Biltmore Theatre

Does Anyone remember a Woman Manager of the New Lots Biltmore Movie Theatre named Irene Stoller? She was my Grandmother RIP. Growing up in the Biltmore was unbelievable. I used to go behind the Screen with the Usher named Helen (who also sold tickets & worked at the Concession) The Drapes had to be adjusted according to what Movie was being shown,wider,shorter… Mom used to drop us off sometimes after School. I’d do my Homework in Grandma’s Office and then go play in my “Indoor Playground”. Good Times!!!

I believe the Manhattan Biltmore was only showing movies for a short time so there is no history.

Try contacting CT. Maybe they can still access them.

DavidZornig, if you’d like to add those images (which I see you’ve already removed from this page) to the correct theater, Here’s the page for the Biltmore in Manhattan.

David, the pictures you have posted are of the “legitimate” Biltmore in Manhattan, not the one in Brooklyn. Compare with the existing photos. Obviously not in the same neighborhood. The Biltmore in Manhattan was vacant for many years. Then someone set a fire. It was then acquired by the Manhattan Theatre Club. It’s in the upper west 40’s between Eighth Avenue and Broadway on the north side of the street. The name Biltmore on the theatre’s facade faces Broadway.

I lived in the Linden projects from 1957-1964. I spent almost every saturday at this theater, along with my younger sisters whom i had to take with me. i remember next door was a candy store and i had to buy our candy there bec it was cheaper. but when i would save my money i would treat myself to a frozen milky way candy bar that they sold in the theater. screaming kids on a saturday with all day cartoons and B rated movies…

I have extremely vague memories of this theater but I DID go there as a small child. In the 60;s you could go there as a kid without needing a bodyguard. After 1970 the area became dangerous, the theater closed as it says in 1971. Does anyone have vide or photos of the interior and surrounding streets circa 1970? VERY hard to find. (for good reason)

I was an usher at the Biltmore in the summer of 1960. I was in high school (Franklin K. Lane) and it was my first job. I believe the manager’s name was Sam Samuels. I lived in the Cypress Hills Houses and I either took the New Lots Avenue bus or my dad gave me a lift. The big movie then was “Psycho” and I saw it dozens of times. I’d walk through the theater and watch the reactions when Norman Bates' “mother” turned around and faced the audience. What a scream! Sometimes we’d hand out flyers at the IRT station on Livonia Ave. Those were good old days. Too bad they are gone forever. Oh yeah…I think I was paid 75 cents an hour. That was real money back then. Neil

1. You may remember that when you left the theater, there was a pile of flyers for upcoming movies (as they changed often). The pile sat on a pedestal at the entrance, where the ticket taker stood. The printed flyers were numbered sequentially. On Saturdays, the management (Mr. Siegel) put out a large piece of cardboard, with numbers. If you remembered to bring your flyer (which you took whenever you last went to the theater) and your number matched one of the numbers on the board, you won free admission. It didn’t take long before I realized that the same winning-number board was placed out every week. So, I wrote down all the winning numbers. Then, let the games begin!

I leave the theater and take a flyer. Let’s say it’s number 112. I look at my sheet, and see that the next winning number is 158. So, I just stick around the lobby and count as people take flyers. When flyer number 157 is taken, I walk by and take 158. We were not greedy. We did not take wining flyers and sell them. No scalping. If there were three of us, we just hung around until we all had free entrance to the next Saturday matinee. This went on for several YEARS!

Other Biltmore stories:

1. Our first two-wheel bicycle (a Raleigh) was won by my sister at one of the Biltmore coloring contests.

2. Mr. Siegel had a birthday club. You had to register your birthday. Before every Saturday matinee began, he came onto the stage for a little pep rally. First, he would yell the names of the local schools, so those kids who attended could scream at the top of their lungs. PS 213, being the closest, always won the shouting contest. Then he would announce whose birthday was that week, and the birthday boys and girls got to come up on the stage to receive their prize (nothing great, but much more substantial than a cracker-jacks toy). When, in early May, he announced my name, he said (and I quote): “Let’s here it for the wild boy of Wyona Street.” Yes, it was not just Bertha who knew me by name. I had quite a reputation.

3. By the time the numbers game stopped, I was in TJHS, and got a “job” selling the newspapers on Saturday night:
   News, Mirror, Brooklyn Eagle, Journal American, and two Jewish papers: Forwards and Tag. Because the weather could be a problem, we received permission to set up shop under the Biltmore marquee, from 6:00 pm until the movie “broke,” about midnight. In return for letting us use the marquee, every theater employee received free newspapers. I personally distributed them to the staff after the movie, before taking off to Rogers for a late night burger and shake. Next thing I knew, I go to know the entire staff by first name and I was allowed into the theater for free on ANY day of the week, at any time. The only downside was that if I entered the theater for free on Friday, I didn’t have a ticket stub, and so did not get a free dish! No problem, as my mother went every Friday night and dragged my sister and father, so we had lots of Biltmore dishes.

Now, you may wonder why so much of life revolved around the Biltmore. Easy. My house was right next door to the Biltmore, so it was my second home.

I have lots more Biltmore stories, but I had better save some for next time.

Howard – The Wild Boy Of Wyona Street

Mike, I think I practically grew up in this theatre. I can still remember the inside clearly even though the last time I was there was probably over 45 years ago.

Since I’ve discovered this website I’ve thought about so many of the theaters I’ve attended that are long gone and the films I saw there. Since this was my favorite local theater through most of my childhood I’ve come up with so many other films I saw there in addition to those listed in my above comment. I hope some of the titles bring back pleasant memories to you: John Wayne in “Rio Bravo,” Kirk Douglas in “Spartacus,” Cary Grant in “Operation Petticoat,” Gregory Peck and Tony Curtis in the wonderful “Captain Newman, MD,” Ernest Borgnine in the “McHale’s Navy” film, Rock Hudson in “Man’s Favorite Sport,” Joan Crawford in “Strait-Jacket,” the Man from U.N.C.L.E. films which I spent an entire Saturday afternoon watching over and over, James Coburn in “Our Man Flint,” etc. etc. Just some of the many films I saw at this wonderful old theater, now just a distant memory.

I lived on miller ave between livonia and riverdale ave .The biltmore was a couple of blocks over. My family moved to east new york, brooklyn in the mid 1960’s . I remember going to the biltmore to see james bond movies.If you remember there was a brasneer appliances store across the street and the chinese resturant on the other side. After the movies we would go there to eat .I now own my parents house ,the biltmore is now gone replaced with a junior supermaket.I have watch the neighborhood change over the years.The biltmore was to only movies theater in east new york on new lots ave. We have a new theater on linden blvd a miltiplexs theater where the old TSS store used to be. I will alway remember the biltmore theater and the good times seeing movies there .

I would lve to hear from anyone who hung out at the Biltmore theater, ate pizza at Ninos, and burgrs at Rogers.

Howard Topoff