Joe From Florida : OK that IS the Rogers Theater facade that we see in those older nycsubway.org images of the Flushing Ave station of the BMT Broadway line. I wouldn’t know where to begin looking for other images of the Rogers, especially the inside. Perhaps Lost Memory, ‘Tonino or Warren could be of assistance.
Thanks, Joe From Florida, Warren, Ed Solero, for all this information. I never knew movies looked so good and so bright at the Parthenon. I only knew it inside as a bowling alley.
Is there a Cinema Treasures page for the Rogers Theater ? I seem to recall an ornate baroque or rococo facade or cornice, similar to that of Loew’s Valencia, above the Bway el near the Flushing Avenue station, in older images of that station on the nycwubway.org fansite. Perhaps that was the Rogers Theater.
Thanks, Bway. That area of Bway, Howard Avenue, and Madison and Monroe Sts. is now beginning to seem like the “Forest Hills Movieland” of its day, that is, the Midway, Forest Hills, and Continental 1, 2 and 3 Theaters all within a few blocks of each other at Queens Blvd., Continental Avenue and Austin St.
Thanks, Warren. My Uncle John saw the Lugosi “Dracula” at the Imperial as a kid, then got scared when he got locked out of his house (412 Harman Street) and had to wait outside on the front stoop, while it got darker and darker, until someone came home to let him in !
By the time he got out of military service after World War II, it had become a Robert Hall clothing store, so his next trip there was as an adult, to get some civilian clothing.
Interesting thought : The Madison, at 1410 Bway, the RKO Bushwick, at 1396 Bway, and the Monroe, at 4 Howard Avenue, all open and competing within a block of each other.
From ‘Tonino’s post, the Deutsches Theater appeared to have started as a live theater, because a German theatrical company, direction, casting, and play selection are mentioned.
Yes. 1410 Broadway, according to Google, is on the southwest side of Broadway between Monroe and Madison Streets, about 4/5 of the way from Monroe to Madison. The parcel is a triangle formed by Broadway to the northeast, Madison Street to the south, and the eastern wall of the former RKO Bushwick Theater / Acorn School For Social Justice to the west.
I find it interesting that such a small theater once existed at the back end, as it were, of the much larger and more opulent RKO Bushwick Theater. The Carnegie Hall Cinema, built into the rear end of Carnegie Hall in Manhattan, comes to mind.
22 Grove Street is in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn, between Broadway and Bushwick Avenue, and near the intersection of Grove Street and Goodwin Place, which is parallel to and between Bway and Bushwick Avenue, extending from Grove Street to Greene Avenue.
In 1927 there were many people of German descent in Bushwick as well as Ridgewood, such as my father and his family.
Has a page been started on Cinema Treasures for this theater yet ?
Interesting, Warren. Howard Place, not Howard Avenue ?
Yes, it could have been the Monroe Theater, or an earlier one that occupied the same site. 4 Howard Avenue is between Monroe and Madison Streets.
Situated on Broadway ? The Bushwick Theater had been on the parcel of land bounded by Broadway, Howard Avenue, and Madison and Monroe Streets, since September 11, 1911, so I doubt it would have been there. Perhaps the Eagle mistakenly referred to the Bushwick Theater as the Madison-Monroe Theater ?
I seem to recall BrooklynJim posting somewhere about having seen the 1957 Eugene Lourie-directed thriller “The Giant Behemoth” at the Willard when it had first come out. That must have been awesome ! I first saw this film in fall 1961 on “Million Dollar Movie” on TV Channel 9, but did not see it on a movie screen until I saw it at Film Forum in lower Manhattan, late summer 1987.
You get to watch 15 to 30 minutes of commercials, before the feature goes on, most of them coming attractions, to get you to buy tickets for still more over-priced, over-hyped movies, or high tech products you can’t afford, and are better off without.
Bway, I don’t have that long-awaited historic photo of the interior of the Ridgewood theater to post here, but, to the best of my recollection, the auditorium part of the Ridgewood Theater, from where you can see and hear the film or show : the orchestra, loge, (side boxes) and balcony seats, and the proscenium arch, stage and screen, were pretty much as they were in the RKO Madison Theater. The Ridgewood as a single theater had about 2/3 the seats that the RKO Madison did. Taking the square root of 2/3 to get the ratio of linear dimensions, I estimate the linear dimensions of the auditorium part of the Ridgewood Theater, as a single theater, to have been about 4/5 of that of the RKO Madison Theater.
The main difference I recall between the Madison and the Ridgewood in terms of the appearance of the inside would be in the inner lobby. Whereas the inner lobby of the Madison had a high ceiling in common with the balcony, the inner lobby of the Ridgewood had a lower, one-story ceiling, except near the staircase up to the balcony. Upon entering, and having your ticket taken and torn in two, one would turn 45 degrees to the left and would then be facing the side wall on Madison Street. To one’s right would be the orchestra seating. To one’s left would be the refreshment counter and, further ahead, the staircase up to the balcony. Further ahead, past that staircase, the doors to the restrooms would be on the left, with more access to the orchestra seating on the right.
The balcony lobby was large and elliptical in shape. I got my last look at it on Tuesday June 17 1980. On one side was a refreshment counter, and on the other side were the doorways to the balcony seats. At each end must have been the entrance and exit stairways. The longer, or major, axis of the ellipse was parallel to the screen.
There were also restrooms on the balcony level.
Better than Roseanne Barr grabbing her crotch and spitting on the ground !
Joe From Florida : OK that IS the Rogers Theater facade that we see in those older nycsubway.org images of the Flushing Ave station of the BMT Broadway line. I wouldn’t know where to begin looking for other images of the Rogers, especially the inside. Perhaps Lost Memory, ‘Tonino or Warren could be of assistance.
Thanks, Joe From Florida, Warren, Ed Solero, for all this information. I never knew movies looked so good and so bright at the Parthenon. I only knew it inside as a bowling alley.
Is there a Cinema Treasures page for the Rogers Theater ? I seem to recall an ornate baroque or rococo facade or cornice, similar to that of Loew’s Valencia, above the Bway el near the Flushing Avenue station, in older images of that station on the nycwubway.org fansite. Perhaps that was the Rogers Theater.
Thanks, Bway. That area of Bway, Howard Avenue, and Madison and Monroe Sts. is now beginning to seem like the “Forest Hills Movieland” of its day, that is, the Midway, Forest Hills, and Continental 1, 2 and 3 Theaters all within a few blocks of each other at Queens Blvd., Continental Avenue and Austin St.
Bway, where on Monroe Street was the Century Theater ?
Thanks for this info, Bway. I just read at top that the Madison only lasted for 10 years, closing in 1924.
Thanks, Joe From Florida. I never knew the Parthenon had 70 mm and Cinemascope.
Thanks, Warren. My Uncle John saw the Lugosi “Dracula” at the Imperial as a kid, then got scared when he got locked out of his house (412 Harman Street) and had to wait outside on the front stoop, while it got darker and darker, until someone came home to let him in !
By the time he got out of military service after World War II, it had become a Robert Hall clothing store, so his next trip there was as an adult, to get some civilian clothing.
Thanks, Joe From Florida. What was your favorite film at the Parthenon ?
And because this site is, after all, called Cinema Treasures ?
Thank you for posting this, Warren.
Interesting thought : The Madison, at 1410 Bway, the RKO Bushwick, at 1396 Bway, and the Monroe, at 4 Howard Avenue, all open and competing within a block of each other.
From ‘Tonino’s post, the Deutsches Theater appeared to have started as a live theater, because a German theatrical company, direction, casting, and play selection are mentioned.
Yes. 1410 Broadway, according to Google, is on the southwest side of Broadway between Monroe and Madison Streets, about 4/5 of the way from Monroe to Madison. The parcel is a triangle formed by Broadway to the northeast, Madison Street to the south, and the eastern wall of the former RKO Bushwick Theater / Acorn School For Social Justice to the west.
I find it interesting that such a small theater once existed at the back end, as it were, of the much larger and more opulent RKO Bushwick Theater. The Carnegie Hall Cinema, built into the rear end of Carnegie Hall in Manhattan, comes to mind.
22 Grove Street is in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn, between Broadway and Bushwick Avenue, and near the intersection of Grove Street and Goodwin Place, which is parallel to and between Bway and Bushwick Avenue, extending from Grove Street to Greene Avenue.
In 1927 there were many people of German descent in Bushwick as well as Ridgewood, such as my father and his family.
Has a page been started on Cinema Treasures for this theater yet ?
Thanks Lost Memory. I never knew “that” Madison Theater, at 1410 Broadway, even existed, until now.
Interesting, Warren. Howard Place, not Howard Avenue ?
Yes, it could have been the Monroe Theater, or an earlier one that occupied the same site. 4 Howard Avenue is between Monroe and Madison Streets.
Situated on Broadway ? The Bushwick Theater had been on the parcel of land bounded by Broadway, Howard Avenue, and Madison and Monroe Streets, since September 11, 1911, so I doubt it would have been there. Perhaps the Eagle mistakenly referred to the Bushwick Theater as the Madison-Monroe Theater ?
Any more clues from the article, Warren ?
I seem to recall BrooklynJim posting somewhere about having seen the 1957 Eugene Lourie-directed thriller “The Giant Behemoth” at the Willard when it had first come out. That must have been awesome ! I first saw this film in fall 1961 on “Million Dollar Movie” on TV Channel 9, but did not see it on a movie screen until I saw it at Film Forum in lower Manhattan, late summer 1987.
You get to watch 15 to 30 minutes of commercials, before the feature goes on, most of them coming attractions, to get you to buy tickets for still more over-priced, over-hyped movies, or high tech products you can’t afford, and are better off without.
Bway, I don’t have that long-awaited historic photo of the interior of the Ridgewood theater to post here, but, to the best of my recollection, the auditorium part of the Ridgewood Theater, from where you can see and hear the film or show : the orchestra, loge, (side boxes) and balcony seats, and the proscenium arch, stage and screen, were pretty much as they were in the RKO Madison Theater. The Ridgewood as a single theater had about 2/3 the seats that the RKO Madison did. Taking the square root of 2/3 to get the ratio of linear dimensions, I estimate the linear dimensions of the auditorium part of the Ridgewood Theater, as a single theater, to have been about 4/5 of that of the RKO Madison Theater.
The main difference I recall between the Madison and the Ridgewood in terms of the appearance of the inside would be in the inner lobby. Whereas the inner lobby of the Madison had a high ceiling in common with the balcony, the inner lobby of the Ridgewood had a lower, one-story ceiling, except near the staircase up to the balcony. Upon entering, and having your ticket taken and torn in two, one would turn 45 degrees to the left and would then be facing the side wall on Madison Street. To one’s right would be the orchestra seating. To one’s left would be the refreshment counter and, further ahead, the staircase up to the balcony. Further ahead, past that staircase, the doors to the restrooms would be on the left, with more access to the orchestra seating on the right.
The balcony lobby was large and elliptical in shape. I got my last look at it on Tuesday June 17 1980. On one side was a refreshment counter, and on the other side were the doorways to the balcony seats. At each end must have been the entrance and exit stairways. The longer, or major, axis of the ellipse was parallel to the screen.
There were also restrooms on the balcony level.
The date of November 24, 1927 makes more sense.
“The Madison Theater in Brooklyn” : The Brooklyn 27 postal zone strikes again !
The date of May 19, 1923 seems odd, in light of the fact that the RKO Madison Theater did not open until the weekend after Thanksgiving, 1927.
Therefore, what was once the Willard will be even less like a theater after this current transformation into stores and offices is completed.
Muzer :
Once again, small world, though.
PKoch
Muzer :
Yeah, I’ll bet.
PKoch