Thanks, Bway. Fortunately, the RKO Bushwick, with some help from the NYC Board Of Ed, and its chosen building contractor, has risen like the phoenix from its own ashes, exterior preserved, albeit with interior gutted, and changed into a school.
Glad you liked that, mikemovies. I don’t know if a double was used for Mia Farrow’s nude scene, only that the nude female that appeared, her areolas, as well as her nipples, were puffy, and elevated above the skin of her breasts, like those of an adolescent girl.
I don’t know about in-car heaters at the Sunrise Drive-In. My parents and I only saw one feature there in summer 1970 (no heaters needed) : “The Out Of Towners” and “Rosemary’s Baby”. Re: the latter film, and Mia Farrow’s breasts, my Dad said something about “lung warts”.
Russ Myer films, eager, young, warm bodies, passion pit locale = plenty of body heat and steam, plus a good workout of the seat cushions and springs.
Thanks, RobertR, now I know when “Night of the Living Dead” played at the RKO Madison. I would have thought December 1968, not 1969. I vaguely remember Dionne Warwick in “Slaves”, and vividly remember Russ Meyers' “Vixen”. Your Walter Reade comment is interesting, in that I remember reading that the Walter Reade Organization was the original distributor of “Night of the Living Dead”, and would not subscribe or submit to the then-new G M R X movie rating system.
Interesting that Loew’s Gates was still showing movies in December 1969. I wonder when it stopped showing films ? I suppose that should be a standard item of info for all these now-closed movie theaters.
Interesting that “Slaves” and “Night of the Living Dead” were on the same bill, and that both were loaded with black-white racial issues and connotations, although “Slaves” was blaxploitation and “NOTLD” is generally agreed not to be.
THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD was, for some reason unknown to me, the secondary feature to the just-released THE REINCARNATION OF PETER PROUD at the RKO Madison in July 1975. Apart from that, I see very little relation between the two films.
High brow … “Dracula: Prince of Darkness”, showing a dead man strung up by his heels, his throat slit, so he could bleed out into the dust that became … Dracula ! once again. I saw the sequel, “Dracula Has Risen From The Grave”, at the Madison in early 1969.
I saw “The House That Dripped Blood” at the RKO Madison on a double bill with “The Reincarnation Of Peter Proud” in July 1975.
I know nothing about Newspaper Archive, but it reads worthwhile.
That’s an interesting thought, Bway, that the Madison may have been too fancy a theater for Ridgewood, even when both the Madison and Ridgewood itself were new. My family and I always liked it, though, and went there frequently.
The “Othello” factor would be intellect and education, not first and foremost affluence, although the two tend to go hand in hand. There were, and still are, college and college-bound students living in Ridgewood such as we once were.
Here’s an RKO-Madison-specific example : My high school-educated parents saw the film “Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf ?” at the RKO Madison in early 1967, and only partly understood it, partly because the stars Liz and Dick were mumbling toward the end. The play it was based on only began to mean something to me when I studied it as a senior in h.s. in 1972-73, then I learned it by heart. I would have studied it in a drama course in college if I hadn’t dropped the course.
I subsequently saw the film on TV and heard the original cast recording on LP, and now have the film on VHS.
Good idea, Ed. It makes sense. That would have caused more of a stir in 1966 at the Bushwick than at the Madison, especially with the help of Stokeley Carmichael and H. Rap Brown.
That’s true, Bway. Thanks. Ridgewood has become heavily Hispanic, but never became predominantly black, despite the fears in that direction at that time of many Ridgewoodites, including my family and myself.
I remember reading or seeing something in the 1970’s and ‘80’s to the effect that “housing discrimination against blacks in Ridgewood, Glendale, Maspeth and Middle Village is among the worst in NYC”.
Someone once commented to me that if a black family ever moved into Middle Village, their home would probably be fire-bombed.
I wonder what the RKO Bushwick was like in 1966. By then, my family and I, living in adjacent Ridgewood, considered Bushwick a “bad, unsafe” neighborhood, and only attended movies at the Madison and Ridgewood. Our sole routine business in Bushwick ended when our family doctor moved from Palmetto between Bway and Bushwick to 70th Avenue in upper Ridgewood in 1966.
Thanks, Lost Memory. I find this interesting. If nothing else, your latest post shows that crime in Bushwick was not confined to the looting, vandalism and arson of the 1960’s to the present.
The view of the RKO Bushwick in the photo at the top of this page does not give a true idea of its size. It’s similar to a view of the Flatiron Building, at 23rd St. and 5th Avenue in Manhattan, looking right at the famous, narrow, acute-angled corner, with the wider rear end hidden in the background.
BTW, I recall “Suspiria” and “The Fury” playing at the Ridgewood as a double bill in mid to late May 1978, seven months after the assumed closing of the RKO Madison.
You’re welcome, LuisV. Thank YOU ! I’d never been to the Valencia or the Alden, only heard about them, and seen pictures of them. Yes, the RKO Madison was a beautiful show-house in its day, and the Elmwood was a sight to see, too.
Yes, the RKO Madison was a perfect old Gothic place to see a horror movie, as I know from having seen several there myself. “The Exorcist” must have been pretty impressive there in July or August 1976, even with, or perhaps because of, the theater’s failing, run-down condition.
Bway, “Psycho” was a sight to behold at the BAM Rose Cinema this past Saturday, July 15th, even though I know the film by heart, and have three copies of it !
Some of the images were taken at dusk, or at dawn, with most of the light coming from streetlamps, and showed the back of the building, centered around the corner of Howard Avenue and Madison Street, and showed how big it really was, with the external fire escape stairs zigzagging down to the sidewalk.
I’ll look forward to your “crazier” pics, BushwickBill.
The only 2002 nor'easter I recall was the blizzard of Christmas 2002.
Yes, mikemovies, perhaps we will, and that will be good indeed, for the exact date could then go into the banner for the RKO Madison at the top of this page.
Thanks for so excusing me, Bway, and thereby cutting me some slack. I was probably preoccupied with thoughts of school and my studies, all those times I passed the RKO Madison on the way from home to the subway (L line) and vice versa.
Until I see evidence to the contrary, I will go on assuming that the RKO Madison closed right after Halloween 1977, as we know from Lost Memory’s last post that the RKO Madison stopped advertising somewhere between Sep 23 and Nov 11, 1977.
Thanks, guys, for helping to answer the question, “When did the RKO Madison in Ridgewood show its last film ?”
“Creepshow” was released in 1982. It was playing at the Ridgewood Theater on Tuesday, September 23rd, 1982, and I saw an ad for it at the Midway the first Friday of November 1982. On that day, “An Officer And A Gentleman” was playing at the Trylon. That’s the film my friend and I should have seen that evening, rather than “National Lampoon’s Class Reunion” at the Midway. Would have gotten me to the Trylon two years earlier than I actually did.
Annoying blanks in my memory, at that, because from August 1976 through February 1978 I walked past the RKO Madison about ten times a week, and didn’t necessarily notice what was playing there, or, if I did, I forgot. I MUST have noticed when it was closed, but, for reasons that are still not clear to me, do not remember the date I noticed.
Thanks, Bway. Fortunately, the RKO Bushwick, with some help from the NYC Board Of Ed, and its chosen building contractor, has risen like the phoenix from its own ashes, exterior preserved, albeit with interior gutted, and changed into a school.
Glad you liked that, mikemovies. I don’t know if a double was used for Mia Farrow’s nude scene, only that the nude female that appeared, her areolas, as well as her nipples, were puffy, and elevated above the skin of her breasts, like those of an adolescent girl.
Thanks, Bway. Do we have exact dates for Loews Gates and the RKO Bushwick showing their last movies ?
I don’t know about in-car heaters at the Sunrise Drive-In. My parents and I only saw one feature there in summer 1970 (no heaters needed) : “The Out Of Towners” and “Rosemary’s Baby”. Re: the latter film, and Mia Farrow’s breasts, my Dad said something about “lung warts”.
Russ Myer films, eager, young, warm bodies, passion pit locale = plenty of body heat and steam, plus a good workout of the seat cushions and springs.
Thanks, RobertR, now I know when “Night of the Living Dead” played at the RKO Madison. I would have thought December 1968, not 1969. I vaguely remember Dionne Warwick in “Slaves”, and vividly remember Russ Meyers' “Vixen”. Your Walter Reade comment is interesting, in that I remember reading that the Walter Reade Organization was the original distributor of “Night of the Living Dead”, and would not subscribe or submit to the then-new G M R X movie rating system.
Interesting that Loew’s Gates was still showing movies in December 1969. I wonder when it stopped showing films ? I suppose that should be a standard item of info for all these now-closed movie theaters.
Interesting that “Slaves” and “Night of the Living Dead” were on the same bill, and that both were loaded with black-white racial issues and connotations, although “Slaves” was blaxploitation and “NOTLD” is generally agreed not to be.
Perhaps we need a film about THE MOVIE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD.
THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD was, for some reason unknown to me, the secondary feature to the just-released THE REINCARNATION OF PETER PROUD at the RKO Madison in July 1975. Apart from that, I see very little relation between the two films.
High brow … “Dracula: Prince of Darkness”, showing a dead man strung up by his heels, his throat slit, so he could bleed out into the dust that became … Dracula ! once again. I saw the sequel, “Dracula Has Risen From The Grave”, at the Madison in early 1969.
I saw “The House That Dripped Blood” at the RKO Madison on a double bill with “The Reincarnation Of Peter Proud” in July 1975.
I know nothing about Newspaper Archive, but it reads worthwhile.
That’s an interesting thought, Bway, that the Madison may have been too fancy a theater for Ridgewood, even when both the Madison and Ridgewood itself were new. My family and I always liked it, though, and went there frequently.
The “Othello” factor would be intellect and education, not first and foremost affluence, although the two tend to go hand in hand. There were, and still are, college and college-bound students living in Ridgewood such as we once were.
Here’s an RKO-Madison-specific example : My high school-educated parents saw the film “Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf ?” at the RKO Madison in early 1967, and only partly understood it, partly because the stars Liz and Dick were mumbling toward the end. The play it was based on only began to mean something to me when I studied it as a senior in h.s. in 1972-73, then I learned it by heart. I would have studied it in a drama course in college if I hadn’t dropped the course.
I subsequently saw the film on TV and heard the original cast recording on LP, and now have the film on VHS.
Good idea, Ed. It makes sense. That would have caused more of a stir in 1966 at the Bushwick than at the Madison, especially with the help of Stokeley Carmichael and H. Rap Brown.
That’s true, Bway. Thanks. Ridgewood has become heavily Hispanic, but never became predominantly black, despite the fears in that direction at that time of many Ridgewoodites, including my family and myself.
I remember reading or seeing something in the 1970’s and ‘80’s to the effect that “housing discrimination against blacks in Ridgewood, Glendale, Maspeth and Middle Village is among the worst in NYC”.
Someone once commented to me that if a black family ever moved into Middle Village, their home would probably be fire-bombed.
What do you find shocking about it, RobertR ?
I wonder what the RKO Bushwick was like in 1966. By then, my family and I, living in adjacent Ridgewood, considered Bushwick a “bad, unsafe” neighborhood, and only attended movies at the Madison and Ridgewood. Our sole routine business in Bushwick ended when our family doctor moved from Palmetto between Bway and Bushwick to 70th Avenue in upper Ridgewood in 1966.
Thanks, Lost Memory. I find this interesting. If nothing else, your latest post shows that crime in Bushwick was not confined to the looting, vandalism and arson of the 1960’s to the present.
The view of the RKO Bushwick in the photo at the top of this page does not give a true idea of its size. It’s similar to a view of the Flatiron Building, at 23rd St. and 5th Avenue in Manhattan, looking right at the famous, narrow, acute-angled corner, with the wider rear end hidden in the background.
Thanks, EdSolero.
BTW, I recall “Suspiria” and “The Fury” playing at the Ridgewood as a double bill in mid to late May 1978, seven months after the assumed closing of the RKO Madison.
You’re welcome, LuisV. Thank YOU ! I’d never been to the Valencia or the Alden, only heard about them, and seen pictures of them. Yes, the RKO Madison was a beautiful show-house in its day, and the Elmwood was a sight to see, too.
Good idea, Lost Memory.
Yes, the RKO Madison was a perfect old Gothic place to see a horror movie, as I know from having seen several there myself. “The Exorcist” must have been pretty impressive there in July or August 1976, even with, or perhaps because of, the theater’s failing, run-down condition.
Bway, “Psycho” was a sight to behold at the BAM Rose Cinema this past Saturday, July 15th, even though I know the film by heart, and have three copies of it !
“I was almost frightened at the size of the building and how spooky it was.”
Bushwick Bill, I can relate. I am reminded of the images of the RKO Bushwick Theater on Matthew Melnick’s “Lost Brooklyn Trips” website :
http://www.lostbrooklyn.org
Some of the images were taken at dusk, or at dawn, with most of the light coming from streetlamps, and showed the back of the building, centered around the corner of Howard Avenue and Madison Street, and showed how big it really was, with the external fire escape stairs zigzagging down to the sidewalk.
I’ll look forward to your “crazier” pics, BushwickBill.
The only 2002 nor'easter I recall was the blizzard of Christmas 2002.
Yes, mikemovies, perhaps we will, and that will be good indeed, for the exact date could then go into the banner for the RKO Madison at the top of this page.
Thanks for so excusing me, Bway, and thereby cutting me some slack. I was probably preoccupied with thoughts of school and my studies, all those times I passed the RKO Madison on the way from home to the subway (L line) and vice versa.
Until I see evidence to the contrary, I will go on assuming that the RKO Madison closed right after Halloween 1977, as we know from Lost Memory’s last post that the RKO Madison stopped advertising somewhere between Sep 23 and Nov 11, 1977.
Thanks, guys, for helping to answer the question, “When did the RKO Madison in Ridgewood show its last film ?”
“Creepshow” was released in 1982. It was playing at the Ridgewood Theater on Tuesday, September 23rd, 1982, and I saw an ad for it at the Midway the first Friday of November 1982. On that day, “An Officer And A Gentleman” was playing at the Trylon. That’s the film my friend and I should have seen that evening, rather than “National Lampoon’s Class Reunion” at the Midway. Would have gotten me to the Trylon two years earlier than I actually did.
Here’s the link to “Creepshow” on the IMDb.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083767/
No, I mean December 11th and 12th, 1992. The December 11-12 1992 nor'easter was a well-documented storm.
Thanks, ken mc.
Thank you, ken mc. The link to the 1954 photos are a help.
Annoying blanks in my memory, at that, because from August 1976 through February 1978 I walked past the RKO Madison about ten times a week, and didn’t necessarily notice what was playing there, or, if I did, I forgot. I MUST have noticed when it was closed, but, for reasons that are still not clear to me, do not remember the date I noticed.
Good work, guys. Lots of interesting detail. Thanks. It goes far in filling in the blanks in my memory.