Kings Theatre
1027 Flatbush Avenue,
Brooklyn,
NY
11226
1027 Flatbush Avenue,
Brooklyn,
NY
11226
86 people
favorited this theater
Showing 126 - 150 of 1,564 comments
Here’s a link to interesting interview with Dornin in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle in 1931. There are nice photos of her face and in Loew’s Ohio in Columbus OH. Very interesting to learn that her professional association was not so much with Loew’s as with Thomas Lamb, gradually taking greater responsibility over the years for the decor and construction of the theaters he designed.
http://bklyn.newspapers.com/image/59888680/
No, thank you for clearing that up.
Thanks Matt. I’ve never seen it spelled any other way but you are absolutely correct. Anne Dornin. Her married name was Anne D. Scudamore. Her obit can be found in the NYT on Sept 18, 1960. That explains a lot. Thanks again.
Mark – How sure are you about her name being spelled with an “a”? I’ve only seen Dornan used in captions, but I read an interview with her about her work with Loew’s Inc that spelled it Dornin.
And, for what it’s worth, Ann Dornan ( with an a ) was the name of the decorator who worked for Loew’s in the late 1920s.
For an old theatre, or any historic place, to survive decades of neglect and to be revived in splendor, two basic things need to have happened. One, there need to have been selfless volunteers to spend hundreds and thousands of hours to keep the building alive for years and years when no one else cared. This first group is almost solely motivated by love for the place and the community. Two, there need to be powerful politicians, fundraisers and entrepreneurs to get the huge amounts of $$$$ and combine those with the right expertise to make a restoration happen. Naturally enough, the second group get all of the headlines and awards. But without the first group no restoration would or could ever have happened. They tend to be forgotten, but deserve the accolades just as much as the politicians for making it all happen.
The comment I just made refers to Orlando’s post of 3/23/15. It was in today’s NYTimes.
Restored Furniture
Dear All,
Thank you for your passion for the Kings Theatre.
As Mike noted above, about once a year we’re forced to delete off-subject comments and those that degenerate into personal attacks from one page on this site. I truly appreciate all of your passion but we want to make sure comment threads do not become hijacked by inter-user squabbles.
As the son of a proud Erasmus graduate and former Loew’s Kings moviegoer, I’ll add that I’m also completely thrilled that the Kings is back. If there are inaccuracies in our entry above, please email any corrections to our illustrious editor Ken Roe at .
Thanks for your understanding and hope to see you in Brooklyn someday soon!
I for one dont care (well I really do) who was responsible for saving the Kings Theatre. The point is that it was saved, and is back in business. You should be glad you have a company running it who knows what theyre doing. We here in Jersey have the Loews Jersey which needs a ton of work, and the Ritz in Elizabeth whose owner spent millions restoring it, and now it sits there doing nothing. We can only hope someone takes them over and they return to their former glory.
Orlando,
They do? I’ve never heard of you before reading your posts on this page. If you did save the Kings, that should be celebrated, not hidden. I’m sure a lot of the people on this page would love to hear how that happened.
Mike – I stand by what I said earlier.
Orlando, it’s true than an eyewitness is often the best source of first-hand accounts, but there are many ways to arrive at the truth.
If there are errors in the introduction, I suggest you inform the site through the proper channels (which I’m sure you have done) and leave out the personal attacks on parties unknown. Your comment of April 16 at 9:40am was probably written out of frustration but it really should be deleted. You are working your dream job and have accomplished a lot, so these petty spats just sully this website.
And JamesD, your response of April 17, 5:36am was a bit out of line as well.
Let’s all delete this section of the comments before the webmaster has to do it for us.
Mike, I assume you meant petty and not pretty. As for deleting comments, that won’t happen because the truth is the truth. Some newspapers get all the stories wrong and tell you what you want to hear. If you really believe Marty Markowitz saved the Kings, think again!
JamesD,
My credentials speak for themselves and I certainly don’t have to prove anything to you. What I said is exactly T R U E!
I was 10 years old when the Kings closed, but I did see films at other movie palaces, including the Valencia and the RKO Keiths. I’ve been following the Kings possible return since the early 90s, and have visited the theater since it reopened.
I’ve never heard your name beyond this site before, so what exactly do you mean by “As a matter of fact, if it weren’t for me, there would be no Kings Theatre today.” ?
JamesD: It is not the stupidest statement ever made on this site but an accurate one. I lived and experienced it during the last 50 years of my life. If you can say the same, good for you and maybe you can write an introduction fitting the Loew’s Kings and Kings Theatre as it is now known. Did you ever see a film at the theatre, better yet have you seen it after its' re-opening. Were you born in 1977 or a little before??? You don'’t have to answer the questions because I really don’t care about what you have to say. I watched over this building over the 37 years it was closed visiting every year, several times the years. I know the true story of the Kings while in operation and during its' closed years and the meetings to save it. As a matter of fact, if it weren’t for me, there would be no Kings Theatre today. And I am not stupid, Erasmus Hall High School gave us all in 1974 a great HS, if not a college education.
“If you haven’t lived and experienced it first hand, then regrettably you don’t know what you’re talking about.”
I’ve read some stupid statements on Cinema Treasures in the past, but that was by far the stupidest. I agree that Cinema Treasures can be inaccurate, but such is the case with a lot of user edited postings (such as wikipedia.) I guess everyone who attended movie palaces in their heyday should write everything down so that everyone else can know exactly what to talk about.
At the same time we should probably stop listening to historians about ancient Greece, the Civil War, etc because they were born long after it happened and obviously don’t know what they are talking about.
BRAVO!!
By the way, there is a lot of wrong information in the introduction that needs to be corrected. You need someone who lived and attended the theatre and not some incorrect statements and rumors made by people born after 1977 to get a true introduction. If you haven’t lived and experienced it first hand, then regrettably you don’t know what your talking about.
On January 23, 2015, the event listed in the intro never happened due to a snow storm. It should be removed from the introduction of Kings Theatre. That event will happen on Monday, April 27th 2015 (the rescheduled date).
Searching is weird sometimes. The theaters that pop up are the Open ones, then you have to find the tab with the closed or demolished ones…
What I do when I can’t find something specific is look for a nearby theater, in this case I looked up the Fox, and in the column on the right is a short list of nearby houses, and often — voila!
Thanks Mike, I have no idea why it wasn’t popping up in my Theater/Theatre search nor was it in the Brooklyn Search. But I got an email notifying me when you posted there so thank you! This is great News! Now if someone would only save the Loew’s Canal!
This one? Link
Today it was announced that LIU will be embarking on a $50MM renovation of the Brooklyn Paramount Theatre which has been used as an Athletic facility for the college for the last 50 years! The restoration will take about two years! Amazingly I have search CT for the Brooklyn Paramount Theatre and can’t find it. There is another Paramount listed in Bushwick. It must be here, no?? :–) http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2015/04/08/reborn_paramount_theater_in_brooklyn_will_look_like_this.php#more
I know this is late notice, but tonight, April 7th, at 8:30, WNYE-TV channel 25 will be airing an episode of their Blueprint NYC series devoted to the Loew’s Wonder Theaters. If you miss it, you may be able to watch the episode at their website after it has aired.