section below. I have yet to see photographic evidence of those damages, but I’m sure those descriptions are accurate. So while it is rather remarkable that what we see in all of these current interior photos is in as good a condition as they seem, there are areas and details that we have not yet seen, which may paint an uglier picture. Still believe that the old place is salvagable, provided someone has the will and the means to do so.

Ed Solero
Ed Solero commented about RKO Keith's Theatre on Apr 15, 2011 at 5:23 pm

Hey Bobby. The New Amsterdam actually shuttered in the early 1980’s and was left vacant for at least a dozen years before Disney swooped in with its restoration. And I do believe that there were leaks into the New Amsterdam – not sure if there were any gaping holes in the roofing or open exterior doorways, as there are at the Keith’s.

Ed Solero
Ed Solero commented about Cultural Arts Playhouse on Apr 15, 2011 at 5:21 pm

Wow. Haven’t been on this page in 5 years! Glad to see the activity here. So, where in the shopping center was this little cinema located? In the “L” shaped corner? Or out on the end somewhere?

Ed Solero
Ed Solero commented about The Space at Westbury on Apr 15, 2011 at 3:32 pm

Drove past the theater again on my way home last night. Roof work has progressed, but the interior is still exposed at either end of the auditorium – again, unless there is some protective covering below the roof-line that can’t be seen from street-level.

Ed Solero
Ed Solero commented about UA Westbury Stadium 12 on Apr 15, 2011 at 3:23 pm

Also should be noted that Regal’s website now refers to this theater as “Westbury Stadium 12 & IMAX,” while Fandango notes “UA Westbury Stadium 12 & IMAX.”

Ed Solero
Ed Solero commented about UA Westbury Stadium 12 on Apr 15, 2011 at 3:18 pm

They have added a new IMAX screen, which I believe opens today with Warner Brothers' 3D documentary “Born to be Wild.” The 40 minute-long featurette will be shown today up until a 6:35 presentation, after which the new non-IMAX release “Scream 4” will have two “Giant Screen” presnetations in the new auditorium at 8:25 and 11pm.

IMDB information on “Born to be Wild” indicates that a number of scenes were shot using the new 4k digital IMAX camera – making it the first release to do so.

Ed Solero
Ed Solero commented about RKO Keith's Theatre on Apr 15, 2011 at 2:11 pm

Awesome shot on that site, Matt! LuisV… “we” may not have the resources to save this theater, but someone out there does. The problem is, the local politicians (unlike the Brooklyn BP) are not motivated to find anyone to restore this brokedown palace to its highest and best use.

Ed Solero
Ed Solero commented about RKO Keith's Theatre on Apr 14, 2011 at 9:01 pm

Hey Matt… That link doesn’t seem to work for me. Brings me to the After the Final Curtain website, but the specific page is not found.

LuisV, not to continue the debate or get between you and SWC – because I think I’m done with the topic – but I wouldn’t be so sure that lending will get any easier within the next year. As one who is in the mortgage industry, I can tell you it has gotten much tougher to obtain a loan over the last 3 years and there are proposals being batted about on Capitol Hill that may make lending practices tighter still – calling for larger down payments and more conservative estimates of borrower capacity. How that impacts the overall economic recovery and how long it will take these policies to be enacted (and in what form – likely watered down), I leave for others to theorize.

Ed Solero
Ed Solero commented about 8th Street Playhouse on Apr 14, 2011 at 5:22 pm

Wrong listing, iatse311. The 8th Street Playhouse featured a streamlined decor without a proscenium and with all the seats on one level. Googling the work of photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto, it appears that the photo might be of the Playhouse in Great Neck? But I can’t really support that definitively. You may try posting there to see if it jogs any memories.

Ed Solero
Ed Solero commented about RKO Keith's Theatre on Apr 14, 2011 at 2:53 pm

I understand completly, LuisV, and I agree with you to a great extent about progress. I was merely pointing out that “progress” usually means displacing the poor to benefit the rich. The UN building notwithstanding – I highly doubt that anything nearly as significant as the UN will be erected in Willets Point. Rather, it will be a playground for those with disposable cash – and will likely be desolate during the off-season for baseball (or worse yet, even during the baseball season if the Mets continue to field a losing product year after year).

Just seems it happens time and again in this City. Small businesses struggle to survive yet somehow perservere through rough times in decaying urban areas, putting up with crime, lack of services and crumbling infrastructure for years – sometimes decades. Then one day someone decides the area is ripe for urban renewal and all of a sudden there’s a lot of capital investment, restoration of infrastructure and services and the little guy is squeezed out in favor of “big box” chains and corporate interests. It happened in Times Square, Harlem and now it will happen in Willets Point. Let’s returns to the area east of 126th Street in 5 or 6 years and see if there is a single mom & pop shop in evidence.

Ed Solero
Ed Solero commented about New Amsterdam Theatre on Apr 14, 2011 at 12:51 pm

The McDonald’s marquee was built entirely new for the franchise over the main entrance to the Candler Building within the last 15 years. There was never a movie entrance at that exact spot. The Harris Theater had it’s entrance and marquee just to the right of where the McD’s entrance is today.

Ed Solero
Ed Solero commented about RKO Keith's Theatre on Apr 14, 2011 at 4:07 am

That’s true, SWC. While the future of this country may be in the cities, that is in large part true because the rising cost of gas is going to drive the cost of living through the roof for commuters out in the burbs. There is an AWFUL lot of vehicular traffic through Flushing (not only cars but the convergence of several bus lines around the 7 train terminus) depositing crowds that rival those in Times Square! When I worked on Main St and Sanford Ave in Flushing nearly 20 years ago, going out to grab some lunch north of the LIRR tracks was quite an adventure!

Ed Solero
Ed Solero commented about RKO Keith's Theatre on Apr 14, 2011 at 3:51 am

You know LuisV… some people on this website actually DO try to get things done rather than just sit on the sidelines and complain. I, too, would be very happy to have some piece of the Triboro or Roxy still standing for all to appreciate, but we actually STILL have the entire RKO Keith’s building standing on Northern Blvd.

And I get it… a multi-million dollar restoration of a 3000 seat theater in an outer borough of NYC does not just happen overnight. You need a developer with a vision, a community in support of the plan, tons of capital and strong political support. A lot of moving parts to coordinate and cajole into action. A real damn shame that we have none of that in play for the Keith’s! But I look to Brooklyn and see what happens when you have a political leader who actually gets behind a preservation and rehabilitation project like that of the Loew’s Kings… and I just get irritated by the goings on in Flushing.

And what galls me more than anything else, is we still don’t have a straight answer on how faithful the restoration of the Keith’s lobby will actually be to Lamb’s original plans and specs. This whole glass curtain concept and the ramifications that has with respect to destroying the southern wall of the “landmarked” lobby in order to expose it to passersby, seems in itself to be a huge compromise of the LPC’s designation and protections. Are we not, at least, entitled to raise our voices about that issue? OK, so the landmark designation doesn’t cover the auditorium, but it doesn’t even seem that we’re going to see restoration and preservation for the entirety of those portions of the theater that ARE landmarked.

As for Willets Point… There are always two sides to a coin. Let’s not forget that – while some may not find the ramshackle nature and broken pavement of the area across from Citifield – there are a number of legitimate small businesses that operate there and offer affordable options for folks in need of auto body work, hub-caps, tire rims, etc., particularly for those of meager means trying to maintain their older vehicles. It sure isn’t pretty, but it serves a purpose. Does progress and urban development always have to mean the displacement of the small and modest for the sake of luxury accommodations catering to more discerning clientele? And in the end, it only means that automobile owners in Queens will have to shell out more for their body work and replacement parts once those businesses are re-zoned out of existence.

Ed Solero
Ed Solero commented about New Victory Theater on Apr 14, 2011 at 12:59 am

Sounds like an interesting book. I find material about this area during those years in particular to be endlessly fascinating. In part because it brings me back to a certain time in my life, but also because the stories that surround so many of these old theaters, dance halls and cabarets are so vivid and entertainingly sordid! Sounds like you may have done a good deal of the fact-checking leg-work necessary to post a decent new entry for the Roxy on CT. Is that something you were planning on doing? If not, I may look to do so myself. Been a while since I’ve added one. Ironically, I never patronized either of the Roxy’s back then.

Ed Solero
Ed Solero commented about Cine 42 on Apr 14, 2011 at 12:48 am

The CIne 42 occupied – at least in part – a storefront that had been one of those Fascination arcades that were around TImes Square back in the ‘70’s and very early '80’s (and probably even much earlier than that).

Ed Solero
Ed Solero commented about Radio City Music Hall on Apr 14, 2011 at 12:23 am

I’ve been re-registering to a number of theaters and notifications seem to be working fine for me on those pages. I know this seems like a silly question, but you were sure to check off the “notify me…” box below, right? I’m sure you did, just want to make sure!

Ed Solero
Ed Solero commented about New Victory Theater on Apr 13, 2011 at 9:51 pm

I know it always advertised “4 Smash Hits” on that marquee signage, even when it went back to porn a few years later. I think the one by the New Amsterdam closed several years before the one adjacent to the Empire. You sure it was four screens and not four titles that were advertised?

I’d have to troll through my photos to see if I can piece it together. Now that I think of it, I’m going to say that the Roxy Burlesk at 244 W 42nd (later Roxy Twin) was the original and that the one adjacent to the New Amsterdam was added at a later date. The only reason I say this is because the signage depicted in the 1983 shot looks like it dates back to the early ‘70’s. And the signage I remember by the New Amsterdam was very much like the marquee depicted in the latter shot from '86. I also believe that both the Cine 42 and the the Roxy Burlesk were opened in spaces formerly occupied by that old skee-ball like arcade game Fascination that was all over Times Square back in the day, leading me to believe they may have been opened around the same time by the same people?

Just making some educated assumptions and guesses here. I may be completely off base here. One of us should open a new theater entry on the Roxy Burlesk (I can feel the purists cringing) and let this conversation continue over there.

Ed Solero
Ed Solero commented about New Victory Theater on Apr 13, 2011 at 7:33 pm

Hey AlAlvarez… This is to answer the question you posed over a year ago about the Roxy Burlesk and Roxy Twin on Feb 18, 2010. Both photos are of the same establishment, with the later pic from 1986 showing the marquee re-dressed for the Roxy’s changeover from porn to action-film grinder. The location was just to the west of the Empire, with the Anco a few doors furhter down (you see the Anco marquee in background of the earlier night shot from 1983). I remember both incarnations. That site was later reconfigured into the short-lived multiplex that became the last movie theater to remain in business on “old” 42n Street before being shuttered by the City for redevelopment in the 1990’s.

There were two Roxy’s, as I’m sure you recall… the other, which also ran porn, being just to the east of the New Amsterdam. I’m not sure which of these two came first. I want to say the Roxy Burlesk at 244 W. 42nd was the first one, but I can’t say for sure.

Ed Solero
Ed Solero commented about AMC Fresh Meadows 7 on Apr 13, 2011 at 6:51 pm

Funny about that 1951 aerial view that Tinseltoes posted on Feb 1, 2011… realizing that when eminent domain was invoked to clear the way for the Long Island Expressway, none of the commercial lots lining the southern edge of Horace Harding Blvd were impacted, while the first two or three residential lots on each block along the northern edge were completely razed in the process. Also appears that the US Post Office that is adjacent to the Meadows was constructed some time after 1951.

Metro156… I think those James Bond films played Century houses right through the Roger Moore era. I recall seeing most of the Bond films from that era at the Century’s Green Acres Theatre in Valley Stream, NY. The Green Acres also got all the sensurround flicks – “Earthquake,” “Roller Coaster,” “Midway” and the “Battlestar Galactica.” Was it the same with the Meadows?

Ed Solero
Ed Solero commented about 8th Street Playhouse on Apr 13, 2011 at 4:39 am

Went walking around this part of the village back in November of last year and snapped a couple of shots of the 8th Street Playhouse site and the horrific alteration of the adjacent Electric Lady Studios entrance:

Store For Rent

Electric Lady Bland

Wonder if the place was ever rented out. Also wonder if the auditorium still sits behind the store front?

Ed Solero
Ed Solero commented about Winter Garden Theatre on Apr 13, 2011 at 4:02 am

Going back to IBDB.COM, “The Greenwich Village Follies” closed at the Winter Garden on July 28, 1928 and was the last live stage presentation until the musical comedy “Hold Your Horses” opened here on September 25, 1933. Not sure how long the cinematic engagement of “Grand Slam” lasted, but seems like the theater stood vacant for quite a while before re-opening as a live venue in ‘33 (at the height of the Depression, no less).

Ed Solero
Ed Solero commented about Radio City Music Hall on Apr 12, 2011 at 5:31 pm

Those are speaker cabinets, vito. Similar to what you’d see at a live concert.

Ed Solero
Ed Solero commented about Winter Garden Theatre on Apr 12, 2011 at 5:29 pm

According to IBDB.COM, the last stage production prior to the U-I/UA movie bookings was a musical comedy called “Marinka” that ran from July 18th, 1945, until September 29, 1945, when it was transferred to the Ethyl Barrymore Theatre. That means it took little more than a week to strike the sets at the Winter Garden and install the movie screen. I wonder if the projectors were still in the booth from the last period when the Winter Garden was converted to a cinema from 1929 – 1933?

Al… do you have the movie bookings from that earlier period, as well?

Also, as per IBDB, the show that returned the Winter Garden to legitimate theater, was another musical comedy titles “As the Girls Go.” The opening date was November 13th, 1948, which doesn’t include previews which likely began in October. It is also noted that the show had a nine-week lay-off during the summer of 1948 due to the illness of its star, Bobby Clark. I wonder if this accounts for the lack of programming from August 1st through September 5th. Perhaps the reconversion back to live theater was scheduled to occur after “Man-Eater of Kumaon” finished its run, but had to be suspended after rehearsals due to Clark’s illness. That might make the engagement of the film “Larceny” a one-off booking by the Winter Garden to collect some revenue while the musical was pre-empted.

Just one more interesting throw-away fact about “As the Girls Go”… according to IBDB, the setting was 5 years in the future – January, 1953 in Washington, DC!