DJM78, What was your job at the Fortway? I probably know you. I installed the projection equipment at the Fortway. The first time when it was tripled and then when the two side theatres were added downstairs to make it a five-plex.
P.S. The Fortway was “pretty close” to a palace when it originally opened. I also did the Alpine sevenplex installation and from then until I retired I remained there. BEFORE they butchering the Alpine Theatre when Loews twined it, the lobby had some nice ornamental plaster under the “dropped ceiling”. Although it had no balcony, it was a decent size “neighborhood” Loews theatre.
Thanks Ed. My WORST fears have been confirmed. I wasn’t sure whether the balcony had been destroyed, but, the pictures you posted confirm it.
I had hopped that maybe “someone” would have seen the value of using “just the balcony” as a PERFECT IMAX theatre. However, after seeing the pictures, IT’S ALL OVER cut the funeral.
I can’t say that I understand the drawing with the post “Concept Drawing for Renovation of Famous Dave Restaurant: Located in 47th st, Time Square, New York City”.
Is that supposed to be the DeMille with the balcony stripped out? As for the Liberty Theatre, I work there a few times and the WHOLE THEATRE was made of wood! Even the balconies. I would hate to see a fire in one of those places.
Gone forever now. In fact, the only thing left are those SUPER Multiplexes….and they don’t even use film anymore. The picture comes in on a hard drive.
saps-I never had must respect for critics of films and that goes double for Vincent Canby. While it’s not the BEST musical ever made, and is no My Fair Lady or Camelot, for what it is, it was a sad but enjoyable musical. Like I said, I happen to like musicals, like the ones they DON’T make anymore. I also loved Phantom of the Opera, and believe it didn’t get the respect it deserved.
Rivoli157 – The 70mm re-release of Ben-Hur opened at the Palace on June 18, 1969. And, was followed by “Goodbye Mr. Chips”, on November 15th, 1969. Tomorrow will be the 43rd anniversary of “Mr. Chips” premiere. Had Mr. Chips not been booked to open in 70mm, Ben-Hur would have never been shown at the Palace in 70mm, since, Mr. Chips was the reason the Cinemechanica 70mm Victoria VIII’s were installed, not Ben Hur. I remember when I was at the MGM studio in Culver City in January 1969, the big water tower was painted with the wording “THIS IS THE YEAR OF MR. CHIPS”. While the film was a big disappointment to MGM, I happened to like it, but, then again, I like musicals.
I wouldn’t count any of the junk in Flushing Meadow Park as a theatre. If they want to STEAL the name “Queens Theatre”, good luck to them. As long as “WE” all know where the Queens Theatre really is, let them delude themselves.
PaulKupperberg-Max Schering owned the Oceana, Granada and Rugby. Golden Theatre Management first took over the managment of the theatres with Max remaining as a partner until Golden bought him out around 1975. About 1976 he was going to manage the newly tripled Fortway Theatre for Golden, but after a short time he decided to retire and moved to Florida. I installed the projection equipment when the Rugby, Beverly, Oceana, Fortway, Benson and Alpine in Brooklyn and the Olympia and Quad Cinema in Manhattan were multiplexed, as well as servicing and repairing them from 1972 until 1987. In 1988, Golden Theatre Management sold the theatres that were still operating to Cineplex Odeon Theatres.
robboehm – The original Meadows marquee wasn’t irregular. It became the way it is today when Cineplex Odeon took over and “renovated” it. Before that there was a side that you could read the name of the picture when going west on the L.I.E.
btw- The Glen Oaks had more seats than the Park (which I guess you know really wasn’t 800 as posted here).
I was looking for Loews Beverly Hills. Please tell me that this isn’t what’s happened to it. I’m on the east coast and haven’t been to California since 1978. However, in 1970 I had a Loews pass and went to the opening of “On A Clear Day You Can See Forever” there and it was a beautiful theatre at that time. It seems that there’s a conspiracy to demolish all the beautiful theatres in the U.S.
don’t recall it being “SO LARGE”. We are talking about the Park and NOT the newer Park East right? In fact, the Park being one of Century’s smallest theatres in the area, if not THE smallest, most of the other theatres had larger Marquees. The theatres that come to mind were the Floral (on the side of the building), Bellrose, Queens, Community and Meadows.
While the projection equipment in all Century Theatres was always in good condition, the Park Theatre was never anything to write home about. It was just a “run of the mill” neighborhood theatre.
Ed, I have movie film of the theatre in 1957. Maybe if I’m ever feeling better (with emphysema I seem to get worse every day) I can tranfer it and pull out a few nice stills of the theatre that aren’t too grainy.
Hey, I remember when that happened at Green Acres, that wasn’t even a “real” hurricane or bad as this one is supposed to be.
It’s too bad that of all the pictures there are of the Queens Theatre, they picked one that shows the marquee all ripped up from trucks hitting it.
Once they cut those steel beams off (which go DEEP into the structure) they can never put a “real” marquee back up again. It was pretty stupid to take them out, even if they didn’t want a full marquee.
The Elmwood used to be one of my favorite places to work because the booth had a door that goes into the lower roof. Some guys used to barbarque out there….until someone called the fire dept. to report a fire and they evacuated the theatre.-lol
I wonder if or how much damage the Queens might sustain with this hurricane? I’m only a few miles away but on higher ground….and I’m afraid because of the wind.
I just can’t believe that they would heat and cool a building of that size and not use the balcony, which in my opinion is the best part about the theatre.
To begin with, none of the theatres we’ve been discussing are as large as a theatre like the Roxy, which was on par with the size of Radio City. While I’m certainly happy that Radio City wasn’t demolished (as the Japanese who owned it for a while originally wanted to do), it certainly isn’t as beautiful as the Roxy or even any of the so called Wonder Theatres. It’s true that today because of the booking policies of the film companies and large multiplex theatres, it’s not possible to play a single picture for a few months in a large single anymore. That’s the reason I specifically said it would need to be done as a “non-profit”. The theatre would have to be able to draw people from all the boroughs. As I’ve previously said, if you want to see a small (relatively) version of the Roxy, take a look at the Beacon Theatre, it has recently been renovated….of course they DON’T run movies anymore.
Astyanax, I was agreeing with you right up until you mentioned the Brooklyn Paramount. The Brooklyn Paramount is about as viable as the New York Paramount to EVER AGAIN be used as a movie theatre. If you could wind the clock back 50 years, those two theatres wouldn’t be usable as movie theatres again.
But I do agree about “most” of the theatres that are being used as churches, they “could” be converted back to theatres if they needed to be. A good case in point would be Loew’s Valencia in Jamaica (another Wonder Theatre). If they decided to give up on god, that would be MY CHOICE for a 70mm repertory theatre in Queens. Although I don’t know what condition the DeMille is in today, if they haven’t installed steel and made office floors out of the balcony, that balcony could be used as a PERFECT Imax theatre. They can keep the ground floor for whatever junk they want. If it’s not being used, it’s just wasted anyway.
Al, You’re right, the major chains CAN’T operate a repertory theatre. You should know even better than me why they can’t. But, I assure you that it CAN be done as a “non-profit” operation, just like it’s being done all around the country. The purpose of this type of theatre isn’t to make someone rich, it’s done to enable today’s generation an opportunity to see what a REAL theatre was like. The only REAL problem at this point is that ALL the good candidates have either been demolished or are churches. I was going to do myself (with a number of “friends of film”) before I become too sick to do anything. I was saving a pair of Norelco AAII 70mm projectors that I rebuilt down in Florida to use for the project. At this point, my wife will probably throw them into the garbage along with all my parts when I die. Fortunately, my film collection (what’s left of the Technicolor prints) I’m donating to the Museum of the Moving Image. I had replaced the film with nearly 500 DVDs and then started to replace the DVDs with Blu-rays as they became available. While I hate to say it, most of the Blu-rays look better than the film looked. I use a JVC RS35 D'ILA projector that easy compares with the DCI junk that the theatres have put in. I would sure hate to be an exhibitor when all those digital projectors start to need maintenance. Some theatres already need color calibration, which will be an ongoing problem. The days of running a 35mm projector into the ground for 30 years is OVER.
ED, Queens gets the short end of EVERYTHING….and it’s been even worse with Mayor Bloomers.
Ed, The RKO Keiths in Flushing was ruined many years ago. That theatre should have been landmarked while RKO was still operating it. At this point, we’re lucky that the lobby will even be saved. Having lived in Queens my whole life, there were only a few really nice theatres and now they’re all gone. But hey, why would I expect a Queens theatre to be saved when they haven’t been able to save any Broadway theatres.
Loews 175th Street (actually one of the “Wonder Theatres”) is OWNED by a church, like the Valencia in Jamaica. The Kings is a story that burns me up every time I think about it. The city and Flatbush Development Corp. allowed the Kings to be destroyed. Then, about a year ago the city was going to give 70 million to a developer who was going to allegedly put up 5 million. Talk about city corruption, come on Bloomers how could you have even allowed that story to get to the Times. As for the Paradise, I understand that it has been restored for “community use”, whatever that means. It certainly doesn’t mean movies.
With taxes in this city, nobody could afford to operate one of those theatres for movies (unless non-profit)without some kind of tax abatement.
DJM78, What was your job at the Fortway? I probably know you. I installed the projection equipment at the Fortway. The first time when it was tripled and then when the two side theatres were added downstairs to make it a five-plex.
P.S. The Fortway was “pretty close” to a palace when it originally opened. I also did the Alpine sevenplex installation and from then until I retired I remained there. BEFORE they butchering the Alpine Theatre when Loews twined it, the lobby had some nice ornamental plaster under the “dropped ceiling”. Although it had no balcony, it was a decent size “neighborhood” Loews theatre.
Thanks Ed. My WORST fears have been confirmed. I wasn’t sure whether the balcony had been destroyed, but, the pictures you posted confirm it.
I had hopped that maybe “someone” would have seen the value of using “just the balcony” as a PERFECT IMAX theatre. However, after seeing the pictures, IT’S ALL OVER cut the funeral.
I can’t say that I understand the drawing with the post “Concept Drawing for Renovation of Famous Dave Restaurant: Located in 47th st, Time Square, New York City”.
Is that supposed to be the DeMille with the balcony stripped out? As for the Liberty Theatre, I work there a few times and the WHOLE THEATRE was made of wood! Even the balconies. I would hate to see a fire in one of those places.
Gone forever now. In fact, the only thing left are those SUPER Multiplexes….and they don’t even use film anymore. The picture comes in on a hard drive.
The film version of “Phantom” was a great musical. Minnie Driver as Carlotta was great. That was the best role she ever played.
They only come out with a “decent” picture every few years. I think the last one before that was “Forest Gump”. I really liked that.
saps-I never had must respect for critics of films and that goes double for Vincent Canby. While it’s not the BEST musical ever made, and is no My Fair Lady or Camelot, for what it is, it was a sad but enjoyable musical. Like I said, I happen to like musicals, like the ones they DON’T make anymore. I also loved Phantom of the Opera, and believe it didn’t get the respect it deserved.
Rivoli157 – The 70mm re-release of Ben-Hur opened at the Palace on June 18, 1969. And, was followed by “Goodbye Mr. Chips”, on November 15th, 1969. Tomorrow will be the 43rd anniversary of “Mr. Chips” premiere. Had Mr. Chips not been booked to open in 70mm, Ben-Hur would have never been shown at the Palace in 70mm, since, Mr. Chips was the reason the Cinemechanica 70mm Victoria VIII’s were installed, not Ben Hur. I remember when I was at the MGM studio in Culver City in January 1969, the big water tower was painted with the wording “THIS IS THE YEAR OF MR. CHIPS”. While the film was a big disappointment to MGM, I happened to like it, but, then again, I like musicals.
I wouldn’t count any of the junk in Flushing Meadow Park as a theatre. If they want to STEAL the name “Queens Theatre”, good luck to them. As long as “WE” all know where the Queens Theatre really is, let them delude themselves.
“Ramova7719-So what happened to the main audiotrium?”
That’s a good question. Better yet, what happened to the balcony, which was the majority of the theatre?
I posted a picture of the balcony.
PaulKupperberg-Max Schering owned the Oceana, Granada and Rugby. Golden Theatre Management first took over the managment of the theatres with Max remaining as a partner until Golden bought him out around 1975. About 1976 he was going to manage the newly tripled Fortway Theatre for Golden, but after a short time he decided to retire and moved to Florida. I installed the projection equipment when the Rugby, Beverly, Oceana, Fortway, Benson and Alpine in Brooklyn and the Olympia and Quad Cinema in Manhattan were multiplexed, as well as servicing and repairing them from 1972 until 1987. In 1988, Golden Theatre Management sold the theatres that were still operating to Cineplex Odeon Theatres.
robboehm – The original Meadows marquee wasn’t irregular. It became the way it is today when Cineplex Odeon took over and “renovated” it. Before that there was a side that you could read the name of the picture when going west on the L.I.E.
btw- The Glen Oaks had more seats than the Park (which I guess you know really wasn’t 800 as posted here).
I was looking for Loews Beverly Hills. Please tell me that this isn’t what’s happened to it. I’m on the east coast and haven’t been to California since 1978. However, in 1970 I had a Loews pass and went to the opening of “On A Clear Day You Can See Forever” there and it was a beautiful theatre at that time. It seems that there’s a conspiracy to demolish all the beautiful theatres in the U.S.
It’s sad that there isn’t even a picture to display.
don’t recall it being “SO LARGE”. We are talking about the Park and NOT the newer Park East right? In fact, the Park being one of Century’s smallest theatres in the area, if not THE smallest, most of the other theatres had larger Marquees. The theatres that come to mind were the Floral (on the side of the building), Bellrose, Queens, Community and Meadows.
While the projection equipment in all Century Theatres was always in good condition, the Park Theatre was never anything to write home about. It was just a “run of the mill” neighborhood theatre.
Ed, I have movie film of the theatre in 1957. Maybe if I’m ever feeling better (with emphysema I seem to get worse every day) I can tranfer it and pull out a few nice stills of the theatre that aren’t too grainy.
Hey, I remember when that happened at Green Acres, that wasn’t even a “real” hurricane or bad as this one is supposed to be.
It’s too bad that of all the pictures there are of the Queens Theatre, they picked one that shows the marquee all ripped up from trucks hitting it.
Once they cut those steel beams off (which go DEEP into the structure) they can never put a “real” marquee back up again. It was pretty stupid to take them out, even if they didn’t want a full marquee.
The Elmwood used to be one of my favorite places to work because the booth had a door that goes into the lower roof. Some guys used to barbarque out there….until someone called the fire dept. to report a fire and they evacuated the theatre.-lol
I wonder if or how much damage the Queens might sustain with this hurricane? I’m only a few miles away but on higher ground….and I’m afraid because of the wind.
I just can’t believe that they would heat and cool a building of that size and not use the balcony, which in my opinion is the best part about the theatre.
I wonder if the fire escapes were in such bad shape that they had to be removed?
To begin with, none of the theatres we’ve been discussing are as large as a theatre like the Roxy, which was on par with the size of Radio City. While I’m certainly happy that Radio City wasn’t demolished (as the Japanese who owned it for a while originally wanted to do), it certainly isn’t as beautiful as the Roxy or even any of the so called Wonder Theatres. It’s true that today because of the booking policies of the film companies and large multiplex theatres, it’s not possible to play a single picture for a few months in a large single anymore. That’s the reason I specifically said it would need to be done as a “non-profit”. The theatre would have to be able to draw people from all the boroughs. As I’ve previously said, if you want to see a small (relatively) version of the Roxy, take a look at the Beacon Theatre, it has recently been renovated….of course they DON’T run movies anymore.
Astyanax, I was agreeing with you right up until you mentioned the Brooklyn Paramount. The Brooklyn Paramount is about as viable as the New York Paramount to EVER AGAIN be used as a movie theatre. If you could wind the clock back 50 years, those two theatres wouldn’t be usable as movie theatres again.
But I do agree about “most” of the theatres that are being used as churches, they “could” be converted back to theatres if they needed to be. A good case in point would be Loew’s Valencia in Jamaica (another Wonder Theatre). If they decided to give up on god, that would be MY CHOICE for a 70mm repertory theatre in Queens. Although I don’t know what condition the DeMille is in today, if they haven’t installed steel and made office floors out of the balcony, that balcony could be used as a PERFECT Imax theatre. They can keep the ground floor for whatever junk they want. If it’s not being used, it’s just wasted anyway.
Al, You’re right, the major chains CAN’T operate a repertory theatre. You should know even better than me why they can’t. But, I assure you that it CAN be done as a “non-profit” operation, just like it’s being done all around the country. The purpose of this type of theatre isn’t to make someone rich, it’s done to enable today’s generation an opportunity to see what a REAL theatre was like. The only REAL problem at this point is that ALL the good candidates have either been demolished or are churches. I was going to do myself (with a number of “friends of film”) before I become too sick to do anything. I was saving a pair of Norelco AAII 70mm projectors that I rebuilt down in Florida to use for the project. At this point, my wife will probably throw them into the garbage along with all my parts when I die. Fortunately, my film collection (what’s left of the Technicolor prints) I’m donating to the Museum of the Moving Image. I had replaced the film with nearly 500 DVDs and then started to replace the DVDs with Blu-rays as they became available. While I hate to say it, most of the Blu-rays look better than the film looked. I use a JVC RS35 D'ILA projector that easy compares with the DCI junk that the theatres have put in. I would sure hate to be an exhibitor when all those digital projectors start to need maintenance. Some theatres already need color calibration, which will be an ongoing problem. The days of running a 35mm projector into the ground for 30 years is OVER.
ED, Queens gets the short end of EVERYTHING….and it’s been even worse with Mayor Bloomers.
Ed, The RKO Keiths in Flushing was ruined many years ago. That theatre should have been landmarked while RKO was still operating it. At this point, we’re lucky that the lobby will even be saved. Having lived in Queens my whole life, there were only a few really nice theatres and now they’re all gone. But hey, why would I expect a Queens theatre to be saved when they haven’t been able to save any Broadway theatres.
Loews 175th Street (actually one of the “Wonder Theatres”) is OWNED by a church, like the Valencia in Jamaica. The Kings is a story that burns me up every time I think about it. The city and Flatbush Development Corp. allowed the Kings to be destroyed. Then, about a year ago the city was going to give 70 million to a developer who was going to allegedly put up 5 million. Talk about city corruption, come on Bloomers how could you have even allowed that story to get to the Times. As for the Paradise, I understand that it has been restored for “community use”, whatever that means. It certainly doesn’t mean movies.
With taxes in this city, nobody could afford to operate one of those theatres for movies (unless non-profit)without some kind of tax abatement.