Tilyou Theatre

Grand opening ad posted. opened by B. S. Moss.

The theatre Was named fr the Tilyou family who were major land owners in Coney Island. George died in 1914 age 52. The park closed for good on Sept 20 1964 and never reopened. Coney Island was declining and crime was rising and a good deal of businesses shut down or move and the RKO Tilyou was collateral damage.

I wonder if this theater was related to George Tilyou’s Steeplechase Park which must have been right near it.

Clay Cole is retired and lives on an island off the Cape Fear River on the Atlantic Ocean on the North Carolina coast. I still till this day remember seeing King Kong Vs Godzilla there and only a few years later there was a vacant lot that as far as I know is still vacant.

A Special Engagement in 1955 for 3 days

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The 3 manual Wurlitzer console from the Tilyou Theatre has been completely restored including its pneumatic combination action. It is currently in a private home in Indiana and controls 24 ranks of pipes. The console was restored by Carlton Smith Pipe Organ Restorations of Indianapolis. On a side note, the Orchestral Oboe rank in the organ was originally from the Tilyou as well.

I know it was in the early 60’s when I saw King Kong vs. Godzilla there. At that time I was not aware that there was a Wurlitzer Organ there. The whole area has run down. One section of Coney Island is people on public assistance and the rest is Russian immigrants.

I noticed that no posting was made on this Theater that had to compete with all of the attractions surrounding it in Coney Island; my guess is that it was mostly frequented my locals——I was there once, and here is how………In 1953, my Father worked for a company that was contracted by 20th Century Fox to make Cinemascope screens for the NY theaters that were going to show their first 70mm film in over 33 years( the first was Fox’s,The Big Trail in 1930 with John Wayne)——My Father had already helped to make(he was a sewer-putting the screen pieces together) the big screen at the Roxy in Manhattan………This time he was to go along and hlp install the new screen at the Tilyou and he took me with him——-at the time, it was the RKO-Tilyou——-I sat in the balcony while my father and a group of others assembled the screen on the stage area……….It was the only time he took me with him———-when all the screens that his company was contracted to make and install were finished, all or most of the employees were let go, or laid off as they used to say…….With the screen in place, we left before the test run of a 70mm film clip was to be run————but my Dad did get a chance to see The Robe at the Roxy in its trial run at the Roxy before its premier——and I remember him saying how beautiful the picture was——-Luckily a few years ago, Fox located a negative that had not deteriorated and was able to restore the Print with the help of the Technicolor Corp, as their Deluxe process, while being cheaper, but just as radiant as technicolor at first, faded very quickly and only pinkish negatives remained in their Vaults…..Now Fox is in the expensive process of restoring many of their old films for dvd & showing on their Fox Movie Channel…….Joe From Florida—-sasheegm——P.S. Many of the early Deluxe 70mm titles had sufferd a similar fate, circa 1953/1956

The theater stood directly across Surf Avenue from Steeplechase park. Both were owned by the George Tilyou family. The theater’s fortunes went downhill, along with the rest of Coney Island, after the Tilyou heirs closed the Park and sold the land to Fred Trump, who wanted to but never did high rise apartments there. In the end, all he did was tear down the Park and the neighborhood with it. After opening and closing a few times, the Tilyou was taken over by the Horwitz family, which had run the Mermaid and the Tuxedo so successfully. But their luck ran out and they couldn’t make the theater profitable. Finally they closed the theater, and soon its interior, filled with memorabilia from Steeplechase Park, was vandalized and many valuable items stolen, In 1973, the wrecking ball put the theater out of its misery, and a parking lot now stands as testament to a sad time in the history of Coney Island.