Utopia Theater

The snipes mentioned above today appeared on YouTube on the Periscopefilm channel.

I have an old reel of film that I took with me on the last night of business there. (I was the last manager the theater had.) The film is in a box which has Sam Conte’s name on it, who, from reading comments here, had been a projectionist there for 40 years. This box had been sitting on top of a file cabinet in the office the whole time I worked there. The film contains old trailers that show the marquee with words on the side panels such as “Feature Presentation” and “Happy Holidays” and “Coming Soon,” from what I remember. I had the projectionist use them for a little while when I took over as manager, because I thought it was so cool. But after a week or so, we removed them because I was told the film was a slightly different size than current film at the time, and might break or get caught. (This is how I remember it from way back in 1994/5, so I might be a bit wrong on the details.) I have kept the film, always wanting to somehow capture stills and print them, but I have never done it. I have no such equipment, and wouldn’t know where to bring it.

It’s just too bad that the former Brooklyn Borough President, Marty Markowitz, had already got the city to commit to 90 million dollars with some “developer” that was supposed to put up 5 million, to restore Loew’s Kings.

While I’m certainly in favor of saving the Loew’s Kings (they are currently working on it now), the RKO Keith’s would have been an even better choice if I could only choose one.

You might also find this book DEMO for the RKO Flushing interesting: http://www.blurb.com/books/4315941-the-rko-theatre-of-flushing-n-y

I worked when Sam needed to take off. Although I worked at the RKO Flushing many times, in 1975 I took Century’s Prospect as my fulltime job.

The only reason the Commerce Department turned out to be right is because the Justice Department FAILED to enforce the anti-trust laws….like they did when they RUINED Loew’s/MGM )and the other theatre chains owned by film studios (Loew’s was the greatest chain of motion picture theatres there ever was or ever will be and they destroyed them). While the “consent decrees” were purportedly meant to PROTECT the independents, you can see what they caused. You be the judge – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v.Paramount_Pictures,Inc.

If you have any interest in saving the RKO Keith’s-Flushing, you might want to join this group that I’m a member of: https://www.facebook.com/groups/220242754654213/

Bruce

I know Lightstone WAS booking for Irwin Knowll, but I guess he was doing his own booking when he bought the third theatre. I can’t remember the name, but Knoll was operating the Nautilus and the Roosevelt Theatre.

I’m surprised that I never ran into you at the Utopia. Although I worked until around 1974 at the DeMille (until it burned in a fire), I lived close to the Utopia and was in there quite often to talk with Ruth.

The film companies have RUINED the business today for exhibitors. Digital projection equipment has caused hundreds of independent theatres across the country to shut down because of the high equipment costs.

pumpop201,

I remember the WAR BOND CERTIFICATE they received for selling war bonds. While both Paul and Ruth were really wonderful people, Ruth was particularly very special to me. Every time I think about what the landlord (Filderman)did to Ruth with the theatre at the end, it STILL makes my blood boil. He was essentially forcing her to twin the theatre or give it up. In the 1950’s, I can remember people coming out of the theatre on a Saturday night and Paul and Ruth addressing them by their first name. If you can believe it, they knew virtually every customer that came to the theatre by name back then! It was a TRUE neighborhood theatre.

In the 1960’s I worked in ALL 3 theatres in Long Beach (Lido, Laurel and Nautilus). I see you worked for Lightstone from 1971 to 1982. Was Hank Lightstone still booking the Nautilus Theatre (formerly the West End Theatre), or was Irwin Knoll (County Theatres)doing his own booking at that point? Did you also know Tommy Pozin?

Jeff,

If you worked at the Utopia, you must also have known Paul Raisler, Ruth’s partner. Over the years, I worked as projectionist at the Utopia many times over the years. The regular projectionist for nearly 40 years was Sam Conte, who moved to Italy after he retired. After Paul passed away, Ruth ran the theatre alone for a number of years, but when the lease was up she was screwed over by the landlord (and/or his son)because they wanted a large rent increase, at a time when business was declining. He also wanted her to twin the theatre at her cost, which she didn’t want to do. After operating the theatre with Paul (and Sam as the projectionist) since the early 1940’s, the landlord signed a lease with a new tenant, an attorney named Epstein, who agreed to twin the theatre. Without any further negotiation or warning, it resulted in landlord literally pulling the rug out from under her. Because Ruth was one of, if not the sweetest person I have ever met, it was very upsetting to me also. After she lost the theatre, she was really never the same and shortly after, she became ill and not very long after that, she passed away. That theatre was her WHOLE LIFE and if you ask me, she died of a broken heart. I lived in the neighborhood for over 60 years. I used to go to the Utopia as a child, when the admission was only $.20 for children. After I was married in 1969, I bought a house nearby on 178th ST and 75th Avenue. Although the Utopia wasn’t my regular job, I was as the chief projectionist at the DeMille Theatre in Manhattan until 1973, because of where I lived, when it snowed, I would be sent to work at the Meadows, Utopia, Parsons and once even walked down Utopia Parkway in the snow to work at the Valencia in Jamaica. To the best of my knowledge (with the exception of the Valencia, which was saved as a church), virtually ALL THE THEATRES I’ve worked in over the years, have all been demolished. While I’m currently a member of a group that’s trying to save the RKO Keiths in Flushing, the theatre has been so badly destroyed (some of it intentionally over the last 25 years, in my opinion, the restoration would be nearly impossible. A recent article I read in the NY Times says that the restoration of Loew’s Kings in Brooklyn has begun and is going to cost 90 million dollars (somebody is going to wind up with heavy pockets before that’s done). How come they don’t think of saving these theatres BEFORE they are wrecked?

Unlike cities like Los Angeles, which appear to have respect for their old movie palaces, New York, despite having a Landmark’s Preservation Commission, which has watched while virtually EVERY theatre has been destroyed and/or demolished. New York once had more theatres per square mile than any other city in the U.S. …….and now, with one or two exceptions, there are none left.

My name is Fred Cantor and I wanted to let everyone know we have a photo of the Utopia Theater taken from across the street in 1977 in a new book, “Fresh Meadows,” from Arcadia Publishing. (You can also see Rogers Luncheonette in the picture.) We are donating 100% of the authors' royalties to the Fresh Meadows public library. There is also a photo in the book of the Century Meadows taken in 1977 that I think captures the marquee and glass lobby from an angle not seen in other photos of the theater. I grew up in Fresh Meadows and loved going to both theaters. This is a wonderful site, by the way, that brings back great memories.

The only minor correction I would make to the opening description is to note that the theater was gutted for the drug store (as were the other storefronts that ran along its length on Union Turnpike) and not torn down. The auditorium structure still stands behind the street front facade – no doubt stripped down to the bare bricks before the drug store was layed out within.

Great story aquarianick, we were family no matter where your theatre was more so, than say, working at a Burger King.

Hey Ed and Techman – Those shots of the booth ARE in the Utopia.

More screen shots from that RZA video:

Ticket taker

Box Office window

Is this the Utopia projection booth?

Platter

I assume the shots in the projection booth were also done at the Utopia and not mocked up in a studio somewhere?

Techman, do you have any old pictures of the theater, inside or out? I’d really love to see them, if that’s at all possible. Thanks!

-Nick ()