The “screening room” is just another auditorium, the smallest one at about 62 seats. It is located in a former retail space to the right of the theatre, as seen in the photos above. The door you see is used for exit only; the small screen is to the right of the door (or to the left of the door when you are inside).
Malverne uses this screen for its older pictures, often splitting the bill with 2 separate-admission features.
The original auditorium is divided into four rooms; the entrance to the fifth screen is located toward the front of the lobby.
A nice looking, modern and comfortable cinema, in the typical latter-days Loew’s style, with a big high-ceilinged lobby with the auditoriums down hallways on either side of the lobby. Big screens, bright images and comfy seats. A mix of mainstream fare and cross-over art releases.
Here is a (copyrighted) article from the NY Times when the theater first opened April 21, 1916. I can’t believe this theater lasted less than 20 years. This is the link to the article: View link
RIALTO THEATRE OPENS ITS DOORS; Luxurious Motion Picture House Begins Business in Times Square WITH FAIRBANKS AS STAR
Stageless Theatre, Handsomely Appointed and Seating 2,000, Has Replaced the Old Victoria.
Published: April 22, 1916
The Rialto Theatre, which for nearly a year has been building on the spot in Times Square where Hammerstein’s old Victoria used to stand, opened its doors last evening to a specially invited and very imposing audience. Today and daily hereafter the clamorous public will be admitted, and so another motion picture house has been added to the thousands which dot the map of the United States. But the difference between the queer, jiggly films that used to serve as chasers on the Keith programs fifteen years ago and the elaborate photoplays of 1916 is no greater than the difference between the evilly ventilated little nickelodeons and the luxurious theatre which was opened last night.
A handsomely appointed house dedicated entirely to the movies is thus established on one of the finest theatrical sites in the world. At every turn you found some grounds for the enthusiasm of the laureate of the occasion, who in the program burst forth as follows:
“With the peal of the grand organ, the fanfare of the orchestra, and the flash of thousands of iridescent lights, a new palace of polite pleasure for thousands is born tonight.”
The interior is done in ivory and gray with hangings of red. The dome over the balcony is lovely in coloring, a playground for innumerable lights of every hue. The very ushers are elegantly upholstered, each carrying an electric flash and a swaggerstick. There was some speculation last night as to whether these were to be used for prodding a sleepy patron or for hitting the critics over the knuckles, but a part of the Rialto Review showed the ushers in action. It seems they are trained in first aid work, and the swaggersticks are used in making tourniquets. The Review also transports you to the Rialto in Venice with Nevin’s lovely Venetian music as the appropriate accompaniment.
Like The Strand, which preceded it and has served to some degree as the model for all of the finer motion picture theatres in America, the Rialto is an expression of the taste and ideas of S. L. Rothapfel, its managing director. Here is a goodly auditorium, with seats downstairs and in the steep cantilever balcony to the number of 2,000. Here is a big orchestra, a program that includes some singing and then no end of movies, with two photoplays and a topical review of the sort that shows a Governor dedicating something somewhere and some children doing something somewhere else, and so on.
The Knickerbocker is a fine old theatre temporarily made over into a movie house, and even the Strand is so built that at very short notice it could be converted to the uses of opera or drama, but the Rialto is a motion picture house, pure and simple. It is stageless, the screen being placed boldly against the back wall of the theatre. It is built in the conviction that the American passion for the movies is here to stay.
Triangle films seem to be the central attraction at the Rialto and the opening bill contained an abundance of the Triangle’s trump cardâ€"Douglas Fairbanks. His Wild West, sagebrush photoplay, “The Good Bad Man,” might have been designed by Penrod Schofield with flashes by a sentimental chambermaid, but it is full to the brim with Fairbanks. His expressive face, radiant, toothsome smile, immense activity, and apparent disposition to romp all over the map make him a treasure to the cinema. No deserter from the spoken drama is more engaging in the new work than Douglas Fairbanks. May his shadow never grow less.
Good Lord! Russ Tamblyn still looks a little like his Tom Thumb character, but poor George Chakiris looks a bit dried up, or something. Thanks for the shock of the day, Bill.
The movie “Sunrise” is playing on the Fox Movie Channel. According the New York Times review of the picture at the time, it opened at this theater on September 23, 1927. “Sunrise” won several awards at the first Academy Awards, including “Unique and Artistic Picture.”
I was shocked to read in Yahoo Movies that “This theater is permanently closed.” So I came straight here and am relieved to find out that it is alive and well as a Regal Cinema.
I will be checking out “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,” which I’ve never seen. Also looking forward to “Cabaret,” which originally opened at the Ziegfeld, and the “Grease” sing-a-long should be a lot of fun.
I haven’t received any comments in over a week, either, and I know that theaters that I subscribe to have had comments, but they haven’t arrived in my mail. I checked my profile and my email address is correct, so I wonder what’s up.
The Voice article said the Polk was one of three theaters left showing porn on the big screen. What are the other two; I’d like to check them out before they close.
It’s always something around here.
The “screening room” is just another auditorium, the smallest one at about 62 seats. It is located in a former retail space to the right of the theatre, as seen in the photos above. The door you see is used for exit only; the small screen is to the right of the door (or to the left of the door when you are inside).
Malverne uses this screen for its older pictures, often splitting the bill with 2 separate-admission features.
The original auditorium is divided into four rooms; the entrance to the fifth screen is located toward the front of the lobby.
I did love those double features. This is a heartbreaking shame.
It’s always something around here.
Ugh.
A nice looking, modern and comfortable cinema, in the typical latter-days Loew’s style, with a big high-ceilinged lobby with the auditoriums down hallways on either side of the lobby. Big screens, bright images and comfy seats. A mix of mainstream fare and cross-over art releases.
Pretty unremarkable, but inexpensive. Friendly staff.
I think the actual name is Middlebrook Galleria Cinemas.
Ocean Township is its location, not its name.
Here is a (copyrighted) article from the NY Times when the theater first opened April 21, 1916. I can’t believe this theater lasted less than 20 years. This is the link to the article: View link
RIALTO THEATRE OPENS ITS DOORS; Luxurious Motion Picture House Begins Business in Times Square WITH FAIRBANKS AS STAR
Stageless Theatre, Handsomely Appointed and Seating 2,000, Has Replaced the Old Victoria.
Published: April 22, 1916
The Rialto Theatre, which for nearly a year has been building on the spot in Times Square where Hammerstein’s old Victoria used to stand, opened its doors last evening to a specially invited and very imposing audience. Today and daily hereafter the clamorous public will be admitted, and so another motion picture house has been added to the thousands which dot the map of the United States. But the difference between the queer, jiggly films that used to serve as chasers on the Keith programs fifteen years ago and the elaborate photoplays of 1916 is no greater than the difference between the evilly ventilated little nickelodeons and the luxurious theatre which was opened last night.
A handsomely appointed house dedicated entirely to the movies is thus established on one of the finest theatrical sites in the world. At every turn you found some grounds for the enthusiasm of the laureate of the occasion, who in the program burst forth as follows:
“With the peal of the grand organ, the fanfare of the orchestra, and the flash of thousands of iridescent lights, a new palace of polite pleasure for thousands is born tonight.”
The interior is done in ivory and gray with hangings of red. The dome over the balcony is lovely in coloring, a playground for innumerable lights of every hue. The very ushers are elegantly upholstered, each carrying an electric flash and a swaggerstick. There was some speculation last night as to whether these were to be used for prodding a sleepy patron or for hitting the critics over the knuckles, but a part of the Rialto Review showed the ushers in action. It seems they are trained in first aid work, and the swaggersticks are used in making tourniquets. The Review also transports you to the Rialto in Venice with Nevin’s lovely Venetian music as the appropriate accompaniment.
Like The Strand, which preceded it and has served to some degree as the model for all of the finer motion picture theatres in America, the Rialto is an expression of the taste and ideas of S. L. Rothapfel, its managing director. Here is a goodly auditorium, with seats downstairs and in the steep cantilever balcony to the number of 2,000. Here is a big orchestra, a program that includes some singing and then no end of movies, with two photoplays and a topical review of the sort that shows a Governor dedicating something somewhere and some children doing something somewhere else, and so on.
The Knickerbocker is a fine old theatre temporarily made over into a movie house, and even the Strand is so built that at very short notice it could be converted to the uses of opera or drama, but the Rialto is a motion picture house, pure and simple. It is stageless, the screen being placed boldly against the back wall of the theatre. It is built in the conviction that the American passion for the movies is here to stay.
Triangle films seem to be the central attraction at the Rialto and the opening bill contained an abundance of the Triangle’s trump cardâ€"Douglas Fairbanks. His Wild West, sagebrush photoplay, “The Good Bad Man,” might have been designed by Penrod Schofield with flashes by a sentimental chambermaid, but it is full to the brim with Fairbanks. His expressive face, radiant, toothsome smile, immense activity, and apparent disposition to romp all over the map make him a treasure to the cinema. No deserter from the spoken drama is more engaging in the new work than Douglas Fairbanks. May his shadow never grow less.
Good Lord! Russ Tamblyn still looks a little like his Tom Thumb character, but poor George Chakiris looks a bit dried up, or something. Thanks for the shock of the day, Bill.
The movie “Sunrise” is playing on the Fox Movie Channel. According the New York Times review of the picture at the time, it opened at this theater on September 23, 1927. “Sunrise” won several awards at the first Academy Awards, including “Unique and Artistic Picture.”
I was shocked to read in Yahoo Movies that “This theater is permanently closed.” So I came straight here and am relieved to find out that it is alive and well as a Regal Cinema.
Ken, could you be more specific?
I will be checking out “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,” which I’ve never seen. Also looking forward to “Cabaret,” which originally opened at the Ziegfeld, and the “Grease” sing-a-long should be a lot of fun.
I’m not buying anything from ij’s collection, but I thought there were several interesting items that I enjoyed looking at.
I still have hope.
Some of the articles specifially mention that his other screens show mainstream fare, not art, yet Cinema Village shows exclusively art product.
AMC has left the building.
Also, I can’t tell exactly what other theaters Nicolaou owns in Manhattan…is it one theater or is it the City Cinemas chain?
wow
Craig does a good job.
I didn’t see these screenings but I have really enjoyed others in the past.
Still no messages in my mailbox; over a week now.
I haven’t received any comments in over a week, either, and I know that theaters that I subscribe to have had comments, but they haven’t arrived in my mail. I checked my profile and my email address is correct, so I wonder what’s up.
Boy, do we need it now.
The Voice article said the Polk was one of three theaters left showing porn on the big screen. What are the other two; I’d like to check them out before they close.
Nice ad, Warren. By the way, What was the Loew’s 42nd Street?