“stopping any public funding for remodeling movie theatres back to legit use.”
There are already too many legit theatres in NY. I’m glad they didn’t use public money. They SHOULD use public money to SAVE some MOVIE theatres TO RUN MOVIES. Somewhere in NY they could have saved a couple of palaces for classics and 70mm repetory.
At least they kept one “iffy” area theatre in LA. They didn’t close the Chinese Theatre (despite the different owners over the years). I remember in the late 60’s and early 70’s when Hollywood Blvd. wasn’t the greatest place to be. Theatre like the Warner and Pantages sat closed because all the “action” was at places like Westwood Village, etc. But, they didn’t demolish EVERYTHING, which is why those theatres still exist to be used today. Even the Cinerama Dome wasn’t destroyed when they ADDED extra theatres. But here in NY….NOTHING!
“….more cinema treasures out there are allowed to prosper in their original purpose. I’m a bit jealous of that.”
It doesn’t bode well for New York that all the movie palaces have either been butchered or demolished. I believe that in the end it’s going to finally destroy movie theatres as a viable business in general. Right now, if the film companies had their way, they would stream the movies directly to you house, bypassing theatrical exhibition altogether.
Oh, and Ed, the Broadway MOVIE theatres saw a tourist or two in days gone by. Like you said, screwing people for $200 and up to see a live play just ISN’T in the “average” persons agenda. We leave those things to people like The Bloomer Mayor and other people of his ilk.
Little Potter is okay in “How To Succeed”, BUT, if you REALLY want to see the part played RIGHT, SEE ROBERT MORSE in the FILM! The film version was great….but didn’t do as well as it should have. (the MGM DVD transfer isn’t too good either, but, maybe they’ll come out with a Blu-ray some day).
You can’t count the Criterion because it was butchered before it closed. The Astor Plaza and the National can’t really be counted any more than the Ziegfeld can (all opened within 5 years of each other). I still have nightmares thinking about the fact that the only theatre left that they can run premieres at in New York is the Ziegfeld….and even they’re not running much in film anymore either.
There are small cities across the country that have BETTER theatres still operating WITH FILM. All the GREAT THEATRES that we once had right here in New York have ALL BEEN allowed to be DESTROYED. That’s proof that any talk about “historical landmarks” is meaningless in New York (unless you’re Disney and want to steal some theatres). Tearing down the Roxy should have been deemed a criminal act.
I know Elson used the “Embassy” tag on the 46th Street Newsreel Theatre, but I wasn’t aware that the Guild 50th (on the side of Radio City) ever carried the Embassy name. When would that have been?
Al, When was the Guild 50th referred to as the “Embassy Guild”? It became the Guild when Elson took it over (I guess 1949), but, when was the Embassy name used?
Big joe59, I haven’t been able to find it. I have so many different computers and hard drives that I don’t think I’ll ever find it. Maybe someone else who has a picture will post it. But you can rest assured that it WAS called the Mark at one point.
I can’t answer your last question because I don’t remember what the “last” picture was. I know that right up until the fire, the sign was in VERY poor shape and had NOT been used in a number of years. I think it’s first use after the fire was for “Panasonic”.
Right, they’re allowed to burn people….if they’re stupid enough to go up in that HIGH balcony without any way out besides the regular steps to get out. Even I can’t believe that.-LOL Maybe they’re going to replace the fire escape structure, which may be why they haven’t been open for business yet. They can always go to the Valencia.
They are tapestries on the side walls of the Queens. The closest theatre that Loews had was the Valencia. They really didn’t have that many theatres in Queens, which was “Century territory”.
I haven’t seen the Albermarle recently, but I’ve worked there a number of times. The projection booth in built into the loge, so it didn’t have a steep throw. The Astor theatre down the block didn’t even have a front projection booth. The booth was behind the screen. It made you feel like you were working in a fish bowl.
Whatever it looks like after their “modifications” it will NEVER look as good as it once did.
Hey Artie16, I don’t remember you, but, that’s the year (1958) my sister graduated from JHS 109 and they had the graduation ceromonies at the Queens. Did you work any other Century Theatres beside the Queens and Floral?
Jeffrey1955- Yes, the Polk Ave was underneath, however, they removed the neon tubing. All the small light bulb sockets were also underneath. I remember when the sequencer broke and the last owner was too cheap to fix it, so he used “random flasher buttons” until he had the underside covered also.
I’m not sure what you’re saying about the neon letters on top. Way back in the early 50’s, I recall the Marquee showing the theatre name as POLK AVENUE, however, the neon letters saying POLK have been there since at least 1964 that I recall.
You could be right about “Dinner” opening at the Victoria. The Astor, Victoria and the Forum all meld together in my mind since they were all DUMPS as far as I’m concerned. When they closed the Astor & Victoria I didn’t shed a tear. Despite their location, unlike the other Broadway theatres that had 2 projectionists on a shift, those dumps only had one man. Although if you go back before 1950, they ALL had two men (except the Music Hall, which had 3 and at one point 4 men).
If the door was open or you can pick locks you can probably go into the office building and go up to the fifth floor. There’s a door there that goes into the electrical room for the theatre marquee & sign electrics and if you walk through to the door on the other side you will come out at the TOP of the balcony (the booth is another flight up, but if they didn’t put doors there you can’t get to the booth staicase.
If I wasn’t so sick I would think of opening it as a GREAT IMAX Theatre. The balcony is PERFECT for one.
Sorry, I haven’t found the picture, but you can take my word and everyone elses here that’s aware of it that it certainly existed. It could just be a case of bad timing and you might have just missed seeing it.
I’m sure that either I’ll find the picture or someone else will eventually post one.
“stopping any public funding for remodeling movie theatres back to legit use.”
There are already too many legit theatres in NY. I’m glad they didn’t use public money. They SHOULD use public money to SAVE some MOVIE theatres TO RUN MOVIES. Somewhere in NY they could have saved a couple of palaces for classics and 70mm repetory.
At least they kept one “iffy” area theatre in LA. They didn’t close the Chinese Theatre (despite the different owners over the years). I remember in the late 60’s and early 70’s when Hollywood Blvd. wasn’t the greatest place to be. Theatre like the Warner and Pantages sat closed because all the “action” was at places like Westwood Village, etc. But, they didn’t demolish EVERYTHING, which is why those theatres still exist to be used today. Even the Cinerama Dome wasn’t destroyed when they ADDED extra theatres. But here in NY….NOTHING!
“….more cinema treasures out there are allowed to prosper in their original purpose. I’m a bit jealous of that.”
It doesn’t bode well for New York that all the movie palaces have either been butchered or demolished. I believe that in the end it’s going to finally destroy movie theatres as a viable business in general. Right now, if the film companies had their way, they would stream the movies directly to you house, bypassing theatrical exhibition altogether.
Oh, and Ed, the Broadway MOVIE theatres saw a tourist or two in days gone by. Like you said, screwing people for $200 and up to see a live play just ISN’T in the “average” persons agenda. We leave those things to people like The Bloomer Mayor and other people of his ilk.
Little Potter is okay in “How To Succeed”, BUT, if you REALLY want to see the part played RIGHT, SEE ROBERT MORSE in the FILM! The film version was great….but didn’t do as well as it should have. (the MGM DVD transfer isn’t too good either, but, maybe they’ll come out with a Blu-ray some day).
Saps – It was cute.
You can’t count the Criterion because it was butchered before it closed. The Astor Plaza and the National can’t really be counted any more than the Ziegfeld can (all opened within 5 years of each other). I still have nightmares thinking about the fact that the only theatre left that they can run premieres at in New York is the Ziegfeld….and even they’re not running much in film anymore either.
There are small cities across the country that have BETTER theatres still operating WITH FILM. All the GREAT THEATRES that we once had right here in New York have ALL BEEN allowed to be DESTROYED. That’s proof that any talk about “historical landmarks” is meaningless in New York (unless you’re Disney and want to steal some theatres). Tearing down the Roxy should have been deemed a criminal act.
I know Elson used the “Embassy” tag on the 46th Street Newsreel Theatre, but I wasn’t aware that the Guild 50th (on the side of Radio City) ever carried the Embassy name. When would that have been?
Al, When was the Guild 50th referred to as the “Embassy Guild”? It became the Guild when Elson took it over (I guess 1949), but, when was the Embassy name used?
I don’t think the Guild 50th ever operated under the Embassy name (despite Peter Elson’s desire to tag everything with the name Embassy).
Big joe59, I haven’t been able to find it. I have so many different computers and hard drives that I don’t think I’ll ever find it. Maybe someone else who has a picture will post it. But you can rest assured that it WAS called the Mark at one point.
I can’t answer your last question because I don’t remember what the “last” picture was. I know that right up until the fire, the sign was in VERY poor shape and had NOT been used in a number of years. I think it’s first use after the fire was for “Panasonic”.
Right, they’re allowed to burn people….if they’re stupid enough to go up in that HIGH balcony without any way out besides the regular steps to get out. Even I can’t believe that.-LOL Maybe they’re going to replace the fire escape structure, which may be why they haven’t been open for business yet. They can always go to the Valencia.
The picture posted for the Utopia is a view as though you were in the theatre looking across the street at the library.-LOL
Artie, Yeah, I was told about his passing. Nothing surprises me anymore since most of my friends have passed away. I guess I’m next.
I know that Joe Kelly passed away a couple of years ago also, but I haven’t heard about Andy Margolin….yet.
Artie, was Charlie Washburn the business agent when you worked in Local 640?
They are tapestries on the side walls of the Queens. The closest theatre that Loews had was the Valencia. They really didn’t have that many theatres in Queens, which was “Century territory”.
I haven’t seen the Albermarle recently, but I’ve worked there a number of times. The projection booth in built into the loge, so it didn’t have a steep throw. The Astor theatre down the block didn’t even have a front projection booth. The booth was behind the screen. It made you feel like you were working in a fish bowl.
Whatever it looks like after their “modifications” it will NEVER look as good as it once did.
Hey Artie16, I don’t remember you, but, that’s the year (1958) my sister graduated from JHS 109 and they had the graduation ceromonies at the Queens. Did you work any other Century Theatres beside the Queens and Floral?
Jeffrey1955- Yes, the Polk Ave was underneath, however, they removed the neon tubing. All the small light bulb sockets were also underneath. I remember when the sequencer broke and the last owner was too cheap to fix it, so he used “random flasher buttons” until he had the underside covered also.
I’m not sure what you’re saying about the neon letters on top. Way back in the early 50’s, I recall the Marquee showing the theatre name as POLK AVENUE, however, the neon letters saying POLK have been there since at least 1964 that I recall.
It’s too bad you went there at the end when they were running video porn.
Tinseltoes, Unfortunately, you’re never going to see “The Reluctant Dragon” in a “real” theatre again.
Children $.25, now you’re talking.
You could be right about “Dinner” opening at the Victoria. The Astor, Victoria and the Forum all meld together in my mind since they were all DUMPS as far as I’m concerned. When they closed the Astor & Victoria I didn’t shed a tear. Despite their location, unlike the other Broadway theatres that had 2 projectionists on a shift, those dumps only had one man. Although if you go back before 1950, they ALL had two men (except the Music Hall, which had 3 and at one point 4 men).
If the door was open or you can pick locks you can probably go into the office building and go up to the fifth floor. There’s a door there that goes into the electrical room for the theatre marquee & sign electrics and if you walk through to the door on the other side you will come out at the TOP of the balcony (the booth is another flight up, but if they didn’t put doors there you can’t get to the booth staicase.
If I wasn’t so sick I would think of opening it as a GREAT IMAX Theatre. The balcony is PERFECT for one.
bigjoe59,
Sorry, I haven’t found the picture, but you can take my word and everyone elses here that’s aware of it that it certainly existed. It could just be a case of bad timing and you might have just missed seeing it.
I’m sure that either I’ll find the picture or someone else will eventually post one.