Rugby Theatre

Hey PragmaticGuy,

That'sfunny because I remember seeing that horrendous Sgt. Pepper movie at the Rugby, the one with the BeeGees in it!

I used to go to the Rugby back in 60s and 70s. Saw Hard Days Night and Help there and I remember my folks taking me to see numerous movies there when I was a kid. By the 70s it was showing XXX rated films there and I do remember seeing a few at that time.

The Rugby most DEFINITELY ran XXX movies. I worked at the Granada a couple of miles up Church Avenue, run by the same owner from 1973 to about 1975 or 1976 (Max Schiering, or Schering). After the theater was twinned, it became a porn house, at least for a while. I spent a lot of time around Church and Utica Avenues and remember it well; there were several candy stores and newsstands my friends and I frequented weekly for the new comic books, and my grandmother (a former movie theater cashier) lived around the corner of Linden Avenue…plus the aforementioned pizza place next door!
Paul Kupperberg

Thanks, ken mc.

Here is a reminiscence of the Rugby:
http://eyeshot.net/grayson1.html

I knew I had passed it many years ago and I guess it’s being close to the Rugby made me remember it as that. Great detective work :)

Warren… the shot of the fire escapes is of the Mt. Morris Theater in Harlem on 116th Street and 5th Ave. I posted the image on the CT page for that theater.

Nice discovery there, Lost, with that building on E. 53rd St. Sure looks like it could be a theater building. The only odd thing is that, assuming that any theater in this building ran straight back and perpendicular to 53rd Street, the screen wall would have been at the rear of the property, which is where the fire escapes are located. I looked it up on oasisnyc.net and the address is 289 E. 53rd. It is listed as a place of assembly and might be home to a Jewish congregation. The only listing I could come up with for that address is for a senior citizens nutrition club. The NYC building records I have access to seem to have some erroneous certificates of occupancy in this property’s bin. Lost, can you access better records?

It is possible that the former entrance to the theater was at the far left end of the building through that part of the facade that is only one story and has no windows above. If so, it might be possible to inspect the facade in person and determine that under all that white paint there exists some detail (the vertical columns, for instance, if not the medallions) that might help confirm that the Matt Weber images I posted are in fact of the Rugby.

I made that same observation to myself when looking at those views, Warren… but if you use Peter K’s transit photo as a guide, I think there is no mistaking that the tan building is on the same side of the street as the Rugby. Compare the roofline of the Woolworth’s in the transit image with that of the building in the aerial shot just to the left of the car lot and gas station. The trolley in the older image really obsucres the view of the theater’s building, so it’s impossible to really pinpoint where the structure stood. Perhaps the building was demolished and replaced? It sure is hard to imagine reconcile the structure indicated in the aerial view with that of a theater with balcony.

Perhaps someone who lives nearby can do some reconnaissance on the block?

For good measure… here is a local.live.com aerial view of the Rugby’s stretch of Utica Avenue:

View to the West

You might have to zoom in (see the small building and large building icons on the tool palette to the left of the image)… but I believe the former Rugby is the sort of tan colored building with vertical bands (which look like they might match the vertical brick columns glimpsed in the “Always Air Conditioned” photo I posted above. Those round medallions are nowhere to be found, but they could have been removed since the building was adapted for re-use. Someone posted the building now houses retail space, but the entrance and signage almost looks to me to be indicative of a church conversion. If you count 5 building lots over (next to the pair of 2 story residential buildings) you’ll see the low rising retail building that was the Woolworth’s depicted in the vintage transit photo posted by Peter K on April 11, 2004.

The Rugby was a twin by December 1980 when this kung-fu double bill day-and-dated with the single screen Granada Theater:

Golden Arm – Daily News 12/14/80

The co-feature is not identified. Did these two theaters have a common ownership at the time? My edition of this paper does not have a Brooklyn movie clock, but the December 12th NY Post Movie Clock shows that one of the Rugby’s auditoriums day-and-dated a different kung-fu double feature just a few days earlier while the other auditorium featured a late release of the gang film “Warriors”, which had been playing nabes all over town on a double bill with Richard Gere’s “American Gigilo” – however at the Rugby, I guess the pot-fueled antics of Cheech and Chong in “Up in Smoke” were deemed more appropriate:

NY Post 12/12/80 Movie Clock

I REMEMBER THE THEATER CLOSING IN ABOUT LATE 85 OR EARLY 1986., BUT I DO REMEMBER IT NOT JUST PLAYING PORN MOVIES CAUSE MY AUNT TOOK ME THERE FOR MY 6 BIRTHDAY TO SEE EDDIE MURPHY’S THE GOLDEN CHILD I BELIEVE OR ONE OF HIS EARLIER MOVIES.