Syosset Triplex
565 Jericho Turnpike,
Syosset,
NY
11791
565 Jericho Turnpike,
Syosset,
NY
11791
11 people
favorited this theater
Showing 76 - 100 of 156 comments
The triplex closed first. I worked there from 1992-1995 and was there till the end. The 150 was still open for a while after that, a few years I think. Used to go back and visit Ms. McCarthy!
Tryin to track down what we referred to as the “old-school crew” ie ‘92 but I’d love to hear from anyone who was really old-school!!
http://groups.myspace.com/syossettriplex
Michael and Ed, The D-150 was in Woodbury, Zip code 11797.
I know there has been a lot of confusion about all this, but I lived in Woodbury at the Fairhaven town houses which are located directly across the dtreet from D-150. In fact I could see the atraction board from my kitchen window. I worked Syosset as a single screen duing the period 1962 thru 1972, and then both houses from 1983 thru 1987. I worked on the installation when the Syosset was triplexed and worked it part time for a while. At no time do I recall the
D-150 ever being called anything but Cinema 150. If it was ever called the “Syosset” it would have had to have been after October
1987 which is when I ran my last show (Dirty Dancing)there.
Michael, I can’t recall which closed first the Syosset triplex or the D-150, perhaps if the triplex closed first they may have renamed the D-150 as “Syosset”. That would be odd however since the theatre was in Woodbury. OK Michael my friend, you now have you work cut out for you to sort all this out. If anyone can do it, you can. :)
Michael… I remember the two theaters in simultaneous operation for a brief time with very similar names. I think newspaper ads and listings always referred to this theater as Syosset Triplex (or just “Triplex” under the town name “Syosset.” For a while, the Cinema 150 was listed as Syosset in listings and ads as well, as I recall. I was never at the Syosset Triplex and only attended a few films at the 150, so when looking up the theater for times, I do remember some confusion and double checking to make sure I was looking at the right listing. Am I way off base or was the 150 listed under Woodbury in some papers?
I saw “Earthquake” in SENSUROUND at the 150 in 1974. No big deal. Now when I go into Best Buy and the have all those horrible booming speaker systems assaulting your ears…makes “Sensuround” sound like someone is typing on tin foil. Saw “Alien” and “Animal House” at the Syosset as well.
I was surprised to learn during a recent research session that United Artists renamed the nearby CINEMA 150 as THE SYOSSET while this was still in operation. That seems awfully silly on the part of UATC. Any of you Long Islanders recall any confusion created by the name change?
Other postings here have claimed the name change took place after the SYOSSET TRIPLEX closed, but I’ve found information to the contrary, at least as far as newspaper promotion was concerned. (I can’t speak for what name appeared on the actual building and/or marquee.)
The only projectionist I remember is Norm, who also served as an AV guy at the high school. The other guy’s name I can no longer remember!
Ah yes, that rings a bell, Mary was the manager when we triplexed the place back in, what was it, late 1984?. I think she had someone named Carol working with her, gosh the memories come flooding back.
Do you remember the full time projectionist named Tom?, I worked his Sundays off for quite a while.
When I worked at the Triplex in ‘89, the manager was an older lady named Mary McCarthy. She terrorized the mostly teenaged staff but she ran a tight ship. I saw her at the Syosset in '97 organizing lines for “Titanic”, and I even saw her at the UA in Westbury (tearing tickets on a slow Saturday afternoon) three years ago — clearly a lifer in the organization!
Correction: My last shift at Syosset was in November 1987,
which is when I joined National Amusements where I stayed until retiring in 2005
Sorry Ron, I have lost track of all the old managers and projectionist from back then. My last day at Syosset was
25 years ago back in November 1982. In those last days I bounced between the D-150 and Syosset, but I lived in Woodbury which made an easy commute. But of course my favotite Syosset/D-150 times were in the 60s working Roadshows at both theatres. I’m glad you never got caught in the back row :)
Yep, I knew it had to do with piracy, which I think is an even bigger problem today than it was, say, twenty years ago. My favorite memories of the Syosset are, of course, girl-related. Sitting in the back row, just getting away with enough to not be considered indecent…heh, I loved growing up in Syosset during the 80s. Vito, you’d know this—there was this older woman who managed the theater. Do you know what happened to her? She seemed stern, but was really a sweetheart (she helped me when a car was blocking my car in the lot because the person didn’t set their emergency break).
I attended a preview of Paramount’s “In and Out” (Kevin Kline and Joan Cusack) and was asked to fill out a comment sheet. It was fun to do it, but I now realize that was in 1997 – 10 years ago already. I also wonder if it still gets done today.
If I might be allowed to go off the topic of Syosset, I wondered, speaking of sneak previews, what happened to the comment cards given to patrons viewing the movie. I recall the studio folks gathering nervously in the managers office after the preview to look over the cards.I haven’t seen that in many years and wondered if any areas like LA still do that. I retired in 2005 after 50 years in the buisness of show, I saw a lot of changes some good and some not, but I thought the patrons enjoyed being given a chance to express their opinion after a screening and wondered if it still happens anywhere.
Bill, the year was 2005 and the picture was “King Kong”. I don’t know about the teat of time but it did do very well at the box-office.
Just to keep on-topic I want to share one of my treasured memories of the Syosset, which was working opening weekend of “Sound of Music”, I believe it was early summer of 1965, with my parents in the audience and then giving them a tour of the booth
Vito, what was the name of the important picture? We can see if it stood the test of time.
CaptRonLI, I am told, perhaps you would agree, that the main reason for mislabling today has a lot to do with piracy, keeping people from knowing what treaure is in those cans. I remember just before I retired we had a preview of a rather important picture, the print was delivered a couple of hours before the showing by a private courier who stayed in the booth with the print until the show was over,and then took the print away.The idea of course to reduce the risk of piracy. I don’t know how much good all that does, from what I hear you can, if you know the right people, easily obtain DVD copies of recent and unreleased movies.I find that disturbing.
I too miss those two great theatres, I often did relief work at both of them, Syosset as a single screen and tripex. But we can’t
“let' em go”, folks like us have to keep them alive in spirt here at Cinema Treasures.
Vito, from what I know, they STILL ship films with false names today, particularly the big blockbusters, ie “Star Wars”, “Superman Returns”, “Fantastic Four”, etc.
I miss this and the 150 everytime I drive by with my wife and son to see my parents. I guess it’s fitting that my folks are leaving Syosset now, because the Syosset that I knew is long gone (to quote another song lyric, “those days are gone forever, I should just let ‘em go…”).
Re: Warren’s October 1966 ad. I wonder how MGM got away with proclaiming “Winner of 6 Academy Awards” in their “Zhivago” ads. They were counting Art Direction and Set Decoration as two separate awards, and they’re not. But that put them one Oscar up on “The Sound of Music”. I love both movies dearly, but it’s still false advertising.
Regarding the surprise preview of “Oklahoma”, in those days the title of the movie was often kept secret from the public, you did not know what you were going to see until the movie started. In fact we in the booth did not know which picture it was until the print arrived, and even then we were fooled by the title on the film cans which were sometimes mislabeled and did not represent which picture was actually inside.
All very hush-hush and rather mysterious and fun, and they were indeed “sneak previewsâ€
Thanks Ed, I haven’t lived on the Island since 1987 and forgot how the numbering works. However now that you mention it,I do sorta remember getting a bit confused looking for buildings going from town to town. As far as finding theatres, we weren’t given building numbers, just the theatre name and town. Warren, I think that’s how the mail sometimes gets delivered as well.
Hey Vito… Yes, address numbering schemes vary on Long Island from town to town – even when it’s the same thoroughfare (such as Jericho Turnpike, Hillside Avenue, Sunrise Highway, Merrick Road, etc.) running continuously through each town. The numbering for Woodbury would be different from that of Syosset.
Warren, I would imagine the name was enough to deliver mail and packages. I hate to complicate things even more, but a previous post lists the Syosset address as 565 Jericho Turnpike, but the address for the D-150 Cinema in Woodbury, which was just a short distance from the Syosset, was 7500 Jericho Turnpike. I lived just across from the D-150 at The Woodbury Townhouses at 7640 Jericho Turnpike. So how did the numbers differ so much? Do they start over at the Syosset/Woodbury border? These two theatres were very close together, during the busy summer months I would often work the matinee show at one and then the evening show at the other.
I saw Streisand’s “A Star is Born” here, or as Mad magazine more aptly put it, “A Bore is Starred.” Even at the tender age of 19 I could tell a real stinker when I saw it.
Michael, I wanted to add my thanks for your magnificent site. It is the most comprehensive, well thought out site I have found pertaining to 70mm. It is a kick to wallow around in it as I reminisce about the good times working during the 70mm roadshow hey day, and it has also helped me win a bet once.
Andrew Lerner posted a link to his blog a while back where he states that the theater was replaced by an Office Depot, which later expanded to include several other stores, including a Petco. Lost Memory followed up with the address for the Office Depot in Syosset as 565 Jericho Tunrpike. I just looked up Petco in Syosset and it, too, has a 565 Jericho Turnpike address. I think we can go with that, at least until we see any evidence that the theater used a different number.
Michael Coate… You are quite correct for pointing out the proper name for your indispensible website! I apologize for perpetuating any misunderstandings as to the site’s identity. Call it editorial laziness, but it seems more expeditious to refer to it as “70mm in NY” since that is how so many on CT know it. Out of respect, I will endeavor to be more accurate when referring to the terrific resource you have created. As far as I’m concerned, there are four invaluable resources online when it comes to cinema and movie houses: Cinema Treasures (of course); From Script to DVD; American Widescreen Museum; Internet Movie Database. I think I prefer them in that order, too – although I suppose it depends on just what it is I need to look up!
My sincerest wishes for a very happy and prosperous new year for all!