Comments from Al Alvarez

Showing 1,026 - 1,050 of 3,427 comments

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about Park & 86th Street Cinemas on Sep 5, 2011 at 6:28 pm

Ed, I did see those but we closed both the National and Warner for the filming. “Death” walks out the front door of the Warner at one point and interiors with ‘the kid’ (he was actually in his late teens) I believe were mostly done inside the National.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about Penn Theatre on Sep 5, 2011 at 2:23 pm

In New York there was a big morality drive that closed many silent theatres when they were accused by Christian groups of being the source of spreading diseases, the abduction of white women, drug use, and pretty much every other vice they could pin onto the mostly Jewish industry.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about Park & 86th Street Cinemas on Sep 5, 2011 at 11:43 am

“The Last Action Hero” featured the National interior and the Warner (Rialto) and Times Square exteriors.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about New Progress Theatre on Sep 4, 2011 at 9:35 pm

That Regines store in the Google map above sure looks like a theatre building.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about Morningside Theatre on Sep 4, 2011 at 7:35 pm

I just noticed that the NEWS ABOUT THIS THEATRE link on the right of this page has a link from 2009 with a photo and information that dates this theatre back to at least 1908.

The intro has also gone missing.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about Lafayette Theatre on Sep 3, 2011 at 12:25 pm

Joe, The Grand Street theatre on Chrystie and Grand was operating in 1923. I have not entered it to CT as I can find nothing else about it.

The Grant/Jewel at 11 West 116th Street and the Argus/Regent at 385 Third Avenue are already identified as Koehler sites.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about Cameo Theatre on Sep 3, 2011 at 11:51 am

This very deceptive ad, that promotes “THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK” as light comedy, was the Cameo’s only Roadshow attraction. According to Variety, it was also one of the few successful runs for “Anne Frank” outside of new York.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=lF1VAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Nz8NAAAAIBAJ&pg=3256%2C4366891

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about Kings Cinema on Sep 3, 2011 at 11:30 am

Ad for the 50th Street Cinema during its Avant Garde film stage.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=rQNOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=KYwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4842%2C4973471

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about Japanese Roof Garden Theatre on Sep 3, 2011 at 1:00 am

Thanks Eileen, I was wondering where the Riverside and Riviera were in that photo.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about Fifth Avenue Theatre on Sep 1, 2011 at 11:16 pm

It was simply NOT on FIFTH AVENUE.

How very New York and THAT was the point….!

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about Astral Theatre on Sep 1, 2011 at 9:48 pm

The Google map view above is trying to leave the city.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Film Center on Sep 1, 2011 at 10:57 am

Ed, this theatre was running some daily changes in late December 1977. If you can find listings for December 21 or 22 you may have the answer. By December 23 they had opened “OUTRAGEOUS!” for a week.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=AAFOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=94sDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3218%2C6029574

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about Colony Theatre on Aug 31, 2011 at 11:09 pm

What happened to this theatre’s intro?

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about Cinema Studio 1 & 2 on Aug 31, 2011 at 10:00 pm

The Arcade opened in 1919 and closed as the Cinema Studio 1 & 2 in 1990.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Film Center on Aug 31, 2011 at 7:16 pm

Ed, in December 1978 the Cinema Village was showing something called “Beatles Around the World”. Could that have been it?

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Film Center on Aug 31, 2011 at 3:41 pm

Ed, it mostly played second run in the late seventies.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about Canal Park Playhouse on Aug 31, 2011 at 1:48 pm

Thanks, Rick.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about Little Carnegie Theatre on Aug 31, 2011 at 11:10 am

“Plein Soleil” was later successfully remade in English as “The Talented Mr. Ripley”.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about Nova Theatre on Aug 31, 2011 at 10:08 am

I know the neighborhood was wild but in many ways that kept the competition out and audiences loyal. I ran similar theatres for Cineplex Odeon but Loews ran away from those neighborhoods in the 80’s.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about Nova Theatre on Aug 31, 2011 at 9:40 am

Jnova, please tell us more. This theatre is historic part of NYC.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Film Center on Aug 30, 2011 at 6:12 pm

The Movieland 8th Street and Movieland Times Square overlapped by two years. The name was NOT moved down when the Times square location closed, as the intro suggests.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about Astor Theatre on Aug 30, 2011 at 11:57 am

“The Alamo” did not “move-over” from the Rivoli. It opened at the Astor and Victoria at popular prices a couple of months after it left the Rivoli, where the run had been disappointing.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about Paramount Theatre on Aug 30, 2011 at 11:14 am

In the 1973 movie “Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams”, the Joanne Woodward character comments that when her mother and her walked by the Paramount on 43rd street and the doors were opened to let the patrons out, the whole street would smell like ice cream.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about Apollo Theatre on Aug 30, 2011 at 10:58 am

Thanks for the cool picture, geneser1.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about AMC Kips Bay 15 on Aug 29, 2011 at 11:52 am

No studio dictates the number of screens. The studio only agrees to a maximum house nut which the theatre chain can then accept as is or add seats at their own expense.

If the studios dictated these things, film buyers wouldn’t have a job.