Argyle Theatre
34 W. Main Street,
Babylon,
NY
11702
34 W. Main Street,
Babylon,
NY
11702
3 people
favorited this theater
Showing 76 - 100 of 149 comments
I do not see any mention of this theatre having shown any Cinerama films in Cinerama at any time.
Yes, I knew them…in the mid 60’s I worked as an usher and over night I would paint exit doors, seats, and rest rooms…WALDMANS WAS MY TWO TIMES A DAY SPOT..
DOES ANYBODY REMEMBER WALDMAN’S SODA FOUNTAIN ON THE CORNER OF MAIN ST. AND FIRE ISLAND AVE.LINES WOULD GO PAST FOR EPICS LIKE DOCTOR ZHIVOGO OR A DISNEY FILM.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR FEED BACK ROBBOEHM AND TOM PALMINTERI.I SPENT MANY A SATURDAY AT THE 2PM MATINEES,I KNEW SOME OF THE USHERS-MY BEST FRIENDS BROTHER WAS ONE,ALSO OLDER USHERS THAT MADE A CAREER OF IT AND RETIRED WITH A PENSION FROM UNITED ARTISTS.THEY USED TO SHOW SHORT ADVERTS.FOR THE EVILS OF PAY TV SIGN THE PETTISION IN THE LOBBY,AND GIVE A DONATION TO THE WILL ROGERS FOUNDATION.MANY DOUBLE FEATURES LIKE ELVIS PRESLEY’S “HARUM SCARUM"and"GHIDRA THE THREE HEADED MONSTER-REVIVALS OF THE HOUSE OF WAX with 3-D GLASSES.THE RATING SYSTEM IN 1968-WAS G,M,R and X.
paul, the theater was built in 1922 so the 1950’s style obviously came at a later date, probably after the fire they had. They also, obviously, changed the facade and the marquee adding the vertical. See the pictures section for the way the exterior looked early on after it became the Babylon, having started life as the Capitol, a sister theater to the Capitol in Riverhead which subsequently became the Riverhead.
THE OLD UNITED ARTISTS THEATER WAS DESIGNED IN 1950’S STYLE MODERN COMPLETE WITH SPITNIK ARTDECO CHANDELIERS.I GREW UP GOING TO THAT THEATER.THE FIRST MOVIE I SAW THERE WAS THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF THE BROTHERS GRIMM IN CINERAMA.
Very nice memories Paul. I also loved it there. I remember seeing E.T. there in 1982 with friends and I liked it so much I took my parents and we sat in the Balcony.
Thanks keep us posted.
Still no signs of activity.
Maybe they are waiting for the Spring to start renovation. I hope so!
No change from my December report.
Passed by today. No indication that anything has, or is being, done. Only change is the for sale number on the marquee has been removed.
theatrefan- since the Babylon opened in 1922 as the Capitol and became the Babylon in 1925 the Boxoffice Magazine was wrong in calling it a 25 year old landmark in 1985. Don’t know where they got that information.
From Boxoffice Magazine April 1985
United Artists Communications opened the renovated and newly subdivided Babylon Triplex Theatre in New York recently.
Originally the Babylon Theatre, a 25-year-old landmark on Main Street, the new house opened with “Dune” and “Starman.”
UA reopened their Rivoli theatre in Manhattan just two months earlier.
I post this story on face book with a link to this page..waybackwally/walters
That is great news!!! Thank God this is happening god knows we didn’t need another bank! Haha… Thank you posting this!
Headline: Old Babylon Village theater inspires dreams for father, son
Link
The father and son in contract to buy the closed Babylon Village cinema say they will reopen next spring with a slate of professional shows cast with Broadway players, along with concerts and other acts.
Seaford residents Mark and Dylan Perlman expect to close this summer on the former Bow Tie Cinemas’ building on Main Street, paying $1 million to the chain that owns the moviehouse and renaming it the Argyle Theater at Babylon Village. The Argyle would be Long Island’s second year-round professional theater, joining the John W. Engeman Theater in Northport.
The Perlmans said in an interview last week that they will invest about $1.5 million to build a stage, sound and lighting systems and drastically reconfigure the building’s interior. Contractors will tear down walls that now divide the space into three movie theaters.
About 100 seats will be removed, leaving 450. Part of the snack bar will be repurposed as a bar. Outside, the vertical sign over the marquee, spelling out “Babylon” in fluorescent blue letters but dark for years, will be fixed and relit.
Stagecraft classes for children and young people will be offered. They may even show a movie or two, continuing a business that sustained the house from 1922 to 2014, when it closed.
But the focus will be live performances of the caliber found 40 miles to the west in Manhattan, they said. “This will be the closest thing to Broadway on Long Island,” said Dylan Perlman, 22, a Hofstra University graduate who started acting professionally as a child and has appeared in independent movies and TV’s “The Good Wife.”
He and his father, 62, a psychologist with a practice in Wantagh, plan six main-stage shows a season with Actors Equity casts.
The two began talks last week with the union. A contract would mean high-level players from Broadway stages, but also higher production costs.
The Argyle schedule will include classics in the vein of “West Side Story” and “The Music Man,” but not “Hamilton.” While many of the current hits tour nationally, licensing rules forbid productions close to New York City, Mark Perlman said.
Babylon Village Mayor Ralph Scordino this year called the deal “a home run for the village” that could anchor an already strong downtown business district with about two dozen bars and restaurants.
The Perlmans are making their move at a boom time for Broadway, which had $1.4 billion in ticket sales and drew an audience of 13.4 million this season, according to The Broadway League, the industry’s national trade association.
Long Islanders bought just fewer than 1 million tickets last season for Broadway shows according to the league, suggesting strong regional demand across Nassau and Suffolk counties.
Babylon’s Main Street will never be confused with the Great White Way, but the Perlmans are betting that can work in their favor. Argyle tickets will cost from $25 to $75, lower than the $103 average for Broadway.
Many of the village’s bars and restaurants are open late for a post-show supper or drink, minus the Manhattan crowds. Most municipal parking is free, and the Long Island Rail Road station is a quick walk from the theater.
Industry veterans say that the Perlmans, who are newcomers to the business, are entering a difficult but potentially rich market.
“We have an incredibly supportive audience who seem to support the work we do, but we are still in the middle of a recession, and theater is not the easiest business,” said Richard Dolce, producing artistic director of the Engeman Theater, now in its 10th year. “We survive on ticket sales. We have to pick the right shows and produce them as well as we possibly can and hold our breath.”
Alan Inkles, director of the Staller Center for the Arts at Stony Brook University, said that after 34 years in the business, he is working harder than ever to make season subscription sales, competing less with other theaters than a sea change in entertainment consumption, with much of the potential audience staying home and “binge-watching Netflix, watching the new season of ‘Game of Thrones.’ ”
The Perlmans admit that lenders initially responded to their plans with what Mark Perlman called a “healthy skepticism.” That changed, he said, “when they met with us, looked at our histories and we explained our vision, the people we’re putting together.”
They are convinced that they are selling something streaming entertainment can never offer: “People still yearn for social interaction, for face-to-face contact, to go out for the night,” Dylan said.
BABYLON BOUGHT BY MARK AND DYLAN PERLMAN…SEE NEWSDAY JULY 11TH PAGE 11.
Does that mean someone bought it?
Nothing currently on the marquee.
I remember back in 1959 my mother took my sister and I to see a movie there. In the lobby was a very distinguished white haired gentleman doing a live radio broadcast. When he left the microphone he came over to my mother and started to talk to her. He seemed very flirtatious and my mother look kind of flustered. I later learned he was Ray Heatherton a.k.a The Merry Mailman from tv. He did look familiar to me as a child I watched his program.
For sale or lease sign on the marquee with a 212 area code.
Bow tie cinemas did installing Sony 4k digital projectors, braco digital projectors and Christie digital projectors to replaced the 35mm film projectors in their theaters .About 6 years ago Clearview cinemas was gonna brought the Loews American Theaters in the Bronx to make the guest to happy but no Clearview cinemas screw up so the Bow Tie cinemas brought opened their theater so that the guest will be happy to see a movie in the community. In 2008 Bow tie cinemas took over the Loews American Theater in the Bronx but Bow tie cinemas closed their theater in Parkchester because their theater wasn’t convert into a digital projection.My uncle went to this theater when it was owned by United Artist in 1997 and now it’s not fair to see Bow Tie Cinemas couldn’t be more like AMC, Cinemark, Carmike, National Amusements and Rave motion pictures theaters honesty if the only way I could talk to AMC to covert this theater is to an 18 screens stadium style seating theater instead of seeing this theater turn into an bank,pharmacy,TJ maxx, and school building.
If anyone has an idea about the above petition please contact me here or e-mail me at
As a life time movie buff and resident of the Babylon area I am saddened by the closing of one my favorite movie theaters . I saw so many movies there. I also worked there when it was United Artist in 1997-98. It’s a shame that Bow Tie couldn’t make it work even with low prices. I for one prefer to go to a local movie theater over the multiplexes. Just in the last two years I got to see such gems; Blue Jasmine, The Chef, Life of Pie, Argo and Silver Linings Playbook all at the Babylon Cinemas and It was always a relaxed and friendly experience. Sometimes I like to go to the movies alone and Babylon has always been my first choice. I wish there was a way to preserve it as a movie theater instead of making it into a bank or a pharmacy. Being that the Babylon theater is a historic building in the town of Babylon I am thinking of starting a petition to prevent them from taking it away from the community. Perhaps another theater company/owner can make it work. This happened in the town of Islip and now they have a movie theater after it had been closed for several years. So I don’t think it’s impossible. Having a movie theater in a Village like Babylon has added so much to the community; all of the local bars, restaurants and shops have all benefited from it. It would be a shame to not preserve such a treasure. If anyone is interested in helping me with this petition let me know here and we can work on it together.