RKO Madison Theatre

Thanks, Robert and lostmemory. I saw (and felt)“Emergo” and other William Castle gimmicks (Punishment Poll, Percepto)at Film Forum, 57 Watts St. lower Manhattan at the September 1988 Gimmick-O-Rama. Closest I came to experiencing them at the Madison was “Premature Burial” (summer 1962) “Man With The X-Ray Eyes” and “Black Sabbath” (spring and summer 1964, respectively). The first William Castle film I saw at the Madison was
“I Saw What You Did” in summer 1965.

The Broadway Theater, near the Bway-Myrtle Ave elevated station is listed on the site:

/theaters/3987/

Here is an ad from when “Parent Trap” was on the RKO circut in July 1961. What is interesting is that some of the theatres are playing it with a Disney featurette called “The Saga of Windwagon Smith” and others with a co-feature called “Snipers Ridge” which does not appear to be a Disney film. However all houses ran the Donald Duck cartoon “Donald and the Wheel”. The next day the new show was Elvis in “Wild in the Country” and the “Trapp Family Singers”.
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That is a very unkind thought to plant in my mind. I might wake up tonight screaming from nightmares of being castrated !

Not to mention being up in the balcony with Mae West and not being able to do anything ….

More opera at the Madison, this time on screen. Can you imagine something like this opening today?
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Another of Shelly’s AIP efforts that opened at the Madison.
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Reading the posts about the Madison Theater sparked my memories of the theater and the neighborhood around it. Here are my recollections. I apologize in advance for the length of this post.
I spent the first four years of my living in an apartment at 1664 Woodbine St (about 1 block from the RKO Madison), and my adolescence and teen years at 1713 Woodbine (about 2 blocks away). It was always there, a part of our lives and almost taken for granted. You could stand on the stoop of 1713 Woodbine and look toward the theater and see the yellow lights chasing around on the marquee, and the big letters R-K-O would light up one at a time, then all go out and do it all over again. When it would rain and the brick of the six family houses would be wet, those lights were reflected by the red and yellow brick and added a colorful illumination to the entire block.
I never quite realized in my childhood that this was ‘downtown Ridgewood’ and could compare to downtown areas in cities with populations of a few hundred thousand people. People would just say they were going ‘to the Avenue’ for this or that, meaning Myrtle Avenue and we just took it for granted. There were many stores and businesses along Wyckoff Avenue and up Myrtle all the way to Fresh Pond Road. I guess the entertainment area generally ran from Wyckoff Ave to Putnam Ave.
Here is some of what I remember from that area along Myrtle Ave in the ‘60’s and early ‘70’s. The Marco Lanes Bowling Alley was on Wyckoff Ave. in the former Parthenon Theater. Coming around to Palmetto Street was the Newsstand and the “Greek’s” at the top of the stairs to the Canarsie “L” train Line. The ‘depot’ was on Palmetto Street and included a yellow taxi stand with a phone that always seemed to be ringing when I walked by. If you walked to the B55 bus stop you passed a drug store, Jacobi’s (which was a grocery with a lot of bakery items), and a hole in the wall luncheonette. The side of an ancient parking garage ran all the way up Palmetto to St. Nicholas Ave. This street always seemed to have the aroma of sauerbraten mixed with stale beer from the A&J Bar & Restaurant on the corner of Palmetto & Myrtle (I can still taste the sauerbraten an potato balls there). The Ratskaller was on the basement level and is probably where burlesque was finally pronounced died.
That block going towards the theater included Koletty’s Ice Cream Parlor, a Loft’s Candy Store, the Optimo Store, which is still there, Bickford’s Cafeteria, a clothing store named Jack Zimmer, and Gottlieb’s deli style restaurant, Sach’s tobacco store, a frozen custard stand, a barber shop, a small shop that sold artificial limbs, Carrato’s Pizza, Al’s Barber Shop (4 Butchers, No Waiting!), and Ciro’s Italian Restaurant on St. Nicholas Avenue. There were a few shoe stores around here too-I think Father & Son and Regal Shoes. Lee Fong’s Chinese Restaurant and a Carvel were just west of the Madison Theater. I vaguely remember the Ridgewood Terrace, a Chinese restaurant just east of the theater. I believe they had floorshows there on weekends. It burned when I was a kid and was replaced with what we called the ‘new’ Woolworth’s (to differentiate it from the smaller ‘old’ Woolworth’s which was about five blocks west on Myrtle Avenue)..
I have always thought it was ironic that directly across the street from this grand theater were a live poultry market and a gas station. I remember how it smelled from those chickens (it was worse on St. Nicholas Ave than on Myrtle) but I guess it reflects an earlier time. The Madison Diner replaced both these properties by the mid 60’s.
My great grandmother lived sort of South of the theater in a six family home on Cornelia St between Cypress and Wyckoff Avenues. I remember she had family photos which were taken on the roof (a common pre-flash custom). You could see the Madison Theater in the background as it was taller and stood out. I remember there being views of the theater both under construction, and finished in the background of those photos.
In my childhood I only remember being in one theater that was swankier than the Madison, and that was Radio City Music Hall (saw “Dear Heart” starring Glenn Ford, Geraldine Page and Angela Lansbury). The Madison and the Loew’s Valencia in Jamaica are # 2 on my list (but not equal). I remember the Valencia as being a bit run down when we went to see “Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines” there, but I was awestruck, even though I did not really like the décor at all. The first time I can remember being in the RKO Madison was to see Doris Day and Rock Hudson in Send Me No Flowers. Other movies I remember seeing there, but by no means a complete list: My Fair Lady, The Ten Commandments (re-release), Funny Girl, Airport, Willard, and Lovers And Other Strangers.
Two movies I did not see, but that played there and stay in my memory is The Odd Couple and The Graduate. When Odd Couple was there-held over for a few weeks I think-giant pictures of Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau were added to the marquee, one on each side facing each other. For The Graduate I believe we had a giant cut out of Ann Bancroft’s leg adorning Myrtle Avenue!
This is how I remember the theater interior. Let’s see how accurate my memory is or is not. There was an outside lobby with a box office in the middle. I think the floor was tile, but they would put out reddish rubber mats when it rained. Then you walked into a marble hallway that had coming attractions posters on either side and led you to the ticket taker who stood in a doorway that led to the actual lobby. The lobby was very tall and had lighting on the walls and some kind of large chandelier hanging from the ceiling. There was a candy counter to the left side. There was a big marble staircase on the back wall that led up to the balcony. I’m a little fuzzy on this, but I believe the theater was separated from the lobby by a wall and doors, but there was a half wall inside the theater behind the back row and space to walk behind that. When you took that huge staircase to the upper level of the lobby there was a landing with a marble railing that prevented people from falling into the lobby. If you looked over this rail and across the lobby there were several large mirrors and you could see your reflection.
I come from a family of smokers, so we always sat in the balcony when we were together. When we kids would come alone we had to sit in the infamous “children’s section’ which I remember was on the right side Most of my memories are of sitting in this section. There was always a tough matron whose last job must have been in the NY City Penitentiary. She wielded a large flashlight, her main weapon to stop mischief! I seem to recall kids being ejected if they persistently misbehaved. The fire hoses were in recessed cabinets on the sidewalls with and lit up. I recall that the exits were clearly marked with some kind of stained glass signage that indicated the exit numbers. Maybe some interior photos will eventually turn up and help bring back our memories.
Since I found the website and the photos of the theater I have mentioned it to my parents. My dad, age 70, told me right away that he remembered the organ coming out between or after a movie. There would be a sing along following the bouncing ball. Sometimes the organ played, and sometimes the music came from the screen. He also remembered vaudeville shows there.
My mom is 68 and has many memories of this theater. She is computer savvy, so I hope she will post her own personal stories. A few things she told me: that the Madison was quite a step up from going to the Ridgewood and she always remembers it being full and sometimes having to sit separately from family members, that the ladies’ room was very opulent; she remembers that Vaudeville was on Tuesday nights and her grandmother used to take her there sometimes; that the lobby had a lot of burgundy or maroon colors; that the children’s section matron was a regular Nazi, and how much they got for 25 cents on a Saturday morning.
I remember the theater was rented for graduations of various high schools. People would use every available parking space in the neighborhood and often had to walk blocks to their car, often with a graduate in cap and gown in tow.
A Ridgewood question: does anyone know of an ‘open air’ theater that existed in the 1920’s on Seneca Avenue near the corner of Hancock Street? My dad’s family owned the six family homes at 930 & 932 Seneca Avenue from the late teens through the forties. My grandmother (now deceased) moved there from Williamsburg in 1924 when she married. She used to tell us stories of climbing a few steps up the wash line pole which allowed her to watch the silent movies being shown. I think it was called the Evergreen Theater. At some point the Bank of the Manhattan Company and a catering hall called the Glenwood Manor was built where the theater had been.. This building also housed a pool hall and Pachman’s Toy Store. This building burned down in the 1950’s and was replaced by one of the first Bohack supermarkets.
I hope my memories are pretty accurate and others can fill in the blanks with their own stories

3D at the Madison, this ad suggests that only “Rue Morgue” is the 3D version and “Creature” is not?
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It’s funny I remember so well having my father take me to see this movie “Journey to the Far Side of the Sun” because it had a stage show of Bob McAllistar from Wonderama and the space suits from Apollo 12. Now I knew that the astronauts were not real but now I read the space suits were reproductions as well. I was so into the space program back then and now I read it and it seems silly.
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Those three windows survived until the 90’s. (Well they are probably still there, but covered with the Liberty Dept store). The building was even steam cleaned and stone repointed in the early 90’s, the windows were even replaced…it looked great, but then they decided to put that huge sign up, and they have been covered ever since. I don’t believe the stonework around the windows was damaged, as the sign seems to stick out from the surface a bit.

“Willard” at the Madison
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Here is that ad, I saw this at the Midway, but can’t recall the co-feature
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